A late penalty saw the Vancouver Whitecaps draw 1-1 away at the Seattle Sounders, but it will do little to paper over another toothless attacking performance from the Caps.

Controversy will reign after Seattle was denied a handball penalty in the second half, only to concede one on the stroke of full time. Ryan Gauld made no mistake from the spot to salvage a point at Lumen Field.

Vanni Sartini opted to return to basically the personnel that worked so well at the beginning of the season, slotting in Fafa Picault up top and returning Alessandro Schopf to a wingback role. The only real change is the introduction of Javain Brown, spelling Ranko Veselinovic in the back three.

The Caps went back to the press that helped them create a pair of goals in the last match against Seattle but the Sounders found space once they broke through the initial wave of pressure.

They didn’t wait long before converting that into a goal. Obed Vargas found himself in ample space a put a ball into the box that was dealt with by the backline but the second ball was lost and only a superb Yohei Takaoka save denied a goal there. It ping-ponged to Jordan Morris, who made no mistake and put Seattle up 1-0.

The Caps had ample possession and some good looks on the counter going forward but couldn’t quite break through with dangerous looks in the Sounders’ final third, either due to some excellent 1v1 defending on the right-hand side from Nouhou Tolo or from an inability to dynamically break.

The second half brought a lot of possession for Seattle. Even though Vancouver was ostensibly chasing the game, they certainly remained committed to their counter-attacking posture. There was nothing doing going up the center, forcing the Caps to tepidly play out through the wings, with Picault and Schopf switching sides to offer something new.

There remained little urgency from the Caps well into the 80th minute. Seattle had multiple near misses, with Ali Ahmed putting off Jordan Morris to steer him away from a second goal and a Seattle set piece rattling the woodwork.

The Caps were possibly fortunate not to concede a handball penalty on Javain Brown and Seattle fans will be quick to point that out when VAR deemed Nouhou handled the ball in the box while sprawling to clear a long-distance shot. It was also deemed to be a second yellow and Ryan Gauld made no mistake with his first penalty of the season, securing a crucial point for the Caps, no matter how undeserved.

Stray Thoughts

• This is a team that is increasingly running out of ideas in the final third and seems like it is getting found out by opposing defenses. The only times the Caps looked truly threatening was when they overloaded the final third with one or more of the centerbacks, which did create some problems for Seattle. Sure, Nouhou and the Seattle defense were rock solid. But this match showed how lost Vancouver looks going forward — you could’ve played for another hour and they wouldn’t have scored, but for the penalty.
• This match also shows how Vanni Sartini gambled on starting a strong midweek lineup and lost big. Part of the problem going forward was most of the team looked gassed, particularly after a pressing heavy first half.
• Seattle fans will be rightfully pissed. Javain Brown clearly chicken-winged a shot from Jordan Morris and while there was no intent to do so (he seemed to be trying to get his arms to his side), it was a penalty. I do think Morris committed a foul in that moment but I doubt it would have been called. Nonetheless, I don’t have much sympathy for Nouhou — that’s the exact handball (albeit from a longer range) that Bjorn Utvik conceded earlier in the week. Two wrongs shouldn’t make a right here.
• The defense was much more solid this week, possibly in part due to a lackluster Seattle attack but also because Javain Brown turned in a very strong performance (penalty controversy notwithstanding). Brown has looked lost as a wingback and has struggled at times even in his now-traditional CB role. But tonight he was back to being strong 1v1 and he led the backline in being dangerous (relatively speaking) by overloading the righthand side going forward.
• Ryan Gauld had four key passes and it still could be termed a disappointing match. On a couple of occasions, some really promising counterattacks beckoned, only for him to misplay a pass, usually to Fafa Picault. If you’re going to play for the counter, you can’t afford any of these kinds of mistakes — but Gauld also made up for it by a really successful night back pressing and either blunting some Sounders attacks or winning the ball in good areas.
• Vanni Sartini shouldn’t (and almost assuredly won’t) be happy with this showing. Given that the league’s best team will be at BC Place next week, another smash-and-grab isn’t going to get the job done.

Man of the Match

Javain Brown did enough to earn this honor for me, particularly after a poor run of form. On a night when Nouhou excelled in 1v1 defending, Brown matched him and contributed going forward as well. Honorable mentions to Gauld and Andres Cubas, who was a destroyer in midfield to shut down the middle of the park for Seattle but had to come off early given his workload against Colorado.

(Image Credit: Vancouver Whitecaps FC)