Saturday night at BC Place, the Vancouver Whitecaps came from two goals down for the first time since 2021 to earn all three points against St. Louis City SC by a final score of 4-3.

You would have been forgiven for thinking that all was lost in the early stages of this one, as Vancouver found themselves down two goals after just 12 minutes through a combination of bad luck and spotty defending, something they struggled with in their two straight road losses prior to this match. The Whitecaps were not deterred by this adversity though, and they put in a workman-like showing the rest of the first half, grinding down St. Louis and playing through the high press, finding a scrappy goal to claw back into the match.

Then, things broke open for the Whitecaps in the second as they started off brightly and really dominated the visitors all the way through the second forty-five. White found two more goals, before Fafa Picault added to his tally in the late stages, a goal that would turn out to be the match-winner, as St. Louis finally responded in the dying embers with a goal from Nökkvi Þeyr Þórisson.

Overall, it was a much needed emotional boost for a Whitecaps team that has not been able to catch a break recently. It wasn’t a perfect showing, and St. Louis’s side was massively weakened through injuries and absences, but Vancouver was able to persevere and earn an important three points in the West playoff race they could be very thankful for later on in the season.

Alright, here are three thoughts as we saw things from inside BC Place:

Slow Start nearly costs the Whitecaps again:

Having lost two straight games on the road heading into this one, it was expected that the Whitecaps would mark their first match back at BC Place in nearly a month with a strong performance in front of their fans.

Especially against a St. Louis side that has seen their squad get decimated by injuries and international absences lately, and who were entering this game on an 8-game winless run, this seemed like a perfect game for the Whitecaps to re-find their form.

Because of that, it made the Whitecaps’ start to the game quite surprising to see. Not only did they go down 2-0 within 12 minutes on a deflected strike from Njabulo Blom and a penalty from Eduard Löwen, but they were struggling to match St.Louis’s work rate, too, looking out of sorts tactically, while struggling to complete routine sequences of play.

Certainly, credit has to be given to St. Louis for how they caught Vancouver by surprise – they were full value for their early start, amassing 1.22 xG on five shots, and could’ve perhaps been up by more with how dangerous they looked.

At the same time, it was a huge worry for Vancouver, who had seemed surprised by what their guests had brought to the game. Certainly, it wasn’t expected from a neutral perspective, but it shouldn’t have been from the Whitecaps vantage point – usually a team is at their most dangerous when they’ve got nothing to lose.

To the Whitecaps’ credit, they did well to put their slow start behind them before the half time break even came around, leading them to find a crucial 37th-minute goal to cut the deficit to 2-1 and give them a chance to turn things around in the second half, as they ultimately did. Had they reached half time still down 2-0, it’s hard to imagine them winning this game, so credit has to be given to them for that response.

Yet, it’s worth noting that they were also quite fortunate with the state of their opposition, as St. Louis’s limited squad availability seemed to catch up to them as the game went on. There’s no better example of that than the struggles of former Whitecap defender, Jake Nerwinski, who was asked to slot in at centre back in this game despite being more of a full back, and his lack of familiarity with playing that role in a back four (he played as a centre back in Vancouver’s back three in his last season with the club in 2022), ended up manifesting itself in some crucial errors. In most games, the Whitecaps wouldn’t have been so fortunate to benefit from such mistakes.

Therefore, while it’ll be important for the Whitecaps to use this comeback as a confidence booster, serving as a reminder of the quality they have within their ranks, they’ll know that slow starts like this might cost them against better teams. In fact, their last two losses show that – they gave up all five of their goals in a 3-2 loss to the New England Revolution and a 2-0 loss to the Portland Timbers inside the first half of both matches, which left them with too big of a hill to climb as they chased the win on both occasions.

Had they not found a way to make this comeback, three straight losses following slow starts would’ve been a huge worry, and while it’s not as much of a factor now after the win, it’s still something to monitor as one will hope it hasn’t been made of a habit.

If they’re to build off this key win and try and string some more victories together, coming out of the gates stronger will be a big priority, something they hope their strong finish to this match can help them do. – Alex

Brian White Returns to Form

Who says Brian White can’t score anymore?

The form of a striker is always a challenge to predict and understand: just when you think you’ve figured it out, things have a way of flipping on their head.

That’s what happened Saturday night in Vancouver. After being goalless since April 27th against the NY Red Bulls, the American found his finishing boots in a big way against St. Louis.

White’s first two goals were of the unconventional variety, but sometimes that’s exactly what a player needs to get the ball rolling. His first goal took a big deflection off fellow New Jersey native and former Vancouver Whitecaps defender Jake Nerwinski, leaving the St. Louis city keeper helpless.

The second goal also received some help from Nerwinski, as the defender attempted to play a challenging header back towards his keeper. With the ball bouncing near the edge of the box, White cleverly flicked it up in the air with his back heel as he ran past – it was difficult to see live if what he did was intentional, but the clever (and perhaps lucky) move was enough to fool St. Louis, finding the back of the net, and crucially, levelling the scoreline for Vancouver after a poor start.

White’s crowning goal was one of the conventional variety. Ryan Raposo hit a great ball to White, who gained body position on the St. Louis backline, flicking a header to the far post past the outstretched arms of Benjamin Lundt. It was a prototypical White goal, exactly the way the striker would want to cap off his night.

As the dust settles, White is up to 8 goals on the year, and has now tied Camilo for the Whitecaps record in terms of regular season goals for the club. It’s been an up and down year for the American so far – but you can’t deny the results when you look at the big picture. -Sam

The Tactical Blender

Between injury, international absences, and just plain old inconsistency, this Vancouver Whitecaps squad has looked different every match recently.

Sometimes that can be a good thing. For the first time in a while, I think Vanni Sartini found a front three combination which actually looked like it worked, where the players helped create space for each other rather than getting in each other’s way.

Levonte Johnson, though he could not quite find a final shot or pass, was very positive and energetic, exactly what you want from a young player looking to make his mark with other attacking options limited. With Fafa Picault potentially on the way out the door and Damir Kreilach injured, this could be Johnson’s moment to shine.

This constant rotation can also be a challenge though, and that’s certainly been the case for Vancouver’s backline.

It was pointed out to me by a very astute member of our comments section that Vanni Sartini has started 6 different combinations of players in the back three this season, and that Vancouver’s presumptive top choice three of Laborda-Veselinovic-Blackmon have only started 8 of 19 matches so far. Simply put, if you want to be a top team in MLS, you need to find a higher level of continuity in those positions, so that’s something which is important for Sartini to tackle this summer.

With Veselinovic and Blackmon out of the starting lineup yet again, one has to wonder what Axel Schuster looks to do with those players this summer – if they are out of favour here in Vancouver, then Axel Schuster should do what he can to get value for those assets if they are not being used to the fullest extent.

With Andres Cubas due to come back from Copa America soon enough, Vancouver will be one step closer to their best lineup, but even with that addition, and the presumptive return of Ali Ahmed and Sam Adekugbe down the road, there are still some pressing questions to answer in terms of this team’s best XI. -Sam

(Image Credit: Vancouver Whitecaps)