VANCOUVER, BC – Aly Ghazal was a surprise starter in Saturday's 3-2 win over Real Salt Lake.
Many assumed he’d come off the bench towards the latter stages of the match to make his MLS and Vancouver Whitecaps FC debut. It was, after all, Ghazal’s first league outing since December of last year, though he had played in some reserve league and Cup matches since then.
But Carl Robinson gave Ghazal the nod from the get go.
And the Egyptian international didn’t let him down. In fact, Ghazal played so well that Robinson left him on the whole match, despite only planning to play him for about 60 minutes.