The Vancouver Whitecaps' season came to a controversial end on Wednesday evening when a Kendall Waston hand ball inside the final 10 minutes led to an FC Dallas penalty kick converted by Michel and a 2-1 victory in the Western Conference Knockout Round game to kick off the 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs, presented by AT&T.
The decision to award the penalty kick was made by head referee Mark Geiger, who pointed to the spot after he deemed Waston handled the ball in the 82nd minute as the center back attempted to clear a long FC Dallas throw-in.
The penalty proved the main talking point after the match, for everybody but Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson.
"I think it's better that I don't comment on that because I'll get myself in trouble," Robinson told Vancouver's TSN radio when asked about the call. "What I want to say is that I think my boys were absolutely fantastic for the second 45 minutes of the game. There was only one team that deserved to win the game after that second-half performance because the first half we weren't at the races and Dallas were deservedly ahead.
“Second half, there was only one team going to win it, and unfortunately it was taken out of our hands."
The Whitecaps had indeed looked out of sorts in the early going and went into halftime trailing a Tesho Akindele goal. Vancouver came storming back in the second half, leveling things up through Erik Hurtado just past the hour mark.
And while Robinson may not have wanted to discuss about the decisive penalty call, goalkeeper David Ousted was not so coy when answering questions about the referee's decision after the match.
"It was such a soft call,” Ousted said, according to a report by Marc Weber of The Province. “It does touch his arm. It just bounces off. But I don't think the big man can cut off his arm. That he [Geiger] calls that, in a game of this magnitude, I think is poor."
Geiger spoke with a pool reporter following the match and defended his call, saying it’s one he would make at any point in the match.
“Waston deliberately handled the ball, hence the PK was called,” Geiger penned in a written response to reporters.
- Get the latest Vancouver news at WhitecapsFC.com
The Whitecaps can still take some consolation from a season of progress. After missing the playoffs last season, Vancouver was not among the favorites to make the playoffs in the 2014 campaign. But victories in five out of their final nine games saw them outduel the rival Portland Timbers for the fifth and final playoff spot in the West.
For their playoff dreams to come to an early end left the Whitecaps locker room understandably drained and devastated, but the season has given Robinson plenty on which to build.
"[It's] disappointing today because of all the hard work we've put in," Robinson said. "We couldn't quite get over the line for one reason or another. We'll take it on the chin. You've got to learn how to lose sometimes.
"Today it's emotional for us. I've got 30 and 34-year-olds in my locker room in tears because we feel it's been unfairly taken away from us, but we have to deal with it, we have to get on with it. We'll freshen up and we'll get back to work."
Michael McColl covers the Vancouver Whitecaps for MLSsoccer.com.
