Report and Reaction: Fireworks come early to Vancouver as Whitecaps and Dynamo serve up a seven-goal thriller

Report and Reaction: Fireworks come early to Vancouver as Whitecaps and Dynamo serve up a seven-goal thriller

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

The fireworks came early to Vancouver on Saturday night as Vancouver Whitecaps and Houston Dynamo played out a seven-goal thriller at BC Place.

It was the visiting Dynamo that had the explosive start and finish, going two up by half time thanks to goals from Coco Carrasquilla and Griffin Dorsey, before a second half blitz from the Whitecaps saw the home side lead 3-2 after a Fafa Picault brace and a goal from Ranko Veselinovic.

Two fantastic strikes in the last 12 minutes, from Brad Smith and a second from Dorsey, was enough to give Houston all three points, running out 4-3 victors and seeing the Texans move to within one point of Vancouver, who dropped down to 5th in the Western Conference standings with the loss.

Vanni Sartini made three changes to his starting line-up from the team that beat Kansas City midweek, with Luis Martins, Sebastian Berhalter, and Picault all coming in.

The Whitecaps started strongly and had two chances to break the deadlock in the opening five minutes.

Brian White fired a Gauld cutback inches wide in the 4th minute, before Berhalter brought a save out of Steve Clark moments later.

The teams exchanged half chances before Ranko Veselinovic came up with a huge block on an Amine Bassi shot in the box in the 18th minute. Moments later Bassi curled one just past the postage stamp corner, as the Dynamo looked for the breakthrough.

Then came a couple of blows for the Whitecaps in quick succession.

Gauld went down with a knock to his left knee midway through the half and after trying to carry on, indicated to the bench that he was done for the night and will be evaluated.

As he waited to come off, Houston took the lead, when Carrasquilla’s shot took a deflection off Veselinovic and past Takaoka in the Vancouver goal.

Things went from bad to worse for the Whitecaps when the visitors doubled their lead in the 36th minute.

Another deflection played a part, as the ball came off Bjorn Inge Utvik and broke to a wide open Dorsey at the edge of the ‘Caps box, which the defender expertly curled past Takaoka into the bottom left corner.

The Whitecaps pushed to reduce the deficit before the break and Picault had a shot turned away by a diving Clark, after some good individual play in the 39th minute. Picault then curled a free kick into the side netting three minutes later.

With the game six minutes into stoppage time, Pedro Vite whizzed a free kick just past the left post.

The ‘Caps couldn’t get the goal they were looking for and the Dynamo went in at the break with a two goal advantage.

It wasn’t to last for too much longer as the Whitecaps finally pulled one back three minutes after the restart.

Ali Ahmed played the ball inside to half time sub Ryan Raposo and his cross was deflected in front of goal for a diving Picault to head home from inches out.

It was the Haitian’s third straight game with a goal and his seventh of the season for the Whitecaps.

A perfect start to the half and Vancouver soon found themselves level in the 54th minute.

Once again Picault was involved, crossing for Veselinovic to head home the equaliser.

Houston almost got the lead back immediately, but Takaoka saved a header from Sebastian Ferreira, after he and Bassi seemed to put each other off in front of goal.

The Whitecaps responded with a free kick that Picault just failed to connect with at the back post.

Picault wasn’t to be denied his second, however, and he slid in to put away a Sam Adekugbe cross in the 66th minute, and from nowhere the Whitecaps had the lead.

In a game of twists and turns, there was still more to come.

Picault went down in the box under a challenge, but referee Fotis Bazakos waved play on. After a very lengthy stoppage, which was just shy of four minutes, the official was called over for a video review, but stuck with his original decision, deeming not enough clear and obvious evidence to overturn the initial call on the pitch.

Houston then went up the pitch and Smith struck a stunning equaliser in the 78th minute, with a screamer from the edge of the box that flew past Takaoka.

It was now anyone’s game, and in a game of fantastic goals and strikes, there was room for one more.

Houston grabbed the matchwinner in some style, as the ball broke to Dorsey at the edge of the box and he blasted it through everyone and past Takaoka to give the Dynamo back the lead.

Seven goals will have excited the crowd and those watching at home, but it was a very disappointing way for the Whitecaps to end their five-game unbeaten run in the league and once again it undid some of the excellent work in picking up seven road points.

It’s a fourth defeat of the season at BC Place, with 16 points dropped at home. The Whitecaps could be out of sight in the West if they could only make their home stadium a fortress. With six of their last 10 league matches in Vancouver, they need to find a way to do that, not that they need to worry about league games now until August 24th when LAFC come to town.

FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 3 – 4 Houston Dynamo

ATT: 24,114

SCORING SUMMARY:
29’ – HOU – Adalberto Carrasquilla (Ibrahim Aliyu)
36’ – HOU – Griffin Dorsey
48’ – VAN – Fafa Picault
54’ – VAN – Ranko Veselinović (Fafa Picault, Sebastian Berhalter)
66’ – VAN – Fafa Picault (Sam Adekugbe, Alessandro Schöpf)
78’ – HOU – Brad Smith (Sebastian Kowalczyk)
87’ – HOU – Grifin Dorsey

STATS:
Possession: VAN 44.5% – HOU 55.5%
Shots: VAN 15 – HOU 16
Shots on Goal: VAN 6 – HOU 6
Saves: VAN 2 – HOU 3
Fouls: VAN 7 – HOU 16
Offsides: VAN 0 – HOU 2
Corners: VAN 4 – HOU 1

BOOKINGS:
20’ – HOU – Artur
45’+3 – VAN – Andrés Cubas
76’ – HOU – Franco Escobar
90’+3 – HOU – Brad Smith

VANCOUVER: Yohei Takaoka; Luís Martins (Alessandro Schopf 46’), Ranko Veselinovic, Bjørn Utvik, Sebastian Berhalter (Damir Kreilach 90’); Andrés Cubas (Sam Adekugbe 60’), Pedro Vite (Levonte Johnson 90’), Ali Ahmed; Fafá Picault, Brian White, Ryan Gauld (Ryan Raposo 30’) [Subs Not Used: Belal Halbouni, Ralph-Priso Mbongue, Giuseppe Bovalina, Issac Boehmer]

HOUSTON: Steve Clark; Franco Escobar, Micael, Erik Sviatchenko, Griffin Dorsey (Daniel Steres 94’); Artur, Héctor Herrera, Adalberto Carrasquilla (Latif Blessing 83’); Ibrahim Aliyu (Brad Smith 67’), Ezequiel Ponce (Sebastian Ferreira 46’), Amine Bassi (Sebastian Kowalczyk 67’) [Subs Not Used: Ethan Bartlow, Andrew Tarbell, McKinze Gaines, Jan Gregus]

REACTION:

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

HEAD COACH VANNI SARTINI

On halftime changes:

“We changed the way of defending in the second half, adding a midfielder, and trying to be aggressive, and it went perfectly, I would say. We scored three goals, [could] have scored even more. We played better than them [Houston]. And then at the end, I think it was very – let’s call it unfortunate – the first goal that [Houston’s Brad] Smith scored is a fantastic goal. And the last one, I’ve got to rewatch it, but we had nine guys in front of their guys and we concede a goal…but we conceded basically four shots and they scored four goals. Three out of four were outside the box. So, it’s been an unfortunate night, for everything. Not only for these shots, but for everything. I think, again, this was a fantastic effort. I think this game will bring us even closer as a team. I think it was beautiful to see a lot of people come for this special Pride night. I think there’s a lot of positives in the big scheme of things of the season that we can take from tonight.”

On Fafà Picault:

“I think today in the first half that the entire team didn’t do very well defensively. We were always too half and half. We were too aggressive when we shouldn’t be aggressive and then we didn’t go. In the second half, we made it a bit simpler and going with two strikers he did much better. And offensively in the second half, he [Fafà] was helped, I think, by the fact that by starting in a higher position. I think in the first half, he was dropping too much in front of [Houston midfielder Coco] Carrasquilla, while in the second half, he was always high. Having players that could help him from the wide position to get inside, like Ali [Ahmed] was going wide, Sam [Adekugbe] was pushing, that helped him very well and he had a very good game.”

DEFENDER RANKO VESELINOVIC

On the match:

“It was a wild match. I didn’t expect so many goals, honestly, I thought it was going to be a more close game. First half we played bad, they played good, they were fighting, passing between our lines and they’re a good team so they scored two goals. Second half we did good to come back, but it’s a tough game. It’s tough when you’re 3-2 up and concede two goals from those shots. But we have to see what we can do better before Leagues Cup to try to adapt because when you play against good teams, good players are going to punish you for allowing them so much space so, so we need to find a way in the next game against LAFC.”

HOUSTON DYNAMO

HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN

On result:

“It was a very good first half but a poor start to the second half. Vancouver brought a lot of energy and capitalized on service and set pieces. When we went down 3-2, our guys found something, and they were able to show resiliency that I haven’t seen in a while. Vancouver is a tough place to travel to, and it always seems to be high scoring, and to our credit, we are scoring goals right now. The subs came in and did a good job again, which is important with the grind of a long West Coast road trip.”

On the energy after the match:

“Away wins are the best, and the guys are celebrating in the locker room right now. These road matches are hard, and it feels good to win them. We have also been able to find different ways to win recently. There were great portions of the game tonight, but the way we started the second half was poor. At halftime, we talked about what we were going to face from Vancouver from an energy, quality and adjustment standpoint. Many times, teams can’t come back from a 3-2 deficit on the road. It’s a hard thing to do, but we found a way.”

On Ezequiel Ponce’s debut performance:

“Ezequiel (Ponce) had a good night, and his pressing is great. He can see the defensive side which helped us in the first half. We have to focus on building relationships, and the players have to figure out where their runs are to build early service. Ezequiel is a high-quality striker, and he puts himself in great spots and has good habits. It will be nice to get him some shots and looks on target because I know he will do well with them. It was a good first match for him.”

      
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Authored by: Michael McColl

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