Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Teitur Thordarson read the riot act to his players before Saturday's game with the Carolina Railhawks.
It obviously got their attention, as the Caps came out breathing fire from the opening whistle and only took until the 12th minute for Eduardo Sebrango to find the back of the net and score a goal that stood up for a 1-0 United Soccer Leagues First Divsion win.
The victory moved Vancouver ahead of Puerto Rico and into second place with 28 points (8-4-4) in the USLFD.
It was the Whitecaps' first win in six games -- the last was June 7 over Portland -- but Thordarson still wasn't too thrilled about a second-half performance that flirted with disaster and nearly let Carolina back in the game.
"It was a great win, fantastic," said Thordarson, who made three roster changes after Wednesday's lacklustre 1-1 tie with Charleston. "We've been struggling. We should have led 3-0 at the half. It has been a bit of a problem all season to score enough goals, but we are happy to score the goals that we get."
Sebrango, who led the Caps with six goals -- the rest of the team together have nine -- found himself on the end of a loose ball about seven yards in front of the Carolina goal after Alfredo Valente's cross popped loose from a tussle between Whitecaps forward Charles Gbeke and Railhawks goalkeeper Chris McClellan.
Sebrango buried the chance, but in the 20th minute his shot deflected off Carolina defender Chad Dombrowski and hit the right post. Two minutes later, Sebrango found himself all alone in front of the Railhawk goal but shot just wide to the right.
"As a team and for myself, for sure we want to score more, score as many goals as we can," said Sebrango. "We've got to do a better job of finishing in the first half. Right now, we'll take anything. The second half wasn't pretty."
© The Vancouver Province 2008
