Report and Reaction: Whitecaps’ Scottish dynamic duo help Vancouver to crucial win over San Jose
Ryan Gauld grabbed a couple of assists and Stuart Armstrong scored his first goal as a Whitecap to give Vancouver a crucial 2-0 victory over San Jose Earthquakes at BC Place on Saturday evening.
The ‘Caps dominated from star to finish, and much like last week at home to Dallas, they were denied time and time again by some fantastic goalkeeping. This time the Quakes’ Daniel was the thorn in Vancouver’s side, making nine saves in total, but unlike last week, they were at least able to beat the ‘keeper twice to come away with a much needed three points.
Fafa Picault opened the scoring in the 35th minute, but the ‘Caps had to wait until four minutes from time to seal the deal, with Armstrong’s first MLS goal. With a fourth straight clean sheet to boot, it wasn’t a bad night at the office for Vancouver, but it was a frustrating one at times.
With Brian White and Andres Cubas out injured, Vanni Sartini made six changes to last week’s starting line-up, with a view to the upcoming midweek match in Houston. It was far from being a full strength Whitecaps team that kicked this one off, but they didn’t need to be against a San Jose side that made a good case for promotion and relegation in the US soccer pyramid.
Daniel’s heroics started in the 12th minute when Gauld played the ball through to Picault, but the save was made. Nine minutes later, Gauld beautifully lofted the ball to the back post and the Quakes keeper kept out Picault’s header, before saving at the near post to deny Ali Ahmed in the 23rd minute.
The ‘Caps eventually got the breakthrough their play deserved in the 35th minute and once again it was Gauld and Picault linking up, with the Haitian international rising unchecked to head home the Scot’s corner from five yards out.
Fafa Picault scores his 1️⃣0️⃣th goal this season across all competitions!
📺 https://t.co/x1cswFtNag
#VWFC | #VANvSJE pic.twitter.com/VSwYnU3X3Y— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) September 15, 2024
Gauld had a chance to add to the Whitecaps’ tally on the stroke of half time, but his shot from the edge of the box curled just wide and Vancouver had to be happy with just the one goal advantage.
Usually that would leave you a little concerned that they hadn’t turned their dominance into more goals, but San Jose were just resembling warm bodies in blue jerseys for that first 45 minutes.
The game continued the same way to start the second, with Picault heading a Sam Adekugbe cross off the bar in the 51st minute.
Daniel then produced saved to deny Ahmed and Edier Ocampo as the midway point of the half approached.
Vancouver had a lucky escape in the 68th minute when San Jose quickly countered on a ‘Caps giveaway and although Ousseni Bouda had the ball in the net for the visitors, he was just a step offside.
As the ‘Caps pushed for the killer second, Daniel saved an Alessandro Schopf shot from the edge of the box in the 82nd minute, before keeping out an Ocampo header from the resultant corner.
Vancouver finally turned their relentless pressure into a second goal with four minutes of the match remaining and it was a goal made in Scotland, with a bit of Ecuador thrown in for good measure.
Pedro Vite and Gauld linked up superbly with a couple of near interplays, before the Scot played the ball inside to his wide open countryman Armstrong to blast the ball home from 14 yards out.
ARMSTRONG 🤝 GAULD
📺 https://t.co/x1cswFtNag
#VWFC | #VANvSJE pic.twitter.com/RnUZwocTMp— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) September 15, 2024
Bouda should have pulled one back for San Jose in stoppage time, but he pulled his header wide, a perfect indication of a poor game in general for the visitors.
All in all, a win, no matter how it comes about, is all that the Whitecaps were needing here. There’s some question about being clinical in front of goal against the worst team in the league, but they were up against an inspired goalkeeper for the second week running. They scored two, won at home, and kept a fourth straight clean sheet, extending their time without conceding a goal to 393 minutes.
The victory moved Vancouver up to 5th in the MLS Western Conference standings with seven matches remaining. Two points below the playoff lines with a game in hand and three off 2nd. If they can be more clinical in front of goal, this could be a very exciting season run-in.
FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 – 0 San Jose Earthquakes
ATT: 21,309
SCORING SUMMARY:
35’ – VAN – Fafa Picault (Ryan Gauld)
86’ – VAN – Stuart Armstrong (Ryan Gauld, Pedro Vite)
STATS:
Possession: VAN 54.1% – SJ 45.9%
Shots: VAN 19 – SJ 5
Shots on Goal: VAN 11 – SJ 2
Saves: VAN 2 – SJ 9
Fouls: VAN 9 – SJ 8
Offsides: VAN 1 – SJ 1
Corners: VAN 7 – SJ 2
BOOKINGS:
26’ – SJ – Carlos Akapo
41’ – VAN – Ralph Priso
89’ – SJ – Jack Skahan
VANCOUVER: Yohei Takaoka; Bjørn Inge Utvik, Ranko Veselinović, Tristan Blackmon; Ali Ahmed (Édier Ocampo 66’), Pedro Vite, Ralph Priso (Sebastian Berhalter 56’), Alessandro Schöpf (Stuart Armstrong 84’), Sam Adekugbe (Mathías Laborda 66’); Ryan Gauld, Fafa Picault (Levonte Johnson 84’) [Substitutes not used: Isaac Boehmer, Belal Halbouni, Damir Kreilach, Déiber Caicedo]
SAN JOSE: Daniel; Carlos Akapo, Rodrigues, Tanner Beason; Benjamin Kikanović (Vitor Costa 46′), Niko Tsakiris (Alfredo Morales 55’), Jackson Yueill (Jack Skahan 86’), Paul Marie (Amahl Pellegrino 73’); Cristian Espinoza, Preston Judd (Ousseni Bouda 46′), Hernan López [Substitutes not used: William Yarborough, Tommy Thompson, Beau Leroux, Casey Walls]
REACTION:
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
VANNI SARTINI
On the team’s performance:
“I think we played very well. Really well. I would say, without even having a minute of not being the best team on the field. In the last two games, we played really well against Austin and Dallas, where we were probably the best team on the field for 75 out of the 90 minutes. Today was 90 out of 90. We had a lot of chances, we played really well. It would have been a disaster, to be honest, to not win today because we showed that we were clearly the best. But I’m really happy on the quality of the team, as we played literally as we planned.”
On Ryan Gauld and Stuart Armstrong’s link-up for the final goal:
“So it was 90’s night tonight, no? It looked like Brazil 1994 with Bebeto and Romario, with Stu [Armstrong] and Ryan [Gauld] up top, so that was a great goal.”
MIDFIELDER STUART ARMSTRONG
On the reception from the crowd after he scored his goal:
“It’s a really cool thing. Whenever you arrive somewhere new, you want to do well, you want to fit in with the team, you want the guys to like you, not only as a player but as a person. As Gauldy said, they’ve [the team] been so welcoming since I’ve come, everyone’s been so nice, the players, staff and then also the fans, with the reception. Everything’s just been great so far.”
ATTACKING MIDFIELDER RYAN GAULD
On his connection playing with Armstrong:
“I’ve always said its good and easy to play with good players and get an understanding. I think every new player that arrives here kind of finds out themselves that it’s quite an easy group to fit into. We’re a good group to welcome new players and get them fitted in quickly and you can see that Stu’s hit the ground running already. It’s good to have another good, quality player in there.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
INTERIM HEAD COACH IAN RUSSELL
On the team’s effort tonight:
“We started the game decent, had some good energy. We played three at the back to try to deal with their two forwards. They have dangerous players there, and we struggled a bit with some runs from midfield. They were getting beyond us. We tried a few tactical switches during the game and created some chances. [Ousseni] Bouda had a good chance; he was offside. We didn’t generate enough in attack and were defending a lot.”
On the decision to substitute Benji Kikanović:
“At halftime, Benji was injured; we didn’t know that until we’re walking back on the field, and he couldn’t go, so Vitor [Costa] just went, played wing back. Benji was having a good game. You know, he’s been good all year. I wouldn’t have taken him out.”
On the recent performance of forwards Preston Judd and Ousseni Bouda, who had the game-tying goal called back for offside:
“Bouda’s been in really good form. I wanted to get Bouda on the field. I thought Preston did okay. He could do better, but Bouda had a big chance, almost scored another one.”
On the tactical takeaways from tonight’s match:
“The way that Vancouver defends, they played the two [forwards] high so played a back three. We were able to circulate the ball, 3v2. Now, inside their upper man, they have three midfielders to our two. In those moments, we’ve got to find the gap whether it’s Cristian [Espinoza] tucking in or non-tucking in, a pocket, try to bring extra players in. I think at times, we did find those gaps and able to get it wide, but it wasn’t consistent enough. There’s usually space against them wide they play zonal with their wing backs. So these little switches of play, we did get into positions, especially in the first half, but crossing left something to be desired, and they were pretty organized with their back three when we were crossing balls. They’re pretty good in the air.”
“We did find gaps at times, but Vancouver is organized. They’re a good team. They get back behind the ball quickly. So when you do find these pockets, you have to go at pace. You have to have good service. You have to serve it beyond them, in behind their backs, in the air. They’re good in the air.”
DEFENDER PAUL MARIE
On looking ahead to the midweek match against Seattle Sounders:
“Tonight, the mentality was not right. We know it. We were supposed to be on the front foot and we were not. We definitely need to shift our focus on Seattle and come out at 200%.”
On areas of improvement:
“We’re not clinical enough. I think we need to keep the ball better, and we need to hurt them more. We were not able to tonight. I think we ran a lot defensively and just used a lot of energy where we were trying to press a lot. We were not doing great with that. … When you get to the final third, we need to do way better. We need to work on it.”
On Hernán López being positioned more on the left side of the attack tonight:
“He has a lot of freedom, because we’ve been giving him a lot of freedom. So he can help us left, right. He can kind of go where he wants. It’s nice. We need to find him and put him in good situations. We know if we put him in a good situation, he’s going to be spreading the balls and shooting. He’s going to be very dangerous.”
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