Vancouver Whitecaps FC

“A refocus is going to be welcomed”: Leagues Cup break comes at perfect time for Whitecaps after win over Galaxy

With a big break looming, the Vancouver Whitecaps knew that it was imperative that they went out with the best result possible. 

Given that their next MLS game won’t be all the way until August 20th, as the league pauses its regular season to play out the Leagues Cup, the last thing that they wanted to do was to head into such a break on a low. 

Especially given their recent battle to find some consistency in league play, which had kept them stuck in the middle of the MLS table, a bigger goal was to string together consecutive wins, too, something that they hadn’t done since early April in league play. 

Safe to say, with a 4-2 win over the LA Galaxy on Saturday night, their second straight win, they certainly ticked all those boxes. 

They were left to sweat a bit more than they needed to, as the Galaxy scored two goals in the second half to make things interesting after the ‘Caps stormed out to an early 3-0 lead, but Sergio Cordóva then secured the win with a late goal to weather the storm in the end.

With that, they can now head into Leagues Cup on a bit of a high, especially given that competition will feel like a bit of a bonus for them given that they’ve already secured a spot in the Concacaf Champions Cup next year, one of the big draws of the new tournament. 

They’ll certainly look to make a run in that tournament, given the chance to keep their team in form and the opportunity to lift a trophy, but they can do so without pressure, something that many other participants don’t have the luxury of being able to do. 

Where the pressure remains, however, is in MLS play, and this result didn’t change that. If anything, the pressure continues to mount, as the Whitecaps show glimpses of what they’re able to do at their very best.

The first half was a prime example of that. For 30 minutes, the Whitecaps were untouchable, as they nearly played the Galaxy off the park. 

As a result, they went up 3-0 in just 23 minutes, while forcing LA Galaxy defender, Chris Mavinga, into being sent off as he picked up a pair of yellow cards. 

Plus, it felt like they were far from done – they kept their foot on the gas pedal after the third goal, too, looking like a team that had plans on scoring way more. 

You add in that Ryan Gauld maintained his recent MVP level pace for Vancouver, nabbing a first half brace to get up to seven goals and five assists in his last eight MLS games, it felt like the Whitecaps had wings with the way that their attack was rallying around Gauld. 

Yet that’s where they then showed the frustrating side of themselves as a team, as they then quietly let the Galaxy back into the game. In particular, their work off the ball really slowed down, as they seemed to settle into a rhythm that suggested that they thought the game was over. 

On the ball, they continued to push numbers forward, and looked like they still had plans of scoring a fourth goal. Given that they had 1.9 xG in the first half (and 0.77 of that was a penalty), and 1.6 xG in the second half, the numbers reflect that, too. 

Defensively, though, they fell off completely, allowing LA to score two preventable goals, allowing them to get back into a game that they had no business being in after the first half. 

They rescued things in the end, as Cordova’s insurance marker allowed them to breathe a sigh of relief after some nervous moments, but there was still a lot to be worried about. 

But the good news is that the Whitecaps are aware of that. Despite the importance of the victory, their reaction was rather subdued afterwards, as they lamented their second-half performances.

Before, they might have been ecstatic to see things over the line and to get a win, but instead, they had their focus on what went wrong for them despite the victory. 

That’s key, but it shows how far this team has come, and why many continue to believe that it is the best in their team’s history, even if the results have been mixed. 

Now, however, they must find a way to show it, and the best way to do so is to string a few wins together, as they’ve done here. 

“I think it’s the same lesson that we’ve been discussing right now, which is making sure that we stick to our game plan,” Whitecaps assistant coach, Michael D’Agostini, said after filling in for a suspended Vanni Sartini on Saturday. “We’re a team that’s very tactically sound, and we should be as we work on that a lot, but I think today is an opportunity for us to learn that if we move away from that, it’s gonna be difficult for us to win games.”

“It’s not an easy league, every single game anybody can win, so we just really need to make sure that from minute one to minute 95 or 98 or whatever they give, we’re sticking to the same game plan, and if that game plan changes, that the players go in and execute that too.”

Ironically, they now won’t be able to string a few more together until late August, thanks to the MLS schedule, which if anything, is fitting given the inconsistent nature of their campaign. 

At the same time, this break could prove to be exactly what the doctor ordered. A chance to reset, and both build on what’s been working as well as clean out what hasn’t, all while remaining in shape and in form due to Leagues Cup, it could almost serve as a second preseason of sorts. 

Especially with some key contributors returning from international duty in Julian Gressel, Ali Ahmed and Javain Brown, with the first two putting up fantastic performances in this game, it feels like the Whitecaps are in a good position to really take a step forward with nearly their whole squad healthy and available. 

Because of that, they’re looking forward to using this break as a chance to start chasing that next level, even if they’re a bit frustrated that it is halting this recent momentum, as they get set for the last 12 games of their regular season schedule. 

Still with all to play for, as 11 points separates second and 12th in the West right now, the opportunity is there, and they certainly have the capacity to take it.

So as this break looms, the message is simple from them – bring it on. 

“I think a little bit of both,” D’Agostini said when asked if he was excited or frustrated by the timing of this break. “We’ve been through some tough periods, we’ve had a lot of games and it’s become heavy for us. So I think a refocus is going to be welcomed.”

“Obviously, gaining momentum with two wins in a row is something that we want to build off of, but at the end of the day, I think we can shift our focus now into the Leagues Cup, and then be ready for when the league starts back up, and hopefully have these tough conversations that we need to have to address the things that happened in the second half today that we don’t want to see again, that we want to minimize as much as possible.”

“So maybe this is a good time to nip (bad habits) in the bud, and then also enjoy a little bit of a fresh environment with Leagues Cup, and then take that onto the league knowing that these two wins in a row put us in a good position.”

“It’s going to give us time to recover and work on things on the training ground, the kind of things were getting us tonight while having more patience, more possession and having better structure.” Gauld finished.

(Photo Credit: Mark Zhuang)

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