Report and Reaction: Gabriel impeccable as Galaxy put four past Whitecaps in LA

Report and Reaction: Gabriel impeccable as Galaxy put four past Whitecaps in LA

Posted on September 21, 2024 by in MLS, VANCOUVER WHITECAPS with 0 Comments

(Photo Credit: @LAGalaxy/x.com)

Vancouver Whitecaps certainly won’t be California dreaming after a tough night in Carson that saw them fall 4-2 to the Western Conference leading LA Galaxy.

Gabriel Pec pulled the strings for LA, grabbing a goal and two assists, while the Galaxy also saw Joseph Paintsil and Riqui Puig on the scoresheet, along with a Sebastian Berhalter own goal. Brian White had made it interesting and 2-1, before the Galaxy grabbed a couple more and Sam Adekugbe’s late header was a mere consolation than a case of what might have been.

With an eye on Wednesday’s big Canadian Championship final, Vanni Sartini made seven changes to the team that drew in Houston on Wednesday, keeping the likes of Ryan Gauld and Fafa Picault on the bench.

On paper, the line-ups made it feel like a potentially long night ahead. One where they may be happy to sit back, see if they can hit on the break, and grab a point if they can. And while LA enjoyed a lot of the early possession, it was Vancouvers’ Alessandro Schopf who came the closest in the early stages with a long range effort deflected wide for a corner 10 minutes in.

The Galaxy weren’t offering much in reply despite dominating possession, with the Whitecaps defence looking comfortable out there. Pec had a weak shot held by Yohei Takaoka in the 24th minute, but that was about it.

But the pressure kept coming and it felt like the opening goal was too, and so it transpired in the 32nd minute.

The ‘Caps managed to clear another Galaxy attack but the ball came to Pec, who drilled a low one through a crowd of players and into the bottom far corner, with the aid of the slightest of deflections off the calf of Tristan Blackmon. It wasn’t much of a deflection, but that was enough to just take the ball away from Takaoka’s waiting gloves.

With a stacked bench, Vancouver just needed to get to half time at worst trailing by one goal, and although LA pushed hard, they were wasteful with the many chances they did have and the ‘Caps went in just 1-0 down.

Sartini made one sub at the half, with the talismanic Ryan Gauld coming on, and the Scot had an immediate impact, helping to set up a chance for Edier Ocampo, who blasted over two minutes after the restart.

LA doubled their lead in the 50th minute after pouncing on a loose ball from Schopf and breaking from the edge of their own penalty box and into the Whitecaps one in mere second.

It was lovely quick passing football from the Galaxy with Berhalter turning a Pec cross into his own goal, not that he knew too much about it.

A huge uphill battle now for Vancouver to get anything out of this, but to their immense credit they fought back and pulled a goal back just past the hour mark. Gauld sent a lovely ball in to the back post, which Berhalter knocked down into the path of White, who swept the ball home from a few yards out and all of a sudden it was game very much back on.

The hope was to be shattered just six minutes later and it was another quick counter attack that killed the ‘Caps, with Pec playing the ball inside to an on-rushing Paintsil, who timed his run to perfection and slotted home the Galaxy’s third.

Disappointing to concede so quickly after getting themselves back in to it, but LA’s ball movement was a joy to watch.

LA rubber further salt into the Vancouver wounds in stoppage time, and once again it was on a quick counter, with Pec storming forward before centering it for Riqui Puig.

The Spaniard took a touch inside before blasting home the fourth past Takaoka.

There was still time for the ‘Caps to make the score a little bit more presentable, when Adekugbe rose to head home a Gauld corner.

A 15th assist of the season for Gauld, bringing him level with Lionel Messi for third overall in MLS, but you really have to question McCarthy in the Galaxy goal on this one.

Not a fantastic result or overall performance from the Whitecaps, although their understrength side didn’t look too troubled for the first half hour and there was more fight when some of the big hitters came on in the second half.

