Saturday night at Children’s Mercy Park, the Vancouver Whitecaps were comprehensively defeated by Sporting Kansas City by a final score of 3-0. After the rampant optimism following last weekend’s big road win, as well as Sporting’s mediocre form coming into the match, expectations were high for the Whitecaps. Unfortunately, they failed to deliver, looking more like the team they were early in the season, one doing a lot of the right things, but falling well short of their potential.
While Vancouver continued to miss some key players, with a combination of injuries and the Gold Cup leaving five regular starters out of the lineup, those who replaced the starters, unlike last weekend in LA, fell well short of what was being asked of them. With some key home games upcoming, Vancouver needs to maximize points while they can before a road-heavy end to the MLS season. I still think this team has what it takes to push for a top-four spot in the West, but it’s clear that the margins between that and fighting for the final playoff places are very thin right now.
Let’s have a look at the individual performances.
Yohei Takaoka (5.0) – The Japanese keeper was having an ok night until he coughed up a ball right in the middle of the area, handing SKC a third goal and sealing the Whitecaps’ fate. It’s a tough scenario to be placed in, but the Whitecaps can’t afford mistakes like that right now.
Mathias Laborda (5.5) – The rambunctious defender did a decent job holding up against SKC’s dangerous attacking players. He played quite a few long balls forward to the strikers without much success.
Ranko Veselinovic (5.5) – My thoughts are similar to Laborda here, although Ranko had less success in his 1v1’s. In general, the communication at the back looked a bit hesitant, and I think they miss Blackmon’s presence in that department, who is usually pretty decisive and assertive.
Luis Martins (4.5) – After holding up well last weekend in LA, this was more of what was to be expected from Martins in a back three. Without the same pressing which helped shield Vancouver’s defenders last week, Martins was left exposed on several occasions, including the obvious example of SKC’s opening goal.
Ryan Raposo (6.0) – While not perfect, Raposo showed a lot of aggressiveness trying to win the ball back, and swung in some good crosses for Vancouver’s strikers. In a match that had very little juice for Vancouver, he stood out to me as someone who was looking to get on the front foot.
Andres Cubas (5.5) – The Paraguayan was ok in his 45 minutes of action but did not have much of an impact on the game. With SKC exposing space in transition and wide areas, he did not have a ton to do defensively, and because of the many long balls Vancouver played, he only had 15 touches.
Alessandro Schopf (5.0) – After a nice showing against LAFC, this felt like a step backward for Schopf. Whether it was his legs or the way SKC attacked in space, there were a lot of moments where Schopf was chasing the game.
Pedro Vite (5.0) – Vancouver’s creators struggled to do much of anything with the ball, and Vite was a victim of the very poor striking play in front of him, which we will get to shortly. That being said, after a good defensive showing against LAFC, SKC’s second goal was not a great moment for the youngster.
Ryan Gauld (6.0) – When the Scotsman was on the ball for Vancouver he did some good things, the problem was, he wasn’t as involved as Vanni Sartini would have liked.
Sergio Cordova (1.0) & Simon Becher (2.5) – Alright, here we go. To be blunt, I thought the starting strikers for Vancouver in this match were awful. We can point to the obvious fact that the Whitecaps did not register a shot on target until the dying stages of the match, but for me, the problem was much deeper than that. In particular, the pressing (or lack thereof), displayed by the font two (but Cordova in particular) allowed SKC to play the ball out of the back wherever they liked and at whatever pace they liked. Most of SKC’s dangerous sequences of play began with Vancouver’s strikers failing to put Sporting’s defenders or midfielders under any type of pressure. Even when Cordova did hustle to close down, he usually did so with a very poor angle to take away passing lanes, and he would blow straight by his man, taking himself out of position for any subsequent defensive duties. Becher, while less egregious than Cordova on the defensive end, lacked the intensity and athleticism to make much of an impact closing down.
