Soccer Shorts (The Director's Cut)

So farewell then Leagues Cup.

The Whitecaps ended their “campaign” undefeated over ninety minutes and having matched two good Mexican teams at BC Place.

The 1-1 tie and penalty loss to Tigres wasn’t quite the humdinger that the Leon game was but it was still a good game of football punctuated by two very good goals.

It’s always easy to fall back on the “concentrate on the league” cliché after this kind of defeat but in this case it’s probably right.

More than a few Vancouver players looked weary by the end of the game on Friday evening so a period of rest and a chance to work on systems with new signings Sam Adekugbe and Richie Laryea is no bad thing.

Both those newcomers should be able to provide a better final ball than we saw against Tigres (oh wherefore art thou Julian Gressel?) and if we never have to see Laborda try to hit a cross again we will all be more spiritually content than we are now.

Coincidentally (or maybe not) Ryan Raposo had his best game in the left wing back role. It was highlighted by a fantastic goal line clearance but he also provided far more impetus going forward than he has been inclined to do.

Having said that there were still numerous times when having a left footed player on the left side would have kept the attacking momentum going more than Raposo was able to do.

But while he will inevitably lose minutes in the coming weeks it’s not inconceivable that Sartini will play Laryea in the role played by Gressel from time to time and this display ensured that Raposo will be a consideration on the right (especially given how poor Brown was after a lengthy lay off).

Elsewhere Pedro Vite continues to be one of the Whitecaps best players, Berhalter continues to always do a job wherever he is asked to play and Cubas continues to be Cubas.

The Whitecaps are in a good place right now. They know how they want to play, they know how to play that way and they are fun to watch.

Now they just need to break through the invisible wall of their own self-belief when the crunch times come.

Time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings!

Takaoka-5, Veselinovic-6, Blackmon-5.5, Raposo-6.5, Brown-3, Berhalter-6, Cubas-6.5, Schopf-5, Vite-7*, Gauld-6, White-6 (Laborda-5)

Safe to say that if I were an LA Galaxy fan right now I would be furious.

The Galaxy had the beating of a Whitecaps team who looked a step away from the pace of the game for most of the evening.

Whether this lack of intensity was down to this game just being the Leagues Cup, the loss of Martins before the game and Veselinovic during it, the heat or just failing to learn the lesson that allowing Riqui Puig space is a mistake is hard to say (probably a little bit of columns A, B, C and D) but, in the end, the home team failed to capitalize and did that thing that every supporter knows is the wrong thing to do when you are not a very good defensive team.

They sat back and allowed the Whitecaps to get bodies into the box.

Say what you like about this Vancouver team (but not here, this is where I say what I like) they almost always find a way to score goals and Ryan Gauld, who had been a mixture of anonymous and frustrated for most of the game, found a good delivery to force an own goal and very good flick on to set up Brian White.

And somehow the Whitecaps Leagues Cup journey marches on.

It’s hard to know whether to view this as a good thing or not but if it allows Sartini the chance to try a few things such as Boehmer in goal (who did well) and Ngando as a starter (who also showed flashes of quality) then that’s no bad thing.

This is very much a “take it as it comes” competition for Vancouver.

And no harm ever comes from winning “must win” games though, no matter how tepid that “must” really is.

Time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings!

Boehmer-6, Raposo-4, Laborda-5, Veselinovic-4.5, Blackmon-4.5, Cubas-6.5*, Schopf-3, Ngando-5, Gauld-5.5, Cordova-4, White-5 (Yao-4.5, Vite-4.5)

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)

“Hey Siri-show me a match that defines the cliché a game of two halves”.

“Okay-your taxi to Bogota has been confirmed and the payment has been transferred from your account”.

Well that didn’t work, but no matter because the Whitecaps 4-2 win over the LA Galaxy defines the genre just perfectly.

In the first forty-five minutes Vancouver pressed and passed the Galaxy out of existence and ended the half with a three goal lead and a one man advantage.

