Eighty Six Forever, Post Match, Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Post Match: The more things change…

By Alexandre Gangue-Ruzic and Samuel Rowan.

The Vancouver Whitecaps’ May slump continued on Saturday, as they fell 2-1 to Inter Miami at BC Place, extending their winless streak in MLS play to six games. 

Despite the absence of Miami’s “big 3” of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets, who didn’t travel to Vancouver for this game, Miami were able to get the job done to grab all three points, vindicating their decision to rest their big guns with some key games ahead. 

Meanwhile, the Whitecaps remain at a frustrating impasse, as their hot start to the season has quickly faded into a disappointing stretch of games, as they now sit closer to the bottom of the Western Conference than they do the top after earlier looking like a contender to top the conference. 

This game perfectly sums up how things have gone for them in this stretch, too, as a lack of execution in front of goal and some sloppy defensive mistakes ended up sinking them, turning a decent performance into a disappointing loss, especially given Miami’s absences. 

Now, the Whitecaps must quickly regroup, as key inter-conference matchups with Sporting KC and the Colorado Rapids await them over the next seven days, in which they’ll hope to hit the reset button and find their form again. 

Returning to this match, Inter Miami came strong out of the gates, perhaps feeding off the atmosphere of a record Whitecaps MLS-era crowd of just over 51,000, most of whom were quite angry with Miami after their stars didn’t travel. 

That was shown in a couple of early Miami chances, as Leonardo Campana had a header stopped by Yohei Takaoka from in-close before Matias Rojas flashed a shot that Takoka did well to get down to stop right after, as they showed good energy early amid a sea of boos. 

Then, continuing that start, Robert Taylor had a dangerous shot that forced another save out of Takaoka in the 11th minute, before Jordi Alba found himself denied by the Japanese goalkeeper on a shot from a tight angle in the 14th minute. 

Inter Miami’s brigade of shots was finally rewarded in the 38th minute, however, as Taylor, who was getting the better of Mathias Laborda all half, dribbled past the Uruguayan defender and curled a shot into the top corner to make it 1-0, a lead they’d hold onto into the half time break. 

For the Whitecaps, it put them in a tough position heading into the second half. They weren’t necessarily poor in the first half, as they mostly kept Miami to the outside defensively, and had some good spells of possession, but they were struggling to impose themselves on the match. 

In particular, they were unable to generate enough chances to put the Miami backline under any sort of duress, only generating four shots in the first half, none of them on target. 

As a result, they came out with more fire in the second half, as they looked to rectify their slow start, one that put them in a tough hole. 

They showed that right in the 50th minute, as Vancouver’s Ali Ahmed teed up Fafà Picault with a perfect cross, one that Picault nodded wide. 

Unfortunately for them, however, that push didn’t last very long. Continuing his domination of Laborda, Taylor had his best moment yet in the 55th minute, dancing right past his opposite number before slotting the ball back to a wide-open Campana, who made no mistake with the shot to make it 2-0.

Eager to respond in some sort of way, the Whitecaps kept pushing, as Picault found White with a nice cross in the 57th minute, but somehow the ‘Caps forward sent his backheel attempt wide from close range. 

Finally, the Whitecaps got their breakthrough in the 71st minute. After a lengthy VAR review for a foul off the ball in the box on Picault, a penalty was given, one that Ryan Gauld dispatched to cut the Miami lead to 2-1. 

With that, it gave them a chance to push for a draw late, or even more if they could find a second goal quickly. They seemed to know that, too, as their attitude in possession quickly changed, which nearly led them to make it 2-2 in the 82nd minute, as Ryan Raposo found Picault with a perfect cross, one that he headed off the post and out from close-range. 

Unfortunately for them, that’d be about as close as they’d get to finding that equalizer. Giuseppe Bovalina had a glorious chance late that was blocked, while Luis Martins got the Whitecaps’ lone open-play shot on target of the night with a long-distance attempt, but that’d be all they could muster up. 

As a result, their slump continues, and it feels like they’re no closer to getting out of it. Their overall performances haven’t been poor, but they’re at a dangerous spot with their confidence now evaporating, as that can be the hardest thing to regain. 

Because of that, a shake-up could be on the way, or else this could only continue, which would be less than ideal based on how things were looking through March and April. 

Here are three thoughts on the game, as we saw it from a raucous BC Place. 

