Whitecaps clinch playoff spot for 1st time since 2017 after battling Sounders to draw
Toronto FC finishes forgettable MLS season with loss to D.C. United
The Vancouver Whitecaps punctuated their roller-coaster regular season with a dramatic finish on Sunday, battling the Seattle Sounders to a 1-1 draw and clinching a playoff spot in the process.
It's a result that makes sense for a team that's fought numerous obstacles over the past two seasons, said goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau.
Pandemic-related border restrictions forced the 'Caps (12-9-13) to play much of last year in Orlando and Portland, and start this season based out of Salt Lake City. The team sat in last place in Major League Soccer's Western Conference on Aug. 8. Head coach Marc Dos Santos was dismissed at the end of August.
Still, Sunday's tie saw Vancouver finish sixth in the West and earn a spot in the post-season for the first time since 2017.
WATCH | Whitecaps secure spot in post-season:
"We've come from far. We can't forget that we were Orlando, Portland, Salt Lake, then home? We can't forget about that. We've come from far," Crepeau said. "And ever since we've come home and played at B.C. Place, the team really pulled together. This team never gave up."
The closeness of the locker room has helped achieve results on the field, said attacking midfielder Ryan Gauld.
Vancouver's post-season spot nearly slipped away in the dying seconds of Sunday's game. With the score knotted at 1-1, Seattle (17-8-9) made a final push, with Fredy Montero crashing the net and Crepeau was forced to make a goal-line stop, his third save of the night.
While there were some tense moments, interim Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini said his group executed the moment as planned.
"[Seattle] brought like 15 players in. Basically they were all the team there so it was really hard to defend," he said. "But we actually did what we were supposed to do."
Pushing and shoving ensued after a boot came dangerously close to Crepeau's face and another 'Caps player was kicked in the Achilles tendon.
WATCH | Tempers flare after Crepeau makes late stop:
A Whitecaps loss would have eliminated the team from contention.
The Sounders took an early lead after Cristian Dajome was called for hand ball in the penalty area.
Montero took the ensuing penalty kick, firing a low shot into the bottom-right corner of the net to put Seattle up 1-0 in the eighth minute.
The fact that the goal came from the Colombian striker was particularly painful for Vancouver fans — Montero played three seasons for Vancouver (2017, '19 and '20) but opted to return to Seattle as a free agent in March.
The 'Caps refused to be deterred by the early strike and continued to press.
Aggressive play pays off
Vancouver's aggressive play finally paid off in the 20th minute.
Defender Ranko Veselinovic settled a ball at the top of the penalty area, then sent it in to Brian White, who bumped it over to Gauld and the Scottish attacking midfielder headed it in past Seattle 'keeper Stefan Frei for the equalizer.
White was knocked in the face on the play and lay on the field being looked at by trainers as his teammates celebrated. He eventually walked off the field, then got a fresh jersey and some medical attention on the sidelines before returning to the game as fans cheered.
Vancouver will face No. 3 Sporting Kansas City in the first round of the playoffs, which begin on Nov. 20.
Seattle comes second in the conference and will take on No. 7 Real Salt Lake.
Toronto FC falls to D.C. United in Morrow's final match
After playing his final MLS game, veteran fullback Justin Morrow said he was stepping aside because it was "time for the next generation."
Just how much turnover there will be at Toronto FC in the off-season remains to be seen. But Sunday's regular-season finale — a 3-1 loss to D.C. United — was a reminder that plenty needs to be fixed.
Toronto (6-18-10) and the 34-year-old Morrow still have the Canadian Championship final to play against CF Montreal, with date and venue yet to be determined. But the franchise has more than three months to ponder what went wrong this season ahead of the Feb. 26 kickoff of the 2022 campaign.
WATCH | Kamara nets 2 quick goals as D.C. United defeats TFC:
Sunday's game had several of the hallmarks of TFC's forgettable season — slack defending and an early goal conceded, an inconsistent attack and a long line of unavailable players.
Ola Kamara scored twice for D.C., increasing his season total to a career-high 19, while Julian Gressel had two assists to raise his number to 14 on the season. Steven Birnbaum also scored for D.C.
Richie Laryea had the Toronto goal.