On the other side of the ball, the absence of any holdup play or dangerous movement found Cordova and Becher often occupying the same space, or being so stretched that they couldn’t provide much support for one another. Becher, in particular, lacks the strength to hold off defenders or win contested balls, and both struggle to get themselves in a position to find the end of crosses around the box. These struggles meant that both Pedro Vite and Ryan Gauld did not have much joy getting involved in the attack, with Becher and Cordova serving as very effective black holes for all hopeful attacking play. As a final note, Cordova was offside a number of times simply because he failed to put in the effort to get back in position.
In terms of the future for these two strikers going forward, Cordova is impossibly frustrating because it looks like he has all the physical tools, but his mentality and instincts let him down. Is this fixable? I have my doubts given the growing sample size. With Becher, I think we have to accept that he’s a striker who has a good knack for poaching goals in limited minutes, but whose ceiling is likely as an impact contributor off the bench. He has too many limitations to be considered for a starting role on a regular basis.
Vanni Sartini (5.5) – Despite the very disappointing result, I’m not entirely sure how much Sartini should have done differently. He needed a much better effort from his strikers, and a couple of defensive lapses broke the Whitecaps after a first 30 minutes on the road which was solid, generating a number of corners and half chances. If the Whitecaps could have made it deeper into the second half before conceding a third, or scored themselves, then there would have been more options to try to change the match with some substitutions.
Substitutions (6.0) – Only so much can be learned from dead rubber minutes in the second half, but I thought Johnson and Caicedo, in particular, brought a spark and some energy which was missing most of the time for Vancouver in this match. Sebastian Berhalter could have been a possibility to start beside Cubas if the Whitecaps had setup differently, and he was decent in the second half. Ngando and Aguilar only had brief showings but looked alright.
Ok, those were my thoughts on the loss down in Kansas City. What did you think went wrong for Vancouver? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Cordoba is an absolute bust. Put him in the file with all the other failed attackers they signed over the years. They MUST get out of this contract after this season. What an embarrassing signing; Axel can do better than this. And no, if he scores 2 or 3 goals that doesn’t make him a success. Terrible more often than not. Waste of DP spot, waste of playing time, waste of a bench seat.
I thought for sure that Cordova would get re-injured, but I don’t speak ill of him and hope he stays healthy and can finally deliver.
However, he is looking like a bad miss, just like Blondell and Ardaiz from previous Caps regimes.
The rating on Becher is harsh. There were several times when he was “on” over the top or he was in a good spot but didn’t get service – I can think of two instances each with Gauld, Schopf, and Cordova. Lack of service doesn’t equal poor play, or it’s on the 10s and the 8s as much as it’s on the 9. His pressing forced at least 3 turnovers (maybe 4) and you can actually see him frustrated by the lack of support from Cordova in the press (36’ and again at 38’). And he won two defensive headers on set pieces.
He could have done better on the ball from Gauld in the 26’. And you can pick on a few other things (not getting the 5’ header on frame, getting beat by Kinda while defending deep) but not a 2.5 performance.
Agree about White and especially so when he and Gauld are in sync. They improve the Caps attack and all players play better. Hate those injuries that happen during training sessions
I think this shows how important White is for the team. He clearly has some great vibe with his guys on the pitch and when he is not there it shows. Cordova isn’t going to worry any team and that’s not great for a striker. Having said that, missing Gressel and Blackmon and Brown has to change the spirit out there. I think if Ahmed was in this game there would have been some spark. I definitely don’t feel like this game was on Vanni. Players have to play. Must have been too hot down there in KC.
This right here- agree strongly.
White is all too often the sole source of pressure on the defense. He leads by example to get everyone else to press- you can see this in Cordova’s body language when they’re on the field together. This might be an issue of fitness, but there’s always another charge that most players can manage to do, even when they’re tired- only White makes that charge when others do not. Much, though perhaps not all, of the failings of the defenders against SKC came from the lack of pressure and of crisp possession passing that the ‘Caps showed against LAFC, and a lot of that starts with White.
