Wednesday night in Cincinnati, the Vancouver Whitecaps dropped just their third match of the MLS season in a 4-3 defeat at TQL Stadium.
It was a bit of a messy return to league play for the Whitecaps, as they played right into Cincinnati’s hands in a wide-open match that had five goals inside the first 36 minutes.
Vancouver has been an extremely consistent defensive team under Jesper Sørensen; however, they didn’t look like it in this match, as both centrebacks picked up a yellow card inside 20 minutes, while Tate Johnson and Bruno Caicedo struggled to stay on the same page when it came to closing down the home side’s right attacking flank.
That frailty led to some miscues at the back, and the home side took full advantage. That said, the hosts did profit from two very low-quality looks with high-quality finishes, first from Bucha in the ninth minute, and then Evander in the 36th, but generally, it was just too easy for Cincinnati to find space in and around Vancouver’s penalty area, and Takaoka probably could have done better with the shots from distance as well.
If we want to talk about positives, we have to start with Ryan Gauld. It was a sight for sore eyes to see him return to MLS play, and he was tremendous, especially early, dropping into half-spaces and pulling out defenders. While his first goal was a bit fortunate, it was thoroughly deserved given the quality of his overall performance. His class shone through again in the 58th minute, as his quick response pulled the Whitecaps within one, even though they were not able to make any further impact. Equally, I thought Jeevan Badwal had a quality match, not only because of his first-half tally, but also through his chance creation and movement.
The other thing we probably have to talk about is the lack of depth off the bench in this one. Not only because it limited Vancouver’s ability to find a tying goal, but also because the Sebastian Berhalter rumours are picking up at a rapid pace. It feels as though he has played his last match in a Whitecaps shirt. That’s well deserved on his part, but that’s small comfort for supporters who would love to see him lead another charge towards an MLS Cup in Vancouver.
Secondarily, Thomas Müller did not feature off the bench, which is not a big red flag, but also not ideal when you are chasing the game. Vancouver has really benefited from playing so many home games, and I wonder what kind of effect all the travel will have on a player with a lot of mileage on the body already.
In sum, this was a match where the Whitecaps were undoubtedly far less than their best, and yet they still won the xG battle and were the better team for long stretches. I also think this Cincinnati team is a whole lot better than they showed before the World Cup break.
With that, the Whitecaps are on to Minnesota, as they close out a road trip before returning to BC Place on August 1.
Good take on this match: the main problem was the goals conceded and the way Cincinnati were able to move the ball from left to right while Johnson was edging into the middle and leaving open wide spaces out there. Maybe the idea was that Caicedo was supposed to track back and he wasn’t, but the replays looked bad. Caps defenders seemed a little slow to get blocks in and engage defenders: the 3-2 goal left us shaking our head as Blackmon was in full retreat when Evander took a 19-yard shot. Of course, both CBs picking up yellows in the first 18 minutes may hinder them somewhat (especially when one of the yellows is MLS/PRO level soft), but that’s no excuse for the mistakes that were made. The offence at least looked very good even if operating without everyone at once. Will we ever see Gauld 2.0 and Muller in together or is it the plan to use them only one at a time? Is there something going on about the team captaincy that is a secret issue?
The developing pieces: Badwal, Larraz, Caicedo, Djordjevic, Elloumi, all seemed to be progressing well and Larraz especially looks like he might just turn into a decent piece with playing time, but replacing Berhalter will be a difficult job. Larraz’s play last night warranted a wait and see approach: no need to spend the Berhalter money immediately and force Larraz back to the bench when he may just be a reasonable answer. Sometimes you need to let the players you have earn their tickets to the next level rather than labeling them bench players forever.
My big red flag for Larraz is that he is 24 years old, in his 3rd MLS season, and still looks scared when he gets the ball. Even worse, he holds on to it too long and kills our momentum, which is a serious problem in a possession-based team where we need to keep play flowing. That being said, his issues are more decision-making rather than quality, so could be ironed out with time. When he has a moment he can actually produce a very nice shot or pass but he seems to get flustered when there is someone actively challenging him. Seems to me if he could lay the ball off to a teammate when under pressure he would be very good indeed.
the hilite for me was seeing Ryan Gauld doing his thing on the field- his long-range goal was a tremendous shot-
his return will take some of the sting out of loosing Berhalter, which we should know where, when and for how much trade money so it can be reinvested back into a new player or 2 (which i believe is required by MLS rules)- Seba will be sorely missed, but you have to hope he does well on his move to Euro football… he deserves the best from all us supporters for what he has given to the Team- he truly is a Whitecap success story to celebrate
yes, it was a messy performance last night and we have 2W, 2L in the last 4 games- is this a trend to worry about ? time will tell when the schedule gets balanced out- i do expect a tougher defence next game
Salty
This