In some ways the Whitecaps 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire was a game of two halves.
In the first half Vancouver ran Chicago ragged with Gauld and White combining for what felt like a plethora of chances while the Fire lumbered around the pitch bereft of ideas.
When that half ended with the Whitecaps only one goal to the good there was always the nagging feeling that those missed chances would come back to bite them but ultimately the Fire didn’t have enough quality to make their mark on the game.
And so the “game of two halves” narrative was replaced by the “game of two eras” narrative.
Because, as the game went on, Chicago looked more and more like a team from the past. An MLS side who relied on the one mercurial playmaker and the big centre forward to be their attacking threat and if that doesn’t work, well that’s it, there’s no Plan B.
All options exhausted.
The Whitecaps however hustled and harried as a team, could maybe have been cleaner in some of their passing but always looked to move the ball as quickly as possible when the chance of a space opened up.
And all this without Vite or Ahmed offering much in the way of offensive threat at all.
Six points is already a satisfactory total from the first three games of this much heralded road trip and that buys them the points cushion they needed from the chasing pack.
Throw in a much needed clean sheet and this becomes a very satisfactory evening of work.
Time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings!
Takaoka-5, Brown-5, Veselinovic-6, Blackmon-6*, Raposo-6, Laryea-6, Vite-4, Ahmed-4, Gauld-6, White-6 (Schopf-5.5, Adekugbe-4)
Soccer Shorts (The Director's Cut) 