Report and Reaction: Whitecaps miss chance to regain top spot after San Diego draw

(Photo Credit: @SanDiegoFC/x.com)

After an up and down couple of weeks, Vancouver Whitecaps had the chance to regain first place in the MLS Western Conference at San Diego FC on Saturday evening, but ended up having to settle for just a point following a 1-1 draw that kept the expansion Californian side just above the ‘Caps in the standings.

It was a tough away game that many would have been delighted to take a point from going into the encounter, but after a fast start and opening the scoring five minutes before half time through a Manu Duah own goal, the ‘Caps fell out of the match, missed some key chances to put the game to bed, and rode their luck against a highly depleted San Diego side.

The fireworks from the teams’ previous goalfest a month ago weren’t replicated, but San Diego pushed hard for the leveler, eventually getting it from Ian Pilcher’s fierce strike in the 79th minute. That finally woke the ‘Caps up from their second half stupor, but they couldn’t find the goal to go back ahead and a share of the spoils was probably a fair result in the end, although it was hard not to come away from the match feeling this was a bit of a wasted opportunity for Vancouver.

Jesper Sorensen made three changes from the Whitecaps midweek win in Houston and there were five changes to the starting line-up from the team that played out that barn-burning loss at BC Place last month. San Diego didn’t have their troubles to seek, missing players to injuries and releasing a couple of players during the week, including Milan Iloski, the Californians four-goal hero in that previous meeting.

Those changes saw a very young and inexperienced backline out there for San Diego and Vancouver immediately took the game to them, with Brian White played in and almost putting the ‘Caps ahead with just 23 seconds on the clock.

Jeevan Badwal had the next best chance for the Whitecaps, heading over a Sebastian Berhalter corner in the 10th minute, but San Diego slowly settled and started to come into the match.

Anders Dreyer almost played Chucky Lozano in in the 17th minute, but the stretching Mexican just couldn’t connect with the cross. Dreyer then had a show seven minutes later that Yohei Takaoka parried away and the ‘Caps cleared the danger.

Luca de la Torre and Lozano had a couple of looks on goal, before Edier Ocampo forced a save out of Pablo Sisniega at the other end in the 37th minute.

The game was wide open, but it was Vancouver who got the breakthrough five minutes before half time.

Berhalter sent a sublime ball forward for Ocampo. The Colombian made room for the shot and his fierce strike was parried away by Sisniega. The rebound fell to Matias Laborda and as he tried to play the ball inside to White, Duah came in for the tackle but was only able to direct the ball past his own keeper and Vancouver had the crucial lead.

A good first half for the ‘Caps, heading in with the lead and the only real blight for them was an injury that forced captain Ranko Veselinovic off in the 34th minute.

San Diego came out strong at the start of the second half. While expected, the Whitecaps defence held firm and didn’t look in too much danger of giving up their lead.

There was a scare around the hour mark when referee Alexis Da Silva awarded a free kick for a perceived handball on Andres Cubas just outside the box. The referee was called over for a video review, which ended up cancelling out the free kick and awarding a drop ball. The whole incident took over six minutes to review and the end result was baffling. As was how Lozano didn’t even pick up at least a yellow card for dangerous play from the incident.

Lozano came close to tying things up in the 70th minute, but Takaoka tipped his long rang effort over for a corner.

The Whitecaps could, and should, have secured all three points six minutes later after some great footwork from Jayden Nelson played in White. The American international showed some neat footwork of his own to get on to the pass and round Sisniega, but with the goal gaping he put his shot wide of the far post.

It was to prove a costly miss, with San Diego grabbing their equaliser in the 79th minute when the Whitecaps didn’t clear a corner effectively enough and the ball eventually came to Pilcher, who rifled home and the game was all tied up at 1-1.

Vancouver had shown little attacking intent in the second half, seemingly happy to sit back and defend their lead, but this goal brought them back into the match and the closing moments saw both teams have chances to win it.

San Diego’s best chance came in the 88th minute, when Jeppe Tverskov saw his headed tipped over, while Vancouver had a great chance to win it in stoppage time, but Daniel Rios saw his effort superbly saved by Sisniega.

