Saturday night at BC Place, the Vancouver Whitecaps handed out a historic beat-down to the visiting Philadelphia Union by a final score of 7-0. It would have been an impressive result under any circumstances, but when you consider that Philly has been the league’s best team for most of the season, and that the Whitecaps were without Brian White and Ryan Gauld, it’s truly pretty hard to believe what we witnessed. Perhaps that is the Thomas Müller effect.

Without further delay, let’s take a look at the player grades from this one. As you can imagine, most of them will be pretty high.

Yohei Takaoka – 7.0

He was not very busy at all, but he had strong hands on the two chances he faced.

Mathias Laborda – 8.5

Laborda brings a pretty unique profile to the fullback spot, with his combo of CB-like defensive chops, solid play on the ball, and dangerous attacking threat in the air. We witnessed a bit of all those elements against Philly.

Belal Halbouni – 7.5

It was a nice comeback showing from Belal, who many were concerned could be the weak link in this team with the lack of defensive depth. I still think he’s a bit slow to read play (Uhre’s goal/non-goal being one example), but he should only get more comfortable in that area with more matches under his belt.

Tristan Blackmon – 8.0

When Vancouver is in control, Blackmon gets the opportunity to be his best self as a defender – an initiator rather than a reactor. His calm presence on the ball kept Philly reeling and his team on the front foot.

Edier Ocampo – 7.5

For how explosive Vancouver was in attack, Ocampo was a little less notable than expected, in part because Vancouver was bullying the other wing so much. Nonetheless, still a very solid showing from Ocampo, who had some good moments against Iloski and Vassilev.

Andres Cubas – 8.0

Cubas wasn’t super busy with the way the field was tilted in Vancouver’s favour, but whenever the Union tried to get something going in transition, Andres was there to break it up.

Sebastian Berhalter – 10

For all the bigger names, Berhalter might still be Vancouver’s most important player. With 2 assists, 5 chances created, 14 passes into the final third, and 5 successful defensive actions, Berhalter was everywhere for Vancouver in this match. He’s both the emotional and creative spark for this team on so many occasions, and that was no different on Saturday night.

Emmanuel Sabbi – 9.5

Despite some frustrating moments, Sabbi is starting to put together a really strong debut season for Vancouver, with 7 goals and 2 assists already on the ledger. Both of his goals against the Union were wonderfully taken, with the second being a very strong goal of the week candidate.

Thomas Müller – 9.5

I was starting to think Müller was a penalty merchant. Jokes aside, you could tell that some training really helped Sørensen work out the nuances of the new formation, and Müller was a big beneficiary of those tweaks. He was much more involved in Vancouver’s attacking setup, roaming wide and creating space for Ahmed and Sabbi to thrive.

Ali Ahmed – 9.5

The Canadian International is a man on a mission right now. It also helps a bit when you have a 38-year-old midfielder playing at fullback against you. Ahmed absolutely tore Alejandro Bedoya to shreds, to the point where you wondered if Bedoya might have to hang up his boots at halftime. What’s been really nice to see is not only will Ahmed beat his man 1v1, but he’s also picking out targets with his passes and finishing plays off more efficiently. That’s huge for Ahmed to continue his ascension.

Daniel Rios – 6.5

It’s pretty funny that Rios started at striker in a game where his team won 7-0, and the most memorable moment of the match he provided was missing a sitter in front of goal. I actually like Rios more than most in the comments, but I can say pretty confidently that he is not a good fit for the type of football the Whitecaps are going to play with Müller. Rios is far too often surprised when the ball arrives at his feet, and that’s just not going to work.

Substitutes – 8.0

The minutes for those off the bench were very low-leverage given the scoreline, but the headline has to be Rayan Elloumi scoring on his senior debut. He’s been scoring for fun at the Next Pro level, and when you’re doing that at 17, all kinds of alarm bells should be ringing about his future prospects. Heck, he might have more to give this season. Elsewhere, it was nice to see Giuseppe Bovalina get some minutes again, and he picked up a nice assist on Müller’s third goal.

Alright, that’s it from me after a crazy Saturday night at BC Place. I feel like there’s been a lot of these wild matches this year.

As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments.