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The Houston Dynamo vs. Vancouver Whitecaps matchup was expected by many to be a thrilling goal-fest. After all, the Dynamo appeared to be very good at creating those types of games, at least judging from their first three matches.
Their offense was dynamic, with Will Bruin and others snuffing out goals from everywhere, but the defense was porous, consistently making avoidable mistakes and allowing opponents to get in on goal way too easily. But in Vancouver, everything calmed down, as the offense struggled against the Whitecaps' compact 4-4-2 formation and the defense tightened up, cutting down mistakes and doing a serviceable job of preventing the opposition from breaking them down. Despite plenty of shots coming from both teams, it was a fairly uneventful game.
But one of the few moments during the late west coast contest that harkened back to previous Dynamo performances—specifically the one against the New York Red Bulls last week—came in the 15th-minute, when Whitecaps' striker Masato Kudo, making his MLS debut in place of Blas Perez, who was away on international duty, found himself in on goal one-on-one against Joe Willis. Defensive errors and speedy counter-attacks were at a premium Saturday night, but they almost combined to produce a goal early on.
Here's how it happened:
The play begins with the Whitecaps sprinting out of their own final third after successfully defending a corner:
Kudo is directly in front of his striking partner, and Kekuta Manneh (top, blue arrow) is sprinting ahead. The counter is on.
Manneh continues to run at Anibaba, and Kudo is there as support.
Kudo continues to run down the field in support of Manneh.
Still, Kudo is the only other Whitecap joining in pursuit of this counter. For right now, it's Manneh vs. Beasley.
Beasley was unable to prevent the pass to Aird and now will have to challenge the number-eight. Because of Anibaba's mistake, the Dynamo are forced to play two-against-three, leaving plenty of room for Kudo to make a run into the box.
Kudo's movement was superb all game, and he consistently caused the Dynamo backline problems. His role as a second forward will give Carl Robinson lots of questions about whether to stick with the Japanese-international or go back to Blas Perez when Vancouver host the LA Galaxy next week. This is another example of Kudo's movement creating chances for the Caps.
By this time, another Dynamo player has gotten back into the play, but it's too little, too late.
Plenty of credit should go to the Whitecaps here—Rivero's original ball that started the counter-attack, Manneh's speed and smart passing, Aird's through-ball, Kudo's run—but a very, very bad mistake by Anibaba was the real reason for this chance. It easily could have resulted in a goal, which would have given Vancouver a crucial early lead at home and damaged the Dynamo's chances at a road point considerably.
It was a well-executed counter by VWFC, but the story here—at least from Houston's prospective—is another bad defensive blunder.