In the second forty-five minutes they did not do that.

Perhaps the half-time team talk went something along the lines of “This game is already won so no need to try and score another goal and you might as well let that that little guy with the pink boots have the ball. That should work out fine”?

Riqui Puig may look and sound like a minor character from shark jumping sitcom Happy Days, but he almost helped the Galaxy steal two points from a curiously inert Whitecaps team in the second period.

Since it’s always more interesting to think about what went wrong than what went right let’s do that.

Losing Andres Cubas at half-time didn’t help and his absence created a gaping hole in the midfield that neither Berhalter or Teibert seemed to either notice or feel inclined to fill. And the decision to replace the injured Vite with said Teibert didn’t help either.

The Canadian is no longer fit for purpose, even as a bit part player in MLS, but the plan to field a more defensive eleven against a team that was bad at the back but good going forward completely shifted the initiative toward the visitors.

One can only assume that this was a case of stand in coach Michael D’Agostino either under-thinking or over-thinking the move in the pressure of the moment.

Thankfully the arrival of Ali Ahmed helped restore the balance somewhat as the Whitecaps suddenly possessed a player who both wanted the ball and was willing to expose the LA Galaxy defenders for the statues that they were.

So, in the end, it all worked out just fine and the Whitecaps go into the traditional Leagues Cup break in a decent, if somewhat precarious, position with regard to the playoffs.

They are the second highest scorers in the Conference (Who would have thought that at the start of the season?) and have two Designated Players playing at the top of their games and one more who is starting to look as though he has played football before.

There’s still a tough road to travel down but they have been mostly fun to watch and that’s no mean feat for any team

Time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings!

Takaoka-5, Blackmon-4.5, Veselinovic-5, Martins-5, Rapaoso-6, Gressel-6, Cubas-6, Schopf-5.5, Gressel-6, Gauld-6.5*, Vite-5.5, White-6 (Berhalter-3, Teibert-2, Ahmed-6)

Well, what a strange game of football that was.

The Whitecaps were probably the better team over the full ninety minutes of the 2-1 win over Austin FC, but there were times when it didn’t feel that way as the Texan visitors pushed Vancouver right to the end.

The standout moment of the game has to be Sergio Cordova’s first goal in a Whitecaps jersey.

Cordova was either the epitome of cool as he waited for the right moment to slot the ball home or he was the epitome of a man desperately hoping that the ground would open up beneath him before he had the chance to mess up the final shot.

Either way the ball went into the back of the net and we’ll see if that changes both his fortune and his form.

That doesn’t alter the fact that Vancouver are a better attacking force with Gauld, Vite and White as the front three (although White’s continuing quest to rack up expected goals over actual goals continues frustratingly apace).

Shout outs to Johnston and Berhalter who each performed well in unfamiliar wide roles with Johnston in particular continuing to look like a a promising work in progress.

A less flattering word though about Tristan Blackmon whose performance in the latter part of the second half was borderline disgraceful. There’s a time and a place for being a “footballing” central defender and this was very much not it. In the end he was incredibly lucky not to cost his team the game with defending that seemed more designed to prove how cool he was than to get the job done.

And a final word about Vanni Sartini’s antics just before the final whistle. Well three words; childish, disrespectful and counterproducitve.

Time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings!

Takaoka-5, Veselinovic, 5, Blackmon-2, Martins-5.5*, Jonston-5, Berhalter-5, Schpof-5, Cubas-5, Gauld-5.5, Vite-5, White- (Cordova-4.5)

During the first half of the 3-2 loss to the Seattle Sounders it seemed as though the Whitecaps could hurt the visitors most effectively from set-pieces.

But in the second half the hunter became the hunted and the three goals conceded from Seattle set-pieces decided the game.

Kind of.

