PORTLAND, Ore. -- It was a pretty tame affair compared to Cascadia Cup clashes between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers in the past, but the 'Caps left Providence Park fairly satisfied with a strong defensive showing and a point after a 0-0 draw on Saturday that saw the teams effectively cancel each other out.
This was the Cascadian rivals' third meeting in just over two months, twice in MLS action and once in a preseason friendly at the end of February. Both teams know their respective strengths and weaknesses so well by now that there's perhaps few surprises served up by either coach.
The result on Saturday was a game where both sides neutralized the other's attack and it was the defense that came to the fore.
"Prior to the game, [Portland head coach] Caleb [Porter] had said, I had said, I know what they're about, they know what we're about," 'Caps coach Carl Robinson told reporters after the game. "It's who performs on the day. Today, my back four performed and my attacking side of the team probably didn't execute final passes like we usually do. He'll probably say the same.
"Hopefully we'll only see them once more this year. Or maybe a few more in the playoffs, because they're a good team, let me tell you that."
That over-familiarity with each other was echoed by Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted, who felt that neither side could find the required game changer in the match, with both defenses on top form.
"It seemed that today it was going to take something special to break the tie," was Ousted's take on the game. "Today it was the defenses that were better than the offenses. I think that's why it was nil-nil today.
"A good clean sheet, a good point. I thought the back four were outstanding today. The two guys in the center we know how they are. Rock solid. I thought they did very well."
Vancouver's center back pairing of Kendall Waston and Pa Modou Kah mopped up everything Portland threw at them. The only blip on the defensive end came in the 29th minute when the former Timber Kah was penalized for a handball in the box, but Darlington Nagbe missed the resulting penalty kick.
"We felt the pressure of the other team obviously, but we stayed calm," Waston said. "We tried to be compact, the back four and the midfielders. We tried to stick together because we know the type of players they have. Every time that we stay calm and we play together, everything goes good."
Vancouver's road form has certainly been good this season, with three wins and a draw now from their five games away from BC Place. They've only conceded one goal in those matches and Robinson was delighted to see that continue in Portland.
"A very professional, disciplined, away performance," Robinson said. "That's five times we've been away from home now and conceded one goal. A lot of positives, a lot of strong work from the back four especially.
"Defensively, fantastic. Attacking-wise, we didn't really click tonight, which was disappointing because I felt that there [were] gaps that we could exploit. We huffed and puffed and the longer the game went on they were getting a little bit more desperate, which opened up space for us, but we didn't execute the transitions that we're so good at."
