Report and Reaction: Dominant Whitecaps leave Galaxy seeing stars in three goal romp

It takes a lot to keep Vancouver Whitecaps down these days and they picked themselves up, dusted themselves down, and got back to winning ways at BC Place on Wednesday evening, bouncing back from Saturday’s disappointing defeat to St Louis City to see off the visiting Los Angeles Galaxy 3-0.

‘Caps Captain Ryan Gauld led the way with a record-setting goal and an assist, while Brian White grabbed his 15th goal of the year to open the scoring for Vancouver early. Bruno Caicedo added a late third from the spot, while Yohei Takaoka kept his, and the club’s, 10th clean sheet of the year in the league, in a dominant performance that saw them put in another professional, workmanlike performance that kept a very dangerous Galaxy front three at bay.

As crucial a victory as it was, it was also important to show that the weekend’s result was just a blip and we saw more of the real Whitecaps in this one. The chemistry looked better and it was an important message to the rest of the league that you write off this team at your peril.

Jesper Sorensen made four changes from the team that went down to St Louis on Saturday night, going with the front four that dominated Dallas a few games back. That explosive attack laid siege to the Galaxy goal in the opening minutes of the match.

The ‘Caps had their first chance two minutes in, when Emmanuel Sabbi played a through ball for Gauld to try and get on to, but it was overhit and was easily collected by JT Marcinkowski in the LA goal.

Gauld got onto a White through ball four minutes later and with just the keeper to beat, he hit a weak shot straight at Marcinkowski when he should have done much better.

Sabbi was stopped by Marcinkowski in the 8th minute, but Vancouver weren’t to be denied and kept the pressure on. Gauld played a quick throw in to Thomas Müller, who chipped the ball into the box for White. The ‘Caps leading scorer took a lovely first touch with his head before volleying home a beauty and Vancouver had the early lead.

Definitely a contender for the Whitecaps goal of the season, the ‘Caps kept pushing for a quick second.

LA were always going to be dangerous on the counter with the front three Greg Vanney had put out, and Kyogo Furuhashi brought the first save of the game out of Takaoka in the 18th minute. Pablo Ruiz tried his luck for LA three minutes, but was denied again by Takaoka.

The Whitecaps had let the Galaxy get a foothold back into the game, akin to how Saturday played out against St Louis, and then their explosive front four was depleted in the 27th minute when Müller was forced off with what looked like a tight quad after a tackle, replaced by Cheikh Sabaly.

The Whitecaps had a few half chances to end the half, the best of them coming in the 34th minute when Gauld played the ball out to Sabaly and his low cross just eluded the outstretched leg of White and Vancouver had to settle for a narrow one goal lead at the break.

The ‘Caps came out on the front foot to start the second half and Sabbi had a chance that he hit over in the 47th minute, then a minute later Gauld rose superbly to direct Sabaly’s cross on goal, but it was turned away by a sprawling Marcinkowski. The rebound fell to Sabbi, but he blasted high and over from close range.

Gauld had another effort saved in the 50th minute, but that crucial second goal was proving elusive and LA were still very much in the match.

Sabbi played White in five minutes later after some nifty play to set up the chance. White tried to round Marcinkowski, but the keeper was quickly off his line to block the danger and the loose ball was cleared before Gauld could get onto it.

That second goal finally came in the 57th minute, with a little bit of a helping hand from the visitors as Erik Thommy slipped, allowing Gauld to nip in and a fire a low one past Marcinkowski.

That goal saw Gauld become the first Whitecaps player in the MLS era to record 50 goals and 50 assists for the club.

Oliver Larraz pounced on some horrible Galaxy defending in the 66th minute, but after a scramble in the box and some blocked shots, LA survived.

Harbor Miller hit the outside of the post for LA in the 84th minute, before Vancouver were handed the chance to grab a third at the death.

As the game got set to head into stoppage time, Tristan Blackmon went on a superb run, threading a perfect through ball for Rayan Elloumi to get on to. As the young ‘Caps striker took a touch, he was pulled back by Emiro Garces and the referee pointed to the spot.

Up stepped Bruno Caicedo, firing it straight down the middle. Marcinkowski got a strong hand on it as he dived to the right, but the power took the ball over the line and it was 3-0.

A scoreline that was probably a fairer reflection of how the match was than just a two-goal victory and the Whitecaps kept their three point lead at the top of the West. It could, and should, have been by an even wider margin.

It was a much better performance than the weekend, with the team showing a lot more attacking prowess and cohesion. Every aspect of the team was improved, which is the exact kind of reaction you want to see. Every team is going to have their off days, it’s just been a pity that Vancouver have had two at home in the past couple of weeks.

While the attack will get much of the credit, and rightly so, the defence has to be given their flowers for another fantastic defensive display. There was simply no way through for LA, with some great tackles and blocks, and barring almost getting caught on an early counter, they neutered the Galaxy’s dangerous forward line. Clean sheets in close to half of their league games is what wins championships.

