Report and Reaction: No hangover in sight as Whitecaps dominate RSL to extend their lead at the top

Report and Reaction: No hangover in sight as Whitecaps dominate RSL to extend their lead at the top

Posted on May 3, 2025 by in MLS, VANCOUVER WHITECAPS with 0 Comments

Vancouver Whitecaps showed no sign of a Champions Cup hangover and no sign of tiredness from their exploits on Wednesday, putting in a dominant performance in a 2-1 victory over Real Salt Lake at BC Place on Saturday evening, in a scoreline that belies the ‘Caps dominance in the match.

A wonderful solo effort from Jayden Nelson and some bad RSL misses saw the ‘Caps head into the half with a 1-0 lead, before a Tristan Blackmon banger sealed the points. Vancouver could even afford the luxury of a second half penalty miss from Daniel Rios against a visiting side that really struggled to handle the ‘Caps pace and possession play.

Diego Luna scored a penalty for RSL deep into stoppage time to prevent a 6th clean sheet in the league, but it was a small blight on the way to another important win for Vancouver, one that saw them increase their lead at the top of the MLS Western Conference to seven points after results elsewhere.

After their heroics and a long trip home, Jesper Sorensen was always going to ring the changes for this one. With Brian White definitely missing to rest his hamstring, the Great Dane made five changes from the team that beat Miami midweek and five from the team that started last Sunday’s win in Minnesota, but it was still a strong line-up, testament to the ‘Caps strength in depth this season.

The Whitecaps had the first chance of the match in the 11th minutes. A wide open Nelson received a diagonal ball and powered into the box. His shot was blocked, with the rebound falling to Pedro Vite who fired over.

Nelson was giving RSL, and Justin Glad in particular, all sorts of problems up the left wing. He got the ball again two minutes later, leaving Glad in his wake before his low cross was turned on goal by J.C. Ngando, forcing RSL goalkeeper Rafael Cabral to stick a leg out to kick the ball away and the defence cleared the danger.

Nelson was played in again in the 15th minute by a perfectly weighted Ngando through ball. He unselfishly played the ball inside to Edier Ocampo, but the ball seemed to bobble in front of the Colombian and his hesitation saw his shot blocked.

The Whitecaps finally got the breakthrough their play deserved in the 20th minute and of course it had to come from Nelson.

The Canadian got onto a through ball from Ralph Priso and he turned two RSL defenders inside out before tucking it past Cabral and it was 1-0 Vancouver.

A fantastic solo goal and the visitors felt very firmly on the back foot.

Ocampo was next to try his luck, seeing his fierce 26th minute shot acrobatically turned over by Cabral after the right back had been played in by a beautiful Tristan Blackmon through ball.

RSL had their first chance of the game in the 37th minute and they should have levelled things up when a brilliant ball across goal somehow eluded Ariath Piol. Five minutes later it was an even worse miss when Alexandros Katranis missed an open goal, heading past the far post.

Despite their dominance, the ‘Caps were very fortunate to go in at the half leading by one and not trailing 2-1. That said, they’d also missed chances of their own.

Vancouver continued to dominate play in the second half, but RSL were handed the chance to tie things up before the hour mark when Zavier Gozo went down in the box and referee Malik Badawi pointed to the spot. Replays seemed to show there had been no contact from Andres Cubas and the VAR officials agreed, calling Badawi over to look over the incident and the penalty was overturned.

The ‘Caps then got a penalty of their own when Ocampo ran onto a ball over the top and was sent flying by Cabral in the 66th minute. The keeper had got both ball and man, but the penalty stood. Rios stepped up to take it, struck it well, but Cabral made amends, sticking up an arm to direct the ball away.

They weren’t to be denied however and made it 2-0 in the 70th minute when Blackmon fired home a brilliant cutback from Sebastian Berhalter, and the points felt secured.

There were some further half chances for Vancouver as the game minutes ticked down, the best being a fierce Vite shot that was turned away in the 76th minute.

With the game deep in stoppage time, RSL were thrown a very late lifeline when they were awarded a penalty after a video review for Berhalter standing on the heel of Glad at a corner. Luna stepped up and sent Takaoka the wrong way, but there nothing more to come from the visitors and Vancouver comfortably saw out the victory.

The Whitecaps keep rolling and whilst this was a close affair on paper, it was comprehensive home win. They maybe rode their luck a little in the first half, but it was a deserved three points that extends their lead at the top of the MLS West and keeps them atop the Supporters Shield standings. Now they can enjoy a rare week with no midweek action, although riding the momentum would probably be what is preferred.

FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 – 1 Real Salt Lake

ATT: 19,762

VANCOUVER: 1.Yohei Takaoka; 18.Édier Ocampo, 33.Tristan Blackmon, 15.Bjørn Inge Utvik, 28.Tate Johnson (3.Sam Adekugbe 77’); 20.Andrés Cubas ©, 13.Ralph Priso (16.Sebastian Berhalter 62’), 26.J.C. Ngando (59.Jeevan Badwal 90’+7); 45.Pedro Vite, 14.Daniel Ríos (11.Emmanuel Sabbi 77’), 7.Jayden Nelson (22.Ali Ahmed 62’) [Substitutes not used: 32.Isaac Boehmer, 4.Ranko Veselinović, 19.Damir Kreilach, 27.Giuseppe Bovalina]

SALT LAKE: 1.Rafael Cabral; 15.Justen Glad, 26.Philip Quinton (13.Nelson Palacio 87′), 29.Sam Junqua, 98.Alexandros Katranis (92.Noel Caliskan 70’); 14.Emeka Eneli, 6.Braian Ojeda (7.Pablo Ruiz 70’); 72.Zavier Gozo, 8.Diego Luna, 10.Diogo Gonçalves (17.Lachlan Brook 77’); 23.Ariath Piol (9.William Agada 46′) [Substitutes not used: 31.Mason Stajduhar, 11.Dominik Marczuk, 16.Tyler Wolff, 36.Jesus Barea]

SCORING SUMMARY:
20’ – VAN – Jayden Nelson (Ralph Priso)
70’ – VAN – Tristan Blackmon (Sebastian Berhalter, Pedro Vite)
90’+6 – RSL – Diego Luna (penalty kick)

STATS:
Possession: VAN 56% – RSL 44%
Shots: VAN 24 – RSL 11
Shots on Goal: VAN 9 – RSL 3
Saves: VAN 2 – RSL 7
Fouls: VAN 15 – RSL 10
Offsides: VAN 1 – RSL 1
Corners: VAN 9 – RSL 5

CARDS (ALL YELLOW):
22’ – RSL – Braian Ojeda
51’ – RSL – Justen Glad
62’ – RSL – Diego Luna
64’ – VAN – Daniel Ríos

REACTION:

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

JESPER SORENSEN

On tonight’s performance:

“I think it’s been important for us to not focus on our schedule, not focusing on being tired and talking ourselves into being tired. I think what has been important for us is that we have pushed all along, and set high demands for the players. Also when we have been rotating, it’s not a free ride when you play. We have to perform, and we have to perform together. We are ambitious, and we believe that we can also go out and push the buttons physically. I think the players did well, and I think we played [well]. We got very good flow in our game early on, and we created some chances. Salt Lake went up pressing and I think we had a very good structure with the ball, and played through the pressure and over the middle a lot of times, and got into very good situations. That gave us the upper hand, I would say in the game. We conceded a couple of big chances in the first half. I was not happy with that, but in the second half we kept it pretty clean defensively, except for the two situations where one obviously wasn’t a penalty and the second one where there was. But I think the second half defensively good. But then we accelerated the game too much in the end, instead of keeping cool and play the chances big enough, but it was okay. I was happy with the performance and also with the players performing. When they get the chance, they’re ready.”

On how his team has kept up this incredible run of form:

“I wish I had that formula [for it]. I with that it was a formula, but it isn’t. I think first of all it starts and ends with the players. The way they want to work every day, the way they want to be together, on and off the pitch. It’s very important that you also have a very good group off the pitch. We are traveling a lot. Last week, we were away for four and a half days, almost five days. And it’s very important that they also enjoy time together outside of the pitch. What we also want to do is that we want to make them coach each other, right? That’s very important, so they know, so Yohei [Takaoka] knows on set-pieces that the guys have to be here and here. Then he can go grab them and make sure that people are in right positions and we can go and coach each other and go ‘okay, no you have to be there’ and that’s the thing we try to work on. And everybody is getting more and more responsible for the way we want to play. And then it’s easy for guys to just make sure that, things, we try and do the right way. And we make a lot of mistakes in every game, but there is always a guy to make up for it, so it’s very good. And football is a game of mistakes, but we know our structure, we know how we want to build a game, and people also know that they’re allowed to make mistakes, otherwise they get too tense. So we just need to make sure that we as coaches make a structure where those mistakes will not kill us in games. So I think everybody has chipped in and are doing great. I don’t have any formula, I wish I had. But I don’t think it exists in this sport, but it starts and ends with the players.”

FORWARD JAYDEN NELSON

On his performance:

“For me, from the start of the season it’s been the same mentality. I try to come into the game with the same principle intentions of trying to be a threat. Today the universe gave me the opportunity to really go at my guy and get a goal. It’s just going into every game knowing that I can do this and I’m able to make a difference.”

On the team vibe:

“We’re just cherishing the moment, and we know that we’re doing a lot of good things. But like the coach touched on something earlier today, there’s no memory in football. Each game is a different time to make history, and that’s what you want to do. At the speed that we’re going at right now, we’re doing something big, so we just need to keep going and keep having this killer mentality.”

      
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Authored by: Michael McColl

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