Report Card: A Little Bit of Everything

The Vancouver Whitecaps fell by a score of 3-2 to the Houston Dynamo Saturday afternoon at BBVA Compass Stadium. In a match that had good, bad and pretty much everything in between, there’s certainly plenty to discuss as we hand out final grades in our report card.

Oh, and at least we have the edge on Houston when it comes to home attendance!

If you’re looking for a full recap of everything that went down in the loss, be sure to check out Andrew’s Post Match Report.

That being said, let’s get down to business!

Starting XI

Crepeau: It’s pretty much impossible to pin any of the three goals on Crepeau, unless you’re trying to claim that he’s had enough PK practice by now that he should’ve stopped one. There are times with his defenders on 50/50 balls where I wish he would command the area a bit more, but other than that, no real complaints. His distribution was solid at 71%, made a few nice saves as well. 7.0

Godoy: Seemed like a pretty quiet outing for Godoy, but considering the other defensive performances, that was probably a good thing. Racked up 7 clearances, won 4 duels. 6.0

Henry: Doneil is an absolute roller-coaster ride of a defender, he’s brilliant in certain moments and shocking in others. Even though lots of people seem to rate Henry highly, I’m not convinced his distribution and decision making is at the level required to run MDS’s system effectively, although he did amass some good defensive stats with 4 interceptions and 6 duels won. On the third Dynamo goal, Henry decides to go to ground way upfield and left the rest of his defensive line scrambling, while the goal wasn’t “his fault” per se, decisions like this don’t aid an already struggling group. He is always good for a last ditch, highlight real, block though...5.5

Cornelius: Um...yea...not pretty. Cornelius looked out of his element in this one and especially poor against one of the MLS’s most dynamic attackers in Alberth Elis. On the first goal, it looked as though Cornelius was caught between two minds as to whether or not he wanted to clear the ball upfield or play it out of the back along the ground, as it happened, he ended up doing neither. On the second goal, regardless of the fact it may not have been a foul, Cornelius was far too willing to let Elis attack him to the outside with speed. Overall, he was probably happy to be substituted at the half. 2.0 Sorry, Derek!

Sutter: The former Orlando SC defender wasn’t involved much as the Whitecaps focused a lot of their offensive movement down the left side of the pitch. He also didn’t do a great job tracking back on the third goal. Sutter did play in two crosses and two long balls, but none of them were completed successfully. 4.5

Rose: It felt as though the combination of Rose and Erice in midfield was far too defensive, leaving the top three on an island, especially in the first half. While Rose’s play wasn’t necessarily too poor (he completed 28 passes at 73%, won two tackles), it’s fairly obvious that Erice has superior quality in his role - so I, among others, would suggest giving Felipe another look in midfield next match. Also, hope that Rose is alright after that nasty looking collision. 5.5

Erice: The Spaniard’s comfort and quality on the ball always seems to shine through and Erice was efficient with his passing at 86%. If MDS can figure out the best system to make use of his best midfield three, Erice’s perfomances should only improve. 6.5

PC: Giro was energetic on the wing and highly involved in passing and interplay with Erice and Hwang down the left side. The only knock on PC is that he’s a bit of a ‘tweener, he’s not exactly a left back or a left winger and he didn’t really provide much defensive support for Cornelius in the first half. Overall though, it was a decent performance, he completed 38 passes at a rate of 84%. 6.0

Hwang: The Korean is simply a pleasure to watch on the ball, with the only possible knock being that he might look to release the ball a bit quicker, but this is as much on his team to make themselves available for a pass as it is on the young phenom. Regardless, Hwang led his team distributing the ball, with 44 total passes at 89% accuracy, as well as 2 key passes. He also showed some superb technique on a long distance free-kick. 8.0

Reyna: The Peruvian made a few nice runs, but overall looked disconnected from the rest of the squad in his advanced role. Reyna completed just 12 passes at a rate of 71%, although three of those were successful crosses/long balls. Like many others, Reyna might’ve benefited from a different formation in the first half. 6.5

Montero: Similar to Reyna, Montero struggled to get touches in dangerous areas throughout most of the match. He did do a great job “creating” a foul in the box which lead to a PK (which was very nicely taken), yet he still looks to be struggling to find his rhythm during his second stint with the blue and white. 6.0

Substitutes:

Bangoura: Lass scored a terrific goal which was entirely of his own doing, creating space between two Dynamo defenders and curling it home past Joe Wills. Additionally, Bangoura had 4 successful dribbles in just 45+ minutes of action as well as completing 9 passes and winning 5 duels. 8.0

Venuto: The Brazilian was relatively quiet in his 23+ minutes of action, completing just 4 passes. It would’ve been nice to see him create a spark in the same manner as Bangoura, but with the Whitecaps reduced to 10 men for 50% of his playing time, his lack of production is understandable. Incomplete

Ardaiz: The Uruguayan’s stat line was pretty much non-existent. He didn’t receive many high quality balls over the final few moments and as a result won just 1 of his 6 total duels. There was some suggestion that Ardaiz should’ve come on sooner in the match in order to provide a different dimension to the Whitecaps attack, and depending on training and his fitness, perhaps it’s time to give the young designated player a try in the starting XI. Incomplete

Ok, That’s all folks...What were your thoughts on the match, and more importantly, how might you have rated the individual performances? Let me know!

Up next, the Whitecaps take on the undefeated Seattle Sounders on March 30th.