Report Card: Vancouver Whitecaps vs LAFC

Vancouver Whitecaps. Ok now it will show up in the search engines. You know what happened, let’s get this over with.

Bryan Meredith: 4.5

The scoreline was not his fault alone but he also did not fill me with confidence. In particular I thought he looked a bit flat footed on the first two goals. He did rally to make a couple of good stops as the match went on.

Jake Nerwinski: 3.0

Did nothing to really stand out in a generally bad defensive performance. LAFC mainly focused their attacks down the right side and as a result Nerwinski wasn’t particularly active, only being involved in 5 duels. He was however made to look like a bit of a pylon on goal #5 and lost the ball a whopping 14 times.

Ranko Veselinovic: 3.0

The big Serb was pulled off at half time after being part of the defence that conceded the fastest 5 goals in MLS history, one of which he turned into his own goal personally.

Derek Cornelius: 3.0

Was frequently tested and was occasionally up to the task. Cornelius registered a lot of defensive actions but he also lost Bradley Wright-Phillips on both of his goals and was made to look rather foolish on goal #6.

Cristian Gutierrez: 3.0

On the one had 3 tackles and 3 interceptions. On the other hand had a healthy portion of the blame for goals #1, #4, and #6. Brian Rodriguez made him look like a generic henchman that gets beaten up by the hero of a superhero comic. It’s not like Gutierrez didn’t do good things in the match, he looked good on the ball, he had two key passes, and he did well to intercept stray balls. But those good things were hugely offset by his inability to handle being targeted by an opposition DP.

Janio Bikel: 2.0

Bikel did not do nearly enough to stamp his authority on the game. Despite LAFC completely dominating the game he only made 2 tackles, the same number of times he was dribbled past, and only won 40% of his ground duels. If the Whitecaps are going to be successful they need Bikel to act as a destroyer in midfield and give them a chance to use their surprisingly not that bad attack. He only gave the ball away 7 times but that was largely a function of not being very involved in the play, as he had only 36 touches.

Michael Baldisimo: 4.5

This was probably Baldisimo’s worst game as a Whitecap so far. We have seen his strengths, they are great and many, but this game exposed some of his weaknesses. Although he tries hard his defensive awareness is not the greatest and sometimes his decisions making can be inconsistent. That said his talent was still obvious and he remains one of the few bright spots in the team.

Theo Bair: N/A

Bair was pulled off after 20 minutes to allow for more defensive solidity. In that time he absolutely skinned an LA defender and put in an almost perfect cross for Cavallini who just couldn’t quite make a good connection.

David Milinkovic: 2.5

Primarily a spectator as the ball hardly ever got to him. That said it takes two to tango and perhaps he could have done more to get involved in the play.

Cristian Dájome: 4.5

The thing about being a player who tries lots of dribbles and shoots the second they get a sight of goal no matter the situation is you can do that to about the same level no matter how well or poorly the team is playing. 2 shots (both blocked), 6 attempted dribbles, 3 successful ones. Classic Dájome game.

Lucas Cavallini: 4.5

Subs:

Leonard Owusu: 3.0

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Owusu registered a lot of defensive actions but also lost the majority of his duels and got dribbled past more often than he successfully tackled a player. Managed to get a key pass in there.

Erik Godoy: 7.0

Came on at half time and genuinely played very well. He won all of his duels, he lead the team in tackles, and only lost possession twice. He looked a lot more like his old self being deployed on the right side of a centre back trio than he did being played as a right back.

Andy Rose: 3.5

That was a thing that happened, I suppose. Rose also won all of his duels but he was only actually involved in two of them. He also scored an own goal which, in my humble opinion, is not good.

Patrick Metcalfe: Meh

Successfully completed 9 passes

Fredy Montero: 6.0

Despite playing just over half an hour Montero actually lead the team in shots. He also had a few nifty plays, though nothing particularly game breaking.