Manneh’s Whitecaps edge Sainey’s New England in pre-season friendly

Kekuta Manneh

The Vancouver Whitecaps of Kekuta Manneh kicked off their 2013 preseason schedule with a bang, defeating Sainey Nyassi’s Eastern Conference side New England Revolution 4-1 at Grande Sports World in Casa Grande, Arizona.

It took just over a minute for the Jamaican striker Darren Mattocks to strike with his first goal. One of Vancouver’s two first round picks from the SuperDraft earlier this month, Kekuta Manneh spotted Mattocks with a pass and he buried it to open the scoring.

Mattocks made it 2-0 at the five-minute mark with Camilo drawing the assist.

After Chris Tierney scored to get the Revolution on the board, Mattocks headed home an Alain Rochat header to restore Vancouver’s two-goal cushion, and finish off his hat-trick.

In the 64th minute, Corey Hertzog was taken down in the box, which drew a penalty for Vancouver. Miller made no mistake from the spot to give the ‘Caps a 4-1 lead.

Manneh and Nyassi were unfortunate to face each other on the pitch as the former was ejected at the end of the first period while the latter made his way into the game in the second period.

Manneh’s Whitecaps will look to carry the momentum onto this Saturday’s preseason match against Houston Dynamo at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona while Sainey’s Revs return to Foxborough and will train locally for one week before departing for Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 9.

The team will play four matches in the Desert Diamond Cup: Feb. 13 vs. Seattle Sounders FC, Feb. 16 vs. New York Red Bulls, Feb. 20 vs. Real Salt Lake and Feb. 23 in the championship or consolation match.