The focus now is on regrouping for the big Canadian Championship final on Wednesday and hopefully the threepeat for the ‘Caps that they so seek.

FINAL SCORE: LA Galaxy 4 – 2 Vancouver Whitecaps

ATT: 25,387

SCORING SUMMARY:
32’ – LA – Gabriel Pec
50’ – LA – Sebastian Berhalter (own goal)
63’ – VAN – Brian White (Sebastian Berhalter, Ryan Gauld)
69’ – LA – Joseph Paintsil (Gabriel Pec)
90’+3 – LA – Riqui Puig (Gabriel Pec)
90’+7 – VAN – Sam Adekugbe (Ryan Gauld)

STATS:
Possession: LA 58.3% – VAN 41.7%
Shots: LA 15 – VAN 13
Shots on Goal: LA 8 – VAN 2
Saves: LA 0 – VAN 5
Fouls: LA 5 – VAN 9
Offsides: LA 0 – VAN 1
Corners: LA 4 – VAN 12

BOOKINGS:
8’ – VAN – Sebastian Berhalter
85’ – VAN – Stuart Armstrong
88’ – VAN – Pedro Vite

LOS ANGELES: John McCarthy; Miki Yamane, Carlos Emiro Garcés, Maya Yoshida, John Nelson (Mauricio Cuevas 83’); Marco Reus (Marco Delgado 66’), Edwin Cerrillo (Gastón Brugman 83’), Riqui Puig; Gabriel Pec, Dejan Joveljić (Miguel Berry 82’), 28.Joseph Paintsil (Diego Fagúndez 77’) [Substitutes not used: Novak Mićović, Julián Aude, Eriq Zavaleta, Jalen Neal]

VANCOUVER: Yohei Takaoka; Belal Halbouni, Ranko Veselinović, Tristan Blackmon; Mathías Laborda (Ryan Gauld 46′), Sebastian Berhalter, Ralph Priso (Pedro Vite 46′), Alessandro Schöpf, Édier Ocampo (Sam Adekugbe 66’); Brian White (Fafa Picault 77’), Levonte Johnson (Stuart Armstrong 65’) [Substitutes not used: Isaac Boehmer, Ryan Raposo, Bjørn Inge Utvik, Damir Kreilach]

REACTION:

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

VANNI SARTINI

On the challenges with a rotated team against the Galaxy:

“We knew that we were going to suffer and we were not going to have a lot of the ball, but we were very well structured, and that’s the reason why we conceded only one goal [in the first half]. Second half, we played more – we could have scored more than two goals – we had three, four chances really – really, really, really clear. But we made too many mistakes in preventative defence. The third and the fourth goal especially, happened because we didn’t do what we were supposed to do. When – positionally – it’s a reminder that if we get away from our principles, we get punched, especially against a quality team. That’s it.”

On playing the next five matches at BC Place:

“They are critical. The next five games are going to decide our season. We knew that we needed to go all in, starting from Wednesday [in the TELUS Canadian Championship Final]. It’s going to be a community effort – us, the club, everyone who works for the club, and the fans. The fans, in my opinion, are going to play a critical role in the next five games to put us in a condition to try to reach the highest position possible, and to win a trophy Wednesday.”

FORWARD BRIAN WHITE

On returning to the pitch the past two matches:

“It’s been a while since I was able to get a lot of minutes, of proper game in, so it was good to get out there and get some 70-some minutes, especially with the stretch we have coming up. So, we’ve got to turn to the page and look forward to the next game.”

On the Canadian Championship Final on Wednesday:

“You don’t have a lot of opportunities to win trophies. Anytime you get that chance, you want to do anything you can to win. You don’t look at it as three in a row, you look at it as this is a chance to win a trophy, and that’s what we have coming up on Wednesday. Everyone is going to be up for it. It’s going to be a fun night, and hopefully we can come away with a win again.”

      
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Authored by: Michael McColl

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