The Vancouver Whitecaps deserved all three points in Thomas Mueller’s debut but walked away with just one, as poor finishing allowed Houston Dynamo to grab a 1-1 draw at the death at BC Place.

It took the ‘Caps a while to heat up, despite an early penalty conversion from Brian White, but they were turning on the style in the second half. Yet a second goal remained elusive, allowing Artur to equalize in the 90th minute.

Jesper Sørensen opted to start with Mueller on the bench, rolling out the familiar 4-3-3 with Jeevan Badwal and Belal Halbouni, making his first league start of the season, entering the lineup. Andres Cubas and Emmanuel Sabbi also cycled back into the starting XI after the midweek Canadian Championship tilt.

The first dangerous foray forward for Vancouver bore fruit, with Badwal playing a perfectly weighted through ball into the path of Jayden Nelson. Nelson’s pace saw him blow by Griffin Dorsey, who unwisely tried to make a recovery tackle in the box, hauling down Nelson and forcing Jon Freemon to point to the spot. Brian White recovered from his penalty miss in Houston and coolly slotted the ball past a helpless Jonathan Bond to give Vancouver the lead inside six minutes.

Houston responded well with more of the possession and a couple of dangerous set pieces that Vancouver struggled to cope with, with Yohei Takaoka having to go full stretch to block out what would have been a Mathias Laborda own goal. Both sides had a string of really sloppy play — every time Houston seemed to give away possession in a promising area, Vancouver gifted it right back.

The ‘Caps opted to let Houston roll the ball around in their own defensive third, sitting in a mid block and trying to clamp down in the midfield and catch Dorsey further up the pitch, allowing them to roll Nelson in behind. When in possession, Vancouver played direct but didn’t do it especially well, giving Houston chances to catch the ‘Caps off guard in transition.

The ‘Caps did ask questions of Houston when they had transition moments of their own. Badwal was expert in working in that midfield space in transition and Emmanuel Sabbi tested the left side of the Houston defense. Nelson was inches away from grabbing the Caps a second on the stroke of halftime but was denied by the upright. Moments later, White was denied an equally good chance by Bond at full stretch.

A surprise halftime sub had to be made, with Bjorn Utvik on for Tristan Blackmon due to what one imagines was a knock of sorts. Vancouver started the second half a bit more on the front foot, with Nelson often again at the center of things causing chaos, including a stellar solo run that should have been rewarded with a goal. Cubas, despite being on a yellow card, was also crucial in helping to win the ball further up the pitch and create danger.

It appeared that we would be in for a half hour of Thomas Mueller (and Ali Ahmed, who returned to the team after injury) and the pair entered the match almost exactly an hour into the game to a wild ovation from the BC Place faithful. They kept the pressure up, with Ocampo and Ali Ahmed finding lots of space on the right, with Houston forced to spend most of their time pinned deep.

Less than three minutes after entering the pitch, Mueller sent those same fans into raptures with a superb strike from outside the box that appeared to give Vancouver a 2-0 lead — only to see Freemon rain on the parade by chalking the goal off for offsides in the buildup (correctly). It was one of the best non-goal goals you’ll ever see

It was a comedy of errors for the ‘Caps in front of goal as they squandered a couple more good chances and they were made to pay for it in the 90th minute. Lawrence Ennali beat Ocampo 1v1 but the moment seemed to have gone before Artur powered a long range shot past Takaoka, who got his hand on the ball but couldn’t save it. It was a gut punch for a Vancouver side who were comfortably the better team but who played with their food too much and were forced to pay the price.

Stray Thoughts

• The good news is Mueller’s arrival clearly galvanized the team. While the first half was largely a sloppy one, the ‘Caps turned things on right before halftime and kept it up in the second, with attractive soccer that deserved multiple goals. The bad news is those goals never came. While Daniel Rios taking the ball off of Mueller’s boot in the second will get a lot of the ire, one of Sabbi or White should have finished off golden chances at the end of the first half to bury Houston then. The ‘Caps have time to straighten things out but good, MLS Cup contending teams put this sort of match away.
• Jayden Nelson was dominant once again and Griffin Dorsey will have nightmares about his rival on the wing. He was so close to the goal of the season, dusting Dorsey and flicking the ball past Bond but he couldn’t quite close the deal. A confident Nelson, however, is quickly becoming a dangerous thing.
• Credit to Belal Halbouni and Bjorn Utvik, who both had one sketchy moment apiece but quickly buttoned things up and were solid against a generally toothless Houston side. Takaoka deserves a shout out as well with a couple of important stops in the first half when Houston had much more of the ball.
• Sebastian Berhalter absolutely took over the second half and clearly is already starting to figure out the type of space he should be occupying alongside Mueller to best feed the attack. Once they get that fully squared away, things will be humming. Having Ali Ahmed back fit is another bonus and while he looks a touch rusty on the dribble, he had a couple of dangerous crosses off the bench.
• To that point, Mueller isn’t quite yet on the same page as Brian White and some of his teammates — but he isn’t far off. His desire to track back and put in the dirty work was a joy to see as well, particularly as someone who was concerned about his ability fitness-wise to do some of that consistently. And his disallowed goal shows Mueller remains a player who can help create something out of nothing, something the ‘Caps have lacked without Ryan Gauld on the pitch. This was an immensely frustrating match but that is only because the quality of this team is on full display. They have seven matches left to get everything in order.

Man of the Match

Berhalter is the obvious answer here — the engine behind everything the ‘Caps did, feeding the wide players constantly and creating dangerous chance after dangerous chance. Nelson is up there as well, with his constant threat looming large, but just needs a touch more of that finishing quality to pull everything together. Cubas recovered well after a bit of a silly yellow card in the first half and really helped neuter the Houston transition attack in the second.

(Image: Chaehyun Lim, shout-out to Chae, who shot his first match for us today!)