The Whitecaps First Away Game

By Santiago Endara

Last Saturday at 1:00 pm Vancouver time, the Whitecaps played their first away game of the MLS era against the Philadelphia Union.

The game ended with a 1:0 victory of Philadelphia over Vancouver.  Here is the analysis of the game

Our coach Teitur Thordarson, had a hard time finding the right squad as his most talented players where either injured (Midfielder Davide Chiumiento and Goalie Jay Nolly) or playing for their national teams (Jay DeMeritt for the USA and Michael Boxall for New Zealand) 

The game was even and Vancouver did a good job, but had a couple of mistakes that eventually coasted us the game:

1) Hassli: He was unfairly booked in the first half for a fault that didn’t deserve a yellow, but after this happened, he fell into the trap of the Union players, as they were constantly provoking him hoping to get a bad reaction and cause his expulsion.   That is exactly what happened.  He went too hard for a divided ball, and that added to some previous rough plays against other defenders convinced the referee that he was too rough to continue on the field.  His expulsion, in addition to demoralize his team also caused that the Union could add one more men to attack, causing more problems to the defence of Vancouver, which eventually allowed a goal.

2) Harris: He was not a problem for the defenders of the Union.  Harris lacked speed and skills to create problems in a solid defence. 

3) Defenders: The Vancouver Whitecaps defenders kept the ball away for most part of the game and did a good job in general but made several mistakes that will be great if they can correct:

a) When heading the ball away of your area on a defensive header, never aim for the center of the field but to the sides.  If you clear to the sides, the ball will not bounce back to the other team in a dangerous zone.  This is exactly what happened in the Union game: A bad defensive header was left in the boots of a Union player who crossed the ball to the box and it ended up in a goal.  Although the goal has been considered an offside by many fans, in my opinion, I can’t tell, the TV does not show the best angle to decide if it was an offside or not.

b) The defence needs to control more the pace of the game.  The Whitecaps could not put the game in the “fridge” when that is what they should have done.  Of course this skills are more present in players with more experience, so that is when you feel the absence of DeMeritt.

So, this are the updates of the first away game of the Whitecaps. 

Vivit our blog and we will keep you informed of the rest of the games.  

   

This were the line ups:

Vancouver Whitecaps FC
1.Joe Cannon; 25.Jonathan Leathers, 14.Greg Janicki, 4.Alain Rochat, 19.Blake Wagner; 16.Nizar Khalfan (23.Long Tan 88’), 7.Terry Dunfield, 28.Gershon Koffie, 31.Russell Teibert (8.Wes Knight 65’); 9.Atiba Harris (37.Camilo Sanvezzo 83’), 29.Eric Hassli

Philadelphia Union
1.Faryd Mondragon; 25.Sheanon Williams, 5.Carlos Valdes, 4.Danny Califf, 2.Jordan Harvey (19.Jack McInerney 67’); 7.Brian Carroll, 9.Sebastien Le Toux, 6.Stefani Migliorani, 13.Kyle Nakazawa (8.Roger Torres 67’); 20.Carlos Ruiz, 10.Danny Mwanga (15.Gabriel Farfan 83’)