Report and Reaction: San Diego hit top spot and knock off Whitecaps with clinical display in Vancouver

San Diego FC put on a clinical display of finishing at BC Place on Wednesday night, with an explosive spell either side of half time putting Vancouver Whitecaps to the sword and helping them to a stunning 5-3 victory, a win that saw the expansion side leapfrog over the ‘Caps to claim first place in the MLS Western Conference.

There’s a somewhat archaic UK phrase I like to use regularly on here and on the podcast – going nap. It has a few connotations, all around the number five, but our primary use is for when teams score five goals. It’s perhaps even more fitting to use it for this game because the Whitecaps defence seemed to fall asleep at the wheel and they were heavily punished for it.

San Diego’s Milan Iloski was the man of the hour, firing home four goals in a 12 minute spell that left the league’s best defence shellshocked and exposed. Tomás Ángel grabbed the visitors fifth in the 90th minute to round off a wonderful first trip to Vancouver for the team. There were some small successes for the Whitecaps. Edier Ocampo and Mathias Laborda gave some small slivers of hope, but they were soon extinguished, and the highlight of the night from a home perspective was WFC2 call-up Antoine Coupland getting his first MLS goal in his first MLS appearance.

All in all a night to forget. It would be easy to blame the absences the Whitecaps had, and that definitely shaped their lack of attacking prowess, but it was a full strength defence and they were bringing back PTSD memories of Mexico City out there and not looking like the impenetrable unit that helped the team get to the top of the table in the first place. Back-to-back league defeats now, ahead of a grueling five-game road stretch coming up, will certainly test this team’s character and resolve, and it will be interesting to see the response at LAFC on Sunday.

After some much-needed rest, but still missing three key players to Gold Cup duty, two to injuries from Gold Cup duty, and the seemingly never healing Ryan Gauld, Jesper Sorensen’s team selection was made pretty simple for this one, with the Dane making three changes to the team that went down to a 2-1 loss in Columbus 11 days ago.

San Diego came out on the front foot for the opening couple of minutes before Vancouver started to take control of the game.

Emmanuel Sabbi went down in the box in the 11th minute, but a quick video review didn’t overturn the no-call on the pitch.

The ‘Caps kept pressing and San Diego keeper Carlos dos Santos was quickly off his line to smother a low Ocampo cross, with a sliding Daniel Rios waiting to pounce.

San Diego had their first real chance in the 17th minute when Onni Valakari blasted over. Then, as the match ticked past the half hour mark, the visitors took over.

Alejandro Alvarado saw his shot deflected and the dipper was tipped over for a corner by Yohei Takaoka. San Diego kept the pressure on from the corner and Iloski’s shot was deflected by Ralph Priso for another one.

San Diego got the goal their intense spell of pressure deserved in the 35th minute. Iloski was played in and saw his first shot saved by Takaoka, pouncing on the rebound the drill a low one past the ‘Caps keeper at his near post.

The visitors doubled their lead two minutes later. Dangerman Anders Dreyer got was played in on a long ball and his neat touch outside to Iloski was buried with aplomb, leaving the ‘Caps in a whole heap of trouble.

They’ve come back from two down before, of course. It’s just not really the gameplan you want to be regularly adopting. But the ‘Caps came storming back and they reduced the deficit to one in the 43rd minute when they kept the pressure on from a corner.

The ball eventually fell to Ocampo in the box off a San Diego defender and he blasted the ball into the San Diego net and Vancouver were right back in it. Albeit very briefly.

The PA announcement for the goal was still being made in the stadium when San Diego went right up the other end and restored their two goal advantage, and once again it was from Iloski, this time from his head as he bulleted home a pinpoint Dreyer cross in from the right.

A first hat-trick in San Diego history and done in a blistering nine-minute spell before the break.

The Whitecaps had scored at such a great time, only to then concede at such a bad time, and their frustration was added to deep in first half stoppage time when Pedro Vite whipped in an inviting free kick from the right, which somehow eluded both Tristan Blackmon and Ranko Veselinovic, when a simple connection from either would have seen Vancouver reduce the deficit once again.

It was to prove a costly missed opportunity as San Diego added a fourth two minutes after the restart, and of course it was Iloski doing the damage once again, aided by Dreyer.

The Dane played a perfectly weighted through ball for Iloski to get onto in what became a two-on-two attack, and with the ‘Caps defence appealing for offside, the forward raced in on goal and tucked it away past Takaoka and San Diego were in dreamland.

A stunning four goals for Iloski and a hat-trick of assists for Dreyer. Quite the statement from the new kids on the block.

To their credit, Vancouver kept pushing and trying to get back into the game and they came within inches of doing so in the 57th minute when Rios crashed one off the left post and Sabbi couldn’t bury the rebound.

