The Caps faltered in the bright lights of Hollywood, with a rotated side being undone by LA Galaxy, who looked like the elite team they are on Saturday night.

With the Canadian Championship looming, Vanni Sartini elected to rest Ryan Gauld and a few other key players. That asked a lot of some of their depth pieces, such as Ralph Priso and Belal Halbouni. How did they all fare? Were they hard done by the 4-2 scoreline? Our report card has all the answers (well, maybe):

Yohei Takaoka: 6

Gabriel Pec’s goal seemed to take a deflection but you still wonder if Takaoka could have done a bit better. After that, however, he made up for it by denying the Galaxy attack a few times with nice stops. It would be tough to fault him on any of the other goals.

Edier Ocampo: 5.5

Ocampo showed flashes of real danger going forward but seems to still lack the confidence to turn it into a finished product — which seems eminently solvable for a 21-year-old starting out in MLS. This was a tough assignment for your first start and Ocampo did OK defensively going up against Joseph Paintsil.

Tristan Blackmon: 5.5

Struggled to get his positioning quite right defensively and was made to pay on a couple of occasions. His passing was a bit of a saving grace.

Ranko Veselinovic: 6.5

Made a massive stop to deny Joseph Paintsil, who seemed to be in on goal 1v1. He acquitted himself much better than either of the other two centerbacks and was aggressive in trying to take on the danger the Galaxy posed, rather than letting the match try and come to him.

Belal Halbouni: 5.5

Halbouni put in a herculean performance against LAFC’s potent front line in Leagues Cup and he was asked to do likewise here. But both he and Blackmon struggled with their positioning and tightening up the gaps with the wingbacks, giving the Galaxy plenty of space to operate. 

Mathias Laborda: 6

I thought Laborda broke the lines really well as a wingback but then his decision making in the final third let him down. Got pushed narrowly at times in defense, which made things a bit difficult on Belal Halbouni, letting the Galaxy wide players get into some decent areas. It wound up being only a 45 minute cameo for Laborda, who swapped out for Ryan Gauld at the half.

Alessandro Schopf: 5

Not a sharp performance from Schopf, who found himself in good positions and then wasted the opportunity. It was his giveaway that allowed the Galaxy to neutralize the Whitecaps midfield and advance unencumbered to score a second goal.

Ralph Priso: 5

Priso struggled against the quality of LA in midfield, finding himself pretty far adrift marking in the run-up to the Pec goal. While he had some nice tackles, his positioning and distribution just isn’t on the same level as Andres Cubas and the difference was noticeable in this one.

Sebastian Berhalter: 5.5

Without Ryan Gauld starting, he took a more assertive role in being the team’s main creative fulcrum. He racked up a couple of key passes but just wasn’t very effective in this role — like the rest of the team, he is lifted by Gauld and works better as a secondary creator. Was a bit hard done to be credited with an own goal, however, 

Levonte Johnson: 4

Had some nice moments on the press but this was an anonymous performance out of Johnson, which is a bit surprising given how much the Caps were relying on the counter in this. He got more engaged when Gauld entered the game but his service when he got into dangerous positions was poor.

Brian White: 7

Tried to be central to the Caps’ game in the by holding up the ball and trying to facilitate the counter attacks but suddenly became much more of a presence as the first half ended. Reuniting with Gauld gave him a further lift and there were a couple dangerous flashes where Maya Yoshida denied White a chance to connect on a cross. Then, White struck pay-dirt with his goal. Overall, a strong night for the striker.

Ryan Gauld: 7

Vanni Sartini decided 45 minutes without the Scot was enough and the complexion of the match changed immediately, as the Caps’ lifeless crosses from the first half suddenly had more verve and asked more questions of the Galaxy. He got a deserved assist, even as it came in the dying moments of the match.

Pedro Vite: 5

Didn’t have much of an influence on the match offensively and didn’t have much presence in the midfield to try and prevent the Galaxy from cutting the Caps open. A quiet one from Vite.

Stuart Armstrong: 6

Had some really nice, direct balls in to try and pick out Gauld or White but didn’t get a ton of looks on the ball. You imagine Vanni Sartini is trying to figure out a way to change that.

Sam Adekugbe: 7

Had one really dangerous cross into the box and grabbed a goal at the death off a well won header.

Fafa Picault: N/A

Was being rested after a couple of very good performances but was never able to have quite the same influence in this one.