Great crowd shows up for marquee match, but Whitecaps can’t capitalize on it:

Despite the result, as well as the various factors surrounding the match that reared their ugly head on social media in the days leading up to it, it was still in many ways a wonderful atmosphere at BC Place on Saturday night.

That’s a big part of what makes Vancouver’s failure to take advantage of the opportunity so frustrating. It seems to be a habit for the Whitecaps this season – falling short at home when there’s a big crowd, ones where they could be using good results to build some meaningful momentum in this city.

When the Whitecaps had good moments against Miami, the crowd was electric. It was a demonstration of the support this city can produce to back their team, and what is potentially on the table for the Whitecaps if they’re capable, at some point, of reaching their ceiling.

Yet, with the passing of this so-called Messi match, that opportunity may have come and gone already. There’s only one match left of the four-pack of matches the Whitecaps sold as a bundle including the Inter Miami match, and so far, the Whitecaps are 0-2-1 in those fixtures.

The final match of those four is August 24th, so if the Whitecaps fail to make waves between now and then, interest may have already come and gone.

Again, I really want to give credit to the BC Place crowd on Saturday night, given the events which preceded the match, they could have easily turned on the home side, and yet, their backing was resolute throughout. Although the Whitecaps did give their supporters a show with their late push, it wasn’t enough to get a result over the line.

Ultimately, this early-season stretch of home matches was a huge chance to grow the fanbase in this city for a big summer push. Now though, I wonder what things will look like at BC Place over the coming months, even if the team’s form improves back to early-season levels. – Sam

The value of confidence: 

Sports can be funny sometimes. You may have the best game plan, the best players, and be on top of the world, and then that can all quickly fall apart because of a silly thing called belief. 

For the Whitecaps, it might not be so silly to them, however, as that may be the best way of describing what’s ailing them right now – confidence. 

Take their struggles offensively, for example. Having struggled to score goals, sitting with just one open-play goal in the last six games, one would think they are struggling to get into dangerous areas, for example. 

Yet, when watching this Miami game, it’s hard to suggest that that’s the case. The Whitecaps had several glorious opportunities to score and somehow ended up not even getting a shot on most of them, as their pursuit of the perfect play led them to make a poor decision or shot. 

But as it was pointed out by fellow reporter Nathan Durec of Area 51 Sports after the game in a question to Ali Ahmed, it’s because the Whitecaps might have put themselves in a dangerous zone – the desire to be perfect. In his question to Ahmed, he asked if the Whitecaps might have been trying to play too perfectly, using an interesting quote: “Perfect is the enemy of good”, to which Ahmed offered an interesting response. 

“That’s definitely it,” Ahmed said. “I can use myself for example, there are times when I think I could have just shot the ball, but I tried to be perfect and get the perfect goal. Maybe that’s one of the factors, as I think maybe (keeping it) simple sometimes will help us.”

And it’s a very interesting point to ponder – are the Whitecaps too caught up on trying to be perfect, when just being good might suffice? 

Right now, in terms of fixing their issues at both ends, it might just be. Defensively, that’ll be not getting caught up in individual mistakes, and instead focusing on sticking to their structure, while in attack it’ll be about simplifying their attack and not getting caught up on the perfect play.

As much as some purists might disagree, all goals are indeed created equal in soccer, at least in principle – as it stands, a beautiful tiki-taka goal, a bicycle kick, a back-post tap-in and a toe-poke all count the same as long as they breach the net. 

That goes for keeping them out of their net, too, as they’ve got to make sure that they only get beat by perfect goals, instead of gifting any easy opportunities, which can quickly add up. 

To do that, however, confidence will play a big role in that. It may sound simplistic, but when confidence is high in a team, everything gets a lot easier. 

Sometimes, the best way to find confidence is by simplifying things and getting back to the basics, be it winning a 1v1 duel defensively, or generating a shot on a 3v2 even if someone is in a good position. 

From there, that can lead to execution, and then that can lead to confidence. 

For a team short of the latter, any possible avenue to finding it cannot be ignored, even if it comes at the cost of aesthetics in the short term. If it can lead these Whitecaps back to the success they had earlier in the season, that’s a trade-off you take every day of the week, without question. – Alex

Is it time to shake things up?

As mentioned above, Vancouver can’t score from open play right now – it’s that simple.

At some point, even if you feel like you’re doing all the right things but just not getting results, you need to make a change.

I think that’s the point Vancouver has reached, they must take a look at their lineup and tactics, at the very least to give the group a jolt – something new to focus on, helping them along in their pursuit of confidence.

