Vancouver Whitecaps missed out on the top seed in the Western Conference, as they suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to FC Dallas on Decision Day.
Vancouver was hoping for a stress-free Decision Day, as after Thomas Müller’s heroics in Orlando, the Whitecaps came into this game knowing that if they avoided defeat (or Portland took at least a point off San Diego), they would end the regular season at the top of the Western Conference. Meanwhile, Dallas needed the exact opposite set of results to secure a place in the first round of the playoffs, meaning they came to BC Place desperate to take care of business and secure their place in the postseason.
Vancouver did not start well, as Mathias Laborda got caught out by a long ball over the top for FC Dallas forward Sam Sarver. The Uruguayan ended up missing the ball and tripping the young striker up after he appeared to have broken free on goal, and although the Vancouver defender initially only received a yellow card, after VAR review it was upgraded to red for denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
The misery was compounded minutes later. Following a succession of corners and reflex saves from Yohei Takaoka, Dallas centre-back Osaze Urhoghide rose above the Whitecaps’ defence and headed home to hand the visitors the lead inside 18 minutes.
Vancouver was shellshocked by the red card, as passes started to go askew, creating even more opportunities for Dallas. However, some combative play from Emmanuel Sabbi saw him get the better of Lalas Abubakar, meaning the defender resorted to hacking Whitecaps man down inside the penalty area. The referee pointed to the spot, allowing Müller to step up and bury from 12 yards, dragging Vancouver back onto level terms.
The goal woke Vancouver up, as after the equaliser, the contest became more even. Emmanuel Sabbi had another opportunity, and Sebastian Berhalter had a fierce effort whistle narrowly wide of the top corner. However, the Whitecaps were unable to convert either opportunity. After Takaoka and Halbouni spectacularly denied Dallas a go-ahead goal on the verge of halftime, the two sides went into the interval level at 1-1.
However, Dallas came out swinging after the restart, and an intelligent pass from Sarver found the path of Kaick Fereira, with the Brazilian midfielder able to fire home without breaking stride to put his side back into the lead.
With Portland 3-0 down to San Diego, Vancouver needed to find a goal from somewhere if they were to secure the top seed in the Western Conference.
They pushed forward and started to control proceedings, with Dallas sitting back, desperate to hang on to seventh place. This allowed them to create chances, although they were hindered as Ali Ahmed was repeatedly scythed down with little sympathy from the referee.
Vancouver’s dominance continued, as Jeevan Badwal had a shot tipped wide by Michael Collodi, before Rayan Elloumi hit an attempt narrowly wide of the post, and Kenji Cabrera struck the bar with an audacious effort.
Alas, it seems that we can’t have nice things, as yet again, Vancouver was denied at the final hurdle.
This means that the Whitecaps end the season second in the Western Conference, falling just short of the title after a gallant campaign. With the results falling the way they did, this means that Vancouver has to dust themselves off and recover their momentum before they host a rematch in the first leg of a Best-of-3 series next week.
It was a stupid penalty Laborda took..giving the ref an opportunity to show his incompetency..should have stayed with the guy who probably would have missed with the goalie coming out and even if he scored– 1-0 ten minutes in is better than playing with 10 men for 80 minutes. You have to be smarter than that. This moron deserves to sit and also to be dropped from the team for creating this loss in the Whitecaps most important game!!
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can the red flag be appealed?
Dropped from the team ?! The dude has been there for us repeatedly. Wow. I assume this is trolling but still. It was also given as a yellow on field so blame VAR for taking all that time to slow mo track a clear and obvious foul.
Maybe officiating should become AI. It would prevent players and coaches from arguing with the referee. Though I’m sure Sartini would be up to it
one of the best/dumbest posts ever
It’s starting to look like the real problem here is that referees are realizing that if they get called to the video monitor, everything they say is on record and if they raise an issue with He Who Shall Not Be Questioned in the VAR room, it will result in fewer assignments in future. So many of these flawed decisions are decided after very short looks at the screen, it would appear that PRO is favoring the VAR guys and the referees know they must conform. On the Laborda play, Takaoka was just as likely to get to the ball as an unfouled Sarver, and the ball was moving slightly away from the goal and at a speed that meant that even in Sarver got there it would be a very tight angle, with three Caps defenders and Laborda closing in to cut off passes. The situation literally ticks several boxes in the DOGSO part of the Laws.