There was always the concern after the LAFC result and performance that Vanni Sartini would drift back to thinking that “interesting” tactical decisions were better than sensible ones and so we got three at the back and Johnson and Raposo as wing backs for this game.

To be fair to Johnson he grew into the game and offered some genuine threat going forward, but please spare us the continuing sight of Raposo being targeted by the opposition as a clear defensive weak link while also offering very little of value going forward.

There are so many times when he has the ball at his feet and space to drive into where he opts to dawdle, stop and play the safe pass inside.

Vancouver have been better with four at the back all year and this game cried out for just that, with that extra man in midfield helping to counteract the loss of Andres Cubas.

And Cubas was the big loss for the Whitecaps in this game.

Without his energy in midfield they allowed the Sounders far too much time on the ball and were ultimately punished.

I suppose we should also mention that the time for Sergio Cordova to start games is gone. He has had enough opportunities to provide his worth and he can’t be accommodated any more just because he is paid a lot of money.

Are the Whitecaps in trouble?

Well, the top half of the top half of the table now seems out of reach and the crazy schedule probably means that they will be scrapping for fifth place at best come season end.

That feels like an underachievement.

They can argue they have been missing crucial players in recent games but the counterpoint to that is they had a long spell with a fully healthy squad and didn’t take advantage of it.

They are now reaping the harvest of that failure.

Time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings!

Takaoka-5.5, Raposo-3, Johnson-5, Veselonovic-5.5, Laborda-5.5, Martins-5.5, Berhalter-5.5, Schopff-4.5, Gauld-6*, White-5.5, Cordova-3

One the one hand the Vancouver Whitecaps were missing a whole slew of players due to international call ups and injury but, on the other hand, the 3-0 loss in Kansas was symptomatic of the lack of consistency that prevents them from ever really breaching the top four of the standings.

And there remains a lingering concern that every top notch performance convinces the coach and the players that they have solved football once and for all and don’t need to bring the same levels of focus and effort to the game that follows.

But, whatever the reason, everybody on the Whitecaps teams looked lethargic (both physically and mentally) and nobody really seemed to know where they were supposed to be on the pitch or where their teammates were supposed to be either.

Raposo was once again targeted as a defensive weak link, Schopf remains bafflingly invisible in the midfield and even Cubas seemed reluctant to chase the ball down.

And Simon Becher should never be asked to lead the line from the start of the game again. He doesn’t have the physical presence to do so.

I suppose that Cordova continues to improve slightly? Although his casualness in getting back from an offside position probably foreshadows frustration to come.

But, once again, the Whitecaps have forced themselves into a situation where they can’t afford to slip up in the three upcoming home games.

That is starting to feel like tempting fate a little too much, but let’s hope that this debacle in Kansas can be cast aside as just one of those things in a season that has been mostly positive.

Oh, and Laborda’s moustache isn’t helping anybody to enoy these games.

Time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings!

Takoaka-2, Raposo-1, Martins-2.5*, Veselinovic-2, Laborda-1.5, Cubas-2, Schopf-1, Vite-1.5, Gauld-2.5, Becher-1.5, Cordvoa-2.5 (Berhalter-2)

Well, that was a nice surprise.

When Vanni Sartini announced a starting eleven featuring six attacking players it felt like another case of the coach not trusting his own process and throwing dice at the table jus to see where they land.

But, as it turned out, he got it exactly right and the Whitecaps (somewhat bizarrely) dominated LAFC in the first half and were unlucky to only be leading by one goal at the break, so good was their overall play.

Although the sight of the bench collectively celebrating a one good period of passing play did seem a tad bizarre.

In the second half the home team pushed harder but Vancouver hung on, and not in a “we don’t think we can survive this” kind of a way, but in a “we know what we’re doing and believe we can see this out kind of way”.

There were good performances all over the pitch but Ryan Gauld was exceptional in both his attacking threat and his defensive work rate and Andres Cubas essentially did the work of two men (maybe three) as he harried the LAFC players like a hyperactive terrier destroying every game of tennis in the park by stealing ball after ball.

