I’m not sure it’s possible to play a decent game of football on the Yankee Stadium pitch, but if it is neither the Whitecaps nor NYCFC managed to do so.
Still, Vancouver came away with a perfectly satisfactory point on the road to make it seven from nine from what looked to be the start of a a brutal road trip.
That point could have been more or it could have been less as both teams missed good opportunities to seal the win the game without ever really looking as though they were comfortable with the ball in the in-field.
It’s hard to pass any significant judgement on performances given the circumstances but we’re probably at the point where we can say that Mathias Laborda hasn’t turned out be the defender the Whitecaps wanted him to be.
He’s mostly passable but far too often he is off the pace of the game and that leads to yellow cards and that leads to more mistakes.
Today it was his inability to make the right decision that led to NYCFC having open space to run into and once Brown came on to replace him Vancouver looked more effective both going forwrad and at the back.
Elsewhere it was all a much of a muchness with everybody no doubt keen to get back to Vancouver for some quality home time.
The exception to that rule will be Alessandro Schopf who recently revealed that his main interest outside of football is “maybe the real estate market”.
How fascinating it must have been for tidy midfielder to compare the property markets in three different cities. And how great for teammates to spend some quality time listening to what are no doubt fascinating insights into a world they will be largely unfamiliar with.
Next up it’s yet another trip out east to visit Toronto but for now we can safely say that had you offered Vanni Sartini these seven points he would have bitten your hand off (and subsequently have been arrested).
Time for the Soccer Shorts Player Ratings!
Takaoka-5, Laborda-2, Veselinovic-5.5, Blackmon-5.5, Adekugbe-4, Laryea-5.5*, Cubas-5, Vite-5, Schopf-5, Gauld-5.5, White-5 (Raposo-5.5, Brown-5.5)
Soccer Shorts (The Director's Cut) 