Vanni Sartini suggested as much post-match, he doesn’t think his team is that far away, but he also acknowledges that some fresh ideas might be necessary to boost the confidence and chemistry of the group.

Two shots on target, even with a bunch of xG, simply isn’t good enough at home.

Damir Kreilach is almost back from injury. Ryan Raposo was cooking off the bench. Could Ali Ahmed make a return to the central midfield? There are no bad ideas, nothing should be off the table in the attack. 

The same can be said on the defensive side of things, too. Consistency has gone amiss after a good start to the year. Bjørn Inge Utvik has been solid since the start of his Whitecaps tenure. Might it be time to try someone other than Ranko Veselinovic in the middle of the back three? 

Again, I think it’s time to experiment. 

There are some things that will remain constant under Vanni Sartini – they mark the space and not the man, they will defend in a true back three, and they will look to attack space on the counter-attack. These things aren’t going away, and are principles which work when the Whitecaps are clicking.

Overall, I still have faith in Vanni Sartini and the way this team wants to play football, but they must be willing to look in the mirror and know when it’s time to get a bit creative within their system to find a spark.

“I think that as a coaching staff, we need to tweak a little bit things tactically,” Sartini said. “Because even though I don’t think that is the (main) issue, it’s something that can make the players go ‘oh, we’re doing something new’, and then they go boom, and go from there.”

It will be tough on short rest, but that’s the challenge in advance of another midweek fixture, this time on the road at SKC – Sam

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

8 thoughts on “Post Match: The more things change…”

  1. When watching the Caps play, I rarely see them ping the ball around. Is it because they simply can’t play one touch football or do they not know where they are supposed to be tactically so it takes them time to pick out a pass? Either way it is t good enough. They play too slowly in my opinion.

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  2. I also thought this was our best lineup with the exception of Laborda. Utvik should have started there. And definitely should have been brought in pretty quick once it was clear that Taylor was making a meal of Laborda. Also on the Campana goal Blackmon was staring at Taylor did a quick shoulder check to see if anyone was on the back post but totally did not notice Campana and the other Miami player open right where they scored from. Zonal marking if that’s causing it should be rethought. I think we would be a back 4. They should have switched to this last night to have an extra CB just to be aware of that centre area in front of our goal. Those are pretty much the same thoughts everyone else had. And yes to the once pass or step too much. That also was pretty clear to everyone during the game. Fafa definitely had a game. So close on that second header. Would have felt much better to have tied it up at the end! But such a great atmosphere with a full stadium. It was a thing of beauty that part!

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  3. A lot to ponder here as the tailspin continues. If what Andre and Sam say, assuming they have some level of insider information, that the back 3 and the zonal marking ain’t going anywhere then we’re in big trouble. And with that I’d say a coaching change is needed. I think at the pro and national team level, teams can play 3 or 4 or 5 at the back. These changes can be done game by game. They can even be done during a game. In assessing last night’s lineup I thought it was probably our strongest except for Laborda. He’s just not a great defender when players are coming at him from the flanks. Sartini should know this by now. Both Utvik and Brown are better than Laborda and Utvik should have got the start in this back 3 formation (Brown gets the start in a back 4). To concede the flanks in our defensive third and allow balls to be flashed across the front of our net is a recipe for disaster. How many times do we have to see this play out. Even the CPL Cavalry was able to expoit this. We have 4 good outside fullbacks in Blackmon, Adekugbe, Brown and Martins who can get forward on the overlap and deliver dangerous crosses from different angles. They’re pretty solid defensively as well. A side bar: it’s interesting when Brown and Martins put together some good minutes (Brown was recently MOTM) that it can’t be accepted that they’re decent players. Brown’s play has diminished under Sartini much in the way Theo Bair’s play suffered under Dos Santos. This to me is poor coaching. And lastly for today (there will be more tomorrow) Ahmed’s comments are bang on. Those extra touches or hesitations in trying to play perfect balls just allow our opposition the time needed to get in a better defensive position. And again, in my mind, the coach should be able correct this. Instead he criticizes his players for not executing his system properly…..

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  4. There are other teams with problems that are similar to Vancouver’s. What do they do? They don’t make drastic overly broad changes to the roster. They change the coaching staff. Sometimes more than once.