Next up is Austin, and with next week’s Canadian Championship second leg in Montreal very much in the balance, it feels like a match that Sorensen can do some key rotation. But the Texans can’t be taken lightly either, so treading the line between too much and too little change will be an interesting one for the ‘Caps coach to manage.

FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 3 – 0 LA Galaxy

ATT: 20,947

VANCOUVER: 1.Yohei Takaoka; 18.Édier Ocampo, 2.Mathías Laborda, 33.Tristan Blackmon, 28.Tate Johnson; 8.Oliver Larraz (77.Yadaly Diaby 88’), 20.Andrés Cubas; 25.Ryan Gauld © (23.Aleksa Cvetković 72’), 13.Thomas Müller (7.Cheikh Sabaly 27’), 11.Emmanuel Sabbi (14.Bruno Caicedo 72’); 24.Brian White (19.Rayan Elloumi 88’) [Substitutes not used: 32.Isaac Boehmer, 3.Sam Adekugbe, 29.Mihail Gherasimencov, 70.Rui Modesto]

LOS ANGELES: 12.JT Marcinkowski; 26.Harbor Miller, 5.Jakob Glesnes, 15.Justin Haak, 3.Julian Aude (14.John Nelson 69’); 8.Lucas Sanabria (27.Erik Thommy 55’), 17.Pablo Ruiz, 16.Isaiah Parente (6.Sergi Roberto 56’); 21.Robert Taylor (25.Emiro Garcés 87’), 7.Kyogo Furuhashi (18.Marco Reus 56’), 11.Hirving Lozano [Substitutes not used: 1.Novak Mićović, 4.Maya Yoshida, 20.Chris Rindov, 76.Troy Elgersma]

SCORING SUMMARY:
8’ – VAN – Brian White (Thomas Müller, Ryan Gauld)
57’ – VAN – Ryan Gauld
90’ – VAN – Bruno Caicedo (penalty kick)

STATS:
Possession: VAN 51.2% – LA 48.8%
Shots: VAN 18 – LA 9
Shots on Goal: VAN 9 – LA 5
Saves: VAN 5 – LA 6
Fouls: VAN 11 – LA 13
Offsides VAN 1 – LA 0
Corners: VAN 7 – LA 5

CAUTIONS:
74’ – LA – Justin Haak
75’ – LA – Sergi Roberto
89’ – LA – Emiro Garcés
90’+2 – VAN – Yadaly Diaby

REACTION:

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

HEAD COACH JESPER SØRENSEN

On the performance tonight:

“I think that we looked good. The first half was good, we gave a couple of chances away, one that I was not happy with after our own corner kick, we have done that before and we shouldn’t. But apart from that, I think that we didn’t give many chances away in general in the game. We also got Aleksa (Cvetkovic) in play and I had to make some early substitutions. I think all in all that the team played a good game today, it was good.”

On the difference between tonight and last Saturday against St. Louis:

“We were able to sustain [the early lead]. Had they scored on the chance I was mentioning, then we would not have been able to profit from the lead, but it’s always good to score early or score first because you put the opposition under pressure. And I think we did that. I think we played with a good flow, we had a lot of opportunities. In the first half, we had a couple we missed where we could have gone up 2-0, but then in the second half we scored on a couple and the third one came very late bit it was good to see that we were able to not just protect the lead but go for even more goals, and also make it more comfortable in the end.”

On Ryan Gauld’s historic achievement tonight:

“Of course, congratulations to Ryan, that’s a great feat here for the Whitecaps. I have, in my time, been a little bit unfortunate not having him available for that much time, but now he is and everybody can see what he contributes, how he contributes to the team with a great mentality. And we all know that he’s technically very skilled, he has a great shot and all that stuff, but apart from that, he’s also an extremely hardworking player and he just has the passion for competing and always helping his teammates and is very unselfish. And so its great to see him back, and it’s even realistic to also believe that, in a month or two, that he’ll be even better, even sharper because then he has been going for a couple months. And I think it’s fantastic he’s already where he is, and he’s had a great career so far in Vancouver, and really has been one of the players who has also elevated the team and the club to where it is now. So it’s great that we can find some things that we can also celebrate him for.”

MIDFIELDER RYAN GAULD

On his 50-50 goal and assist milestone:

“It’s nice to get the goal. Personally, I don’t look so much into scoring the 50th or anything, but it was nice to get the goal. I think we got off to a great start, creating a good few chances in the opening period. Brian tucked one away really well, so it was good just to get that goal and then kind of kickstart us.”

On the importance of consistency:

“Definitely, because teams are making it hard for us. They’re sitting deep against us, [but] that wasn’t so much the case tonight, the Galaxy had quite a lot of the ball. But teams have been tending to sit in a little bit against us. So when we do create the chances, we need to be getting on form and putting them away. I think we’ve done a decent job of that tonight.”