The ‘Caps did pull one back in the 66th minute, with a well taken Laborda goal after a lovely through ball from Vite, but any hopes of a stunning comeback failed to materialise as the minutes ticked down.

It could have been a barnstorming finale if Blackmon hadn’t flashed a header wide in the 77th minute from a great opportunity, but instead Angel put the cherry on top of a table-topping cake for San Diego adding a fifth for the visitors in the 90th minute.

It was another goal that just ripped the Whitecaps defence apart, with Angel getting onto a lovely ball from Valakari, rounding Takaoka, and putting it away.

The scoring wasn’t quite done and it was lovely to see Coupland get his first MLS goal in his first MLS appearance, finishing superbly after a cutback from Tate Johnson.

The young Canadian WFC2 call-up has had such a tough time with injuries the last couple of seasons, and he made the most of his first nine minutes of MLS action. Hopefully there’s more to come.

And that was that. A weird night at BC Place, in a match that mattered so much to both teams. Vancouver were the better team for large chunks of the game and had five more shots than San Diego, but that counts for nothing if you don’t put the ball in the net, which the visitors did well and often.

San Diego have played some lovely stuff this year and have some real threats throughout their team. They now go first in the Western Conference, leading Vancouver by one, although the Whitecaps have a game in hand. The ‘Caps have given themselves a bit of breathing space over the chasing pack from their excellent start to the season, but with players still away and missing, and a tough trip to LAFC to come, they realistically could see themselves dropping to third by the end of the coming weekend and looking over their shoulders at that salivating horde piling up behind them.

There’s not any real panic right now. They’ve hit a bad spell and we always knew this summer period would be testing with the Gold Cup being on. They need to ride out the storm and try and get as many points as they can from the upcoming five road games. Players will be coming back and reinforcements are coming in a month. The bubble certainly hasn’t burst, but its integrity is certainly being tested.

FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 3 – 5 San Diego

ATT: 20,867

VANCOUVER: 1.Yohei Takaoka; 18.Édier Ocampo (19.Damir Kreilach 90’+1), 33.Tristan Blackmon, 4.Ranko Veselinović, 28.Tate Johnson; 20.Andrés Cubas (43.Antoine Coupland 87’), 13.Ralph Priso (2.Mathías Laborda HT), 59.Jeevan Badwal; 45.Pedro Vite, 14.Daniel Ríos, 11.Emmanuel Sabbi (26.J.C. Ngando 70’) [Substitutes not used: 32.Isaac Boehmer, 12.Belal Halbouni, 15.Bjørn Inge Utvik, 44.Jackson Castro, 75.Rayan Elloumi]

SAN DIEGO: 1.C.J. dos Santos; 33.Oscar Verhoeven, 25.Ian Pilcher, 97.Christopher McVey, 27.Luca Bombino; 8.Onni Valakari, 70.Alejandro Alvarado Jr. (24.Emmanuel Boateng 70’), 6.Jeppe Tverskov; 10.Anders Dreyer, 32.Milan Iloski (26.Manu Duah 89’), 77.Alex Mighten (9.Tomás Ángel 79’) [Substitutes not used: 98.Jacob Jackson, 13.Pablo Sisniega, 16.Heine Gikling Bruseth, 19.Jasper Löffelsend, 22.Franco Negri]

SCORING SUMMARY:

35’ – SD – Milan Iloski
37’ – SD – Milan Iloski (Anders Dreyer)
43’ – VAN – Édier Ocampo
44’ – SD – Milan Iloski (Anders Dreyer)
47’ – SD – Milan Iloski (Anders Dreyer)
66’ – VAN – Mathías Laborda (Pedro Vite)
90’ – SD – Tomás Ángel (Onni Valakari)
90’+6 – VAN – Antoine Coupland (Tate Johnson, Pedro Vite)

STATS:
Possession: VAN 49% – SD 51%
Shots: VAN 17 – SD 12
Shots on Goal: VAN 5 – SD 8
Saves: VAN 3 – SD 1
Fouls: VAN 15 – SD 12
Offsides: VAN 0 – SD 1
Corners: VAN 7 – SD 3

CARDS:
23’ – SD – Christopher McVey (yellow)
45’+5 – SD – Alejandro Alvarado Jr. (yellow)
52’ – VAN – Mathías Laborda (yellow)
81’ – VAN – Andrés Cubas (yellow)

REACTION:

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

JESPER SORENSEN

On the match:

“Credit to San Diego, they came here and were very proactive the way they played, and I think that they took their opportunities and chances well. We had the strategy of going up and trying pressing high here on our home pitch, because we know that they can be very solid on the ball and then you’ve got to run a lot. We [had] to run anyways. The tactics is obviously on me. I think that we were reacting very, very poorly on goals in this game. They scored one, boom they scored again. We scored, boom they scored, and it’s a proactive team, and they don’t care. They go jump on those occasions, and we were passive, and I think we adjusted some things at halftime. But I think that we dug ourselves too deep of a hole.”

