A clash of Western Conference heavyweights ended in a stalemate, with Vancouver Whitecaps heading back home with a point away against San Diego FC in a cagey affair.

Neither side wanted a repeat of the eight-goal thriller at BC Place last month but the ‘Caps seemingly got the breakthrough they needed in the first half off of an own goal, forced by some excellent work from Sebastian Berhalter and Edier Ocampo. After a couple of big misses from Vancouver, San Diego got their equalizer to remain atop the West.

Jesper Sørensen opted to return to a more conventional approach after switching things up with five in the back in midweek. Instead, he returned to four defenders, slotting in Mathias Laborda as a left back to give Tate Robinson a rest. Andres Cubas returned to the lineup, slotting in alongside Jeevan Badwal and Berhalter. Brian White was flanked by Emmanuel Sabbi and Jayden Nelson.

White nearly struck seconds into the match, rounding Pablo Sisniega but was unable to direct his shot goalward from a tight angle. The chance, however, was a warning shot that Vancouver would seek to rely heavily on dangerous balls over the top, as they did in the midweek.

The ‘Caps opted to have a slightly higher line early, trying to trigger the press quickly to win the ball in a more advanced area, with Cubas given some license to get forward to be a bulldog and recover possession and use their pace in transition against a relatively makeshift San Diego backline.

While San Diego had the bulk of possession early, the ‘Caps were able to limit them to half chances, though the danger of the home side’s ball movement and the creativity of Andres Dreyer was ever present. Much of that threat came down the right hand side, with Dreyer and Oscar Verhoeven stretching Nelson and Laborda, especially as the Vancouver left back looked to push forward at times.

The big moment for Vancouver came at the halfway point of the first half, when Ranko Veselinovic fell down with a non-contact injury after trying to dribble upfield. It briefly looked like he might try to continue on but he was ultimately brought off for Belal Halbouni. The loss is even more painful as Tristan Blackmon inches back towards full fitness.

Ocampo really grew into things, ripping a powerful shot that could have been a goal and then, moments later, latching onto a beautiful through ball from Berhalter to force Sisniega into a save at full stretch. Laborda and White hovered on the back post, however, and forced the ball over the line to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead. The ball appeared to take a touch off Manu Duah before trickling over the line but the ‘Caps won’t care.

The second half opened with a burst of momentum for the home side, who forced Vancouver into some last ditch defending on a pair of set pieces. Slowly, things started to open up a bit and the ‘Caps found themselves on the back foot a bit. Sørensen elected to add Ralph Priso to try and stabilize things in the midfield.

The air went out of the game at the half hour mark, when Cubas was initially deemed to have handled the ball outside the area, though the offense seemed to take place in the box. The call seemed harsh, as Lozano plowed into him while his arm was pinned at his side. And, despite a VAR review, Alexis da Silva elected to reverse his foul call and deem Cubas to have had his arm in a natural position.

San Diego continued to look the more dangerous side, with the ‘Caps content to try and feed Sabbi and Nelson on the break, with only modest success. Nelson thought he was through on goal multiple times, only to be frustrated by the young San Diego centerback pairing.
But he seemingly did enough to create a second goal, with White left with an open net to hit after some liquid build up — but he somehow conspired to slide it just wide. It was a tight-ish angle but still a shocking miss, particularly from a striker of that quality.

San Diego took full advantage and their goal came off a set piece, which is where they found much of their joy in the second half. It was a broken corner in truth but a squibbed long shot found its way to Ian Pilcher, who smashed the shot past Takaoka. The ‘Caps will be disappointed to concede on a play where they should have cleared their lines better but it felt like an unlucky break as well.

Both sides had chances to grab all three points in the final ten minutes but both keepers were equal to them. The ‘Caps actually got a burst of energy to regain control of the match late and Daniel Rios had a shot to win it with the last kick of the evening but it was a strong save from Sisniega to keep things level.

Stray Thoughts

• Credit to Bjorn Utvik and Belal Halbouni, who were thrust into action rather unceremoniously but held up quite well against one of the most dangerous attacking sides in the league. Both read things well and prevented the home side from doing much with their possession, aside from set pieces, where San Diego excelled.
• Ocampo was rightly hooked at half time after he picked up a silly yellow, hacking down Chucky Lozano when he didn’t need to. Sørensen clearly didn’t want Lozano to go toe to toe with a guy on a booking. BUT I thought this was another nice performance from Ocampo and the ‘Caps suffered when he came off, as it meant they lacked another runner who could force San Diego into uncomfortable defensive decisions. Nelson and Sabbi were just too predictable in the second, by and large.
• Brutal officiating display, epitomized by one of the silliest VAR checks you’ll ever see and a 20-2 foul disparity in favor of San Diego. I don’t think it cost Vancouver the game but it was frustrating to watch.
• Man, we get spoiled by having Brian White up front but he does have one or two games a year where he forgets how to score and this was one of them. They were both from less than straightforward angles but if you give White two shots at an open net, you’d bet a lot of money that he’d hit one of them.
• Nonetheless, a draw is probably a fair result. San Diego had the momentum for much of the second, until the end when the ‘Caps found their feet again. The home side had much of the possession, while Vancouver worked two open net chances they couldn’t finish. Those misses will haunt Vancouver but, while losing the lead is dispiriting, you’d probably take a point if offered at the start of the game. Both teams showed glimpses of why they are at the top of the Western Conference and both had moments where they looked tired and depleted. Hopefully we’ll see this matchup again in the playoffs with both sides at full strength.

Man of the Match

Berhalter feasted with the space San Diego seemed happy to provide him and that was even beyond the ball that opened things up for the first goal — he really was at the center of everything Vancouver did. Cubas was instrumental as well, particularly at the beginning when the midfield was overpowering San Diego and creating chances in transition. And Halbouni, Utvik and Takaoka deserve credit for holding things down at the back.