A late goal from Tomas Pondeca lifted North Texas to a 3-2 win over Vancouver Whitecaps 2 in the Western Conference Quarterfinals.
Postgame, Interim Head Coach Michel Garbini cited game as an important learning lesson, saying “We knew the Whitecaps would give us a tough game, we could have decided the game in the first half… if we sleep like that like we did in the second half we will be punished.”
The Game
In their two previous matchups, Vancouver had not scored a goal, with the first finishing 0-0 and the second finishing 1-0 in North Texas’ favor just over a month before this playoff matchup.
North Texas started the match with ‘Big Dawg’ Logan Farrington leading an attacking line with Enes Sali and Pedrinho. Nolan Norris and Diego Garcia anchored the midfield with Nico Gordon behind them and captaining the team.
Just over seven minutes into the match, Carl Sainte lofted a beautiful ball into the box, which was perfectly picked out of the air by Pedrinho and laid into an onrushing Herbert Endeley, who smashed it home to open the scoring for North Texas.
Minutes later, North Texas got let off the hook after a goal by Vancouver was immediately waived off due to offsides. In the next attack, Vancouver did well to break through again but Michael Collodi was quick off his line to smother the opportunity.
Collodi came up with another big save shortly after, diving to his right to deny a powerful shot. Endeley in the vicinity to clean up the rebound.
20 minutes in and North Texas saw three consecutive chances go wanting, with 3 shots in the box being blocked by Vancouver each time.
A minute before the half-hour mark, Sali dribbled beautifully through the Vancouver midfield and sent a perfect through ball to Farrington inside the box, who slid the ball it across to Diego Garcia who put it into the back of the net to double North Texas’ advantage on the night.
North Texas went into halftime with a two-goal lead, thanks to Endeley and Garcia.
20 minutes into the second half, Vancouver overloaded the right side of the field and the ball fell to an open Vancouver player who put it away.
Soon after they opened their scoring on the night, a Vancouver attacker rounded Collodi but a sliding effort from Endeley kept the equalizing goal out.
Vancouver continued their pressure and North Texas began to crack. In the 74th minute, a powerful shot from outside the box beats Collodi and leveled the game.
In the 79th minute, Pondeca’s high pressure saw him win the ball off an opponent inside the attacking box, but an extra touch let him down as the chance was smothered by the Vancouver goalkeeper. Pondeca did get a yellow card out of it though.
In the 85th minute, Tomas Pondeca cut inside to lose his mark and lasered a shot far post, which beat the keeper and gave North Texas a one-goal lead heading into the final minutes.
Pondeca’s late goal stood as the winner, as North Texas controlled the final minutes to secure the 3-2 win and advance in the MLS Next Pro playoffs.
Quotes and Takeaways
MLS Next Pro playoffs have been fraught with upsets, with 8 seeds knocking off 1 seeds in the first round in consecutive years. Thankfully for North Texas, that upset happened in the Eastern conference, as North Texas became only the second 1 seed to successfully beat their chosen opponent in the MLSNP playoffs.
Former midfield adversaries FC Dallas and Houston Dynamo were managing behind each bench, with Michel Garbini behind the North Texas bench and Ricardo Clark behind the Vancouver bench. While they will likely face off as managers again, for today Michel won the battle.
As for the team, they let their foot off the gas pedal for a 20-minute stretch in the second half and Vancouver took advantage. Outside of those 20 minutes, North Texas was well in control of the match.
Most Vancouver attacks were suffocated before they could challenge on net with fantastic work from Diego Garcia, Nolan Norris, and the back 3 defenders.
“First half was very dominant, could do better in the last third, dominated possession, and created a lot.” Interim Head Coach Michael Garbini said after the match, “Second half was more mental than anything, we got relaxed based on the first half we played and got comfortable.”
Michel also spoke to his subs and the team’s ability to adjust, “Credit to the subs, Ramirez and Pondeca, for bringing the energy… we know that we can win any game based on how we can adjust.”
On Logan Farrington joining the team for the playoffs, “He gives a lot of good movements, today was his first game to really play with those guys. Next week he is going to play even better. He possesses himself really well in the box, a very smart player.”
On his match-winning goal, Tomas Pondeca simply stated “Saw an opportunity to cut inside and shoot and took it and put it in the back of the net.”
When he subbed on in a close game, his charge from Michel was just “to bring energy and help change the game.” For Pondeca it went deeper than that, “The main motivation was for myself, coming off the bench and wanting to change.”
“We have to dominate the full game, we cannot take our foot off the gas, even when it is a 2-0 lead. When we step off the pitch that’s when we can relax.”
Diego Garcia on his relationship with fellow midfield partner Nolan Norris, “I think it is a really great relationship, I have been with him on the national team; on the field and off the field we always have that connection.”
On playing with Logan Farrington, who assisted his goal, Garcia said “He is a really good player, he is on the first team and he gives me that motivation to one day be on the first team.”
As the number one seed in the west, North Texas will decide their next opponent on Tuesday night, with the Western Conference semi-final taking place at Choctaw Stadium on Saturday, October 26th at 7:30 PM.
