Residency claim Cottbus victory

Goalscorer Alex Semenets heads towards the Cottbus goal during Saturday's friendly in eastern Germany.

May 23, 2009

By Simon Fudge/whitecapsfc.com

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency continued their winning ways during their two-week trip to Germany, as they defeated the U-19 Junior Bundesliga side of FC Energie Cottbus 3-1 on Saturday.

Building on Wednesday's 2-0 win over FSV Optik Rathenow, Thomas Niendorf's side jumped out to a two-goal halftime lead following strikes from Jerome Baker and Alex Semenets on a warm and sunny spring afternoon in eastern Germany. Jamaican youngster Keithy Simpson struck early in the second half for the 'Caps before Cottbus scored a late consolation goal in the friendly contest. Saturday's result was particularly notable, as Niendorf gave no less than six U-17 players a run out against their German hosts.

Playing a 4-4-2 formation, with a diamond midfield, the Residency squad stunned Cottbus by scoring the opening goal just minutes after kick off. Sahil Sandhu's cross found Baker, who headed home to give the Canadian visitors a 1-0 lead.

The Whitecaps doubled their advantage just before the break. Semenets was first to react and convert on the rebound after the Cottbus goalkeeper had stopped Philippe Davies' initial shot. As a result, Vancouver took a 2-0 lead into halftime.

It was only minutes after the restart that the visitors made it 3-0, as Simpson made a surging forward run from his backline position and into the Cottbus box before finishing with a fine shot.

The only blemish on the day's proceedings was a late Cottbus goal that denied the share of a clean sheet for Residency goalkeepers Julien Latendresse-Lévesque and Simon Thomas. From a free kick, the German side struck on the counter-attack to make the final score 3-1.

Niendorf was delighted with the way his side performed in the weekend match-up. "Overall, it was a very good team performance," he told whitecapsfc.com. "Where the players might have felt a bit heavy-legged during Wednesday's match, they showed today that they are more than capable of competing at the U-19 Junior Bundesliga level, so that was pleasing to see."

Though they have spent the 2008-09 season on loan with Cottbus from the Residency program, Kyle Porter, Greg Smith, and Adam Straith did not appear against the Whitecaps on Saturday.

Whitecaps Residency's next friendly match of their German tour is against another U-19 Junior Bundesliga side in Hansa Rostock on Tuesday.

Whitecaps FC Residency - starting line-up v FC Energie Cottbus
Julien Latendresse-Lévesque (Simon Thomas); Axel Levry, Keithy Simpson, Jack Cubbon, Kevin Cobby; Nolan Moore (Gagandeep Josan), Philippe Davies, Gagandeep Dosanjh (Bobby Jhutty), Sahil Sandhu (Russell Teibert); Jerome Baker (Coulton Jackson), Alex Semenets (Randy Edwini-Bonsu)

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