Hat tip too to Sergio Cordova. Inevitably he missed a sitter when clean through on goal, but he was instrumental in the third goal and caused enough troubles for the LAFC defence to justify his existence. If he can hit a rich seam of goalscoring form (or even a poor seam) in the second half of the season that would go a long way to making his move not seem quite as ridiculous as it still currently looks.

I have a theory that the best thing that could have happened for Vancouver was having the Colorado game called off in mid-week.

It gave them a rest, means one less game without international absentees and may well have compounded what is already a good sense of team spirit.

They really needed this road win and, contrary to the recent past, they got it.

Time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings!

Takaoka-5.5, Laborda-6, Veselinovic, 5.5, Martins-6, Raposo-4, Gauld-7, Cubas-7.5*, Vite-6, Schopf-5, White-5.5, Cordova-5.5

There are some games of football that you just need to get through.

And the visit of FC Cincinnati felt very much like that for the both the players and supporters of the Vancouver Whitecaps.

A Canadian Cup hangover, key player missing through injury or rest and an opponent who live and die by single goal victories combined to make this one of the less memorable games of the season.

For most of the game both teams were relying on half chances to get near to the scoresheet but, in the end, it took a moment of quality and a moment of stupidity to give the game two goals it probably didn’t deserve.

For the Whitecaps it was a case of three at the back once again taking more than it gives in terms of offensive output and when the go to creative move is a Veselinovic long ball it’s clear that things aren’t truly going to plan.

But on the bright side Sergio Cordova had his best performance since his signing (that’s not a huge achievement to be fair) and there were signs that his pace in behind a defence could be a useful asset, especially on the road.

It’s not often that an MLS team looks forward to their travels but, in this case, it feels as though the Whitecaps have used up so much emotional energy in the recent home stand that the change of environment will be as useful as the rest they will get before resuming their season in ten days time.

The success of that season will now hinge on how they perform on those travels.

If they can play with the freedom they’ve shown they are able to do at BC Place they’ll pick up enough points to comfortably get into the playoffs. If they let the road get into their heads they’ll struggle.

The first half of the season has been far more promising that it initially appeared to be but MLS (like many of our lives) is remembered and often defined by the manner of the ending.

The second half of the campaign starts now.

Time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings!

Takaoka-5, Laborda-5.5, Veselinovoc-5, Brown-5, Raposo-4.5, Martins-5, Cubas-5.5, Berhalter-4.5, Vite-5.5*, Cordova-5, White-4

Are you tired of winning yet?

The Whitecaps seemed to be as they almost conspired to throw away a game they had been completely dominant in for the first eighty-three minutes.

But the chaotic finale produced two wonderful individual moments.

A clawing save from Takaoka as he reached a ball that seemed to have gone beyond his reach. And Sergio Cordova strolling by a through ball in befuddlement instead of taking it on and attempting to score a goal.

But it would have been a travesty had Vancouver not won this game and subsequently lifted their second consecutive Canadian Championship.

Gauld and Cubas buzzed about all night. Gressel and Brown always looked dangerous down the right side of the pitch and Brian White had one of his best games leading the line and linking up with the midfield.

Last season the Whitecaps fell away after lifting this trophy and missed out on the playoffs.

The question for this season is whether they can use it as a springboard to better things rather than an anchor that drags them down in their own sense of satisfaction.

Time will tell on that score, but two trophies in two seasons undoubtedly makes Vanni Sartini the most successful coach of the MLS era and it cements Russell Teibert as the greatest captain of the same era.

Time for the Soccer Shorts player ratings!

Takaoka-6.5, Brown-6, Raposo-4.5, Blackmon-5.5, Veselinovic-5.5, Cubas-6, Gressel-5.5, Teibert-4, Johnson-4, Gauld-6.5, White-6.5* (Vite-5, Martins-5)