Watching the Vancouver Whitecaps try to play football can be a disconcerting experience at the best of times.
Watching them try to to play football while suffering from a “mild” case of Covid is a different journey altogether.
Fortunately, the unending medication required to keep me conscious also numbed the pain of losing 3-0 to Austin FC and did supply me with a series of fever dream type questions which will have to stand in for the usual analytically brilliant tactical breakdowns you are more accustomed to from this site.
Let the questioning begin!
Why were the men in green running in patterns, while the men in white were running in random directions regardless of where the ball was?
Why did the men in white stop running and just stand still when they got near the men in green’s penalty area?
Why did the coach think that playing Baldisimo as the sole defensive midfielder would work this time when it hasn’t worked on any of the other times he has tried it?
Would it be better to play actual wing-backs in the wing-back role?
Teibert?
If White and Cavallini are playing together shouldn’t there be a plan to get the ball to them?
How can a team have a plan if the coach constantly changes players and where they play?
Is this the first time the Whitecaps players have genuinely given up during a game? There didn’t seem much buy in after the opening burst of attacking activity in each half?
Defending? Should they introduce it as a tactic for the remainder of the season?
How long does Sartini get before the trigger is pulled?
Time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings!
Hasal-2, Raposo-2, Godinho-2, Veselinivoc-2, Blackmon-2, Nerwinski-2, Baldisimo-2, Teibert-2, Vite-2, Cavallini-2*, White-2 (Berhalter-2, Brown-2, Dajome-2)
Soccer Shorts (The Director's Cut) 