On the balance of the play over the 90 minutes, a draw was probably the fair result, although both teams will feel a tinge of disappointment that they didn’t take all three.

With San Diego being so depleted and coming off a midweek loss, this does feel like a big missed opportunity for Vancouver. Those White misses and dopped points could prove costly come the end of the regular season, but for now, it still sees the ‘Caps controlling their Western Conference fate with their game in hand. Other results this weekend saw their rivals drop points as well, but the ever-tightening table needs Axel Schuster and his team to be very astute and make the right additions this fast-approaching transfer window.

It’s already been a rollercoaster of a season, but the next three months feel like they could be wild.

FINAL SCORE: San Diego Vancouver 1 – 1 Vancouver Whitecaps

ATT: 27,418

SAN DIEGO: 13.Pablo Sisniega; 33.Oscar Verhoeven, 26.Manu Duah, 25.Ian Pilcher, 27.Luca Bombino; 8.Onni Valakari, 14.Luca de la Torre, 6.Jesper Tverskov; 10.Anders Dreyer, 9.Tomas Ángel (24.Emmanuel Boateng 84’), 11.Hirving Lozano [Substitutes not used: 1.Carlos dos Santos, 5.Hamady Diop, 22.Franco Negri, 77.Alex Mighten, 98.Jacob Jackson]

VANCOUVER: 1.Yohei Takaoka; 18.Édier Ocampo (28.Tate Johnson HT), 15.Bjørn Inge Utvik, 4.Ranko Veselinović © (12.Belal Halbouni 34’), 2.Mathías Laborda; 16.Sebastian Berhalter, 20.Andrés Cubas, 59.Jeevan Badwal (13.Ralph Priso 57’); 11.Emmanuel Sabbi (14.Daniel Ríos 86’), 24.Brian White, 7.Jayden Nelson [Substitutes not used: 30.Adrían Zendejas, 26.J.C. Ngando, 33.Tristan Blackmon, 42.Nelson Pierre]

SCORING SUMMARY:

40’ – VAN – Manu Duah (own goal)
79’ – SD – Ian Pilcher

STATS:
Possession: SD 58.9% – VAN 41.1%
Shots: SD 17 – VAN 9
Shots on Goal: SD 6 – VAN 3
Saves: SD 3 – VAN 5
Fouls: SD 2 – VAN 20
Offsides: SD 5 – VAN 4
Corners: SD 10 – VAN 2

CARDS:
12’ – SD – Luca Bombino
44’ – VAN – Édier Ocampo
51’ – VAN – Mathías Laborda
90’+6 – VAN – Belal Halbouni
90’+8 – VAN – Tate Johnson

REACTION:

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

JESPER SORENSEN

On tonight’s match:

“It was a great match, two very good teams playing at a high level. I think it was fun and stressful to watch, it went back and forth, and I think we had opportunities to score more goals. But they also had some opportunities so it’s not that it wasn’t a fair result. I think that we played a very disciplined and very well-structured game, and I think it was just a game that went back and forth and we had opportunities [where] we couldn’t really take them. But the players left everything on the pitch, and it’s been a tough stretch with all the away games, and I think we look to have the energy we should have after also a tough Houston game [earlier this week].”

On this road trip as a whole (2W-2L-1D):

“It’s been up and down, of course. But we also have to acknowledge to the team that the squad has been really stressed and under pressure with not many available players. First, there was the Gold Cup that put a lot of players out. Now we say goodbye to Pedro [Vite], and having some injuries on top of that, players coming back from Gold Cup injured. And of course, we’ve been relying a lot on players that haven’t been playing that much and they’ve done amazingly, a player like Bjørn [Inge Utvik], played the last four games almost full time in the absence. You know, Tristan [Blackmon] has not been available to play in the last two ones and I think it’s been a tough stretch for us. We have been a little inconsistent, but I think that we got back after the Colorado game to become more structured, be more disciplined. I think we played undisciplined against Colorado, now it looked much better the other day against Houston and now we also looked much more solid, and we looked more mature as a team, and that’s what we have to do. We know that we’re a good team, we know we have good players, but of course now we’ve played almost a full season. So we also know that we have been really pushing the guys hard and it’s normal the players have a little bit of fatigue considering the many travels we’ve had.”

