Eighty Six Forever, Post Match, Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Post Game: Back on Track

By Alexandre-Gangue-Ruzic and Samuel Rowan.

The Vancouver Whitecaps claimed their first home win of the season, as they downed the Portland Timbers 3-2 thanks to an 87th-minute winner from Ryan Raposo, after nearly throwing away a 2-0 lead in the second half. 

After a frustrating home loss to Real Salt Lake the week prior, it was a much-needed bounce back from the ‘Caps, as they resumed what had otherwise been a pretty strong start to the 2024 MLS season with the win. 

Yet, the ‘Caps came out flying in this Cascadia Cup clash, finding the net early, showing their desire to get back on track with a good showing. 

After some Ali Ahmed trickery down the left wing, he found Ryan Gauld with a great pass into the box, catching Portland’s defenders unaware in the process. From there, Gauld did the rest, as after his first cross attempt was blocked by Zac McGraw, he slotted home past Maxime Crépeau with a right-footed shot, with the Canadian goalkeeper having fallen to the floor after Gauld’s first attempt. 

With that, it marked a perfect start from the ‘Caps, who were able to get the crowd into it early, which is something they’ve often struggled to do in games like this. 

And with the crowd behind them, they then nearly found a second inside 10 minutes, as they seemed to have wings early. 

First, Gauld nearly added his second from in-close, as he had a good look at goal after a nice run and cross from Alessandro Schöpf, but Crépeau saved Gauld’s attempt, and then the ball hit the crossbar and then got cleared out by Juan Mosquera. 

Then, after another nice run from Ahmed, Gauld played provider, as he teed up Pedro Vite for a strike from inside the box after he had a shot blocked, but Vite’s attempt sailed well over the goal. 

But while they didn’t score on that attempt, you knew they weren’t done there. And after withstanding a couple of Portland half-chances, the ‘Caps proved that by doubling their lead in the 29th minute. 

This time, Schöpf ended up being the provider, as his cross into the box would be deflected by Zac McGraw, teeing up Fafà Picault in a perfect position inside the box, and he made no mistake with a beautifully curled finish into the top corner to make it 2-0. 

The score would stay that way into the half time break, too, which seemed to play into the ‘Caps’ favour as they got set for the second half. 

Portland didn’t get that memo, however, as they came flying out of the gates in the second half. As a result, they quickly cut the ‘Caps lead to 2-1 in the 52nd minute, as Cristhian Paredes found a wide-open Evander at the top of the box, and he unleashed a rocket into the top corner with his right foot for his first team’s goal. 

Thanks to that, it set up a grandstand finish, as the ‘Caps brought on some speed to try and finish Portland off in transition, while the Timbers subbed on some attacking power in chase of an equalizer. 

That led to a flurry of chances in the 60th minute, as Levonte Johnson nearly rounded Crépeau but lost the ball in his feet while shooting, before Santiago Moreno tested Takoka in the other goal with a long shot, and then Pedro Vite flashed a shot just wide from inside of the box. 

Then, in the 71st minute, Andrés Cubas had a nice look of his own, putting everything behind a shot from distance, and he nearly had Crépeau scrambling before the ball skimmed the top of the net. 

Soon after, though, Portland would finally find their second. After a great ball into the box by Evander, Felipe Mora was able to sneak in behind Triston Blackmon and get to the cross first, heading home from close range to make it 2-2. 

Yet, after it looked like they might lose control of the game, the Whitecaps pulled things back in the 87th minute. Following a dangerous cross into the box by Sam Adekugbe, who was making his 2024 debut, the ball scrambled and then fell to Picault, who slashed the ball across the face of goal to a wide-open Ryan Raposo, who slotted the ball home to give his team the lead again. 

Of course, that would not mean game over for the Whitecaps, however. Portland nearly reminded them of that in the 91st minute, as Evander found Kamal Miller with a perfect cross into the box, but luckily for Vancouver, his header sailed just wide of the post. 

And from there, the ‘Caps would do enough to hold onto their lead, even surviving a late penalty shout that was eventually waived away by the VAR, allowing them to claim the victory. Thanks to that, they now sit with 10 points out of a possible 15, sitting second in the Western Conference, and have a game in hand on most around them thanks to their early bye week.

Here are three thoughts on today’s game, as we saw it from inside BC Place. 

Whitecaps stars came to play early:

Especially in the first half, I thought that Ryan Gauld and Andres Cubas were massive for Vancouver. 

You need your top players, both in terms of talent and salary, to carry the load in the biggest matches, and they really set the tone in this rivalry clash. 

Gauld scored the opening goal for Vancouver, but Cubas was also on the money right off the bat, with two early interceptions, the second of which led to Vancouver’s opening goal. 