D.C. (14-15-5) needed a win and help from others — the Red Bulls to lose at Nashville SC and Montreal to lose or tie against visiting Orlando — to secure an Eastern Conference playoff berth on the final day of regular-season play.
The Red Bulls did not co-operate, tying Nashville 1-1. D.C. moved up one place to eighth, but remained one point below the playoff line.
Toronto finished the season with a franchise-worst 66 goals conceded, erasing the club mark of 64 in 2018 when the team went 10-18-6. It also matched 18 losses that year, second only to 2012 when the team went 5-21-8.
Toronto fell behind in the 13th minute when Birnbaum beat the defence to power a header past Quentin Westberg off a fine Gressel corner. It was the 15th goal Toronto has conceded in the first 15 minutes of play this season, worst in the league.
Laryea tied it up in the 18th minute with a long-range shot that found the corner after a nice Toronto setup.
Kamara restored D.C.'s lead from the penalty spot in the 30th minute lead after Westberg took him down in the penalty box. It was the ninth goal of the season via penalty for the Norwegian international.
Kamara made it 3-1 in the 36th, redirecting Gressel's shot via a flick of his boot after a well-worked short corner that featured a nifty backheel from Paul Arriola to Gressel that took two defenders out of the play. Gressel then worked his way around Michael Bradley to make space for the shot.
Morrow receives standing ovation
Morrow led the team out as captain in his MLS swan song. The Ohio native was making his 254th appearance for the club in all competitions, second only to Jonathan Osorio's 291.
Wife Jimena and daughters Chiara and Lucia were on hand as Morrow walked out. There was a video tribute and the presentation of a framed jersey.
The South Stand fans honoured him with a giant tifo saying "Some heroes wear cleats."
Morrow came off in the second-half stoppage time to a standing ovation from the announced crowd of 11,166. Perez told him it had been a pleasure and an honour to be his coach.
After the final whistle, Morrow went to the south stand to thank the fans.
Asked about his emotions, Morrow said: "A little bit of everything. Mostly it's joy. I'm the only happy guy in the locker-room today."
Morrow, who serves as executive director of Black Players for Change, says he knows his next career move but is not willing to share it yet.
He paid tribute to TFC for making his final MLS game special.
"This club has just been my life for eight years. They always go beyond. They did again today, taking care of my family. Just a really nice day for me," he added.
It marked Morrow's ninth start this season — and the 267th of his MLS career including the playoffs. He spent four seasons with San Jose before joining Toronto in December 2013 for some US$100,000 in allocation money.
TFC came into the game winless in its last five league outings (0-2-3) but had taken points off playoff contenders in ties with Montreal, Philadelphia and Atlanta.
D.C. United had a part to play in TFC's season. A 7-1 humiliation at Audi Field on July 3 was the nadir of Toronto's campaign.
Javier Perez, the assistant coach elevated to the top job the remainder of the season, was 5-9-8 at the Toronto helm coming into Sunday's match. TFC was eliminated from playoff contention Oct. 16 in a 2-0 loss to Atlanta with five games remaining in the regular season.
Toronto, which had to deal with a pre-season COVID outbreak, played the first 16 games of the season in all competitions away from home after relocating to Orlando due to pandemic-related travel issues. It did not play at BMO Field until July 17.
CF Montreal falls short of playoffs
Sebastian Mendez and Daryl Dike put an end to CF Montreal's playoff aspirations Sunday.
Mendez and Dike scored to lead Orlando City FC past CF Montreal 2-0. The Montreal squad came into the contest needing a victory to secure a playoff berth.
Orlando (12-9-13) will face New York City FC in the first round of the playoffs.
WATCH | Dike scores in 86th minute to lift Orland City FC over CF Montreal:
With Montreal (12-11-11) needing a win and Orlando only requiring a point to make the playoffs, the game got off to a blistering start. Both sides wasted no time looking for the opener and provided an offensive show.
At the 16-minute-mark, CF Montreal's Zachary Brault-Guillard set up Sunusi Ibrahim with an open net, but the ball got caught in between his legs. Less than five minutes later, Montreal's Djorde Mihaillovic played Joaquin Torres in perfectly, forcing a great save from Pedro Gallese.
At the 37-minute mark, a Robin Jansson free kick almost gave Orlando the lead as it deflected off the post from 30 yards out.
