VANCOUVER — As Masato Kudo walked off the pitch on Wednesday evening in the 71st minute of a match versus Real Salt Lake, the fans at BC Place thanked him with a roaring ovation.
The last time the Vancouver Whitecaps’ striker had come off the field during a match — in the early minutes of a game against Chicago Fire on May 11 — he’d likewise left to a booming round of applause, though under much difference circumstances.
Kudo had been carted off the field after a horrific collision with Chicago goalkeeper Matt Lampson, leaving behind a pool of blood on the turf. He’d suffered a concussion and a fractured jaw, and had not played until Wednesday’s game, a 2–0 win for Vancouver.
“I’m very glad that I was able to get back on the field,” Kudo said via his translator after the match, characteristically deferential as he expressed thanks for the support he’d received on his road back to health.
Asked whether he’d experienced any sense of trepidation on the field — he’d returned to play after his months-long absence not as a substitute but, somewhat surprisingly, as a starter — Kudo responded: “Not much.”
Kudo’s remarkable return — he seemed to play without fear, and he nearly scored in the 69th minute, shortly before he was subbed off for Erik Hurtado — comes at an important time for the club. The Whitecaps recently sent striker Octavio Rivero to Chilean side Colo-Colo, and Kekuta Manneh suffered a right foot injury in the team’s 2–2 draw with Colorado on Saturday, leaving him on crutches. Veteran forward Blas Perez is dealing with a hamstring issue. That leaves the team with few options up top, and Kudo’s performance on Wednesday was a promising development.
The important part now will be for the 26-year-old to get on a run and show what he can produce. Only days before his injury, Kudo had scored his first goal as a Whitecap, in a derby matchup with the Portland Timbers. It was Vancouver’s best, most confident performance of the season, and the goal seemed to signal Kudo’s arrival.
The injury just four days later derailed him. Now, though, Kudo has the opportunity to show what he’s capable of as the Whitecaps face an important stretch in the season. The team sits sixth in a bunched-up Western Conference, one point behind third-place RSL.
“His movement is excellent,” said Vancouver coach Carl Robinson after the match, emphasizing once again how good Kudo’s finishing has been in training.
“I was sad for him because two minutes before I took him off he had a chance that exemplified what he is about,” Robinson added. “He made a great run, and great movement, and his legs gave way at the final moment before he took that shot. And that’s why he didn’t hit it as clean. I’ve seen it 99 times out of a 100 he scores that.”
“I was disappointed,” Kudo said of almost scoring. “But first of all, I was glad that I was able to get back on the field.”
Kudo, who now sports a mouth guard for protection, something he didn’t use to wear, may not have scored, but he did play a part in the first goal of the match — an own goal credited to RSL defender Justen Glad, who’d sent the ball in off a cross from Vancouver’s Matias Laba. The Japanese striker, along with teammate Nicolas Mezquida, managed to cause a bit of helpful chaos in front of the net.
And Kudo wasn’t the only player to re-appear on Wednesday. Cristian Techera had a fantastic game, looking like the player he’d been for the Whitecaps last season. He nabbed the second, a remarkable goal from 25 yards in the 37th minute — just his second goal of the season after the penalty kick he’d taken in the match versus Colorado on Saturday.
Robinson, though, insisted the diminutive Uruguayan nicknamed “The Bug” hadn’t gone anywhere.
“The Bug that we saw last year is still here,” he said. “He has been carrying a little injury in the last four, five, six weeks. That’s why he hasn’t played or started in many games.”
Robinson praised Techera’s performance as “excellent,” expressing his hope that it was a sign of things to come.
The return of Kudo, and the resurgence of Techera were positive signs for the Whitecaps, but just as importantly, the team finally managed to keep a clean sheet, even if things looked dicey at times in the dying minutes of the game. In Vancouver’s previous two home matches, the team had conceded heartbreaking goals in stoppage time.
“I’m a very happy man today,” said Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted. “A 2–0 win, we get a clean sheet, and we get two good goals as well. It was important for this team to show that we can both go and score the goals but we keep the clean sheet as well.”
Ousted emphasized that each player had done his part in taking on the vital defensive work the team had sometimes gotten away from in recent matches.
In their next test, the Whitecaps will host Orlando City at BC Place. It will be an opportunity for the home side to show whether they can build on a solid defensive performance. For Kudo, it will be a chance to find that all-important second goal, and maybe kick-start a tear.
“Starting with the next game, I would like to continue to focus,” he said. “And as I’m expected to score, I will do my best to score.”