But Laborda needs to be smarter. Risky defensive plays like this, in a league where justice is unpredictably random, and the team is already woefully short of CBs, are poor choices: the last thing the team needs is for the few CBs we have left to be collecting cards as the playoffs begin. Caps outplayed and out-xGed Dallas down a man for 80 minutes; a perhaps early goal against a team we should beat easily is clearly less of a cost to the team than a card of uncertain colour, and a possible 80 minutes of 10 v 11.
Why does it take Jesper so long to get returning players into the lineup? If Pupe was actually ready to go, isn’t he the better choice to replace Rios after the red card? If it doesn’t work, you finish second instead of first and have data to help him improve. Not playing him means that he’ll be introduced in crucial must-win matches with no prior minutes. Or maybe he’s just not ready to go and we’re stuck with the patchwork back line, which has been great but cannot last once we’re up against the top teams.
Alan Chapman’s days of being a top MLS ref are over- he looks burned out and disinterested- i like what you said as how refs must agree with the VAR decisions or the league will be unhappy with them if they contradict the VAR crew
secondly, i dont blame Laborda – he was covering for Tate Johnson who constantly gets burned by long balls over his head as he is too far upfield- its happened in other games
thirdly over my longgggg soccer history i have never seen a team hit so hard with so many CB injuries (our top 5)- i think Laborda has been tremendous at leading the back-line and i think Priso has done well- having a duo of CB rookies was a challenge last night and the Dallas second goal showed that lack of experience
and MLS has to acquire better refs- the league is getting faster, more physical and a higher quality- the league has to upgrade, for sure
Salty
Regarding Chapman, just for about 15 minutes in the 2nd half, Chapman looked like a local referee who is on their 3rd game of the day and they just look zoned out. And agree, both Tate and Edier, if they get caught out then we’re vulnerable. They either have to deliver a cross or they and their team mates have to maintain possession. This is one weakness that Dallas can exploit, that, and balls into our danger area that our undersized team is going to have to deal with
As far as your criticism of VAR and the referee goes I completely disagree. Sounds more like a conspiracy theory than anything else. But agree with everything else you said about this match. Although Priso has been playing very well at CB lately. Tough call but Sorensen is a smart coach and he’s probably already calculating Sunday, October 25
Changing the subject just slightly – why does our pitch look so terrible? Other artificial pitches don’t look so faded – was at the game in person and now watching the recap on tv and it looks absolutely brutal and incredibly cheap. Wtf is going on there?!??
BC Lions played against Edmonton the night before on the same turf.
So it’s being used by both the Whitecaps and Lions – is that the reason it looks so bad?!? We can’t have our own pitch that actually appears to be green??
Bad pitch!……..too many injuries? possible causes requires data…
EG………..
How many injuries happened during a match?
How many at BC Place?
How many @ training?
THROW IN TRAVEL / SCHEDULE / REST DAYS/ LACK OF TRAINING DAYS
How many weeks this season have they had 4/5 days training before travelling Friday to an away game?
We need AI officiating. If the AI crowd want to show that their systems can work in a real time, live environments that would be a great test. If the first one was a red then the one on Sabbi was as well. Sigh. Such is minor league officiating.
If you have told me after Gauld got injured that he’d be out for 95% of the season and we’d finish second in the west I’d have thought you mad. After the “Score 1 goal in 5 games” finish in 2024 when Gauld was out I was thinking the season was over. Kudos to ALL the other players for rising up to the challenge and filling some very big cleats.
You’re wrong on the foul on Sabbi. TSN’s Caldwell explained correctly. It’s ok to be wrong
I remember a senior referee speaking to a group of my fellow coaches during a licensing course somewhere around 2004. He said there are 17 printed laws of the game, but there is an unspoken eighteenth law called “common sense.” In what universe could a referee allow VAR to over-rule his on-field yellow card decision in minute eight of a crucial match, then later, when Sabbi was chopped down more deliberately, and more efficiently, in the box, with a clear path to goal, decide offer only a yellow on the play?
That doesn’t bother me as much as the missed fouls against Muller and Ahmed, one of which should have been a penalty and the other should have been a second yellow to the Dallas player
Halbouni was not getting anywhere near Sarver so if it’s a yellow, it’s a red. In the stadium, I thought Sabbi was the same play and should have been a red. Watching the highlights, look like the second Dallas defender actually had an angle on Sabbi so he wasn’t free and clear. Agree with the yellow and the penalty. Doesn’t excuse the rest of the abysmal work by Chapman.
