The Columbus Crew and Vancouver Whitecaps are walking away with a great respect for their Japanese opponents following the inaugural Pacific Rim Cup, which concluded Saturday before 8,128 at Aloha Stadium.

Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo beat Vancouver 1-0 in the final. The goal came in the 85th minute after Akito Fukumori’s free kick from 30 yards out hit the crossbar and bounced to Reis, who headed the ball to Ken Tokura for an easy score. Fukumori also put a free kick off the post in the first half.

“(Fukumori) won the match because he put a free kick on top of the bar and they got the rebound,” Vancouver manager Carl Robinson said. “When you have a great technician like that you can win games.”

In the third-place match, Columbus beat Iwaki 5-3 in a wide-open, fan-friendly contest.

“Give a lot of credit to the opponent because they really put us under pressure,” said Crew manager Gregg Berhalter. “They never stopped running, they never stopped working and overall they had a fantastic attitude on the pitch.”

The Crew and Whitecaps, of Major League Soccer, were much bigger than Hokkaido (J-League 1) and Iwaki (Fukushima Prefectural Football League), but the Japanese squads competed well by being technically sound.

On Thursday, Hokkaido beat Columbus 3-2 and Vancouver defeated Iwaki 1-0.

“They press very well as a team,” Robinson said of both Japanese teams. “We’re only three weeks into our preseason, so some of our players need to get up to speed a little bit.”

In Saturday’s third-place match, Crew newcomer Gyasi Zardes opened the scoring in the 33rd minute with his third goal of the tournament.

“It was a very intense match and a great atmosphere,” said Zardes, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Galaxy last month. “At the end of the day, it’s the preseason and we’re constantly working hard to get better.”

Also scoring for Columbus were Federico Higuain (48th, penalty kick), Lalas Abubakar (53rd), Edward Opaque (73rd) and Luis Argudo (90th).

Iwaki got goals from Tsubasa Hisanaga (34th), Masahide Hiraoka (66th) and Atsushi Yoshida (77th).

Earlier Saturday, the U.S. Soccer Federation elected Carlos Cordeiro as its new president. Cordeiro, who replaces Sunil Gulati, beat out seven other candidates.

“I wish him nothing but the best. I hope he does an amazing job,” said Zardes, also a member of the U.S. national team.

On the eve of the USSF presidential election, U.S. national team member Geoff Cameron wrote a column in The Players’ Tribune that said the U.S. would have qualified for this summer’s World Cup in Russia had manager Jurgen Klinsmann not been replaced by Bruce Arena during the final stage of CONCACAF qualifying. Cameron also criticized the handling of the development of young players in America, saying they should hone their skills in Europe rather than in MLS.

Berhalter didn’t take kindly to Cameron’s take on Arena, his manager during the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.

“First of all, Bruce is a mentor of mine,” Berhalter said. “I learned a lot from Bruce and I can’t think of a coach in America that’s had more success at every level than Bruce Arena. He knows how to get his teams to play and how to win. His track record has proven that. I don’t agree with those statements (from Cameron).”

Arena resigned a short time after the Americans had their World Cup appearance streak snapped at seven. Dave Sarachan was named interim manager.