CENTRE BACK BJØRN INGE UTVIK

On a tough match and good defensive play:

“We want to play against the best teams every game, and today it was a really tough game, away also against a top, top team. The way we handled it, I think it’s really good to show this kind of [defensive] play too. Football is a lot more than just attacking and scoring the goals. We also have to fight sometimes, show a defensive structure, it’s really tight and strong. So now we show we can manage this game picture and that’s also a strong side from us. Of course, we want to control the game also, hopefully we can do it even more at home next game.”

SAN DIEGO

HEAD COACH MIKEY VARAS

On the team’s performance despite the short list of available players:

“We challenge the guys to show that we’re a big squad, maybe not in numbers right now, availability wise, but in spirit and quality and squad got bigger tonight, because you got two guys, draft picks, starting at center back, one of them, Ian (Pilcher), who I think really, really grew up today because he had, he wasn’t just next to a veteran guy who he could lean on. He was actually the guy who probably had the most experience, right? And then you got Manu, who showed that he’s got high potential at the center back position. Oscar (Verhoeven) bouncing back off a tough performance last game, and for me, having probably his best performance of the year so far. And I think no excuse mentality from the group, which I absolutely love. When you go down a goal the group could easily fall and say, Okay, everything is going against us, and we just kept pushing. And I know it’s a one, one tie, but for me, it feels like a win, because I think it’s a dominant performance, especially the second half on top of it.”

On his thoughts on VAR situations this season:

“I prefer not to comment on that, just because I think the referees are doing their best. And yeah, sometimes it feels like there’s some inconsistencies from what happened earlier in the year to what’s happening now. But I really do think that they’re doing their best and the logic behind what they call and it is what it is.”

On Pablo Sisniega’s performance and if he’s the goalkeeper moving forward:

“No, I mean, first and foremost, we’re a culture of competition, right? So we’ve always said one of our values is to embrace competition. The situation opened up for Pablo because CJ broke his nose and wasn’t able to travel. Now Pablo is on a nice little run of form, so it’s about being a great teammate and embracing competition, and CJ understands these situations, and, you know, it keeps things competitive, but at the end of the day, it’s about who’s performing and training. Who’s performing in the games. I know that CJ takes this as a competitor, meaning he’s going to raise his level now, which is only good for the team, but he also takes it as a great teammate. He’s happy to see Pablo doing well, and that’s the kind of the culture that we have, and I think he exemplifies that really well.”

On what Manu Duah brings to the center back position:

“Manu has been a midfielder most of his life, but he’s got a good frame, he’s fast, and he’s got a good technical ability. So, I think what he brings is he brings the ability to carry the ball, to make really brave line breaking passes, but then he has the physical attributes to help us defend the space in behind, in transition, you know, and he’s still learning the principles a lot, but I think his potential as center back is really high.”

On the team scoring only one goal in the last two matches:

“Let’s not take it for granted how hard it is to score goals in this sport. And so more than saying what’s not happening, I think it’s about giving the guys a ton of credit of how many goals they’ve scored this season. We’ve had very few low scoring games and but at the end of the day, the margins are razor thin and what I’ve always said is we have the attacking mentality. These guys come out to score goals, to attack the game, but sometimes the rhythm of the game doesn’t allow you to create as big of chances as you want. But I have no doubt that at some point the flood gates will open up again and the goals will come in big in big quantities again.”

On the maturity of his young players:

“It shows that we’re a club that believes in young players. Believes in next player up mentality, no excuses. Believes in our environment of a growth mindset environment, a development environment. These guys have been training. Manu (Duah) is a great example. He’s been training and training and training and not playing, but he’s had a growth mindset, and the coaches have done such a great job working with him, collectively, individually to get him ready. So, what I think it shows is that these guys are competitors, and they got quality, and that they, they took a huge step in their maturity and their games today.”