Hassli scores twice as Whitecaps douse Fire

 

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Almost five months ago on a sunny day at Empire Field in Vancouver, B.C., the home team Whitecaps made quite a first impression in their debut MLS match, with striker Eric Hassli scoring twice in a 4-2 win.

Wins have been hard to come by since then. But Sunday in the same stadium under more sunny skies, the Whitecaps defeated the Chicago Fire by that same 4-2 score, and guess what? Hassli scored twice again, and added an assist.

Hassli's first goal came 33 seconds into the match. A long ball from Jordan Harvey took a fortuitous bounce past Fire defender Yamith Cuesta straight onto the right foot of Hassli, who took two touches and shot the ball into the top right corner of the net past goalkeeper Sean Johnson.

The Fire would equalize on Dominic Oduro's 23rd-minute strike, as the forward did some nifty dribbling to keep defender Alain Rochat from getting in position to block his shot.

But the day would belong to the Whitecaps, who snapped a six-game winless streak and won for just the third time this season. Hassli wasn't the only one to come up big. Camilo and Gershon Koffie each had a goal and an assist, and Harvey, a defender acquired in a recent trade with Philadelphia whose play has already improved the Whitecaps, finished with a pair of assists. 

Koffie's first MLS goal came as a result of a long header from Camilo to Hassli, who passed to Koffie for a shot from long range that took a favorable bounce in front of Johnson and over his outstretched body for a goal to make it 2-1 in the 24th minute.

The Whitecaps could have made it 3-1 after Cuesta took down Camilo in the box in the 43rd minute for a penalty kick. Hassli stepped up to take it and Johnson guessed correctly, coming up with the diving save.

Vancouver (3-11-9) did go up two goals in the 48th minute with Camilo's goal, on which he took a pass, turned and dribbled past two Fire defenders for a far-post shot.

The game effectively ended in the 72nd minute with a flourish for the Whitecaps. A free kick from Camilo went past the Fire's defensive wall where four Whitecaps were rushing the goal mouth, and Hassli followed up Koffie's shot off the post by powering the ball in to make it 4-1. 

Chicago (2-7-13) added its last goal in the 80th minute, Patrick Nyarko to Orr Barouch, who outran defenders Russell Teibert and Harvey for a shot past Jay Nolly in goal.

Hassli scored his ninth and 10th goals of the season, Oduro his sixth. The Fire, winless in eight matches in a row, might rather forget its trips to Cascadia, as it gave up 10 goals in matches at Portland, Seattle and Vancouver this season.