Report Card: Well That Was a F****** Disaster

Alright, let’s get this over with so I can get on with my life.

Cody Cropper: 4.0

As I noted in my article about the Whitecaps’ goalkeeping situation, this was a classic Cropper performance. There was a brilliant save followed by an incredibly soft goal against.

Javain Brown: 5.0

I do not think any of the goals against were primarily his fault. But he also did not necessarily distinguish himself.

Ranko Veselinovic: 5.0

One of the goals WAS primarily his fault but he also was a bit more active defensively so I think that evens out to about the same grade as Brown

Jake Nerwinski: 3.0

Nerwinski is often grouped in with Teibert as an example of the players who bafflingly continue to start for the Whitecaps. To an extent, this is unfair because Nerwisnki is a much better centre-back than Teibert is a midfielder. But, my god, that was a terrible error on the first goal, and the rest of the match was not much better.

Julian Gressel: 3.0

He was one whiffed shot away from opening his account as a Whitecap but he was quite ineffective overall.

Andres Cubas: 8.0

He made about 5 million tackles, as he always does, but it was not enough to keep LA at bay.

Russell Teibert: 4.0

3 interceptions, is that anything?

Ryan Raposo: 6.5

You know, I thought he was not that bad. He brought a bit of energy and created a couple of chances. There were things to like about his performance.

Pedro Vite: 4.5

I am giving him an extra 0.5 because I feel like his lack of effectiveness was not entirely his fault. He is not a guy who is going to thrive if he doesn’t get the ball in the final 3rd and the Whitecaps spent very little time there.

Ryan Gauld: 8.0

He scored a goal and a third of the Whitecaps’ shots in this match were directly generated by him so he did his bit.

Easton Ongaro: 4.5

Like Vite, I do not think his lack of effectiveness was entirely his fault. But, he also didn’t exactly look like he was one good pass away from scoring either. Hopefully, he gets another shot in more favourable circumstances but at this point, I’m still a bit skeptical he can be anything more than a reserve player in MLS.

Subs:

Cristian “Eric Hassli” Dájome created a goal, looked dangerous, and very stupidly got sent off. I don’t really know how to grade that. Triston Blackmon did not give away a penalty or forget how to kick a ball so he was an improvement on most of the centre-backs who started the game. Tosaint Ricketts is really thriving in the Robert Earnshaw role as the old striker who comes off the bench when the team needs a goal. Alessandro Shöpf made his debut and looked like a guy who hadn’t done much training recently.