St. Louis was able to somewhat neutralize the juggernaut that has been the Vancouver Whitecaps so far this season, leading to a goaless draw. Let’s have a look at the individual player grades.
Yohei Takaoka: 6.0
St. Louis did not give Takaoka a whole lot to deal with, as they managed only two shots on target. Those shots were saved without too much fuss, there were some slightly awkward moments with the ball in the air, and a lot of good passing. Basically the median Takaoka game then.
Edier Ocampo: 7.5
Ocampo had a a couple of key defensive interventions, including a goal line clearance that preserved Vancouver’s clean sheet. He paired that with 3 shots and 2 key passes (though I don’t think any of them were particularly dangerous) on the attacking side of things.
Tristan Blackmon: 7.5
St. Louis spent a lot more time in Vancouver’s half of the field than we have become accustomed to seeing. But Blackmon and Veselinovic did a good job of preventing clear cut opportunities. Blackmon is credited with 8 clearances in this game, a testament to his ability to mop up danger.
Ranko Veselinovic: 7.0
Veselinovic was also quite active in defence and did a good job of managing the danger St. Louis was able to put forth. He was not quite as comfortable in possession as Blackmon and as such gets a slightly lower grade.
Tate Johnson: 6.5
I have to keep it real, I am struggling to think of any moment where Johnson stood out positively or negatively. In my defence, the stats seem to support the unremarkableness of this performance as, other than 4 clearances, Johnson did not have more than 1 or 2 of anything.
Sebastian Berhalter: 6.5
Berhalter had a fairly pedestrian outing. He seemed a little bit fatigued but still managed three shot contributions, three tackles, and a couple of nice passing plays.
Andres Cubas: 6.0
A fairly weak game by Cubas’ standards. He was caught in possession a couple of times and was not quite as dominant defensively as we are used to.
Pedro Vite: 6.0
This was probably Vite’s worst game of the season so far. He never quite got going. Though even a relatively poor game still featured 3 shot contributions and a couple of combinations with Ali Ahmed that almost resulted in dangerous chances.
Emannuel Sabbi: 6.5
Sabbi had 4 shots in this game, mostly of a middling danger level. That in itself is a decent contribution but he did not contribute very much else. The dribbling he has shown in some previous appearances was not present here.
Brian White: 5.0
White is not going to score 4 goals every game but even still, this game was a bit of a letdown. He had just two shot contributions and was largely anonymous.
Ali Ahmed: 7.0
Ahmed lead the team in shot contributions, including setting up what was probably the team’s best chance with his cross to Daniel Rios. That, combined with his usual work rate and ability to stretch the opposition defence gets a relatively high grade from me.
Subs:
I thought Ralph Priso had his best 15 minutes in a Whitecaps shirt. Daniel Rios, as alluded to above, had a couple of reasonably dangerous chances after coming on. J.C Ngando was fairly anonymous.
i think you got the ratings right- it was just a dull, monotonous game for both sides
a couple of my own ratings:
Takaoka- with his lack of a physical presence, its frightening to see him come out on crosses and punch the ball- never know if he will succeed and where the ball will go, but it seems to head for the middle which is not a good place to punch the ball to– 5.5
Tate Johnson- played well, but he does get sucked into the middle and forgets the far post on crosses which almost cost us a goal… AGAIN- he has got to be smarter – 5.5
Salty
This bizarre takaoka vendetta’s getting kinda stale, man
A lot of people don’t like Takaoka for whatever reason. Sure he’s not the best keeper we’ve had, but his benefits outweigh his drawbacks imo. If Boehmer could learn to play with his feet and be better technically, I’d choose him over Taka. But he’s not, at least not yet.
Plus boehmer almost cost the team the game at monterrey with his bobbles and drops (like the one which led to a shot that went off the bar), i like the kid but he’s clearly not ready for games of that level yet. and yes takaoka is so much better in buildup, almost gives you a third CB in possession and allows the fullbacks to go high up and ranko/tristan to split wide which opens up more space to pass the ball.
Totally agree. I also feel that the players trust him by the looks of their on field exchanges. The only shots that are getting through Vancouver right now are good ones.
Exactly this. Judging a keeper on just saves is a pretty limited metric. There’s some payoffs with Takaoka’s weaknesses but his strengths are hugely important to how the team want to play.
state your case rather than attack a person’s POV– otherwise, you are unknowledgeable about soccer goalies- i think you live in the naive world of soccer and everyone must agree with you or its a vendetta- GOOD GRIEF !!!! – Takaoka is terrible at high cross balls and shot-side shots- everyone- maybe just not you- knows that
i think our goalie position is the Caps’ biggest weakness and it could cost us in important games- but i have pointed out he is sensational with his kicking game and does keep Boehmer in the back-up role- i just would like a Canadian-trained taller goalie get a fair chance to make his case to be #1 or move him to another team… if he wants- being glued to the bench isnt helping Isaac’s game develop
Tate and Ranko were in a tough position. Both Blackmon and Ocampo were in no position to defend the front of goal leaving 3 attackers 7-8 yards in front of goal. Ranko took the near post attacker leaving Johnston to make a split second decision on who to cover: the attacker directly in front of goal or the attacker at the far poat. I don’t think Tate can be criticized on this play. The criticism should be directed at the play that led to the breakdown and the clearcut chance