Report and Reaction: Vancouver Whitecaps bounce back with crucial win at old foes LAFC

(Photo Credit: @WhitecapsFC/x.com)

Vancouver Whitecaps needed a response after giving up five goals in their midweek loss to San Diego, and they got it with an assured performance against old nemesis LAFC at BMO Stadium on Sunday evening.

Emmanuel Sabbi’s 20th minute strike was the difference between the two sides, and while it was just a one goal victory, it was a fairly comfortable night’s work for the ‘Caps, who seldom looked troubled against a LAFC side getting back into league action after a disappointing set of results at the FIFA Club World Cup.

The win keeps Vancouver to within a point of San Diego at the top of the MLS Western Conference with a game in hand, and as their grueling five-game road spell begins, it was exactly what the team were needing right now.

Still missing key players to international duty and injury, Jesper Sorensen tweaked his starting line-up a little bit, making just one change but pushing Edier Ocampo into a winger’s role up front while Mathias Laborda came in and excelled at right back. LAFC were missing goalkeeper Hugo LLoris to an arm injury and his French counterpart Olivier Giroud was making his last appearance for the black and gold before leaving the club.

Both teams started on the front foot, with the two best early chances falling to Giroud, who forced an easy save from Yohei Takaoka and had a long range effort go wide.

Vancouver were dealt another injury blow when Andres Cubas was forced out early, but they opened the scoring soon after following some great play from Sabbi, who both started and finished a move with Jeevan Badwal, showing a lovely touch in the box before firing home what proved to be the match winner in the 20th minute.

It was a fantastically taken goal, giving Sabbi his third of the season and providing Badwal with his first MLS assist after grabbing his first goal a few games ago.

LAFC were offering very little but had a couple of half chances late in the first half, which didn’t trouble the ‘Caps defence too much.

And that was pretty much the story of the second half.

Giroud fired over five minutes after the restart when he should have scored, after being played in by Denis Bouanga, and the lack of threat from the home side saw a rare quadruple substitution on the hour mark.

One of those subs, Ryan Hollingshead, crashed a fierce strike off the left post in the 71st minute but with few chances for either team, the Whitecaps held on comfortably for a big three points, despite a last second scare when Jeremy Ebobisse was almost played in.

All in all, the perfect response from the ‘Caps after back-to-back losses either side of the international break. A win against a Western rival and a clean sheet sets them up nicely for the month to come, and with players starting to slowly trickle back into the squad, reinforcements coming, and some signs of the old ‘Caps out there, there’s a lot to be encouraged about heading into July.

FINAL SCORE: LAFC 0 – 1 Vancouver Whitecaps

ATT: 22,116

LOS ANGELES: 18.David Ochoa; 14.Sergi Palencia, 4.Eddie Segura, 33.Aaron Long, 29.Artem Smolyakov (24.Ryan Hollingshead 60’); 6.Igor Jesus (17.Jeremy Ebobisse 75’), 23.Frankie Amaya (8.Marky Delgado 59’), 11.Timothy Tillman; 26.Javairo Dilrosun (30.David Martínez 60’), 9.Olivier Giroud (27.Nathan Ordaz 60’), 99.Denis Bouanga [Substitutes not used: 12.Thomas Hasal, 5.Marlon, 20.Yaw Yeboah, 21.Ryan Raposo]

VANCOUVER: 1.Yohei Takaoka; 2.Mathías Laborda, 33.Tristan Blackmon, 4.Ranko Veselinović, 28.Tate Johnson; 45.Pedro Vite, 20.Andrés Cubas (13.Ralph Priso 18’), 59.Jeevan Badwal (43.Antoine Coupland 79’); 18.Édier Ocampo (15.Bjørn Inge Utvik 90’+2), 14.Daniel Ríos, 11.Emmanuel Sabbi (26.J.C. Ngando 79’) [Substitutes not used: 30.Adrían Zendejas, 32.Isaac Boehmer, 12.Belal Halbouni, 13.Ralph Priso, 19.Damir Kreilach, 42.Nelson Pierre]

SCORING SUMMARY:

20’ – VAN – Emmanuel Sabbi (Jeevan Badwal)

STATS:
Possession: LAFC 57.8% – VAN 42.2.%
Shots: LAFC 15 – VAN 5
Shots on Goal: LAFC 4 – VAN 1
Saves: LAFC 0 – VAN 4
Fouls: LAFC 9 – VAN 11
Offsides: LAFC 1 – VAN 0
Corners: LAFC 4 – VAN 7

CARDS (ALL YELLOW):
25’ – VAN – Tate Johnson
57’ – VAN – Ralph Priso
57’ – LAFC – Olivier Giroud

REACTION:

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

JESPER SORENSEN

On the match:

“I think it was a tough game. Of course, it’s a good team we are against, and we also had some difficulties on the way. In the first half, I think that we exploited the opportunities that we had on the right side decently, and I think that we also played with some quality. We had to make a quick substitution and that disturbed the rhythm a little bit, but we got back over that. I think we played solidly against the ball, for most parts of the game. Second half, we started to defend our lead a little bit too much, and we could have been better in possession when they opened up. We should have been able to create some bigger chances out of that, but we also had to rely a little bit on some last minute actions, last second actions in our box. But overall, I was happy that we were able to strike back. This is not a place where we have a history of winning a lot of games, so I’m very happy for the win. Also because it comes after two losses, so it’s good getting back to winning ways.”

On the defensive shift in contrast to last Wednesday’s against San Diego FC:

“It’s two very different teams to play up against. San Diego is insisting on trying to win the game on the ball, and we tried to not let them do that, and we went up in a very hard and high pressure. We didn’t do that today, we were more compact, had a little bit more of a not as high pressing approach. I think it helped a little bit. I think we played a solid game. We gave away a couple chances, especially in the end. They had one [chance] for sure in the end, where they played through [us], where it hit him [Jeremy Ebobisse] on the knee and then it went to Yohei [Takaoka]. Apart from that, I think that we played a solid defensive game, limiting them, but it was more compact, it was not as high pressing, but still it wasn’t too defensive either.”

MIDFIELDER JEEVAN BADWAL

On the match:

“It was a good performance, not just from me, but from the whole team. Coming off a loss at home, especially against San Diego who is a good team [and] going into a game away at LAFC who is a very good team, it was a great shift from the whole team and it was a massive outcome.”

On carrying the momentum into four more road matches in a row:

“Galaxy is still a very good team, obviously. You know, not the best in the standings, but the next road games are obviously very important to us. And we’ll obviously look at that [defensive positives], the coaches will look at that since that’s their job, they’re the best at that. And as players, we will stick to the plan and keep on fighting and we’ll keep on going.”