VANCOUVER, B.C. – Robert Earnshaw’s dramatic last-minute winner may have garnered most of the postgame attention after the Vancouver Whitecaps’ 2-1 win over the Portland Timbers on Saturday, but were it not for goalkeeper David Ousted’s Man of the Match performance in goal, it would have been a completely different story for the ‘Caps.
In a game that saw Portland dominate with nearly 66 percent possession, Ousted came up with four important saves on the night. None was more crucial than his 89th-minute, point-blank stop on Fanendo Adi to keep the score tied at one apiece. A minute later, Vancouver scored their winner.
Those kind of game-turning moments have started to become a regular occurrence from the Danish stopper. As he continues to demonstrate his importance to Vancouver’s defensive record, Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson firmly believes that he has one of the best 'keepers in all of MLS at his disposal.
“He was excellent,” Robinson said of Ousted’s performance. “He won us the game. Obviously the substitutes coming on made a big difference as well for us, but without David we would have lost the game. Maybe we deserved to lose the game but when you have a top goalkeeper it’s important he keeps you in games. That’s why we signed him.”
Saturday was just the latest in a series of strong displays from Ousted, as he looks to build on last year’s league-leading 13 shutouts. He's played a critical role in Vancouver’s current three-game winning streak, recording two clean sheets on the road and making a string of key saves to keep Vancouver in games.
Others may be taking more notice of his efforts, but the Dane has been keen to play down his own contributions to Vancouver’s strong start to the season.
“I’m happy with my performance,” Ousted said. “I gave us a chance to win it, and that’s why I’m in there. I was thinking another week, another steal in the 90th minute. It won’t always be pretty but if we can get away with three points in these games, it’s looking good.”
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While Ousted was happy to see Vancouver grind out a third straight late win, he was far from content with how the Whitecaps played for much of the game. They may be sitting second top in the Western Conference standings, but the man with the best view of the field knows they need to do much more to stay there.
“Pleased with the three points, not pleased with the way we got them,” was Ousted’s basic assessment of the 'Caps' Cascadia derby win. “There’s a lot of work to be done and we’re going in to a week now where we’ve got to look at some stuff to be better.
“I think we lacked both composure on the ball and the pressure on the ball. They did really well keeping it and playing around us, but we’re a better team than what we showed, both in the pressing and with the ball, and that’s some of the things that we need to work on.”
