Match Report:

By Simon Fudge/whitecapsfc.com

Vancouver Whitecaps defeated Major League Soccer side Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 in an international friendly in Edmonton, Alberta, on Tuesday evening.

Nicholas Addlery's first-ever goal for the club and Eduardo Sebrango's third goal of the season was enough to give the Whitecaps their first win over an MLS opponent in club history, despite Alan Gordon scoring a fortunate equalizer for Los Angeles late in the first half.

In front of a neutral audience in 'The City of Champions', the Whitecaps showed more desire and attacking intent to stamp their authority on the contest, as the Galaxy struggled to contain their Canadian hosts for much of the game.

Whitecaps head coach Teitur Thordarson named an unchanged side from the starting XI that began last Saturday's 1-0 home victory over Rochester Rhinos in the USL First Division. His counterpart in Galaxy head coach Ruud Gullit included star midfielder David Beckham on the right-hand side of midfield, while Canadian international Ante Jazic made his first start of the season after recovering from an ankle injury. With American international Landon Donovan unavailable through injury, former Portland Timbers hit-man Bryan Jordan partnered Gordon in the Los Angeles attack. There was also a Galaxy debut for former Whitecaps goalkeeper Josh Wicks following his move to Los Angeles from Portland in the off-season.

On a windy and cool evening in Edmonton, a Commonwealth Stadium crowd of 37,104 saw the Whitecaps look the far better side on a bumpy pitch in the opening 45 minutes. Wicks was put to work early by Vancouver, with Alfredo Valente forcing the keeper to claim an Addlery flick into the Galaxy box after just three minutes.

Los Angeles seemed to struggle with the opening stages, and on four minutes, they would find themselves a goal behind. After Steve Kindel won possession for Vancouver, Addlery latched on to Josh Tudela's wayward pass near the edge of the Galaxy box before eluding his marker Abel Xavier and beating Wicks through his legs with a side-foot finish for 1-0.

It was a stunning start from Thordarson's side, and Wicks was called on again to save from Adrian Cann's header after a well-played corner from Valente moments later.

The first quarter hour of the match was dominated by the USL-1 club, but their MLS foes soon made Whitecaps goalkeeper Srdjan Djekanovic work on 16 minutes after he blocked away Joe Franchino well-struck shot. The former Toronto FC shot-stopper then did even better to stop a low strike from Mike Randolph a minute later.

Addlery remained a threat for the Whitecaps, and on 21 minutes, the Jamaican hit-man got the better of the struggling Xavier, as he outpaced the Portuguese defender before unluckily striking a right-foot shot off the far post.

With many of the spectators in Edmonton having come to Tuesday's game to see Beckham in action, it was not until the midway point of the half that he made a significant impact, as his free kick from the left forced Djekanovic to punch away the danger in the Vancouver box.

On 27 minutes, Beckham looked set to excite the crowd with one of his trademark free kicks, but the England international's effort went woefully wide of Djekanovic's goal. A minute later at the other end, Wicks had to save well from Tony Donatelli's unmarked header after the impressive Addlery found him with a cross on the right.

Chances were exchanged in the latter stages of the half, with Valente striking straight at Wicks from a tight angle on 34 minutes before Beckham blazed a slicing effort just wide of the target two minutes later.

Then, as the Whitecaps seemingly looked to be heading to the break a goal up, Beckham helped Los Angeles claim an equalizer on 44 minutes. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid man played a forward ball for Gordon in the Vancouver box, and as Djekanovic came out to attempt a punched clearance, Gordon beat the Whitecaps keeper to the ball with his head to knock it into an empty net.

The goal was harsh on Thordarson's side, who looked far brighter before the halftime whistle was blown by referee Steve DePiero. "These are things that can happen, and unfortunately, this happened to Srdjan," Thordarson said of the Galaxy's equalizer to whitecapsfc.com. "However, we said to the guys at halftime to just keep on playing and we will get our chances, and most of them came in the second half."

The restart saw Vancouver make four changes, with Jay Nolly making his first appearance since preseason, while Justin Moose, Jeff Clarke, and Vicente Arze all came into the match in midfield.

The second half remained open and competitive, with Jordan thinking he had given Los Angeles the lead on 54 minutes, but the former Timbers forward was correctly adjudged to be offside.

After a fine first-half performance in his fourth game for the club, Addlery was replaced by Nick Webb, as the former Oregon State University product came on for his first appearance since preseason on 61 minutes. It did not take long for the Bellingham, Washington, product to make a decisive impact on the contest, as the Whitecaps soon restored their lead on 66 minutes.

The fleet-footed Moose intercepted a wayward Galaxy ball in the Vancouver half before playing a fine forward pass to Webb. His first-time low cross from the right found an unmarked Sebrango racing in and the Cuban hit-man finished with aplomb to make it 2-1.

The Whitecaps were in the ascendancy at this stage, and on 72 minutes, substitute Clarke was unlucky not to extend Vancouver's lead after his first-time shot from Sebrango's low cross was brilliantly saved by Wicks at close range.

