Vancouver grabbed a 1-1 draw for the second straight week, sharing the spoils with fellow Western Conference frontrunners San Jose Earthquakes in a bruising matchup Saturday night.

The Quakes battled to try to shut down Vancouver and create a no-fly zone in the centre of the park. But a strong second half finally saw the dam burst behind a poacher’s finish from Sebastian Berhalter, ensuring the Caps left San Jose with a point.

Jesper Sørensen elected to keep things the same along the backline and in the midfield from last week’s match against LA Galaxy but swapped out Bruno Caicedo for Emmanuel Sabbi on the wing to begin the match. He kept Cheikh Sabaly in the starting XI to round out the other side of the front three.

It was a hot start for the Quakes, who went 1-0 up inside of four minutes. San Jose hit quickly off a throw-in in their defensive half, turning upfield to rip open the Caps. Hard work from Beau LeRoux and Ronaldo Viera sprung Paul Marie, and he found Preston Judd, whose striker’s finish gave the home side an early lead.

After a sloppy start, the Caps locked in a bit more to sharpen their counter-press and begin to dominate possession. It didn’t wind up with many good looks at goal, however, with San Jose content to lock down the centre of the pitch and force the Caps to either play through their wide options or try hopeful long balls over the top. 

The wide players from Vancouver had few bright spots to take advantage, aside from a brief spurt of positive play from Edier Ocampo, leading to a couple of dangerous crosses. One of those required Daniel to make a crunching intervention to deny Jeevan Badwal on the doorstep after a clever flick from Sabaly. 

But the Caps’ typical strategy of relying on service from wide areas, as well as Sebastian Berhalter’s set-piece delivery, was frustrated by a physical and aerially dominant Quakes backline. It was all just too predictable from Vancouver, who seemed to run out of ideas beyond playing hopeful crosses. To Vancouver’s credit, they neutralized some dangerous counterattacks from San Jose pretty easily and otherwise didn’t give up much ground besides the goal.

Halftime brought the introduction of Emmanuel Sabbi for Sabaly. I didn’t think Sabaly was bad in the first half, but Sabbi’s ability to take players on was a better fit when trying to break down San Jose’s defensive posture.

The start of the second half saw the Caps play with a bit more verve, with the build-up quicker and more purposeful. Badwal thought he had found an equalizer after the Brazilian keeper was forced to come out and deny a dangerous cross, but Daniel recovered to keep San Jose in the lead.

But the momentum seemed to fizzle, and it seemed like the match had just settled down. But in a game where the Caps had to work hard to match San Jose’s physical intensity, they scrapped and fought to find an equalizer. It wasn’t pretty, but Sabbi did well to hold up play in the box and his blocked shot fell to a wide-open Sebastian Berhalter, who made no mistake 1v1 to equalize.

Vancouver kept the pressure on for the remainder of the match, but was unable to take advantage of tired legs for the home side. Some sloppy play from the Caps let the Quakes off the hook and the Vancouver was never able to unpick the lock to grab a winner.

Stray Thoughts

• Fair play to Sebastian Berhalter, who struggled all night on set pieces and just seemed a bit off in his usually sharp passing. But great players know how to read a match and Seb positioned himself perfectly to take his chance. 
• This was the first match where Bruno Caicedo really looked outmatched in MLS play, and he just wasn’t quite able to get the better of Benji Kikanovic, and his ideas just didn’t really come off. A good reminder that Caicedo is still young and not going to be a stud every match, but this will likely be nothing more than a blip on the radar.
• Emmanuel Sabbi was not flashy, but I think he was important in offering a bit more physically, holding the ball up in the box and trying to be a bit more incisive and dynamic with both his movement and passing. He won’t get credit with an assist on Berhalter’s goal but his hard work helped make it happen.
• I know BC Place (deservedly) gets a bad rap for its turf. But, man, that was an atrocious pitch. I won’t be complaining, as a divot helped negate a promising attack. PayPal Park grounds keeping must be having a rough week, though.
• The Quakes deserve a lot of credit for their defensive setup. They knew exactly how Vancouver wanted to play and set up to lean into their strengths (physical battles 1v1 and clogging up the centre of the park). It all started to fall apart in the second half, and the Caps, I think, ultimately responded pretty well. But San Jose was clearly not going to give an inch in this one. This was a good point in the end and an entertaining match from two teams that will be hanging around in contention in the Western Conference until the bitter end.

Three Stars

3. Sebastian Berhalter

It wasn’t a particularly strong night for Berhalter. His impact was muted in open play and his set piece delivery was not up to his usual standards. But a goal is a goal and Seb took it well in the end. 

2. Tate Johnson

Tate loves a good physical battle, and he was up for this one tonight. But his passing continues to sing along the left-hand side, and he had success cutting inside and taking defenders on, which caused problems for San Jose. If he and Bruno Caicedo can figure out a bit more chemistry, this will be a dangerous pairing.

1. Andres Cubas

Cubas was spectacular in midfield and basically single-handedly sparked the Caps’ counterpress and fired it into high gear midway through the first half. The Paraguayan never looked back, turning in a dominant performance. He physically outmatched San Jose from start to finish in the midfield third and was a clear man of the match.