The Vancouver Whitecaps will enter the second leg of the Canadian Championship semis on level terms, after they could only manage a 1-1 draw with Montreal on Wednesday at BC Place.

The Caps dominated by pretty much every statistical metric, but a wondergoal from Dani Pereira and a resolute, physical performance from Montreal left the Caps frustrated. A goal from Ryan Gauld was enough to get a draw, but the Caps will be baffled as to how they won’t head to Quebec with a lead.

Despite the midweek fixture, Jesper Sørensen rolled out a fairly strong lineup. Isaac Boehmer, Sam Adekugbe, and Jeevan Badwal entered to fill the Canadian quota, while Sørensen opted for pairing Gauld with Brian White, Cheikh Sabaly, and Emmanuel Sabbi in the attack.

The first big chance of the evening fell to the Caps within 10 minutes. A great quick flurry of passes found Badwal near the touchline, with a cross finding White on the doorstep. The striker’s shot was saved by Sebastian Breza and the rebound drifted to Gauld, who also had his attempt blocked. 

Montreal opted to let the Caps have the bulk of the possession and instead play through their two strikers and spring forward on the counter. That led to a wondergoal from Pereira, who dispossessed Oliver Larraz in midfield in a poor giveaway and then launched a shot from the outside of the center circle. Boehmer was caught out and could do nothing other than pick the ball out of the net.

Frustration continued to build for the Caps, who had a hard time forcing their way through a well-drilled Montreal side, who were content to let Vancouver ping in hopeful crosses and wait for a chance to break. 

The Caps were saved from a second Montreal goal by the offside flag, and a litany of unforced errors seemed to doom Vancouver’s advances to find a goal of their own. Edier Ocampo came closest to a breakthrough but saw his long-range shot hit off the upright.

Halftime brought a rush of changes from a clearly displeased Sorensen, with Thomas Müller, Andres Cubas, and Mihail Gherasimencov entering for Sabaly, Larraz, and Ocampo. Ocampo’s sub was a concussion sub, creating a new thing for Caps’ fans to worry about.

The second half opened with Vancouver redoubling their efforts, forcing Montreal to defend even deeper. Müller’s arrival helped open up the right-hand side and allowed Vancouver to switch the point of attack more easily. But the end result, more often than not, was a cross that Montreal could deal with.

Vancouver was saved by another offside call, denying Montreal a second, this one with much finer margins. But Prince Owusu was deemed to have strayed offside, denying the Chileans in attendance an Alexis Sanchez goal.

That let-off gave Vancouver the opening they needed. A rare transition moment was sparked with some great work in the middle of the park, and Müller feeding the substitute Bruno Caicedo. Caicedo torched his man and found a streaking Gauld, who slotted it home to level the match.

The Caps certainly had chances late. A brilliant split-second decision from Boehmer to play Caicedo in 1v1 with a throw came to naught, while Badwal had a golden chance cleared away by Breza. But the wind seemed to be out of Vancouver’s sails after a burst of energy after the goal.

Stray Thoughts

• Isaac Boehmer is understandably going to get a lot of stick for conceding Montreal’s opener, but, man, you can’t turn the ball over in midfield like that. I assume Boehmer’s positioning there is the standard Sørensen-ball spot, but that all works better with Yohei Takaoka in goal. He didn’t cover himself in glory but that goal is on Larraz, who fumbled a pretty straightforward play in the midfield.
• That giveaway summed up the Caps’ night. Yes, they did a lot right and should have gotten a second goal. But they were often their own worst enemy, with lots of cheap giveaways, wasted set pieces, and other mental mistakes that made it hard to say they deserved more than a draw.
• The wing play really let the Caps down, which is why the introduction of Bruno Caicedo made all the difference. Both Sabbi and Sabaly were wasteful, both in front of goal and in terms of giving the ball away in the buildup. Neither helped make the run needed for Tristan Blackmon or another defender to bypass the midfield and cause Montreal problems. Caicedo wasn’t perfect, but his speed and power were very difficult to cope with. 
• Some playful hijinks after the full-time whistle show that Daniel Rios clearly doesn’t have hard feelings after his departure, but man, he played like he was on a mission. Montreal were brutal in their physicality, and it often was directed at Jeevan Badwal in midfield, who will be battered and bruised. Badwal took his licks and ultimately had a strong night, even if he should have scored late.
• The CPL video review system they’re using in this competition is one of the most mind-numbingly dumb things I’ve ever seen in this sport. I’m no huge fan of VAR, but, comparatively, it looks like a dream — we simply don’t need someone to stare at a screen for three-plus minutes for a clearly offside goal.
•  Ryan Gauld remains awesome. Müller helped open things up in the second half, but Gauld was everywhere for 90 minutes, and the goal was the perfect capstone. The clear man of the match.

Three Stars

3. Mathias Laborda and Tristan Blackmon

Montreal’s physical play and the hulking presence of Prince Owusu asks a lot of the backline and Laborda and Blackmon delivered. I would have liked to see them get more of a chance to impact the match on the ball but they more than held their own along the backline.

2. Bruno Caicedo

Caicedo was ultimately a bit wasteful with his 1v1 chance and then sort of disappeared. But for a brief five-to-ten-minute stretch, he was everywhere. On a night where the other wingers struggled to impact the match, Caicedo was a breath of fresh air.

1. Ryan Gauld

Who else? Gauld create five chances, the most of anyone on the Caps, and was the engine in the first half, winning balls left and right in the counterpress. He was the creative fulcrum, shifting the ball around expertly to poke holes in the Montreal backline. His goal was ultimately well-deserved but he would have been MOTM for the Caps no matter what.