VANCOUVER — There are important wins, and then there are important wins.
For the Vancouver Whitecaps, it’s hard to imagine a regular season match meaning more than Saturday’s 3-1 home win over the LA Galaxy.
Looking largely rudderless over the past few weeks during a seven-game winless spell, the timing of Saturday’s takedown of the defending MLS Cup champions comes perfectly before the first leg of the Canadian club championship final, which takes place on Wednesday in Montreal.
Wednesday programming alert: Watch the Montreal Impact v the Vancouver Whitecaps in the first leg of the Canadian club championship final on Sportsnet ONE. Live coverage begins at 7:30 pm ET/4:30 pm PT.
Now the team is hoping to gain a bit of self-belief after looking largely lifeless in recent times – even in the first half versus LA, Vancouver looked completely unimaginative, with their best chance at scoring come from a near own goal from Omar Gonzalez, who redirected a Nigel Reo-Coker shot toward target.
“The lads have to take a lot of confidence and belief from that,” Reo-Coker said of what the victory means. “To beat the league champions at home, convincingly, as well, you have to take confidence from that.
“Now we have to use that as momentum to be a season changer for us and continue to grow as a team and try and achieve what we want to achieve this year.”
The big story was Russell Teibert’s breakout match, in which he scored his first two professional goals. Taking the second half by storm, the Niagara Falls native scored his brace within a magical 13 minute spell and couldn’t recall much about the moments surrounding either goal, calling it a “blur.”
“Adding goals to his performances is something we’ve talked about and something that we want to see from him,” coach Martin Rennie said.
Equally as important for the team’s chances going forward was Darren Mattocks’ stoppage time marker. At the time, it eased the pressure as the Galaxy were pushing for an equalizer, but more importantly it’s the first time the Jamaican had scored in six games.
The goal marks Mattocks’ second of the year from nine matches played, and while that figure will need to improve, simply seeing that player end his slump will give him confidence to once again show his qualities in front of goal.
For the low-scoring Whitecaps, having a potent and confident Mattocks is essential if they are to win the Canadian championship or turn around a sputtering league campaign.
“It was important for him,” Reo-Coker said following the match. “It’s always important for strikers to score, especially after they go through a bit of a goal drought… I told Darren you’ve got to keep going, for 90 minutes you’ve got to keep going, your chance will come and you’ve got to take your chance.
“He took his chance and now hopefully that’ll give him confidence he can get on a bit of a run now and get the momentum and the belief.”
At the back, it appears Johnny Leveron is sealing his position as the starting central defender alongside Andy O’Brien. Rennie stuck with the Honduran despite the availability of Brad Rusin, who returned from injury, and once again he looked capable in possession and combative in defence.
“Johnny has come in and done very well again today,” Rennie said. “I think he’s a very gifted soccer player. I think he needs to keep getting fitter and he needs to learn English, but when he does those things he’ll be a very good player.”
The question now going into Wednesday’s match will be how Rennie decides to juggle his lineup. In away matches to date, the club has looked very poor, most recently to Real Salt Lake last weekend.
Fullbacks Alain Rochat and Lee Young-Pyo have been a letdown away from BC Place, so don’t be surprised to see Jordan Harvey and Greg Klazura slot in and provide some fresh legs.
Teibert will surely keep his place after this performance, and given Mattocks is finally off the mark it’s safe to say he’ll start up top.
Beyond that, expect a defensive lineup, with offense-first players perhaps restricted to Mattocks and Teibert.
That could mean a midfield four of Jun Marques Davidson, Gershon Koffie, Nigel Reo-Coker and perhaps Matt Watson – Rusin, who can also play defensive midfield, could see minutes in that role as well.
Martin MacMahon is a Vancouver-based writer who covers the Vancouver Whitecaps for MLSsoccer.com. Follow Martin on Twitter.