It was a frustrating half for Beckham, and after failing to make the most of another free-kick opportunity, the midfielder was replaced on 75 minutes by defender Chris Klein before having ice applied on his right foot on the Galaxy bench.

Then an historical moment for the Whitecaps on 78 minutes, as striker and Edmonton native Randy Edwini-Bonsu became the first-ever Whitecaps Residency player to appear in a first-team game after being one of three substitutions made by Thordarson. With the Residency team this past weekend, Edwini-Bonsu was named Most Valuable Player at the INSEL-CUP junior international tournament in Germany. "Randy has some fantastic qualities, with one of them being that he's extremely fast," Thordarson said. "Though this was his first time on the pitch for the first team, he is a player that could certainly perform for us in the future."

In fact, the Whitecaps should have scored more goals late on, with only Franchino stopping Webb from getting his first goal for the club after blocking his close-range shot on the goal-line, as the Galaxy failed to deal with Moose's corner from the left.

Then a scary moment for Vancouver at the other end, as Los Angeles made claims for a penalty when Jordan struck the ball against Cann's arm in the Whitecaps box, but referee DePiero waved away any appeals from the southern California side.

In fact, the game's last opportunity fell to Edwini-Bonsu, as he came ever so close to completing a fairytale night for himself, but Wicks just got enough of his close-range shot to knock the ball into his own side-netting.


In the end, it was a superb performance by the Whitecaps, who showed soccer fans in Edmonton that there is little difference in the level of play between USL-1 and MLS. "I think we had a great game from the start to the end," Thordarson concluded. "We were disciplined and aggressive, and I hope we are getting used to the way we are trying to play. We were quite decisive on trying to have a go at them and not letting them dictate the speed of the game. We had some fantastic opportunities, but you cannot be unhappy when you are beating the Galaxy 2-1, though I thought we should have scored at least one or two more goals."

Thordarson's side will now move on from the Alberta provincial capital for an important Victoria Day weekend of USL-1 games. The Whitecaps will head to south Florida to face Miami FC Blues on Friday night before meeting Canadian rivals Montreal Impact in the very-first game to be played at Montreal's new Saputo Stadium on Monday afternoon. The Galaxy, meanwhile, return to MLS action on Sunday afternoon when they travel to FC Dallas in Texas.

Goal Summary:
4' - 1-0 Vancouver - Nicholas Addlery
Nicholas Addlery scored his first-ever goal as a Whitecaps player. He latched on to Josh Tudela's wayward pass and eluded the challenge of Galaxy defender Abel Xavier before side-footing a shot through the legs of Los Angeles goalkeeper Josh Wicks.

44' - 1-1 - Alan Gordon (David Beckham)
A minute before halftime, David Beckham's forward ball from the right found Galaxy striker Alan Gordon. He beat the onrushing Whitecaps goalkeeper Srdjan Djekanovic to Beckham's ball in the Vancouver box before heading it into an empty net for the equalizer.

66' - 2-1 Vancouver – Eduardo Sebrango (Nick Webb)
The Whitecaps restored their lead after taking advantage of a Galaxy error. Substitute Justin Moose picked a loose ball in his own half before feeding a fine forward pass to Nick Webb down the right flank. Webb hit a low first-time cross along the Galaxy's six-yard box to an unmarked Eduardo Sebrango. The Cuban striker slotted the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of Los Angeles' goal.

Match Stats:
Shots: Vancouver 14 – Los Angeles 9
Saves: Vancouver 4 – Los Angeles 8
Fouls: Vancouver 6 – Los Angeles 11
Offsides: Vancouver 2 – Los Angeles 1
Corners: Vancouver 4 – Los Angeles 5

Cautions:
Vancouver: Eduardo Sebrango 66', Vicente Arze 78'
Los Angeles: Joe Franchino 47', Alan Gordon 60', Abel Xavier 90 + 1'

Vancouver Whitecaps FC
77.Srdjan Djekanovic (1.Jay Nolly 45'); 4.Adrian Cann, 15.Omar Jarun, 22.Takashi Hirano (28.Diaz Kambere 78'), 24.Lyle Martin; 7.Martin Nash (2.Jeff Clarke 45'), 8.Steve Kindel (13.Mason Webb 78'), 9.Alfredo Valente (23.Vicente Arze 45'), 14.Tony Donatelli (25.Justin Moose 45'); 11.Nicholas Addlery (3.Nick Webb 61'), 16.Eduardo Sebrango (17.Randy Edwini-Bonsu 78')

Subs not used:6.Luca Bellisomo, 18.Antonio Rago, 27.Stefan Leslie, 29.Admir Salihovic

Los Angeles Galaxy
31.Josh Wicks; 3.Greg Vanney (24.Julian Valentin 45'), 4.Ante Jazic (29.Michael Gavin 61'), 12.Troy Roberts, 17.Abel Xavier; 2.Mike Randolph, 16.Joe Franchino, 19.Josh Tudela, 23.David Beckham (7.Chris Klein 76'); 21.Alan Gordon, 27.Bryan Jordan

Subs not used: 1.Steve Cronin, 28.Sean Franklin, 30.Vito Higgins, 32.Brandon McDonald