Wednesday night at Providence Park, the Vancouver Whitecaps comprehensively dismantled the Portland Timbers by a score of 5-0. After a month of struggles, everything came together for the blue and white, and it was a lot of fun to watch. Ok, without further delay, let’s dive into the grades:

Yohei Takaoka – 6.5

He made one good save on Evander in the first half, which was important, as it prevented Portland from any possible chance of getting back in the match.

Mathias Laborda – 7.0

I like the way Laborda takes initiative against attacking players. It does not always work out perfectly, but he was very good against Jonathan Rodríguez in this match. He also had a great sequence to set up Brian White.

Ranko Veselinovic – 7.0 

Ranko was not very busy, but he did usher the ball to safety in a couple of key moments.

Tristan Blackmon – 7.0

The American is in form right now, and having Adekugbe providing support has really enabled Blackmon to play the way he likes.

Sam Adekugbe – 8.5

I thought this was some of the best play we’ve seen from Sam. He covered so much ground down his side of the pitch, and he was impactful at both ends. He has very good instincts when he gets into the attacking third with time on the ball.

Andres Cubas – 8.0

A classic Cubas performance. He did a great job hounding Evander early on, making his life difficult as he tried to establish himself on the ball.

Pedro Vite – 7.5

Pedro was not very sharp in the first ten minutes, but he was great from that point on, especially advancing the ball after Vancouver had won back possession.

Stuart Armstrong – 9.0

One of the big things that stood out for me is how many aggressive runs Armstrong made, and just how much ground he covered. We hadn’t seen that until now. Obviously, his on-ball quality and creativity really shone through as well, especially when linking up with Ryan Gauld.

Fafa Picault – 7.5

Though Picault was quieter than the rest of the front four, his pace and pressing was very important to the way Vancouver played.

Brian White – 8.0

Not only was it nice to see White find the back of the net again, but I thought his hold-up play was strong, and that’s an important element of the Whitecaps attack when everything is clicking.

Ryan Gauld – 10

What can you say really. Gauld was at a different level in this match, scoring three goals and looking dangerous every time he was on the ball. It says something the way he was able to elevate his play in such an important moment for the club, hopefully that continues in the first round.

Substitutes – 7.0

Vancouver’s subs came on for mop up duty with the match already decided, so there’s not much to evaluate here. It was interesting that Ahmed did not feature. I wonder what that indicates for the LAFC series.

Vanni Sartini – 8.0

It’s been tough for Vanni recently, but he totally outclassed Phil Neville in this one. Sartini had a good plan for how to manage Portland’s dangerous attacking pieces, and he really exposed the Timbers midfield and defensive units, making them look silly at times. It will obviously be a bigger challenge against LAFC, but this match looked like a step in the right direction for Sartini.

Alright, those were my thoughts from a memorable wildcard match. Let me know yours in the comments!