Agree with you on Chapman. Not a good game for him. Put his whistle away at times, which some like, until they don’t like it. I thought Sabbi drew a 2nd penalty call, but apparently he embellished the contact making the refereeing decision difficult
You’re wrong too. TSN’s Caldwell explained both calls in detail, agreeing with the referee, which former players don’t often do, but it’s ok to be wrong
Why do you keep saying it’s ok to be wrong ?! You can just say TSN’s Caldwell had a good explanation.
cause 1 plus 1 equals 3. That’s ok
What are you on about? This isn’t some anti-canadian conspiracy. MLS refereeing is just pure crap.
The quality of MLS refereeing has just not kept up with improvements in the calibre of play and players.
MLS officiating is no worse than from what I’ve seen around the world. Big leagues, and federations included. The best is UEFA, Champions League and games within their federation. CONCACAF is the worst by far….
Quote: Sebastian Berhalter had a fierce effort whistle narrowly wide of the top corner.
actually it hit off the cross-bar, the goalie well-beaten
one could say that the Dallas defender should have been given a red card as Sabbi was going in alone
Quote: Ali Ahmed was repeatedly scythed down with little sympathy from the referee.
in not wanting to sound like a sour loser, head ref, Alan Chapman, had a poor game – at one time a few years. he was one of the best, but no longer-
Cabrera hit the cross-bar with the goalie beaten
It just wasnt our night BUT this could be a tool for the players to discuss with Jesper on how to handle adversity in a game – being the only Canadian team in the playoffs, we wont get any fairness sometimes and we will have to be 10-15% better than any US team to win and battle through the adversity- seen this story before
Salty
My concern is not having Laborda for game 1. Priso played well but we’re a small team so so dealing with corners and dangerous free kicks may be our undoing
First time comenter, long time reader.
I am from the camp of lets be consistent in the monumental calls in a soccer game. I don’t have too much problem with the Laborda red card. The Whitecaps were on the other side of that call at home a couple of months ago.
I will call the second one the Hollywood foul. That is where the Sabbi is in the street waving to their friends and fans and all seems fine. Then out of nowhere, the bus runs over the waving person. Abubakar was driving the bus and there were no skid marks. As the rule states, if he was going for the ball, it might have only been a yellow. There were no tire tracks near or on the ball, so its red.
Both teams should be without a starting center back for playoff game one, I call that consistent.
The part that keeps me wanting to throw things at the TV is Caldwell’s usual commentary that it was not deemed serious enough to be sent off and they got the penalty anyhow. I disagree, you would never see John Craven do this as he was never chasing from the center back position. (Craven part the spine of that last big Championship team with Alan Ball, Phil Parkes and Trevor Whymark)
I played center back and was a referee so I know the difference between the tactical nudge (Laborda) and the bus. If you are in a crowded area, like a corner kick in front of the goal, the nudge rarely gets called. Out in the open with the ref having a good view of the contact as in this case, the yellow gets pulled without hesitation. I think the yellow was the right call because the attackers first touch of the ball did not bring the ball into his control. That was before the contact negated a clear chance on goal if the likely control of the ball was lost. (I could be off on the bad first touch comment as there was no definitive replay shown) I think Laborda’s contact was a result of him making a play on the ball (closer to the nudge than the bus) which should have brought the yellow back into the decision process.
Sabbi had control of the ball with an unimpeded shooting lane to the goal, he pushed the ball ahead to a shooting position (as in the ball was not at his feet but in his control) Sabbi was moving forward to shoot the ball. The bus in this case ran into Sabbi’s back and his side from an angle since Sabbi was ahead of the bus and moving forward to strike the ball.
For your reference, I give you below the Dogso section of the Laws of the Game 2024-2025 edition
Page 114 of FIFA Laws of the GAME
Denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO)
Where a player commits an offence against an opponent within their own penalty area which denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offender is cautioned if the offence was an attempt to play the ball or a challenge for the ball;
in all other circumstances (e.g. holding, pulling, pushing, no possibility to play the ball etc.), the offending player must be sent off.
Thanks for clearing that up about the red card still being given along with a penalty. I wasn’t sure how that worked and I think someone here was saying that you can’t give a red and award a penalty. It makes sense because you could still miss the penalty shot so it’s not an automatic goal.