Match Recap: Caps vs Palace

Well, in front of an announced crowd of 14, 788 in BC Place Stadium, the hometown Caps and visiting FA Cup finalists Crystal Palace played to a 2-2 draw, in a friendly that was widely condemned by Caps supporters, leaving what appeared to be a very dull atmosphere, save for the travelling support, backing the Palace.

A quick look at each of the starting lineups, which stayed mostly intact for 60 minutes, until the substitution parade started:

Palace lineup:  Speroni, Kelly, Delaney, Dann, Mutch, Jedinak, Puncheon, Lee, Fryers, Townsend, Ladapo

Caps lineup:  Tornaghi; Seiler, Edgar, Kah, de Jong; Jacobson, McKendry; Aird, Mezquida, Techera; Hurtado

With the starting 11 Robinson fielded, I thought that it might end up being scoreless at halftime.  If there was a highlight of the first half, it was probably Pa-Modou Kah's hipcheck on Andros Townsend (?).  None of the Palace players had names on the kits, so if it wasn't, please correct me.

As for the parade of subs, it started with Nicolas Mezquida and Andrew Jacobson making way after 30 minutes for Marco Bustos and Kianz Froese, followed by Marco Carducci taking over from Paolo Tornaghi at the break.  The hosts made the breakthrough on 50 minutes as Techera's cross found the head of David Edgar, who steered it in to celebrate his debut with the Caps.

At 60 minutes was when the fun really started.  Robinson seemed to empty the bench with most of the starters and within 1 minute conceded when Frazier Campbell re-directed a cross from Andros Townsend.  No more than 5 minutes later, Palace took the lead when Campbell with a sweet flick from a feed into the box.

At the other end, Kudo's attempt was cleared off the line by Palace keeper Speroni.  I have to say that since his return, Kudo has looked really lively and quite fearless, given the severity of his jaw injury.  6 minutes later, in the 78th, Waston doing what Waston does best in the opposing 18, and that would be scoring headed goals.  This time, it was WFC2 player Brett Levis with the long diagonal feed.  2-2 with 12 minutes to play.

Once again, it was Brett Levis providing the service, but this time it was his WFC2 team mate Kyle Greig on the receiving end, only to see his header kicked away by Speroni.  Alphonso Davies continues to really impress, making multiple runs and moves as he gets his feet wet in the professional ranks, sometimes creating for himself, and on this occasion, finding Masato Kudo, who steers his attempt wide of the near post.  In the closing moments, Kudo goes for goal from well out and misses, further displaying what the former Kashiwa Reysol man is capable of.

The match ended 2-2, which is a pretty good result for the Caps, given the drastic mass substitution Robbo made at the 60 minute mark.  Not sure what Palace supporters and manager Alan Pardew will think.

Next up for each team:
Caps travel to Houston on Saturday to kick off a 4 game road trip which sees one more stop in Texas, before bolting down to Trinidad & Tobago for their 2016 CCL opener and closing the trip in Colorado.

Palace continue their pre-season with matches against Colchester United, AFC Wimbledon, Fulham, Bromley, Valencia CF before opening the Premier League season on August 13th vs West Bromwich Albion.