The Leagues Cup is a nonsense tournament drawn up by the marketing department of MLS to make money from adding unnecessary fixtures to an already crowded calendar.
But football’s inherent ability to create drama and excitement out of even the most superfluous of games turned the Whitecaps 2-2 tie (and ∞-∞+1 defeat on penalties) into the one of the best games that BC Place has seen.
That was hugely helped by the presence of a large Mexican contingent who gave the atmosphere a much needed edge and, for most of the first half, it felt as though the Whitecaps didn’t really believe they belonged on the same pitch as the reigning Champion’s League holders.
But the obligatory Sergio Cordova goal sparked something in the home team and the second half was a terrific spectacle of both teams going toe to toe to win the game.
Ryan Gauld was exceptional in that period, all bustling energy and cutting edge passes, Cordova scored again and Brian White’s back to goal hold up play and distribution continues to be a severely underappreciated aspect of what makes this team tick.
A midfield of Cubas, Schopf and Ngando wouldn’t be enough to see Vancouver deep into the playoffs but Cubas did his usual thing, Ngando improved greatly in that period (although with a tendency to switch off defensively from time to time) and Schopf continues to drift through games unnoticed (maybe he will make a great referee one day?) but combined they did enough to keep the front three fed on enough half chances to make the Mexicans more concerned than they probably expected to be.
The absence of Vite and Ahmed was felt in the end however, not to mention that of Julian Gressel.
Gressel’s departure leaves a gaping hole that somehow needs to be filled. A midfield three of Cubas, Gressel and Ahmed, with Schopf and Berhalter as backup was a promising prospect for the remainder of the season
A midfield three of Cubas, Ahmed and Schopf, with Berhalter, Teibert and Ngando as backup just won’t be good enough come crunch time.
There’s already indications that replacements are in the works and let’s hope that at least one of those replacements is an actual midfield player. Anything to keep Sartini away from his beloved back three that rarely seems to work for this team.
So let’s see if the Front Office can put together a move that keeps the momentum of the team humming along.
All in all it would be probably be better if the Whitecaps left this particular competition at the group stage and gave themselves a few weeks to recuperate and work on adapting to Gressel’s absence but it’s hard to feel that way after watching that game against Leon.
Death to the Leagues Cup, long live the Leagues Cup!
It’s time for the Soccer Short’s player ratings!
Takaoka-5.5, Laborda-5.5, Veselinovic-6, Martins-6, Berhalter-5, Johnson-5, Cubas-6, Schopf-5, Ngando-5, Gauld-6.5*, Cordova-6 (White-6, Blackmon-5.5)
Soccer Shorts (The Director's Cut) 