Eighty Six Forever, Post Match, Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Seeing Red: Whitecaps Trounce TFC

By Alexandre-Gangue-Ruzic and Samuel Rowan.

The Vancouver Whitecaps hot start to the 2024 MLS season continued on Saturday, as they cruised to a dominant 4-0 win over Canadian rivals Toronto FC at BC Place. 

With that, they now climbed to first place in the Western Conference, and first in all of MLS in points per game, improving to a record of 4W-1D-1L (13 points) through just six matches. 

Not only that, but their performances are improving by the game, too, and this one may have been the best of the lot, as they dominated Toronto from start to finish. 

Yet, that’s a credit to how they started this one, as they nearly had a goal inside two minutes, but Brian White just flashed a cross from a tight angle just past the run of Ryan Gauld, who couldn’t sort out his feet in time to put the chance away.  

But while White crossed his wires with Gauld there, perhaps indicating a sign of rust after missing last week’s game with a concussion, one felt that he wouldn’t miss a second opportunity to help create a goal if it fell to him. 

And that chance came in just the sixth minute, as he did well to dispossess former Whitecap Deiby Flores at the edge of the box, giving him a free look at goal, and he made no mistake in slotting his chance into the bottom corner past Sean Johnson. 

For the Whitecaps, it was a perfect start, as TFC has been quite good defensively, but toothless in front of goal this year, meaning that they would have to spend the rest of the game chasing opportunities instead of sitting back and letting the game come to them. 

Yet, to TFC’s credit, they didn’t look uncomfortable doing that. As a result, they nearly found the net in the 18th minute, as Deandre Kerr dribbled into the box after TFC won the ball high up the pitch, but his shot hit off Yohei Takaoka and onto the post, before bouncing off Ranko Veselinovic and just wide. 

Then, less than 10 minutes later, Kerr had another glorious chance, doing well to capitalize on a miscommunication between Veselinovic and Takaoka to get a shot from in-close, but Takaoka did well to save the attempt with a strong hand. 

And that ended up being a big momentum booster for the ‘Caps, as they doubled their lead just minutes later. There, Alessandro Schöpf did well to dance through a couple of defenders and whip in a cross, finding a wide-open Picault at the back post, and Picault made no mistake in heading home his third goal of the season, continuing a bright start to life with the Whitecaps. 

Having blown a similar lead last week, however, the ‘Caps wouldn’t be content with scoring just two. Because of that, they continued to push, too, with Ryan Gauld doing well to fashion a dangerous attempt in the 45th minute, before Schöpf nearly added a goal with two dangerous looks at the back post that were both saved by Johnson. 

Then, on the other side of half time, Picault nearly made it a brace after a nice run into the box, but his low shot slid just wide of the post from a narrow-angle. After that, White had another good look, as Sam Adekugbe found him with a dangerous cross, but he’d be unable to make good contact on the ball from in close. 

Eventually, that pressure would pay off in the 81st minute, though. After a failed Toronto corner, Andrés Cubas put his boot through a clearance, putting the ball in behind TFC’s defence. 

There, however, just happened to be a wide-open Gauld, who had snuck behind the TFC defensive line, and he’d do the rest from there, carrying the ball for 60 yards before slotting into the bottom corner to seal the game. 

The ‘Caps wouldn’t be done there, either. Soon after, they made it 4, as Ryan Raposo whipped in a perfect corner into the near post towards Ranko Veselinovic, who slotted home with a deft right-footed finish off the post and in to add to his team’s lead and finish off the game. 

Despite that, TFC aimed to finish the game off strongly, and nearly had a consolation late on through Cassius Mailula, who had a good look from inside of the box, but he was robbed by a flying kick save by Takaoka, who made sure to keep his team’s clean sheet intact. 

And from there, he’d fortunately have no other threats to that clean sheet, as the ‘Caps cruised to the finish line. 

With that, it allowed the Whitecaps to continue their hot start, sending a message to the rest of the MLS in the process – they aren’t messing around to start 2024. 

On that note, here are three thoughts on today’s game, as we saw it from inside BC Place. 

Whitecaps Living up to Preseason Hype:

Heading into this season, Whitecaps head coach, Vanni Sartini, placed a lot of emphasis on the Whitecaps starting the season off on a strong note. 

After slow starts in 2022 and 2023 forced them to make up a lot of ground later on in those respective campaigns, the Whitecaps felt that they had to nip that in the bud this year, 

And so far, they’ve certainly done that with this start, as indicated by the 4 wins and 1 draw they’ve already put up, allowing them to accumulate 13 points out of a possible 18. 

By comparison, they had just six points through six games at this time last year (1W-3D-2L), as it took them until April 1st just to get their first win, and until May 20th to have as many wins as they already have so far this year.

Yet, with how they’re trending, it feels like there are many more to come, too. Especially after a performance like this one. 

Despite their hot start, they were yet to deliver a true statement win, with a confident 3-1 win over FC Dallas probably being their other best showing to date. Wins over San Jose and Portland were good, but saw the team put up a poor first half against the Earthquakes, and then a poor second half against the Timbers, putting stains on otherwise good showings. 

In this game, however, they were in complete control right from the beginning. Other than a pair of TFC chances that fell to Deandre Kerr after Whitecaps mistakes, they made sure to ensure that the game was played on their terms and stuck with that the rest of the way. 

For them, that meant stretching the field out in possession, forcing Toronto to play a lot more vertical than they would typically want to, and then shutting things down off the ball. 

And that paid off for them big time, as TFC quickly tired, allowing the ‘Caps to pull away as the game went on. 

The stats show that, too: the ‘Caps outshot TFC 14 to 7, putting up 7 shots on target to TFC’s 3, reflecting that showing. 