Later in the first half, Cubas was crucial to Vancouver’s buildup yet again, springing Alessandro Schopf down the wing, who eventually found Picault for a great finish. 

Beyond his goal, Gauld also looked up to the challenge, especially in terms of his off-ball movement and pressing. When Gauld is really motoring, your eye is drawn to him, even when he’s not central to what’s happening on the ball. 

That’s the beauty of both Vancouver’s designated players, they do all the little things right, and in Vanni Sartini’s system, it’s the perfect platform for them to shine. -Sam

The Fafa effect on full display for ‘Caps offence:

Who would have thought that Fafa Picault would be Vancouver’s most important offensive contributor through 5 matches, especially when he’s only played 4 of them, and started 2 (for just 213 minutes total)?

One thing is for sure, you can’t deny the results. Without Brian White in this match, Vancouver was forced to make a change up front, and it was for the better. 

They harnessed the success they found in the match against FC Dallas in the first half against the Timbers, and when Vancouver was clicking with Picault and Ahmed on the ball, they were a very dangerous team. 

The issue for Vancouver so far this season is that they seem to attack in spurts, they have a brilliant 15 minutes, but then they struggle to sustain it for longer stretches. 

That being said, the Whitecaps are off to a very solid start to the 2024 campaign, even without Brian White and Ryan Gauld hitting top levels in terms of their attacking contributions, so they won’t mind.  

If Vancouver can now add that familiar White and Gauld magic to complementary scoring from Picault, Raposo, Ahmed, and Kreilach, they could be a top offensive team in MLS.

“It’s very important,” Picault said of his team’s depth scoring. “It’s not just (everyone) scoring, it’s all-around play, too, guys are assisting each other, Sam came in and played a great ball within just a few minutes on the pitch, and there are so many other things that are involved in everybody doing their part.”

“The stats are one thing, but there are guys that may not score for 10, 12 or 15 games, but it doesn’t mean that they’re doing less than anybody else.” Picault added. “So we’ll take the credit for whatever we have to do, and we just want to keep building off of it because it’s a very, very long season.” -Sam

Zonal Marking mistakes nearly cost ‘Caps for 2nd straight week:

For better, or for worse (depending on your perspective), the Vancouver Whitecaps are committed to zonal marking. A key ideology of Vanni Sartini’s defensive system, it has so far mostly yielded positive results, helping pace this strong start. 

But both the biggest strengths and weaknesses of zonal marking? The individual commitment that is required to make it work. 

When it works? It can be poetry in motion, but on the flip side, one individual mistake can completely unravel the system. 

Unfortunately, the ‘Caps saw that in action in this second half, as after an otherwise quiet first half, what looked like a comfortable lead quickly turned to dust after some small errors. 

First, Tristan Blackmon committed the cardinal sin of zonal marking – don’t track the run of a player, as he tried to chase Jonathan Rodriguez as he cut in front of him. Because of that, he opened up the space for Evander to strike, which would’ve been unlikely to happen had Blackmon not vacated that space with his movement. 

Then, Blackmon got caught at the back post on the second goal, as he failed to attack the ball as it sailed into his zone, allowing Felipe Mora to head home from close range after that avoidable breakdown. 

As a result, what was supposed to be a pretty comfortable defensive showing, indicated by the fact that the Whitecaps gave up just 1.2 xG on 11 shots, ended up turning into a much closer game in the end. 

Yet, chalk that up to the nature of zonal marking, serving as an important reminder as to what needs to be done to keep clean sheets in this sort of rigid defensive system. 

“I know I’m a purist,” Sartini offered afterwards. “The way I want us to play, especially defensively, is a utopia, and we cannot be 100% always right there (in our zone). Today, we were 85%, /90%, so next time, I want us to be 92%, and that’s how the utopia is going to be there for us.”

In this game, it didn’t end up being a problem, as the Whitecaps outscored their defensive mistakes, but that won’t always be the case, which they saw first-hand last week. 

With their offence continuing to do enough each week to at least try and win, as they’ve now scored 10 goals in 5 games and are yet to be shut out, keeping their defensive discipline will be key in helping them maintain this strong start to the season going forward. – Alex

This post was done in collaboration with Canadian Soccer Daily, who cover all things Canadian Soccer at https://canadiansoccerdaily.com

14 thoughts on “Post Game: Back on Track”

  1. playing with kreilach was basically 10 v 11 – is he hurt, or just at the end of his career? he didn’t seem to do anything right – didn’t shoot, pass, or dribble effectively, heavy touch at all times, wasn’t in the right place at the right time, couldn’t even hold the ball up. What a difference when Johnson came in! hopefully he gets sat down to think about a new role like stoppage-time sub when the team is a couple goals up
    or maybe cheerleader.

