Report and Reaction: Whitecaps see off Rapids to wrap up long home stretch with another dominant win

What are we going to do until August? A weekend without a home Whitecaps game is going to feel strange after eight of the club’s first nine matches in the new MLS season took place at BC Place. The aim was to make the place a fortress and rack up a mass of early points in the table, and with seven wins and narrow loss that should have seen at least a point taken from it, it’s pretty much been achieved.

The latest victory came in a dominant 3-1 victory over the visiting Colorado Rapids on Saturday evening, in an emotional night that saw a packed lower bowl and a heavily-attended march before the match as part of the supporters’ #SaveTheCaps campaign.

An early opener from Cheikh Sabaly and a goal in each half from Brian White saw the ‘Caps log another three points. A scrambled Rafael Navarro goal for the visitors just past the half hour mark and a disallowed goal for Bruno Caicedo had kept the game in the balance for longer than it should have been, but the large crowd were sent home happy as the ‘Caps continue to fly high at the top of MLS before a grueling spell on the road begins next weekend.

Jesper Sorensen made just one change from the team that dispatched Sporting Kansas City with ease last weekend, with Sabaly getting the start on the left win for Caceido.

The Whitecaps came out strong and created a number of half chances in the opening minutes and their pressure got the early reward just seven minutes in.

Edier Ocampo picked out Thomas Müller at the back of the box with a perfect cross and the German first timed it to Sabaly, who fired home the opener.

The ‘Caps kept pressing and Müller sent a cross in from the right in the 12th minute that just eluded first White and then Sabaly.

White wasn’t to be denied, however, and doubled the Whitecaps’ lead in the 23rd minute when he ran onto a superb through ball from Andres Cubas. Colorado keeper Zack Steffen was caught in two minds in coming out of his box before backtracking, allowing White to curl a low one past him and into the empty net.

Vancouver nearly had a third minutes later when Müller played in White. Steffen blocked his chip, but Sabaly couldn’t bury the rebound.

Steffen was called into action again moments later, denying Sebastian Berhalter from point blank range.

Colorado had their first chance of the game on the half hour mark, when Yohei Takaoka saved from Paxton Aaronson at his near post.

Two minutes later, and the Rapids pulled one back when Navarro bundled the ball over the line. A lengthy video review for handball followed, but the goal stood and deemed to come off the striker’s knee. Angles shown seemed to be inconclusive, but there was nothing definitive to overturn the on-pitch decision and an angle not shown to viewers or those in the crowd does seem to show the knee contact more clearly.

Müller had a couple of good chances before the break, but the ‘Caps ended up with just the one goal advantage, despite their dominance in play. Always nervy, with the possibility of ruing not taking more of their chances always at the back of your mind.

It needed have thought, as the second half started in the same fashion, with the Whitecaps launching one foray forward after another.

White came within inches of turning an Ocampo cross in for Vancouver’s third, before half time sub Jeevan Badwal was sprung in acres of space but his cut back to Sabaly saw a weak finish from the Senegalese international.

White came within inches again in the 73rd minute when he couldn’t direct a deflect Caicedo cross the right side of the post.

Caicedo, and the whole of BC Place, thought he’d added a third with a superb solo goal in the 77th minute, after quick anticipation from Müller sprung the quick counter and he raced in on goal and after an initial block, stuck out his leg to tuck it past Steffen.

Another long video review followed, again for a potential handball. This time referee Lorenzo Hernandez was called over to the monitor to take a look and saw a handball from Caicedo from the rebound as he was tackled in the box.

No goal, but the Whitecaps weren’t to be denied and finally did make it 3-1 in the 85th minute.

Once again it was Caicedo who was instrumental in the goal, leaving a Rapids defender in his wake before cutting it back for White to finish with aplomb.

Takaoka made a huge double save two minutes later, first turning away a deflection off Mathias Laborda, then stopping the rebound from Navarro.

In the end, another match where the Whitecaps were by far the better team, with the end scoreline not fully reflecting their dominance. But you take a win by any margin and this was perhaps the best overall team performance of the season.

Now the home comforts will disappear as the team face a tough five match spell on the road before the World Cup break. Five games at Western Conference opposition in a 22-day spell will test the team for sure, but they showed last year that away matches hold no fear for this group and they really feel to be flying in all aspects right now.

The ‘Caps finish the weekend second in the MLS West and Supporters Shield race, three points behind the also flying San Jose Earthquakes with a game in hand. Those two sides will face off in San Jose in a fortnight’s time and could prove to be one of the defining match of the Whitecaps season.

What this side will look like and where they will be positioned by the time they return to BC Place on August 1st to take on LAFC remains to be seen. Eight away games will have been played by that point and a 54-day break for the World Cup. It’s a strange season, but Vancouver are embracing it.

FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 3 – 1 Colorado Rapids

ATT: 27,589

VANCOUVER: 1.Yohei Takaoka; 18.Édier Ocampo, 2.Mathías Laborda, 33.Tristan Blackmon, 28.Tate Johnson (29.Mihail Gherasimencov 83’); 16.Sebastian Berhalter (19.Rayan Elloumi 90’+1), 20.Andrés Cubas; 11.Emmanuel Sabbi (59.Jeevan Badwal HT), 13.Thomas Müller, 7.Cheikh Sabaly (14.Bruno Caicedo 68’); 24.Brian White (8.Oliver Larraz 90’) [Substitutes not used: 32.Isaac Boehmer, 4.Ranko Veselinović, 17.Kenji Cabrera, 22.AZ]

COLORADO: 1.Zack Steffen; 33.Kosi Thompson (2.Keegan Rosenberry 64’), 6.Rob Holding (24.Noah Cobb 83’), 22.Lucas Herrington, 29.Miguel Navarro (11.Alexis Manyoma 83’); 10.Paxten Aaronson (77.Darren Yapi 56’), 8.Hazmat Ojediran, 13.Wayne Frederick; 7.Dante Sealy, 9.Rafael Navarro, 93.Georgi Minoungou [Substitutes not used: 41.Nicolas Hansen, 4.Reggie Cannon, 16.Alex Harris, 19.Ian Murphy, 27.Kimani Stewart-Baynes]

SCORING SUMMARY:
7’ – VAN – Cheikh Sabaly (Thomas Müller, Édier Ocampo)
23’ – VAN – Brian White (Andrés Cubas, Tate Johnson)
33’ – COL – Rafael Navarro
85’ – VAN – Brian White (Bruno Caicedo, Sebastian Berhalter)

STATS:
Possession: VAN 45% – COL 55%
Shots: VAN 20 – COL 13
Shots on Goal: VAN 8 – COL 3
Saves: VAN 2 – COL 5
Fouls: VAN 24 – COL 11
Offsides: VAN 4 – COL 3
Corners: VAN 8 – COL 3

CAUTIONS:
81’ – COL – Miguel Navarro
90’+2 – VAN – Bruno Caicedo

REACTION:

POOL REPORTER QUESTIONS TO REFEREE

What was the reasoning given by VAR to allow Colorado’s goal, which went in off Navarro’s hand?

There was no handball by Colorado #9 Navarro, he scores with his knee.

If Colorado’s goal, which did go off a hand and into the net, is deemed a good goal, why was the Whitecaps’ goal by Caicedo, which was also incidental contact, not awarded?

The handball by Vancouver #14 was an attacker handball.

Per Law 12 it is an offense if the attacker scores in the opponents’ goal immediately after the ball has touched their arm, even if accidental.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

HEAD COACH JESPER SØRENSEN

On tonight’s performance:

“This was a great game. I hope really that people who watched this game here tonight had a good feeling, because this was two very good teams going at each other from the beginning. I think we played maybe the best game so far this season, considering the opponents. There were a few moments that actually went against us with the call for no hand[ball] and the call for hand[ball] against us. But I think we stuck to the plan, and our mentality is not backing off, even though they are very good in possession and they build out well from the back. Maybe we exposed ourselves a little bit, but that’s not who we are – we want to get up and try to be dominant at home – and I think the players played a really, really strong game.”

On the incredible fan support:

“That’s not a normal situation that you play nine games and you win eight of them. But it’s due to the players, and the fans we have. The atmosphere in here was electric today, it really animated the players. I think also for our opponents, it’s great coming here with the atmosphere even though it’s pretty hostile towards them. But I think it’s been a great connection, and I think the connection between the fans and the players on the pitch has just grown even stronger. Now we take a break and we’ll come back in August, it seems to be a long time from now, but we are very happy for the support we’ve got so far this season and we’ve responded on the pitch.”

STRIKER BRIAN WHITE

On tonight’s performance:

“I think the team came out really strong, we had a lot of opportunities in the final third. Maybe we weren’t as efficient as we would wanted to have been. But happy to get that third goal, really put the game at ease a little bit and see out the win.”

On what Bruno Caicedo has added:

“Ever since Bruno has came into games, he brings a spark. He’s so fast, he just gets by guys, he wants to get by guys every time he gets the ball. As a striker it makes it kind of easy because you know what he wants to do. So you just have to try to find spaces in the box. The more games we play, the better we understand each other, and I think that was a good example of that on the goal.”

On the incredible crowd:

“I’ve said before, the way the support has grown over the years, to see 27,000 fans in the stand shows what this club means to the city and to the people. And it means a lot to us to have their support week in and week out. They were huge for us tonight, it wasn’t an easy game by any means, and having them push us through those tough moments in the game really got us to the end.”

