Saturday night in Minnesota, the Vancouver Whitecaps played out a 0-0 draw with the Loons at Allianz Field. With the result, Jesper Sørensen’s side closed out a rather lethargic road swing, picking up just one of a possible six points against two teams sitting on the playoff bubble in their respective conferences.

Vancouver largely controlled proceedings and certainly dominated possession, finishing with 64% of the ball. However, it was a rare match in which the Whitecaps were outperformed in expected goals, with Minnesota holding a 0.97 to 0.46 edge. The Loons found most of their success on the counterattack, as Vancouver at times looked a little too eager to play vertically, particularly in the opening stages and the closing minutes.

Without further delay, let’s take a look at the individual performances:

Yohei Takaoka – 7.5

He was not very busy, but made the saves required of him. His biggest moment came in the 19th minute, when he came off his line aggressively to close down a sharp-angle effort.

Mathías Laborda – 6.0

After starting the match at right back, he was forced to shift centrally following Ranko Veselinović’s injury. Laborda was a little loose in possession and didn’t win as many aerial duels as we’ve come to expect from him.

Ranko Veselinović – N/A

Wishing Ranko the very best. Really hope it’s nothing too serious.

Tristan Blackmon – 6.5

A solid showing from the American defender, who did his best to move his team up the pitch and keep them on the front foot. As was a theme in this one, he was a bit uncharacteristically wasteful with his long balls.

Tate Johnson – 7.0

After a tough outing last time out, this was a good return to form for Tate. He was positive on the ball and won 5 of 7 duels.

Oliver Larraz – 6.0

He looked a bit gassed, and it made sense to switch things up at the half. The counting stats look quite solid for Larraz in this one, but he didn’t have much influence on the game.

Andrés Cubas – 7.5

Cubas was back to form in this one. He completed the most passes for VWFC, created two chances, and won 4 of 5 ground duels.

Cheikh Sabaly – 6.0

You see little flashes from Sabaly that get you excited, but I’m still struggling to see the case for him being an impactful player for this team. Far too many moments fizzle out with him on the ball.

Thomas Müller – 7.0

Nice to see Müller back and playing 90 minutes. He created the most chances for Vancouver, with four, and there was some interesting interplay in the second half with both him and Gauld on the pitch together.

Jeevan Badwal – 7.0

Another good match from the youngster. With Berhalter on the way out, it might be time to see him play more beside Cubas in a double pivot. This would give Sørensen a lot more flexibility in his front four and should be a better fit for breaking down teams like Minnesota who like to sit deep. He created two chances and won 6/9 ground duels in this one.

Brian White – 6.0

This was a match where Vancouver could have used a little more presence from their striker. He had two moments early, but after that was pretty invisible and struggled to win some 50/50 balls.

Substitutes – 6.5

Sørensen was forced to make an early shift with Ranko coming out of the match. Mihail Gherasimencov came in to play right back and, though he was unspectacular, he got the job done, which is all you can really ask for in a tough spot like that. Ryan Gauld looked lively again, and Vancouver had some of their best interplay of the match when he was involved, even though they struggled with the final product. Nikola Djordjevic was not much of a factor, nor was Rayan Elloumi. It was great to see Sam Adekugbe back in match action, even if it was only for a brief cameo.

Ok, those were my thoughts from the match in Minnesota. Let me know yours in the comments, as always.