The ratings are too high for a team losing 3-0, and deservedly so. After the 1st 25 the Caps were outplayed in every aspect of the game. No Cap should be getting more than a 5. The ratings for Cordova and Becher are bogus. They were no better or worse than the rest of the team. When these beat downs are offered up, as in the past with say Nerwinski getting a 0.0, I’ve rewatched games to verify what’s up and found that these super low ratings are based on emotion and bias, and perhaps not really knowing the game of soccer at all. For example, if Nerwinski wins 95% of his duels, completes 90% of his passes but makes 1 pass that is intercepted and leads to goal, does that warrant a 0.0 rating. The fault of the interception was also on Teibert, who pointed where he wanted the ball and Nerwinski delivered it right there, but unfortunately it ended up being telegraphed, leading to the interception. Interesting that Nerwinski was being run out of town on the 86 Forever. Not good enough for a poor Caps team but good enough for a strong St.Louis team. Perhaps those coming up with these scathing criticism should provide more accurate detail of every interaction of say, Becher and Cordova. And every interaction, not just cherry picking the ones to support the biased and emotional words being offered up here. Okay, Salty can be offended by comments about Teibert, but calls Cordova a “Lug”. Whatever. And, I thought some journalistic integrity would be in play as the lead writer but….rewatch the match
hell Colsmith– well, we may disagree, but at least we are still commenting on the games b/c we love soccer and are still involved with the Caps- thanks for your inputs
when i say Cordova is a Big Lug, i mean it from only a soccer point of view- he weighs the team down with his usually ineffective playing style and yet he is on a DP salary- it is NOT meant as a personal statement- i will consider my words
what would you have done at Minute 25? i offered my insights and strategy
Adding to your good comments:
1. well you nailed it with both ‘strikers’– i was mostly disappointed with Becher as he has more ability that what he showed, but playing upfront with the Big Lug is a challenge as one never knows where Sergio will be – cant say anything more that what i have already said about Cordova
I would have subbed both Martins and Cordova in exchange for berhalter and caicedo, then move Vite to a more attacking role; tell raposo to stay more as a defender with laborda as defensive support- i think a mainly back 4 would have helped shut down SKC on our flanks, causing them to come more often down our middle where Cubas dominates (when Blackmon is in the CB role, that is a BIG help to the whole defence and takaoka)
WE NEED A FURTHER EXPERIENCED CB AND IT HAS TO BE PRIORITY 1 FOR
AXEL AND THE SCOUTING TEAM (can it be scott kennedy who is a free agent?) AS WE ALL KNOW THAT THE OWNERS WONT SPLASH THEIR OWN CASH TO LAND A HIGH QUALITY STRIKER-
2. Vanni Sartini- 4.0- he failed in adjusting his line-up to a back 4 when it was obvious by minute 25 that SKC were ‘killing’ us down our flanks, especially on Raposo who was trying to add some offence and when SKC counter-attacked he was left flailing and chasing around on his own – he needed support and Vanni didnt give him any– making in-game adjustments has to be Vanni’s next stage of growth because he strangles the team with his reluctance to adjust as needed, a skill that good coaches have
STUBBORN IS AS STUBBORN DOES
(i wonder how long Sartini will keep on starting Cordova who has an AMAZING 2 assists in 13 games and has made almost $500 000 USD for doing that)- Vanni can sing all his praises he wants about Sergio, but i dont think most supporters believe him
MINUTE 25 NEW LINE-UP- takaoka
berhalter veselinovic laborda raposo
schopf cubas gauld
vite
caicedo becher
the next 4 games will tell us a lot about the chances to make the playoffs- we need at least 9/12 points
this is a good team that works well together, a head coach that is getting better and has 4 quality pieces- Gauld, Gressel, Takaoka, Cubas-, 3 semi-quality players in Vite, White and Blackmon and a developing quality player in Ahmed- that is a basis for HOPE