DEFENDER TRISTAN BLACKMON

On tonight’s performance:

“It was huge. They’re a really good team, they’ve done really well so far identifying a good way of playing. They’re a really confident team, so we knew coming in here they were going to be on the front foot. I think we combatted that really well, especially in the first half, putting good pressing moments on and winning the ball in good places to create chances. All in all it was a really good match, I’m sure the fans had a really good time, we had a great time out there with the incredible crowd. It was a good match to be a part of.”

On the fan support:

“They were incredible. I just saw on my phone that it was sold out, and it felt like that. They’ve been so good to us, especially this year and at the end of last year we saw everybody showing up and showing out for us when we were making the playoff push. This year so far it’s been incredible, the support we’ve got from the community, and we’ve definitely felt that, especially today. If you were out there you felt the environment being super impactful in the game, and we felt every single fan today.”

COLORADO RAPIDS

HEAD COACH MATT WELLS

On tonight’s match:

“On a night, I think I said in the buildup to this game, that we’re facing the most complete team in MLS, and I think just credit to the opponent, I think they showed that. I think from the first whistle, we weren’t there in really any aspect of our game, and you can’t afford to do that against a team like them. I thought there was, I think you saw on the pitch, the big difference in preparation. I think they obviously had a clear week to prepare for the game. We had a 20-minute session yesterday, and I think when you’re playing this caliber team, you need more than that. So, I thought they were well worthy of their victory. I think probably fortunate to escape with a three-one. I think, on the balance of play and the balance of chances, I think five-two would have been probably a more appropriate scoreline. But it’s good for us. It’s good for us to feel the level of this team. It’s a great reference for us. As I’ve just said to the guys, off the back of a really, really difficult week, I think we’ve come here and they’ve shown that there’s a gulf between where we are and where they are. I don’t think there should be any surprises at that, but it’s a great benchmark for us to go up against and say, okay, in the coming months, we have to keep building. We have to try and improve to get to their level, because ultimately, they are a team that we want to be competing with, not so much now in April, but definitely come November, December. So get some really good lessons out there this evening.”

On areas of improvement:

“I don’t think we were there energy-wise. I think, it’d be foolish to say that we were, but I honestly don’t believe that’s down to the schedule. I never make excuses for that. I think the difficulty of the schedule is more than preparation. So I think it would have been a little bit easier to face Vancouver if they’d had the same schedule, purely not because of physical level, more so that they’d have been in the same sort of preparation cycles as us, maybe having only half a training session to prepare for us, whereas I think you can see tonight they probably had seven or eight days to prepare for the game. I think it just shows when you play a team of this caliber and this level, we’re not at the level where we can go into it a little bit short of preparation. And then I think the lack of energy, to me, was more of just a surprise at the feeling of how strong they started the game.

“I was frustrated on the sideline because we couldn’t get out of our half. But Vancouver were extremely sharp in the final third, and obviously conceding two really poor goals, you have to, in that moment, be strong and be stable and say, okay, we can weather that storm, because the latter stage of the first half, we were in a really good spot. Obviously scored the goal, but I could feel, not necessarily that the goal was coming, but I could feel finally we looked like us on the pitch, and we had a bit of control in the game. Obviously, by that point, you’re two-nil down, so it’s very, very difficult. And then second half, I didn’t feel we were getting back into the game, and I took a huge risk in terms of going to only three defenders at the back and tried to get an extra body in the attack. That was more to, as I just said to the guys, more to signal intention from the sideline that, come on, let’s go for this game, we can get back in this. Tonight I saw that there’s still a long way to go from a mentality perspective and an identity perspective in terms of the team we want to be, but they’ll beat a lot of teams here. I thought they were very, very impressive.”

On takeaways from the match:

“I mean, if we’re going to lose, we have to lose like us. I think that was my biggest frustration from the sideline today — is that I felt the players, felt the gulf on the pitch, and then took the identity reflective of that gulf on the pitch. If we’re going to lose, I want us to lose full throttle, all-in in terms of our football, and I didn’t like the reaction after halftime. I really thought, given the context of the game, going from two-nil to two-one, and then with a couple of the changes we made at halftime, I really felt we’d come out with renewed energy and look a lot more like us, and put them on the back foot. It didn’t materialize in that way at all. I thought our process with the ball was really, really poor. Usually we’re in total control when the team presses, we like that, whereas tonight, I can tell by a lot of the decisions we made that the intensity of their press scared us into being the reactive team, and suddenly we were offloading the ball and not playing the right sequences of passes that we normally work based off the type of pressure that we received, but it’s all good. It’s good information for me. It’s obviously been a really demanding week. I think there was huge positives against Miami. I think there was a really, really strong 45 minutes against LAFC, and then tonight, I think there was one team on the pitch, and it was in Colorado. I wouldn’t go as far as to say wake up call, because I don’t think we need that. I think we’re very realistic about where we are and where we’re going and how we need to bridge that gap. But tonight was just further evidence of that.”