Saturday night at BC Place, The Vancouver Whitecaps secured their second home win of the week with a 4-2 result against the LA Galaxy.

For Vancouver, it was an up and down match, as they jumped on the Galaxy early, scoring three goals in the opening 25 minutes, but followed that up with a nervy display over the final 60+ minutes while up a man, which made the match too close for comfort at times. Overall though, Vancouver had a whole whack of great scoring chances, hit the crossbar three or four times, and ultimately, thoroughly deserved the three point result at the final whistle.

Ok, let’s take a look at the individual grades:

Yohei Takaoka (6.0)

The Japanese keeper had a couple good moments commanding his area on Saturday, which was nice to see after recent struggles. The first goal against was a very tough ask with so much traffic in front of him. On the second, perhaps one could question if he could have done better on a tight angle shot. All things considered, decent showing.

Luis Martins (6.5)

The Portuguese defender has fared surprisingly well at centreback. The Galaxy strikers had a very quiet night, and while Brugman and Puig did grow as the match went on, their chances in advantageous positions were pretty limited. With Blackmon over-committing, Martins and Ahmed were put in a tough spot on the second Galaxy goal.

Ranko Veselinovic (7.5)

The stalwart defender for Vancouver has been in a great run of form recently. He was calm in 1v1 situations, very sharp with his passing, and had a few key shot-blocks.

Tristan Blackmon (6.0)

Since coming back from injury, Blackmon has looked a step off the pace. One of his strengths is his aggressiveness, but he’s overplayed his hand a few times now over the last two matches.

Andres Cubas (7.5)

Seeing the way Brugman and Puig came alive in the second half shows just how important Cubas is to Vancouver’s success. He’s a defensive monster.

Ryan Raposo (7.0)

A really nice match from Raposo, who’s found some form and consistent minutes with Javain Brown away and Martins moving back to CB. He had 4 key passes, including an assist on Vancouver’s opening goal.

Alessandro Schopf (6.5)

The Austrian has been moving up and down the pitch much better recently, which is encouraging. He was unlucky not to score, driving a powerful shot off the woodwork in the first half.

Pedro Vite (6.5)

A quiet match by Vite’s recent standards, he was removed with some muscular issues in the 50th minute, so hopefully he’s alright. Overall, Vite was the least notable of Vancouver’s midfield starters.

Julian Gressel (6.5)

Perhaps one of the reasons Vite was a bit quieter is the return of Julian Gressel, who commands a lot of touches entering the final third. Gressel looked like he’s had a hectic last couple of weeks, and was not as sharp as usual with his service, but I’m sure he’ll be back up to full speed by Friday.

Ryan Gauld (9.0)

Another massive night for Ryan Gauld who has been on an absolute tear over the last month or so. He had 2 goals, 3 key passes, hit woodwork once, and continued to combine very nicely with Brian White.

Brian White (7.0)

Speaking of White, the American found the score-sheet again, upping his goal total to 8 so far this season. Given the way the match played out, White was not very involved after the Whitecaps went up 3-0, and he only had 18 touches in total. Still though, a solid shift for the American.

Substitutes

The level of play from Vancouver took a real dip in the second half, so it goes without saying that removing Cubas and Vite for Berhalter (6.0) and Teibert (5.5) didn’t help Whitecaps’ cause. It was a tough situation for Michael D’Agostino when Vite had to come off, but obviously, it’s worth asking if adding another more attack-minded player might have been a better option than inserting Russell Teibert. Either Gauld could have shifted back into the midfield four, or Gressel could have tucked inside to make room for another wide player. Either way, it didn’t end up hurting the Whitecaps in terms of final result, which is good news. Ali Ahmed (6.5) was a needed boost when he made his return to the Whitecaps lineup in the 62nd minute, and both Deiber Caicedo (7.0) and Sergio Cordova (6.5) were positive inside the last 15 minutes, creating a goal at the death which ultimately sealed the win for Vancouver. Deiber, I would think, has earned himself some starts in Leagues Cup.

Overall, I don’t know how many specifics there are to take away from a match where Vancouver went up big early, and then sat back too much after going up a man, all without their manager on the sidelines. After a tough loss last weekend to Seattle, the Whitecaps did what they needed to this week, securing six points as they head into Leagues Cup. This team definitely has some minor defensive adjustments to sort out before the 20th of August where they’ll host San Jose, but they are in a good position in terms of the league, all things considered.

Alright, those were my thoughts on the match. What did you think? Are you excited for Leagues Cup? Let me know in the comments!

(Image Credit: Mark Zhuang)