    Sartini has had at least 2 1/2 years to “prove” himself and his system, and it’s not working. In fact, he’s taking the team in the wrong direction. ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – Rita Mae Brown

    There has been an exorbitant amount of emphasis on the Gauld-White “connection”. I’ve watched games where someone other than White has a great opportunity to score, but then inexplicably passes the ball to White (because they seem to think that’s what they’re supposed to do) then White heads the ball over the net or loses it altogether. I’ve seen perfect long passes to White and watched him head the ball backwards 20 or 30 yards. Is he not able to chest the ball to the ground then turn and run forward?

    Vancouver isn’t losing games solely because of defensive mistakes. That criticism isn’t justified or fair. In the second half of the game, Vancouver possessed the ball 61% of the time, but failed to score. In full time, Vancouver had a total of 16 shots to Miami’s 9. Stop blaming the defense.

    https://www.sofascore.com/team/football/vancouver-whitecaps/22010

    Sartini refuses to play 4 on the backline even against teams like LAFC and RSL. There’s no way to know for sure if it would have made a difference last night, but an extra body between Laborda and the goal may have kept the ball out of the net. The same could have been said when putting Laborda against Bouanga and LAFC. “Insanity”

    Every player is going to make mistakes. They’re human. But the idea that a player should be discarded is not well thought out. Wouldn’t it be better to try to figure out why those mistakes are happening and try to keep them from happening in the first place? That requires leadership.

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    1. I wouldn’t discard Laborda at all. He’s a good player. His defending against tricky, fast players is his only weakness bur it’s a big one in overall defending. He’s a natural CB. I’d even start him in midfield beside Cubas. This would also allow Cubas to get forward more. Cubas is not strictly a defensive midfielder but he is in Sartini’s system. As Salty has mentioned we need a true attacking forward or attacking midfielder who can score goals. I’m thinking Sartini has taken this team as far as he can

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  5. there aint a whole lot different between most of the Cap players- its like moving deck chairs around

    we- myself included- overestimated this team because of early season success on the road- but the dismal, lack of energy, dismal points at home showed this is a Team lacking depth and talent, especially in MF- they cant capture the big moments, but instead crumble when good crowds come

    there are 4 changes one can talk about:

    1. change the tactics and formation and adapt quicker when it isnt working (for example, laborda was being torched in games vs LAFC and now Miami and yet Vanni did nothing to stop that bleeding- he is caught up in the thinking of changes only come at the 60th minute mark)

    2. acquire 2-3 better players, one being a DP (either elite striker/winger or AMF)- of course that takes $$$$$$$$$$ and we all know the owners only see the Caps as their bank (they will make at least $5 mill from the attendance last night and have made a lot more $$$$ this season from increased ticket sales and might get more if Alphonso Davies is sold to Real Madrid this summer- what will they do- keep or invest?) i think we all know the answer- yes there will be additions, but we dont need more deck chairs

    3. get a sports psychologist in to do a group dynamic discussion- listen to the players’ ideas and start to implement some of them- they dont like the results and players like Gauld and schopf might have some valuable insights

    4. change the coaching staff- i have always said that Vanni’s ANDIAMO speeches would wear me out as a player and eventually you turn the sound down

    my biggest disappointment this season has been the poor showings at home with really good crowds and new fans… and we havent been able to take advantage of that

    we will be a #8-12 team which i stated before the season started- truly this is the best we can do with the present group- they arent much better-

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  6. Yes re simplifying the attack. Get the ball into the box and shoot at any opportunity.

    Yes re shaking up the D. Ranko and Blackman consistently ball-watch and seem unable to cover opponents close to goal. Laborda lacks pace. Both Laborda and Blackman turned the “long way” (wrong way) on crucial cut-back dribbles from the goal line, allowing an opponent time and space for deluxe plays that led to goals.

    Fafa was the man of the match with his cheeky dribbling and pace, but he too had moments when a shot and a rebound would have done more than his across-the face-passes.

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  7. I’m glad this post started to move away from the useless drama of the lest few days….Messi not coming, Caps fans, showing an incredible lack of dignity in my opinion, begging for refunds….all that is just noise. The REAL and only issue is that it’s clear the Caps have to make changes. Varying player positioning won’t be enough. Ownership needs to spend some money. We don’t need to spend Miami money, but we need more than we have currently. It’s that simple. Messi et al did not feel compelled to play here. They can dispatch us without their top three players. Ownership is hoping for a Leicester City fairytale here. Never going to happen.

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