Sunday afternoon at BC Place, the Vancouver Whitecaps played out a 2-2 draw with visiting Los Angeles Football Club, in what has consistently proven to be a tricky matchup for the Whitecaps since LAFC’s introduction to MLS.

Though Vancouver will look back on this match lamenting the fact they weren’t able to extract a full three points, that was not the feeling 20 minutes in, as the visitors jumped on the Whitecaps early, securing a two-goal lead. Yet, as the Whitecaps have operated all season, they were not flustered by that adversity, and instead made the necessary adjustments to regain control of the match and level the scoreline.

Certainty, I think that this result points to where a tricky and defensively disciplined team can give Vancouver challenges. It’s also one of the first matches where the likes of Ryan Gauld, Sam Adekugbe, and Mathias Laborda were sorely missed, as some of Vancouver’s younger depth players struggled.

Alright, without further delay, let’s take a look at the player grades.

Yohei Takaoka – 8.5

This was a really good match from Yohei. He dealt with traffic in his six admirably and made two huge double-saves that kept Vancouver in the game at important moments. He was good with the ball at his feet as well.

Tate Johnson – 6.0

The youngster was on the wrong side of a couple of critical duels that led to LAFC being dangerous on the counter. Tate was given more licence to roam in the second half and I think that helped his game. Overall, Cherundolo’s teams put a lot of pressure on you in those wide areas, so it was a big challenge for two relatively inexperienced fullbacks.

Ranko Veselinovic – 6.5

The Whitecaps didn’t give very much away centrally, especially from open play, and I thought the CB duo was strong. Perhaps you can question the organization for the throw-in which led to LAFC’s first goal, but that is hard to pin on a single player.

Tristan Blackmon – 7.5

I thought Blackmon was phenomenal yet again. He had a lot of work to do with very little support, as Edier Ocampo was constantly surging forward, and not always tracking back to the right position. Blackmon’s aggressive interventions helped cut-out a number of possible LAFC counter-attacks.

Edier Ocampo – 4.5

Look, everyone has an off night, and this was obviously one for the young Colombian. LAFC is pretty much the nightmare matchup for Edier, as defensive positioning is definitely the worst part of his game, and with how direct the visitors played in transition, there wasn’t any time for Ocampo to get his bearings. Things like lunging in for the foul which caused the penalty happen when you are not confident in your positioning and the structure around you. As Sørensen said after the match, Edier will learn from this one, and it also shows the youngster he still has a way to go in terms of developing his game.

JC Ngando – 6.0

I can’t point to any big moments from Ngando in this one, either good or bad, he simply was not very involved. This led to a lot of calls to drop Pedro Vite back into the midfield, though Vite then was taken off for precautionary reasons at the half, so Ngando stayed on. LAFC is so good at clogging central areas, it proved a challenge for Vancouver in this one.

Andres Cubas – 6.5

Cubas had strong defensive work as per usual, but both he and Berhalter were guilty, especially in the first half, of sitting too deep in possession and failing to stretch LAFC’s 4-5-1 block.

Sebastian Berhalter – 7.0

I’d reiterate the comment above about the first half, though Berhalter came alive in the second half after Ali Ahmed came on, and his set piece delivery was fantastic.

Jayden Nelson – 6.0

This was one of those matches for Nelson where the effort is there but the end product is not. If I had one general thought about his game, it’s that he defaults too often to taking on players 1v1 when things aren’t quite working for him. He can be such a good playmaker, so he needs to use that to create space for himself.

Brian White – 8.0

The man just scores goals, what more can you say. His header on the first goal was fantastic, though I’m not sure what Hugo Lloris was trying to do on that play, and he absorbed a good bit of contact en route to his second goal. For those who have been reading for a while, you’ll remember my comment that no one has done a better job limiting White in hold-up play than LAFC, and I though that was true by-in-large again on Sunday.

Pedro Vite – 6.0

This was a weird one for Vite, where he dropped into really deep positions to get the ball, but then it left Vancouver very unbalanced on his side of the pitch. Ultimately, a small issue led to him being subbed off at the half for precautionary reasons.

Substitutes – 7.5

Credit to Jesper Sørensen, who has been able to consistently give the Whitecaps an edge with his substitutions, as he doesn’t seem to be afraid to make those changes early if the match calls for it. Ali Ahmed continued his great run of form, as he helped unlock a Whitecaps team that looked a bit stagnant in the first half. He both started and helped finish Vancouver’s second goal, first with a beautiful cross-field pass, and then with a cushioned header right to White in front of goal. As for the other subs, Emannuel Sabbi and Ralph Priso were pretty quiet, while Giuseppe Bovalina came on very late as Sørensen was clearly frustrated with Ocampo’s wayward passing.

Alright, those were my thoughts from Sunday against LAFC, let me know yours in the comments as always.