So now, look for the Whitecaps to build off this performance, especially with what they showed offensively.

Having been solid defensively as a team through all six games, individual errors aside, it feels like the seven goals they’ve scored in the last two games are a sign that the offence is hitting top form, which combined together, could lead to several more dominant performances like this in the future. 

And if they keep doing that, it feels like this strong start is just the beginning of what’s to come, showing why some believe this team has Supporters Shield upside on their day, something they’ve certainly proved across this stretch.

“We’re doing two things much better than we were last year,” Sartini said when asked about his team’s hot start. “First of all, we are better defensively. We were very good last year. I think this year we are even better defensively. Then, the second thing is that last year, we needed 14 chances to score a goal, and this year we are much more (clinical). But this is just the start, the harder part is still to come.”

– Alex

Alessandro Schöpf: A Man Reborn

Where on earth did this come from? The Austrian midfielder, all things considered, has not been a great signing for the Vancouver Whitecaps to date. 

However, he may have found a second lease on life in a wide role under Sartini. 

There have been signs of Schöpf thriving in this new role to start 2024, but over the last two matches, he has taken his play to another level. Against Toronto, Schöpf was a dynamic attacking threat for Vancouver, both with the ball at his feet as well as through his service, highlighted by his run to set up Fafà Picault for an easy-headed goal at the back post. 

Adding to that, his movement has been far more effortless than we have been used to seeing in a Whitecaps shirt, too. 

One of Schöpf’s hallmarks as a Whitecap to this point has been his clunky movement and inability to keep up with the pace of the MLS game. Now though, Schöpf looks rejuvenated in this wide position, more confident both in attacking and then tracking back defensively, even getting under the skin of Federico Bernardeschi with some extracurriculars in the late stages.

Schöpf detailed after the match that a big reason for his growing success is finding consistency in his role, knowing where his teammates are going to be, and how his contributions can best impact the team’s play. Tactically, Schöpf explained that playing open to the ball, with room to run at defenders, and to be more aggressive without fear of turning over the ball in a dangerous area or having to be conservative in his decision-making, has played to his strengths the last couple of weeks.

“Yeah, I’m trying to do my best, as always,” Schöpf explained. “I have more space, more time to create and also drive the ball with more speed, because in the center you always have men on you, and you always get pressure from behind.”

After the match, Vanni Sartini joked that if Schöpf keeps playing this way, he may make a push for the Austrian National Team this summer at the Euros. 

And if he keeps playing at the level he did against TFC, you never know. He was the best player on the pitch Saturday at BC Place.

-Sam

Tactical Growth & Match Management on full display:

Despite their early season success, the Whitecaps couldn’t hide from the fact they had previously blown two second-half leads at BC Place. That said, Vancouver looked like a different team this weekend on home turf. From minute one to minute ninety, they left little doubt about who would come away with three points at full time.

A big part of this was getting off to a strong start. With the way TFC wanted to press aggressively and keep the match tight and congested, finding a scrappy early goal allowed Vancouver to put Toronto on the back foot, forcing them to play an open affair which did not suit their style. 

Every time Vancouver was able to break TFC’s press with a critical pass, there were acres of space for the Whitecaps to run into, and it turned into a nightmare for the visitors. It’s clear here that John Herdman does not have the roster he wants just yet to suit his style of play, and Vancouver exposed this, especially with a couple of key players out injured for TFC.

In the previous two matches, you could see Vancouver drop their intensity in the second half, playing to manage the lead rather than to take the opponents out of the contest for good. In this match though, Vancouver both took the life out of the match when they needed to, but also kept surging forward on the counter, keeping Toronto honest and not allowing them to push their numbers forward without fear of being exposed.

Ranko Veselinovic detailed in the post-match presser that a big focus in the week leading up to this game was for his team to be sharp with their passing out of the back, not providing easy possession opportunities for their opponents high up the pitch. 

Sure, the Whitecaps still needed Yohei Takaoka to bail them out on a few occasions (the Japanese keeper, not to be forgotten, was also very good in this match). 

On the whole, though, this was simply a much more mature and clinical performance for Vancouver once they got the lead, something that we hadn’t seen the past two weekends at BC Place.

“We talked a lot about that in the halftime,” Veselinovic added when asked about how his team closed out the game. “We should’ve scored a third even earlier and finished the game off before we did, but we stayed calm in the important moments, even when TFC came close to our goal, as we knew it was very important to do that after last week against Portland, as we wanted to have the confidence that we could close out this game.”

If this second half performance is a sign of things to come, then the Whitecaps could be on track to live up to some of the lofty preseason goals they set for themselves.

-Sam

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

3 thoughts on “Seeing Red: Whitecaps Trounce TFC”

  1. I enjoyed the game. We really took it to them and perhaps exposed them for the weak team that they are. That’s what good teams do. It’s helping me forget about the uneven home performances so far. The potential is there with all players in good form. Fafa may prove to be one of the most astute signings ever. Schopf’s play has been so much improved. Quite a turnaround. And so much depth in the squad. Really looking forward to the next matches.

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  2. “first place in the Western Conference, and first in all of MLS in points per game, improving to a record of 4W-1D-1L (13 points) through just six matches”

    Not to mention our GF-GA=+8 is a league leading figure (+5 is second)

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  3. Can’t forget Utvik, or did I skip over your comments? A couple of really nice diagonals and excellent defending. I felt greater confidence with him than I normally do with Blackmon. He has a very conservative mindset but still takes his moments and chooses them well. Plus he seems to win aerials.

    I’m not sure I would have ever imagined Schöpf, Fafa and Raposo being so critical to the ‘Caps success, and now Utvik has shown he can fill an important role and not just make up numbers. With shrewd management, this team could roll for a few years. Must keep Gauld and Cubas healthy!

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