The Vancouver Whitecaps were on the wrong end of a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Sporting Kansas City. In my opinion (some may disagree) the scoreline flattered SKC slightly but they were still very deserving winners on the whole.

This will probably not be remembered, given the final score, but the Whitecaps actually started the game quite well. For the first 30 minutes or so SKC created very little and the Whitecaps were stringing together some good passing sequences. But what was missing for Vancouver was any penetration. Gauld, Vite, and Schopf just couldn’t quite get on the same page. There were a lot of slightly overhit passes or mistimed runs and the end result was no real chances for Vancouver.

Then things took a turn for the worse. Ryan Raposo was taken out by a pick play and then Luis Martins was much too slow to shift over and SKC capitalized through Remi Walter. I think the absences of Javain Brown and Tristan Blackmon were really felt on this goal. Normally the player at right-back would be either Brown or Mathias Laborda. Both of these players are quite a bit more truculent and better at 1v1 defending than Raposo. Would either of those guys be guaranteed to prevent this goal? Certainly not (lord knows Brown has a mental lapse in him) but I think their chances would have been much better.

Shortly before half-time, the flanks were again an area of concern for Vancouver. Vite did not track a runner and Martins was not able to intercept the cross to the back post (although we should be fair it also got through a bunch of other players as well) and Vancouver was down 2-0. Now, obviously, Vite, Raposo, and Martins all provide some level of positive in attack which makes up for their defensive abilities to varying degrees. This isn’t to say that they are all useless. But I’m not sure you can get away with playing all three in positions that require defensive acumen at the same time. Especially not on the road. Then again, they just beat LAFC with basically that exact setup so what do I know?

The Whitecaps came out for the second half with a certain degree of vigor. Sergio Cordova was denied from in close by an important block and it looked like the ‘Caps might have some fight left in them yet. But then Yohei Takaoka’s controller disconnected and put an end to that. Vancouver was unable to generate much the rest of the way and SKC did a good job of taking the sting out of the game.

Before we close the book on what was a pretty disappointing performance overall I do want to say positive things about the performances of two players. Firstly, Sergio Cordova has managed 3+ shots and at least one high-danger chance in each of his last two outings. Now, one might reasonably say “Big whoop, he’s still a DP striker with 0 goals.” But I will take a striker who is getting shots and missing them over a striker that doesn’t get shots every day of the week because sometimes shots go in! This may sound like damning with faint praise, and it is, but if Cordova can provide any kind of upside that would be a huge improvement over literally nothing.

The other player I want to mention is JC Ngando who was afforded a 12-minute came with the game already lost. I thought he looked good! He provided some physicality that was missing from the ‘Caps’ midfield, showed some nice dribbles, and had a really nice scoop pass to Levonte Johnson which sadly didn’t lead to anything. I would like to see more of him! Ngando has had a similar impact to Johnson at MLS Next Pro, is taking up a valuable international slot and at 23 isn’t exactly a super young prospect. So I think the time to see if he can be a first-team contributor is now.

Vancouver now has a 4 game home stand against a series of beatable opponents. This will then be followed by a grueling seven-game road trip so banking some points will be very important. First up, the Seattle Sounders.