The Vancouver Whitecaps looked like they were going to sweep Sporting Kansas City away with ease but, naturally, made things hard for themselves. That said, they triumphed in the end so there’s nothing to worry about (shh, be quiet). Let’s look at the individual performances.

Yohei Takaoka: 7.0

Takaoka made several key saves that prevented bigger momentum swings. As always he was not the most convincing in the air but that’s to be expected at this point. Some suggestion on the broadcast he should have held the first shot on SKC’s goal, or at least parried into a less dangerous position but I’m not so sure that was possible.

Mathias Laborda: 7.5

I thought Laborda was quite good. Solid in duels as always, maybe could have gotten a little tighter on the goal but Vite was also closing that player down.

Ranko Veselinovic: 8.0

Played very well against William Agada, always well positioned, I couldn’t fault him on any of the big chances SKC created or the goal.

Björn Utvik: 6.0

He had a lot of trouble with Stephan Afrifa when the young Canadian was subbed on. But he did still make a number of defensive interventions, particularly earlier in the match, that prevented his score from being lower. He did appear to be struggling with something down the stretch so that may have contributed to his difficulties.

Ryan Raposo: 6.5

Raposo did what Raposo is supposed to do. He provided width, he contributed to a couple of shots, and he didn’t embarrass himself defensively.

Andres Cubas: 6.5

Cubas also did what Cubas is supposed to do. He lead the team in tackles (naturally) and interceptions. I thought he struggled a little bit to progress the ball.

Pedro Vite: 6.5

Vite did, you guessed it, the things Pedro Vite is supposed to do. He didn’t necessarily distinguish himself but he pushed the ball forward and was involved in a few shots (he didn’t get the best connection on some of those shots but he got in those positions).

Alessandro Schöpf: 6.0

I thought he was fine. He combined well with Ahmed and Gauld on the left without ever personally creating that many chances individually.

Ali Ahmed: 6.5

Perhaps a little biased as I don’t really rate Ahmed as front three player. In terms of actual chances he created (that counted) there was the flubbed cutback, a good cross to White, and a shot from outside the box. Not a huge amount. Of course, he still did the good stuff he does when he plays deeper. He ran with the ball and provided some width. I would just prefer to see him where Schöpf was in this game

Ryan Gauld: 8.5

A few flubbed moments aside it was a really excellent outing for Gauld. He was involved in 50% of Vancouver’s shots and heavily involved in the first goal.

Brian White: 7.0

Though he (just barely) didn’t score a goal his off-the-ball movement was strong and he put in a lot of hustle.