On Antoine Coupland’s first MLS goal:

“Antoine has had a very difficult period while being in Vancouver, he’d had a lot of injuries. Now, he’s been fit for a while, and he’s kept progressing – he had a very good game the other day against [North Texas] in MLS NEXT Pro. He had a very good game there, and now, he followed up today. He looked lively and looked ready to go in, and tried to make an impact. And that’s what you have to do. You fight for so long to get back from injury and you have a tough period, and all of a sudden there’s opportunity, then it’s about seeing if you can take it.”

SAN DIEGO

HEAD COACH MIKEY VARAS

Opening statement:

“I’m just so proud of the guys, because we’re missing some important players. We had some individual errors in the first half, but we were able to bounce back real quick, you know, to just kind of release those feelings of maybe making some mistakes, being nervous, and then refocusing on what we needed to do. And the guys can be tremendously proud of themselves, because, man, they got a fighting spirit, but they’re also so brave to just keep going. And this is a very good team we played against, and I think that especially in the second half, we put together just an amazing performance.”

On if this win and performance is a statement and a milestone:

“This is definitely a milestone, because we talk about doing road performance and not being, you know, being us everywhere we go, and believing that you can win points away, and it doesn’t always go your way, but you can, if you can put that performance together that gives you the best chance. That’s really important. So that’s a check mark, because I think the guys came here and did fantastic with that. And then the other one is, we talked about being a big squad, you know, missing important guys, but next guy steps in, and the guy knows what to do, the guy has courage, and the guy has quality, and the guy has a good understanding and connection with his teammates. And I think those two things are really is important what we showed.”

On Milan Iloski, his performance tonight and recently and about his future with the team:

“Milan (Iloski) is not going anywhere. He’s obviously really important. I think he has the most goals per minute in the MLS right now. It’s got a special quality. He always finds himself in good positions, and he’s extremely an talented finisher. We’re working on other things with Milan to make him a more complete player when you think about 90-minute performances, but he’s got a tremendous character and growth mindset. He’s super open to feedback and to being challenged. And you know, every position is open to competition all the time, so as long as you’re willing to work for it and send the right message over a consistent time period, then you’ll get your opportunities. But at the end of the day, he did a fantastic game, and he’s been a great run for him.”

FORWARD MILAN ILOSKI

On a hard-fought win and his goals tonight:

“Yeah, the win was huge. You know, we know that we were tied with points coming in, and it’s a tough game going on the road before a little break that we have here in the schedule. So we wanted to leave to the break with a very positive taste in our mouth, and the way the team battled, fought through some adversity, and just kept pushing the whole game, setting the initiative, setting the pace. It’s a big win for the team and something that will push us on the second half of the season. It was huge and for me to get the goals, I’ll keep pushing and keep going for goals every time I’m on the field. So, yeah, it’s important for me to keep my confidence going and to keep helping the team.”

On his confidence in scoring goals and playing with Anders Dreyer:

“Yeah, I mean, it’s easy. It was easy for me to acclimate into this team. I knew a couple guys coming in from beforehand, so I think that sped up my process a little bit, and then just building connections with these guys over time. Someone like on this and me now, we have this great connection on the pitch. We’ve played long enough with each other now, and we have an understanding where I know on like this, this header goal, I know my run, we talked about this, this peeling run, and someone with his quality, it makes my life as a striker, as a goal scorer, so much easier. So yeah, I think it’ll continue to get better, and my relationship within the team will keep growing, because it’s a great group of guys, and for me to acclimate into it, it was so easy, and it’s a group that really pushed each other. So, we’ll continue to grow and continue to get better.”

On his second goal tonight:

“They were pushing to tie the match up, I think, so I knew, I recognized that they were sending more and more numbers. And, you know, I knew once I beat this first guy, and I was a little bit isolated with the guy. I knew there was no one behind him on the last one so, and I trust my pace, so I don’t think anyone is going to catch me once I once I take off like this. So, yeah, to be honest, I was just kind of coasting after I beat this guy, and then I had to cut back against the grain to, you know, keep them from being able to catch up and close the angle. So, in the finish, the finish gets made easy by cutting back across them and opening the goal up. So, these are all things that are like second nature to me now after so many years. My dad teaching me this when I was a little kid and back home, so stuff like that is like second nature to me. So, I knew when I cut back across the grain, it would open the goal up and made the finish a lot easier.”