To be the man, you gotta beat the man, and the Vancouver Whitecaps showed that they are capable of being the man as they extended their winning start to the MLS season by beating defending champions LA Galaxy 2-1.
The Whitecaps were unchanged from the pummelling of Portland to start the season, and they carried on exactly where they left off. Pedro Vite got to the byline, and his pull back was diverted into the path of Sam Adekugbe, who slotted home to give the Whitecaps a 1-0 lead after only 2 minutes.
Jesper Sørensen’s side were clearly very confident in possession, and they almost made it two soon after, but Jayden Nelson was unable to slot the ball under Novak Micovic in the Galaxy goal.
Adekugbe, who had been impressive yet again, was then forced off with a serious looking injury. He was replaced by Edier Ocampo, and that change shocked the Whitecaps’ momentum. Galaxy started finding spaces, and a fall by Tristan Blackmon lead to Gabriel Pec finding space unmarked in the middle of the box to fire in an equalizer.
The second half started with Vancouver again on top. Vite swung a ball in towards Brian White, but White was unable to get any contact to score. The Caps’ dominance continued, as substitute JC Ngando had a goal-bound shot blocked, and Ocampo had three shots from the edge of the area denied by the LA defenders.
The game generally had a lack of clear-cut chances, and that made Sørensen turn to his bench and substitute Ryan Gauld for new signing Daniel Rios. All through the second half the Whitecaps looked comfortable in possession, but struggled to trouble their opponents, only having 4 shots on target all game, 2 each half.
The Galaxy turned to Marco Reus to add a moment of inspiration for them, but the Galaxy had 0.03 xG in the second half, and only one shot on target in that period.
Just when the Galaxy thought they had perhaps seen the game out, Vancouver was able to find a critical breakthrough. A brilliant ball from Pedro Vite split the LAG defence and found the head of the unmarked Brian White who put the ball into the net, as the Whitecaps surged ahead 2-1.
The Whitecaps’ game management was impressive from there to see the victory out, as the Galaxy never offered much threat of an equaliser.
When he was on the field, Adekugbe was electric. He scored his goal early, becoming the first defender to score in the first 2 games of an MLS season, and his bombing down the flank caused serious problems for the Galaxy early. His injury looked concerning, and hopefully we’ll see him return to action as soon as possible. Without him, the Whitecaps were clearly missing a dimension in attack, and that gave the Galaxy more confidence and joy.
Pedro Vite also clearly suits this Sørensen system, as his progressive play was instrumental in driving the Whitecaps out of their half and at Galaxy defenders. He was also the creator for both goals, and all around central to everything positive in this match.
Vancouver’s defence was not thoroughly tested, as they were facing a weakened Galaxy side compared to last year, and in the second half they kept the ball firmly in the Galaxy half. The goal they conceded was frustrating, but other than that they did very well to keep Gabriel Pec and Marco Reus quiet.
Ryan Gauld and Jayden Nelson were both substituted, probably with Monterrey in mind, although both players had a less significant impact on the game than they did in Portland. Although that is a high bar, and based on how they have played so far this season this may just be a one off, it’s nice to see that the Whitecaps are less reliant on one player having a good game to win then they have been in previous years.
Under Jesper Sørensen, the Whitecaps have largely been impressive, and that continued tonight. Vancouver had 1.88 xG compared to the 0.41 of their opponents, limiting the MLS Cup champions to only 1 big chance all game is impressive, regardless of their issues.
Vancouver will be hoping to continue their form as they proceed to an even tougher test, a CONCACAF Champions League tie against Mexican giants Monterrey on Wednesday. Following that, the Whitecaps return to MLS play on Saturday against CF Montreal.
Image Credit: Mark Zhuang
RE “Adekugbe will be a big miss”………OUT 6-8 WEEKS?
Nelson will be both electrying and frustrating in my view. His pace will win lots of games for us, but sometimes he will dribble into blind alleys. If he didn’t do the latter, he would have been a big success in Europe and wouldn’t now be at the Caps. He is a big plus though, and sits Sorensen’s style of play very well.
Adekugbe will be a big miss however. Ocampo is very much a right-sided player and will not be as effective as Sam on the left. Plus Ocampo doesn’t have Sam’s defensive abilities either.
Overall though, a more than promising start to the season. I have very much enjoyed how quickly Sorensen has got the team playing his way, and the on-field organisation has been very impressive so far.
A lot of positives but Blackmon should have snuffed out the Galaxy goal and played some high risks balls that were unnecessary. He’s got to clean up his game for tougher opponents.
You gotta love Nelson running at defenders, but recognize when a cross or back pass is a better option than driving into two or three players.
Sure, you can say the Galaxy’s goal was Blackmon’s fault. He did make the first contact as he fell to the ground trying to make a block. He seems to be blamed each time an opponent scores, regardless the game and regardless where he is on the pitch when it happens, and let’s certainly not look at the three players, including the goalie himself, who were actually on the goal line (one inside the net) who failed to block a kick that was directly in front of them. But, hey, what game was I watching?
Everyone who follows this team has a favorite player, and it’s reflected in the absence of critical post game analysis.
it took many games for the Caps to win 2 games in 2022 and 2023- and here we are at 2-0- the Team looks energetic and positive and with a better head coach in Sorensen, a suddenly MF authoritive Pedro Vite and the combo of Gauld and White, the Caps look awesome
Adekugbe has been a tremendous football professional- a class act- it must be so angering for him to go through another leg injury, especially after 2 really good starts
BUT the golden lining has been found in Ocampo- Jesper will have a hard time keeping him out of the starting line-up- the Kid has talent
and i really like watching the movement into space and the intelligent passing that Ngano does- he is an intelligent Glider
POTM- Pedro Vite- his new role under Sorensen as the AMF has really worked so far
Nelson is a bum! Bench him.
I can’t believe he cratered his G+A/90 to a puny 3 g+a/90 in MLS play by not scoring in the first half.
/s obviously, but he and Vite are breath of fresh air.
I didn’t know we were allowed to have attacking prowess outside of the White/Gauld combo, lol
Jayden Nelson is just the type of player we needed to help us forget Fafa Picault- he is getting and making scoring chances- 1Goal, 4 Assists is a heck of a good start on a new Team – we all should be hoping he can continue and take his scoring chances more clinically