![]() Another reason why the Whitecaps signed him from Yokohama F. Takaoka likes to come off his line and grab the ball and less than half an hour into this game he did it several times. He displayed how good he is with the ball on his feet and stopped an Earthquakes header shortly after Schöpf’s goal He might not be over 6’0″ but he made a really good jump to grab the ball. Takaoka once again looked very calm in goal. The Whitecaps had four interceptions less than 20 minutes in. The press was working for the second straight week early on. Schöpf went through the Earthquakes defence like how the Rhine River through the Austrian-Swiss border. ![]() Cubas took the ball away from Carlos Gruezo and found Gressel who made an excellent through ball to Schöpf who used his first touch to slot the ball past Daniel. Less than 20 minutes in the Whitecaps showed good intensity with the press. There was also a nice long pass by Vite early on and that led to the Whitecaps having some good possession in the Earthquakes half but couldn’t get a good chance on Earthquakes goalkeeper Daniel. There was even a big block by Veselinović on a shot from Cristian Espinoza. ![]() The Earthquakes made some good runs down the flanks but they couldn’t test Yohei Takaoka as Laborda and Veselinović made good tackles and clearances. The Whitecaps got two corner kicks early and White got a good header but it was blocked by one of San Jose’s defenders. Both can move well up and down the pitch and have shown to be reliable defensively in the past.ĭid the Whitecaps build off their first half from last week and learn their lessons from the second half? Well… First half thoughts Raposo and Ahmed probably deserved the starts. Maybe this time around, he gets subbed off earlier for Ali Ahmed or Ryan Raposo. ![]() Last week, he did struggle defensively as he looked slow getting back when Real Salt Lake was in transition. We all know Martins can pass the ball but he can struggle defensively. Javain Brown looked good and did get the goal but he started looking shaky defensively in the second half. It was eyebrow-raising to see the same fullbacks as last week. Sartini did not play Laborda against RSL due to tactical reasons. He is on his natural right side with Ranko Veselinović. Mathias Laborda makes his Whitecaps debut. However, Sergio Córdova, the new DP deserves a start but we should expect to see him earlier than we did last week. He wasn’t capitalizing on his chances and his first touch was not good. Perhaps a start will help him settle down and frankly, he deserves a start after a solid preseason.īrian White struggled up top against RSL. Vite looked a bit shaky coming off the bench last game as his passes were off the mark. Ryan Gauld was paired up with Pedro Vite as the two number 10s. That’s fine because Andrés Cubas, Julian Gressel and Alessandro Schöpf looked solid last week. Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini decided to go with the same three midfielders. There weren’t much changes from last week against Real Salt Lake. Once again, there were lots of good things but at the same time, a lot of causes for concern. Pressure was building but it wasn’t enough for Vancouver as they took their foot off the gas yet again. The Whitecaps? Not much success in MLS unfortunately. At least Muse released Origin of Symmetry and in my opinion, that is one of the greatest albums of all time. Like Muse, the Whitecaps showed promise and hope but they ended up having a subpar second half and ended up with nothing and leaving many fans disappointed. This time, it was against the San Jose Earthquakes in San Jose’s PayPal Park. It was a similar story Saturday night as the Whitecaps once again led at halftime. But disappointed their fans by allowing two quick goals in the second half and losing the game. Similarly, The Whitecaps came into the season with some hopes and expectations and those skyrocketed after an excellent first half against RSL. Of course, many fans were disappointed because Won’t Stand Down showed a lot of promise. Unfortunately, their ninth album Will of the People turned out to be a mediocre album consisting of the different sounds they did over the years. That was one of the heaviest songs they have ever done and fans were wanting a metal album for years it looked like they would get one. Muse baited their fans by thinking they would release a metal album after releasing Won’t Stand Down as the lead single last year. The Vancouver Whitecaps have been like British rock band Muse in some ways this season so far.
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