Editorial — It’s a tale as old as time itself, Vancouver Whitecaps FC disappointing it’s fans in a crucial match. It seemed inevitable, as though blowing two goal leads weren’t enough for the Whitecaps’ faithful. The loss made Vancouver’s striker problems very clear, but there had to be more.
MiB Group B Analysis: Vancouver’s striker problems
There is always more. Alas, Vancouver found itself a familiar foe in rivals Seattle Sounders FC as a perfect fixture to kick start this tournament. However it was not to be, with Sunday night ending once again in victorious flashes of emerald green.
Vancouver travelled to Orlando without the majority of it’s strike force, with Montero, Cavallini and Ricketts watching on from home. That fact was put on display like a baby panda at the San Diego Zoo on Sunday, with Yordy Reyna and Christian Dajome leading the lines for Vancouver. There were no changes from Marc Dos Santos’ side from the 4-3 loss to San Jose last week, except changing to a 4-4-2 so that the lone striker wasn’t “isolated.” Captain Russell Teibert was shifted to left midfield, filling the vacant spot left by Dajome.
Ninety minutes later, Seattle emerged as 3-0 winners over a complacent Vancouver side. Or so it seemed. The first half was controlled by Vancouver, boasting 61% possession at the break. However, as you could guess by the score, that 61% didn’t amount to much.
Numerous broken down attacks, over hit crosses and missed headers by Owusu later, you could tell that a cut throat, ruthless number nine was greatly missed.
Reyna can’t win the aerial battles
All of a sudden, Vancouver has developed the ability to get into dangerous positions and cross them towards the strikers. And while that is a good plan for when Cavallini, Ricketts and Bair are in the lineup, 5’7 Reyna and 5’8 Dajome are not the same type of strikers. Adnan, Hwang and Milinkovic whipped in some fierce looking balls, but Reyna can only leap so high.
Dajome on the other hand, had a very quiet game up front, epitomizing Vancouver’s striker problems. Playing out of position, the Columbian never really got a grip on the game as he drifted through the 90 minutes. Chasing loose balls and hesitating in the final third, Dajome practically seemed lost in and around the 18 yard box. Never really contesting any of the crosses either, Whitecaps fans could only sit back and watch an ineffective striker pairing.
Despite not being able to produce many chances, Reyna still had an overall solid game. He did what was expected of him before the tournament started, driving the ball forward and creating options for the centre midfield pair of Owusu and In-Beom. You could see that Dajome wasn’t in the same mind set, which is fair enough. He’s still pretty new to the team, he was playing out of position and against the defending MLS Cup champions. That’s a tall order.
💬 Ranko: "This is a young team… we can learn from these games and grow"#VWFC | @SportChek pic.twitter.com/a9vADqI5eH
— x – Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) July 20, 2020
No strikers, many problems
As Marc Dos Santos has eluded to in the lead up to both this game and the tournament, he has said that he will heavily be relying on youngsters, given the absence of some of his starting veterans. Ryan Raposo and Theo Bair (Vancouver’s only real attacking substitutes) didn’t make an appearance against the Earthquakes.
However, 55 minutes into the Seattle fixture, the duo came on, looking to turn around the then 3-0 deficit. As you can tell by the final score, they didn’t impact as much as people would’ve thought. But if you watched the game, you also would’ve saw that they didn’t impact as much as people would’ve thought.
Raposo, who had generated a lot of hype after an incredible debut against the Galaxy back in March, was as flat and static as a sub could be. Theo Bair touched the ball just seven times, in 35 minutes of play. I’m not sure if that says more about him or the deliveries he was getting, but it’s not a good look.
One positive was the impressive debut from third string goalkeeper Thomas Hasal. After a collision with Handwalla Bwana in the 58th minute, Max Crepeau was forced to leave the game due to a hand injury. Back up Bryan Meredith also left the side a few days ago after the unfortunate passing of his mother.
So the responsibility fell to the Whitecaps academy product, who kept a clean sheet with multiple impressive saves. Crepeau looks to be out for the game against Chicago, so the 21 year old Canadian will likely have his first MLS start come Thursday.
Last Words on the Whitecaps
Overall, the aggressiveness in the final third just wasn’t there for Vancouver. Time and time again, promising attacks went begging by being too patient and passing around the box until losing possession — I’m looking at you In-beom.
It was a decent showing, but a couple of familiar ghosts came out of Vancouver’s closet. Poor marking on a corner, being caught on a counter attack, sloppy play in their own box.
All of these are mistakes that could easily be tweaked. And while Vancouver still has an outside chance of advancing, it might already be time to hit the reset button.
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