Well that was a frustrating evening.
The Whitecaps could have been two or three goals to the good at half time against San Jose but ended the half a goal behind.
Put those missed chances down to a combination of bad luck, good defending and a heavy touch and a poor final ball every now and then.
Debutante Richie Laryea was most at fault when it came to those final passes but he at least showed that he has the ability to be some kind of replacement for the much missed Julian Gressel.
Vancouver missed Laryea’s thrusting runs drown the right in the second half when he was replaced by fellow debutante Sam Adekugbe and, as the half wore on, the Whitecaps (much like their coach) lost their heads and began to play as individuals rather than as a team.
And maybe they need to learn to deal with the fact that the opposition will waste time if they are hanging on to a lead? Stupid challenges and touchline rants help nobody apart from the team you are trying to beat.
It’s become something of a pattern that Sartini’s substitutions tend to throw the team off kilter every now and then and that’s either down to him not making the right calls or the players not appreciating what the changes are meant to achieve.
But the squad is now deep. It needs to be used with a purpose.
This defeat isn’t a disaster but it would definitely merit a warning alert if the Whitecaps had such a function in their app that no longer exists.
So now they face a series of road games where they need to pick up more points than they have been able to do on their travels thus far.
Thev’re shown they’re good enough to do that but they’ve also shown that they are capable of falling apart when things go against them.
The missed chances tonight were costly but it may be the missed chances throughout the season that derail them from their destination.
Time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings!
Takaoka-5, Laryea-5, Raposo-4, Laborda-5, Veselinovic-4.5, Blackmon-5, Cubas-5, Schopf-5.5*, Vite-5.5, White-4.5, Cordova-4.5 (Adekugbe-4.5, Gauld-4, Ahmed-4.5)
Soccer Shorts (The Director's Cut) 