Vancouver has scored just five goals in five games this season and only one of them came during the actual run of play
By Bruce Constantineau
Four weeks ago, Vancouver Whitecaps striker Marlon James scored a clinical goal when he finished off a nifty give-and-go with midfielder Nizar Khalfan to seal a 2-0 season-opening victory over Minnesota.
It was the last time the Caps scored during the run of play.
The team has scored five goals in five games this year and four of them have come from two corners, one free kick and one penalty kick.
No one is panicking because the Whitecaps own a winning record and have conceded just three goals in those five games. But it's a concern.
Head coach Teitur Thordarson said his team has had great opportunities to score some "obvious" goals this season but the finish isn't there yet.
"We're not good enough in these things at the moment but we struggled with that a little bit last year and then all of a sudden it just opened up," he said. "I think the same thing will happen this year because the team is quite good and I expect we will be on top of our game again soon."
Thordarson felt forward Marcus Haber had a tough task in a 1-1 draw with the Montreal Impact this week, as he wasn't serviced particularly well in a formation that had him play as a lone striker. Haber buried a penalty kick late in the game to salvage the draw for the Caps.
The Whitecaps signed attacking midfielders Jonny Steele and Ricardo Sanchez this year to help generate more offence but Steele has just recently recovered from a serious knee injury and Sanchez can't crack a starting lineup that has Martin Nash and Luca Bellisomo as effective central midfielders.
"Luca and Nashie have been doing very well together -- that's the main key," Thordarson said. "But we might change things a bit with the big load of games coming up."
The Whitecaps host four games at Swangard Stadium during the next two weeks.
Haber -- in Vancouver on a two-month loan from West Bromwich Albion that expires June 15 -- said he and his teammates have lacked that little bit of quality in the final third of the field.
"Some of it is just teammates getting used to each other and we saw a bit of that last season when it took time for us to jell," he said. "The chances are coming. It's just a matter of getting that extra bit of quality to create goals."
Nash said the quality and consistency of service to the squad's forwards haven't been great.
"We need to get better service into the box," he said. "We're getting into good positions wide but if you don't serve the ball into good areas with pace, it makes it easy for keepers and defenders."
The Whitecaps will try to improve their run-of-play scoring record Saturday when they host Crystal Palace Baltimore at Swangard.
The Baltimore squad was founded in 2006 as a sister organization to Crystal Palace FC of the English Championship League and played three seasons in the USL second division before making the jump to USSF D-2 play this year.
The team is off to a rough start so far -- with three losses in its first three regular-season games, scoring just one goal and giving up five in those matches.
Head coach Jim Cherneski's side features three former Whitecaps -- defender Shaun Pejic and midfielder Kenold Versailles from last year's Vancouver team and forward Gary Brooks from the 2006 Caps lineup.
Cherneski said he is in charge of a good team that has had a "terrible" start.
"We have been a very organized team in the past and we're just getting to that point now," he said in an interview. "We like to play entertaining soccer and keep the ball and we hope to turn things around against Vancouver."
Cherneski was reluctant to reveal his side's strongest players now -- lest he give the Whitecaps an edge. Cameroonian attacking midfielder Mathew Mbuta, who used to play for the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer, scored the team's only goal this year from a penalty kick in a 3-1 loss to Puerto Rico.
SIDE KICKS: Portland Timbers midfielder Ryan Pore was voted the USSF D-2 Player of the Month for April, after scoring six goals and adding one assist in four games. He scored both goals in a 2-1 Timbers win over the Whitecaps last week.
bconstantineau@vancouversun.com © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
