Wednesday night at BC Place, the Vancouver Whitecaps came away with a confident 4-1 win over San Diego FC, moving closer to securing their first-ever finish atop the Western Conference.
Jesper Sørensen, rather surprisingly, made a major tactical tweak going into the match, starting Rayan Elloumi up front alongside Brian White. This pushed Ryan Gauld into a more traditional wide role and asked a lot of a central midfield without Andrés Cubas, who missed the match with an injury.
Interestingly, this all catered to San Diego’s playing style, or perhaps more precisely, how the Whitecaps could frustrate the visitors’ tendencies. As the team with the highest rate of possession in the league, San Diego favour very patient build-up play. However, the Whitecaps were set up in a way that offered the visitors wide spaces and opportunities for quick vertical attacks, almost daring Mikey Varas’ side to take them.
As it played out, this did a couple of things. First, the Whitecaps looked more effective than they have in recent matches at entering the box and playing dangerous combinations. This is easier when you have five or six players bombing into those spaces, and although Elloumi himself was not a standout, his runs and movement created a lot of space in this match.
Equally, the setup forced San Diego to either play through Vancouver’s press under heavy pressure or send the ball into those vacated wide channels and chase after it. While the visitors put together some decent-looking transition attacks, they rarely had enough players in the box to really threaten Vancouver.
For all the talk about tactics and open play, set pieces had a big impact on this match. It was Aleksa Cvetković who opened the scoring for the home side in the 24th minute, as Mathías Laborda played a nice pass during the second phase of a corner kick, leaving the young Serbian all alone in front of goal to register his first for the club.
Vancouver added a second just before halftime, as Oliver Larraz popped up at the edge of the box and played a perfect ball to the head of Brian White. The American rose wonderfully, scoring a great goal to mark his 100th in MLS, a milestone that puts him in an exclusive group of goalscorers. It was also a big boost for Vancouver, who deserved their lead after a very strong first half.
Down two goals and needing a win to keep their season alive, San Diego made some tweaks and looked stronger in the second half. However, it was Vancouver who eventually stretched the lead in the 66th minute. Edier Ocampo played a cross into Rayan Elloumi and, although the striker mishit his volley, the ball found the head of Ryan Gauld. The captain did just enough to stay onside before lunging forward to head the ball home.
With Vancouver up 3-0 and in a dominant position, San Diego really threw caution to the wind. Substitute Marcus Ingvartsen had two big chances, both denied by Yohei Takaoka ten minutes apart. The second save produced a rebound, and Vancouver quickly went the other way on a two-on-one, with Bruno Caicedo slotting home the dagger to make it 4-0.
San Diego would eventually find a set-piece goal of their own in the closing stages, but by that point, the result, and the visitors’ playoff hopes, were done and dusted.
This was by no means a perfect showing, and the scoreline was probably a bit generous to Vancouver. However, there was no doubt that the Whitecaps were the better team on the night, and it was good to see them be clinical and show some tactical versatility.
I thought both Larraz and Cvetković had great matches, especially given how much was asked of them in an isolated double-pivot role, without the support of a number ten and with Ocampo so often joining the attack. Similarly, Ryan Gauld’s work rate was phenomenal, and it was great to see him among the goals once again. Yohei Takaoka, for his part, has also been in good form lately. He has not been asked to make a high volume of saves, but the ones he has made have been timely and not always easy.
With the win, and both Dallas and St. Louis losing midweek, Vancouver can finish no worse than second in the West and now has almost a 95% probability of winning the conference. The second half of the season has not been the prettiest, but the Whitecaps are likely to accomplish something they have never achieved before in their MLS era.
I actually think that the system we played in was not really that important yesterday. San Diego was not parking the bus and making it easier for us, we did not have the most possession but in difference to other times were very clinical. It was 2.84 to 2.52 – so on another evening if San Diego would have made more of its own chances would have looked very different.
POTM- OLIVER LARRAZ- his work rate and adventuresome in the MF was a time setter for the whole game- his screamer off the crossbar was terrific
It was a relieved breath to see Brian White score- he looked refreshed
This the best we have seen the Caps play since May- they had fire in their belly!!
Salty
Can’t disagree with Larraz being player of the match. I would give it to Gauld though. He’s so good in every aspect of the game. On his goal, i can’t recall how many times I’ve seen players go for the half or whole volley only to smash it off target or right at the keeper. Gauld’s reaction ensured that 99.9% that ball was going over the goal line. The more i think about it the more i like Gauld out wide right. If anyone is going to make Elcampo more effective it’s Gauld. And unlike our other wide players, Gauld, when cutting inside on his stronger left foot has was more to offer in terms of killer passes, crosses and even shooting. He has it all: IQ, speed/quickness, skill, endurance, tenacity, tackling ability, leads by example (you never see him remonstrating to his teammates), he makes White that much more dangerous…have I missed anything? Cvetkovic and Larraz perhaps the Caps MF when Cubas moves on. Hopefully Cubas stays for a few more seasons but he is getting on.
When every player performs at 6+rating then we’re going to win most of the time. half the team for me would be getting a 7+rating. I’ve wondered about playing a 4-4-2 but couldn’t make a conclusion based on Elloumi playing up front with White, although it didn’t look too bad last night, where does Gauld fit in, the wide right position worked as Gauld still had licence to roam to a degree, and where does Muller fit in a 4-4-2. Does he become the 2nd striker? If Muller does play along side White then for me it would coming off the bench. Sorensen continues to impress with his decisions
Was a good game to attend. Felt like a collective cleaning of cobwebs, as the team just clicked. You write about the combo of Cvetkovic and Laraz, but we need to look into the defensive work that Gauld put into this game. His intensity was at Cubas’ level. His ability to intelligently throw his body around was elite. And the fearlessness seems to indicate a good level of confidence in his health. So nice to see.
Much better performance from the Caps than we have seen in many of their last games. It’s this type of intensity that will be needed at a minimum to have any hope of going deep into the post season.