Saturday night at BC Place, the Vancouver Whitecaps began their MLS season with a rather nervy 1-0 win over a depleted Real Salt Lake side. While Jesper Sørensen’s team have not come sprinting out of the blocks to start 2026, they have kept back-to-back clean sheets and were quite clearly the better side in both matches they have played. They have also done this while handling some hectic midweek travel to Central America.

Salt Lake, for the lack of talent and experience in the XI, gave the Whitecaps some problems in this one, limiting most Vancouver attacks to the perimeter and putting the hosts under pressure on a couple of occasions with direct and vertical attacking play. Nonetheless, the Whitecaps held RSL to just two shots on target, only one of which was a decent scoring chance. So while the visitors deserve some credit, it says something about the Whitecaps that, for Salt Lake, merely keeping this one close is seen as a big success.

Alright, without further delay, on to the player grades.

Yohei Takaoka – 7.0

As mentioned, he was not very busy. He had a couple of entertaining moments with the ball at his feet, and I know Sørensen was a bit frustrated with how often Vancouver played the ball backwards.

Mathías Laborda – 6.0

Not a great game for Laborda. He looks more comfortable at CB, especially if the fullbacks are being asked to provide more width this year. While Laborda can do that in a pinch, it is really not his game; he is more of an attacking threat through crosses and late-arriving runs into the box.

Tristan Blackmon – 7.0

It was nice to see Blackmon looking like himself, marauding forward, being proactive defensively, and showing confidence with the ball at his feet.

Ralph Priso – 6.5

Perhaps it is a bit harsh to blame this on Ralph, but the chemistry of the CB pairing looked a bit off, which is fair given that these two have not played together much since Priso shifted to the CB role. Nonetheless, I am expecting big things from the young Canadian this year.

Tate Johnson – 7.5

Johnson has been fantastic in Vancouver’s first two matches. He has been involved at both ends of the pitch and his confidence is growing by the day, as shown on his great run that led to Vancouver’s goal.

Sebastian Berhalter – 7.0

Perhaps a little less notable than usual for Seba, but he was still the engine that kept Vancouver’s possession game chugging along. He was the match-leader in xA at 0.34.

Andrés Cubas – 7.5

When Salt Lake gained some steam in transition attacks, Cubas was usually there to stop them. He had six tackles.

Emmanuel Sabbi – 6.5

Most of Vancouver’s attacking play went down the other side of the pitch. When he did have the ball, he made a couple of lively runs leading to half-chances.

Thomas Müller – 7.0

The German showed flashes of what we all want to see, but it still feels like there is another level he can reach. He often drifted wide to find space and had some good combinations with AZ.

Aziel Jackson – 8.0

Speaking of AZ, a lot of the attacking play for Vancouver flowed through his flank. Not everything he tried came off, but you can see his creativity and composure on the ball. Unlike Ahmed and Nelson, he looks more like a passer and shooter than a dribbler to me, which is interesting, in terms of tactical fit. Obviously, he showed some of that quality with his first-touch finish.

Here’s some data from the performance, along with a comparison between AZ, Ali Ahmed, and Jayden Nelson, keeping in mind that Jackson’s Vancouver sample size is just 68 minutes, but this is something we will continue to track.

(Data & Visualization: Krishan Chawla) 

Brian White – 6.0

White has looked a bit off the pace to start the season. Some of that is a lack of service, but he has also been dispossessed a bunch in hold-up play and has not always had his body shape right when the ball does fall to him. Knowing White, though, he will score a brace this week and that will quickly be forgotten.

Substitutes: Jeevan Badwal, Édier Ocampo, Kenji Cabrera

I cannot think of too much that stands out from Vancouver’s depth in this one. Cabrera made a couple of nice runs cutting inside, Ocampo drew some fouls, and then Badwal made a great run into the box right in the 90th minute.

Jesper Sørensen – 6.5

It is clear that even when Vancouver is not firing on all cylinders, they are going to be a very difficult team to break down, especially when other teams are facing a talent deficit. I remain a bit concerned about the fact that all of Vancouver’s attacking players, save Brian White, like to receive the ball in wide areas and then immediately cut inside, as it has Vancouver playing into pressure a lot and the spacing does not look quite right. I am confident Jesper will sort this out in short order, but it is something to monitor.

Alright, those are my thoughts from the home opener. Let me know yours in the comments, as always.

(Images: Chaehyun Lim)