The Vancouver Whitecaps were down a man, down two goals and nearly down and out of the playoff spots entirely Saturday night, falling 2-0 to Portland Timbers at Providence Park.

Alessandro Schopf’s dismissal for a second bookable offence left Vancouver with virtually no way to climb out from under a two-goal deficit, with the damage done in the first half by the Timbers attack.

Vanni Sartini opted for a, well, different starting XI. Amid a spell of bad finishing, Brian White found himself dropped to the bench in favor of Fafa Picault and Ryan Gauld up top. Sebastian Berhalter was kicked out to the wingback position and Giuseppe Bovalina earned his full debut on the left hand side, while Mathias Laborda was played out of position as a defensive midfielder.

The Caps’ wingbacks were the engine early on, primarily Berhalter, who put in a couple of well-placed longballs that put Picault and Bovalina in on goal, with neither player able to do anything to trouble James Pantemis in goal.

A consistent issue for the Caps with Fafa Picault playing in a two-man attack is that he would drift too far wide and do two things. One, he would occupy the same space as (and sometimes literally collide with) Sebastian Berhalter. The other is he wouldn’t be in the box to win headers or latch onto loose balls. This really takes the sting out of the attack.

Flashes of promise going forward, however, left Vancouver exposed at the back. The Timbers couldn’t take advantage until Javain Brown whiffed on a clearance to allow Jonathan Rodriguez a chance 1v1 with Yohei Takaoka and while the keeper got a finger to the shot, it wasn’t enough to deny Portland a 1-0 lead.

The Caps did nothing to get themselves back in the game and Portland retained the bulk of possession. More sloppiness did the Caps in, with a poor turnover quickly and directly played forward to Felipe Mora, who fired a fierce snap shot past Takaoka to double Portland’s lead shortly before halftime.

Vanni didn’t waste time, bringing on White at the half and swapping out Bovalina for Ryan Raposo in a bid to try and ignite the attack and show the Caps supporters something else in the second 45 minutes.

Unfortunately, the Caps never got the chance. Just six minutes into the second half and Alessandro Schopf was shown a second yellow card for a cynical foul in an absolutely horrendous loss of concentration from the veteran.

In a twisted logic, going down a man seemed to give Vancouver an energy they had been lacking since the early moments of the match, though they failed to convert their dominance in possession into chances that tested Pantemis.

In possibly the only way the match could have gotten any worse for Vancouver, White was forced into a hasty exit after an accidental elbow from Zac McGraw drew a substantial amount of blood from the side of his head. On came Damir Kreilach and fans will hope White, who had concussion issues earlier this season, is alright.

Portland effectively used the second half as a passing drill, losing focus but ultimately unable to be punished by the shorthanded Caps side.

Stray Thoughts

• About the only thing you could argue Alessandro Schopf is providing the Caps at this point is veteran leadership. Which is why his red card was so baffling — you know you’re on a yellow and you commit a tactical foul right in front of the ref. A mind-numbingly stupid decision that cost the Caps any possible chance to come back.
• It is fair to ask whether the Caps could have even come back, with the attack again a real problem, at least without leaving the backline totally exposed.
• Unclear why the Caps decided to try and play direct long balls up the field to Ryan Gauld and Picault, neither of whom is known for their aerial presence. That’s how the turnover that led to the second goal came about — it was an ill-fated idea that was compounded by bad defending.
• I’m a bit baffled as to why Vanni decided to toss Mathias Laborda in, out of position, to the 6 spot. A guy who isn’t especially mobile, who has never seriously played the position and who has struggled this year was a bad fit against the likes of Santi Moreno and Diego Chara. Nothing in the match really disabused me of this notion and while you sympathize with the Caps trying to plug the Andres Cubas-sized hole in the midfield, this wasn’t it man.
• I give credit to the team for continuing to battle down a man and there was a brief window in the first half where you thought maybe the Caps would grab the upper hand. But in the second part of the first half Portland was just getting whatever space they wanted, winning whatever second balls they wanted. For a team that didn’t play in the midweek, in a rivalry match, that was disappointing and sort of sums up where this team is at right now. Portland deserve credit for their good form but Vancouver need a wake-up call because they are teetering on the edge of being out of the playoff picture entirely.

Man of the Match

The only player who particularly distinguished himself was Sebastian Berhalter, who pinged in four key passes in the first half. It was another good outing from Seb, who was having a middling season until Cubas’ departure gave him an opening for more minutes.