Whitecaps settle for 1-1 draw with Sounders in CONCACAF Champions League debut

VANCOUVER – The 40-year-old rivalry between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Seattle Sounders added a new chapter to its story Wednesday night at B.C. Place.

Tim Parker gave the Whitecaps a lead in the 61st minute with a terrific backheel goal from a Pedro Morales corner, but Lamar Neagle was left completely unmarked inside the box and roofed a shot into the top of the net in 72nd minute as the first ever CONCACAF Champions League match between the two Cascadia Cup combatants ended in a 1-1 draw.

Coming off a 3-0 win down in Seattle last Saturday in Major League Soccer play, Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson decided to rest a number of key regulars including goalkeeper David Ousted, defender Kendall Waston, midfielder Matias Laba, and striker Octavio Rivero. His starting 11 did, however, have a few experienced players. Captain Pedro Morales and Darren Mattocks were tasked to spearhead the attack while Russell Teibert anchored the midfield in front of a youthful back line.

The lack of cohesion within the team was evident early, and the first half came and went without the Whitecaps recording a single shot attempt. They put forth a better effort in the second 45 minutes, but overall they didn't come close to replicating their inspiring performance from the weekend.

"I think it was an OK game," said Robinson. "It's important that we didn't lose. I think we didn't play great. Sometimes that happens when you make that many changes, I'll accept that. We got our noses in front and unfortunately we switch off at a vital moment and we let them back in with a bad goal, but I think it was probably a fair result.

The Sounders had the better chances early, testing Whitecaps goalkeeper Paolo Tornaghi on a couple occasions inside the first 10 minutes. There was little in terms of proper action until the 34th minute when Seattle's Andy Rose sent a header on a curling cross from Aaron Kovar just over the crossbar and the first half would end with the game tied 0-0.

Minutes into the second half, Neagle had a clean look at goal after taking the ball off Teibert near the Whitecaps' goal, but he directed his shot attempt right at Tornaghi.

Kianz Froese had Vancouver's first half-chance of the night in the 54th, but was tackled before he could get a shot off and lost the ball at the top of the box. The Whitecaps began to press harder in attack and Erik Hurtado had a chance that was deflected out for a corner. Morales played a good ball in front of goal from that corner and the 'Caps were rewarded with Parker's tally.

However, the lead was short-lived. Neagle equalized for Seattle just over 10 minutes later after a defensive breakdown led to him being wide-open and once he received the pass from Rose, had no problem firing it past Tornaghi to even the score.

"[Neagle] was free, there was no pressure on him," said Tornaghi. "The back line or the midfielder there, someone has to pick him up."

Robert Earnshaw came on as a substitute for Vancouver and was lively in his 25 minutes on the field, generating a couple scoring chances. Fellow substitute Sam Adekugbe won a free kick on the left side of goal at the edge of the box in the 88th minute. From the set piece, Deybi Flores whipped the ball toward goal but it was just out of Mattocks' reach and Seattle cleared to safety.

Since beating the Whitecaps in Vancouver in mid-May, the Sounders have been in an absolute tailspin. They had lost nine of their last 14 games in all competitions entering Wednesday's contest and hadn't scored a goal in their previous four games.

The Whitecaps qualified for the 2015-16 Champions League as they were the top Canadian club in the 2014 MLS table. In prior years the honour had gone to the team that won the annual Canadian Championship and that will once again be the case this season. Vancouver's second of four CCL group stage matches is at home Sept. 16 against Honduran side CD Olimpia. Only the top team in each three-team group – the Whitecaps are in Group F – advances to the quarterfinals.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports. Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr