Report and Reaction: Whitecaps go back to the summit after controlled win over NYCFC

Vancouver Whitecaps headed back to the top of both the MLS Western Conference and the Supporters Shield after a controlled 2-0 win over New York City FC in front of a bumper crowd at BC Place on Saturday afternoon.

Goals towards the end of both halves from Mathias Laborda and Brian White saw the ‘Caps grab all three points in a match they felt comfortable in throughout, although the visitors did put them under a bit of pressure at spells in the second half. The Whitecaps held firm, however, to record their fourth clean sheet in the league this year and build on their strong home form.

Jesper Sorensen made just the one change from the team that produced last week’s late, late show heroics against Portland, with the very welcome return of Andres Cubas to the double midfield pivot. AZ Jackson dropped to the bench, with Jeevan Badwal moving out to the right wing role.

The ‘Caps came out of the gates quickly and had their first look on goal with just a minute on the clock when White headed a Badwal cross well wide, and the American striker was to be very involved in Vancouver’s chances all afternoon.

Some defensive confusion by Vancouver almost allowed NYCFC to nip in and take the lead, before White saw his shot cleared off the line, with Thomas Müller firing the rebound into the side netting.

White was played in again in the 20th minute, but took too long to get his shot off and Matt Freese made the save.

Hannes Wolf fired over for the visitors five minutes later, as they looked to hit on the counter but were unable to register a shot on target for the whole half.

Sebastian Berhalter curled a shot over in the 34th minute, before White was denied by Freese a minute later.

The NYCFC keeper was having a great game and once again kept out a White shot in the 40th minute.

The ‘Caps kept pushing and finally got their breakthrough right before half time and this time there was nothing Freese could do to keep it out.

Berhalter whipped in a dangerous free kick from the left and it was met superbly by Laborda, who directed it home.

The Whitecaps started the second half looking for a killer second but Freese was to deny them again, first turning a low Müller shot around the post in the 47th minute and then keeping out a fierce Berhalter shot two minutes later with an acrobatic save.

New York then started to get a foothold in the game and were looking the better team, forcing some defensive scrambles and blocks by the ‘Caps defence, who held firm and the shots that did get through were all off target.

NYCFC enjoyed a good 10 to 15 minute spell of taking the game to Vancouver, but the ‘Caps eventually got their groove back and started to control the play once again forcing a slew of chances for White that he was unable to convert.

But that’s the thing with the Whitecaps top scorer, he has the odd game like this where he could have had at least a hat-trick and even more. What’s important is it doesn’t start to play on his mind and affect him. He knows one of these chances will eventually go in and that was indeed the case three minutes from time when he flew through the air to meet a Bruno Caicedo cross and powerfully head home the ‘Caps’ second.

Vancouver easily saw out the rest of the match and made it six wins out of seven to start the new MLS season, securing their fourth clean sheet in the process.

Bar the blip against San Jose, where they should have at least taken a point from the game bar a wonder strike, the ‘Caps have really taken advantage of this lengthy home stand to start the year. With two more games to go, they’ll want to add another six points before the awayday travels of May onwards start to kick in.

Next up are lowly Sporting Kansas City on Friday night, where they’ll be looking to do just that. You can’t take anything for granted in this league, but this is certainly a game that the Whitecaps will look at and think they can add to their already impressive league-leading goals scored.

FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 – 0 New York City

ATT: 25,460

VANCOUVER: 1.Yohei Takaoka; 18.Édier Ocampo, 33.Tristan Blackmon, 2.Mathías Laborda, 28.Tate Johnson; 16.Sebastian Berhalter (8.Oliver Larraz 77’), 20. Andrés Cubas (11.Emmanuel Sabbi 63’); 59.Jeevan Badwal, 13.Thomas Müller ©, 7.Cheikh Sabaly (14.Bruno Caicedo 63’); 24.Brian White (19.Rayan Elloumi 90’+1) [Substitutes not used: 32.Isaac Boehmer, 17.Kenji Cabrera, 22.AZ, 29.Mihail Gherasimencov, 41.Nikola Djordjevic]

NEW YORK: 49.Matt Freese; 24.Tayvon Gray, 34.Raul Gustavo, 5.Kai Trewin, 22.Kevin O’Toole; 55.Keaton Parks (32.Jonathan Shore 87’), 21.Aiden O’Neill (87.Arnau Farnós 87’), 10.Maxi Moralez; 26.Agustín Ojeda (88.Malachi Jones 77’), 7.Nicolás Fernández Mercau, 17.Hannes Wolf (11.Talles Magno 63’) [Substitutes not used: 30.Tomás Romero, 2.Nico Cavallo, 15.Kevin Pierre, 19.Strahinja Tanasijević, 99.Seymour Reid]