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  2. It’s hard to argue with a win, but you can’t run Gauld like that all season. My concern is that we haven’t got a lot coming off the bench in midfield. Berhalter does not inspire.

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  3. Some random thoughts from the armchair. From my seat on the Southside goal line I can see how good the Caps are when attacking. Especially with Gauld, Ahmed and Fafa leading the way. The Caps also seem to be committing more players right to the front of the net to bang in any loose balls. In the past they relied too much on just the lone striker. However in the 2nd half there wasn’t so much to see as the play was mostly in the Caps half. Once again our flanks were exposed and as we scramble to defend, time and space opens up all through our defensive third. There’s a few issues with our 3 man back line. Our midfield, when defending, needs to be forcing the ball sideways or backwards. If our opponents are able to play around or behind our midfield then we’re in trouble. In all 3 home matches our 2nd half play hasn’t been that good. I’d say we’ve been outplayed and we’re fortunate to have 4 out of 9 points. Our wingbacks are so crucial to our play and when they tire, as is only human given how much ground they have to cover, then we’re going to concede scoring chances. Right away in the 2nd half I thought if we don’t get the 3rd goal then we’re in trouble. 2-1. Johnston replaces Krielach. No brainer. At least Johnston gives Portland a little more to worry about as we try to counter attack. But what is Sartini waiting for. Ahmed, Vite and Schopf appear tired and are ineffective. Why not some fresh legs. 2-2. I’m thinking we’re going to lose this game. Finally in the 81st minute the subs come on, 20-25 later than they should have and what a difference. I just don’t understand what Sartini fears in making 2nd half subs. The game was slipping away from the Caps right from the 2nd half outset. We have the depth. Our subs will usually have a positive impact on the game. It was an exciting and dramatic finish but based on our 2nd half performance, we were lucky to win this game.

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  4. Until we see Adekugbe and Ahmed starting consistently out wide it’ll be difficult to get a bead on this team’s potential, which hasn’t looked especially stellar despite the points.

    With Fafa (or even Johnson, who looked increasingly threatening) up top with White, Kreilach is slipping into a Ryan Gauld understudy role and I’m fine with that. If he’s in your second string, the depth across that attacking arc is decent, unless they need to cover too many at once.

    Perhaps having both Adekugbe and Ahmed available as options to flood into the corners would make Kreilach’s lack of pace less noticeable but Fafa has certainly earned the role when White returns I would imagine.

    I thought Ook-pik looked fully confident and comfortable in his first substantial minutes, which makes up for the concern I felt for Laborda. I guess there were always going to be some bumps in the road with him. Vite, as well, was frustrating if fairly decent.

    Overall, an entertaining night and some good signs for a potentially entertaining season. Makes you wish they’d sign one more DP to push them over the top. Sigh.

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  6. Quote- Anonymous
    MARCH 31, 2024 AT 10:13 AM
    “alas for only 60 minutes- is it his DNA or his lack of fitness ?”

    he’s fasting for ramadan.

    it isnt just this game that he lacks energy after 60 minutes- it was apparent in 2023 also – but in those 60 minutes, he is a significant player and can do some magical stuff… which makes him a special player

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    1. I thought the Moslem leaders made exceptions years ago for athletes and those living way north where you could fast for 6 months. Fast just for “Mecca time” type of adjustments.

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  7. This game really highlighted yet again how slow Kreilach and Schopf are. Multiple times they had passes that could have sprung then in on goal or leading a charge, but defenders easily closed in on them.

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    1. And yet Schopf undressed Miller on that play where the ball crashed off the bar not long after the first goal and then he set up Fafa’s strike. He’s not the answer there but he did make those two important plays, so he doesn’t need any more shitting on him.

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  8. it certainly was an entertaining game- lots of ups and downs in the Caps play… and it will probably continue as the Caps seem to tighten-up when they have the game by the throat- it could be confidence, nerves or immaturity- its an on-going pattern – they really do struggle putting a final nail into a game that they appear to have in their hands

    you have to agree that Picault- at this point- has been a BIG asset as a free agent (i didnt see this coming), and having the magical Ahmed doing his stuff really adds width to the Caps game (alas for only 60 minutes- is it his DNA or his lack of fitness ?) and Raposo getting gritty goals (who would have thunk ?) is a surprise

    you see the Caps as a Conference contender, and then you see some glaring weaknesses- its going to be a fun- and sometimes frustrating- season

    i predicted a Portland win, so it GREAT to be wrong- a night to send the loyal fans home happy

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  9. Remember the last couple years where we were the slow starting team that would get scored on early? Glad we put that one to bed LOL.

    That said our giving up leads is a frustrating problem to have but at least we’re in the lead most games.

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