SCORING SUMMARY:
45’ – VAN – Mathías Laborda (Sebastian Berhalter)
87’ – VAN – Brian White (Bruno Caicedo)

STATS:
Possession: VAN 47% – NYC 53%
Shots: VAN 23 – NYC 12
Shots on Goal: VAN 10 – NYC 2
Saves: VAN 2 – NYC 8
Fouls: VAN 16 – NYC 8
Offsides: VAN 2 – NYC 2
Corners: VAN 12 – NYC 5

CAUTIONS:
53’ – VAN – Andrés Cubas
80’ – VAN – Oliver Larraz

REACTION:

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

JESPER SORENSEN

HEAD COACH JESPER SØRENSEN

On tonight’s performance:

“I think it was a very good game. I think New York was a very good team and difficult team to play up against. They do a couple of things that [other] opponents usually don’t do, and they put you into situations that you don’t find yourself in very often. For instance, when you have your own corners and how they approach the way they do it. But having said that, I think that we kept them away from many open chances. They had a couple of free kicks in the second half and we also had a tricky period in the second half where we couldn’t really get the momentum going, we lost the ball too easily. But apart from that we created the chances we needed, and we also played with the force, especially against the ball, that I really liked. It was a great game, and it was alive until the end, and then we scored for two and then we killed it off. But it was a great game in front of a great crowd. We have a great atmosphere built here now in the stadium, and even though we play at home every time, a lot of people show up and its great to be a part of and we hope that they enjoy what they see. But in general, I was happy with most parts of the game. We had 20 minutes in the second half where we can also be honest and say we did not really play with quality, but then we came back and in the end we looked strong.”

On Brian White’s persistent work rate:

“I think that Brian [White] has been involved a lot in our finishing moments, and even though you miss a couple of chances sometimes, because you will, I think he has kept his composure and kept believing in his own abilities. We saw today also that he is adding some [extra] to his skill set. I think that he is now a little bit more dynamic in the part of our buildup, and also a guy that can turn and go in front against their goal. I also have to say that [Matt] Freese had a very good game and he had some very good saves. So one or two might have been in in another time but I think in general, Brian plays well and looks to be in good shape. And you’ll miss a couple, but it’s better that you have the chances than none, so I think for the moment he looks strong and it’s nice to see that he is not bothered by a miss, even though, of course, everybody is, but he kept going and in the end he found the back of the net.”

STRIKER BRIAN WHITE

On his persistence to score:

“I just keep going. Obviously I had a number of chances, got them on frame. Some good saves. Maybe some shots I could have done a little bit better with, but that’s how it goes. Like I said earlier in the week, we just keep going to try to score, try to score. Fortunately, Bruno put a pretty good ball in front of me and I got that goal.”

On his non-stop work to improve in all areas:

“Ever since Jesper has come in, they’ve tried to push me to be more comfortable on the ball. Whether it’s holding the ball up, switching sides. I’ve pushed myself to be more selfish. ‘Selfish’ – like my half chances to really try and push myself and try and create goals. I just kept trying to score, my teammates giving me good passes, just kept trying and trying, and then finally, it fell in.”

NEW YORK CITY FC

HEAD COACH PASCAL JANSEN

On Goalkeeper Matt Freese’s performance:

“The best player tonight from our side was [Goalkeeper] Matt Freese. He had a few fantastic, brilliant saves and kept us going. It’s a very hard thing to swallow once you concede the way you do, because he kept us in the race, especially in the first half. Conceding the one-nil [goal] like we did is something we could have prevented, but his overall performance was very good.”

On Forward Malachi Jones returning from injury:

“I’m so happy for [Forward] Malachi [Jones]. We were able to give him 15 minutes today, and he will progress from that. We are very happy and very proud of him given everything he went through to get to this point again, because he had such a severe injury. Being on the pitch again makes him very happy and made the team very happy. Now we have to progress from this moment and hopefully he has no setbacks going forward.”

MIFIELDER HANNES WOLF

On New York City FC’s performance tonight:

“I think we stayed in the game. The first half was difficult, especially right before halftime. I think we came out pretty good in the second half but didn’t really have a lot of chances to score. Then with the second goal the game was over… [Goalkeeper Matt] Freese kept us in the game.”