Report Card: Draw in California

The Whitecaps went down to California after losing away in Honduras and resting their main players. Did it pay off? A draw wasn’t terrible but there needs to be more asked of the players. How did everyone fare though? Check out below:

Yohei Takaoka: 6.5

He’s performed some stunning saves, but at the same time, one has to worry about the two times the ball went into his net that were called off. The goal he conceded was all down to him and you can’t help but believe that it’s due to his size at least in some part. Hopefully this can be ironed out as the season goes on.

Ryan Raposo: 6.0

A quiet game for the Whitecaps’ 2020 draft pick, Raposo continues to make the left flank his own, as right-sided midfielder is making natural left back Luis Martins feel like an afterthought. His technical ability allows him to dribble past opponents with ease, but not much of that was seen today. He probably should have done more to prevent the cross that allowed the goal for LA.

Ranko Veselinovic: 6.0

Another decent, yet unremarkable performance from the Serbian. The defensive record of this team is very strange, they are very good up until the moment where they are not.

AD

Tristan Blackmon: 7.0

Broke the scoreline for the Whitecaps and put on a decent defensive display. It is concerning that there were two times that the ball went into the back of the net for the Galaxy only to be disallowed.

AD

Javain Brown: 6.0

Brown has been decent this season, but he’s far from the centreback/right back hybrid the Whitecaps were hoping to get out of the draft those many years back. The arrival of Laborda should ultimately push him aside, and overall, this looks like about what we can expect from Javain when he plays.

Andres Cubas: 7.0

An average today, Cubas did his job as necessary but wasn’t called to action too often. Especially near the end of the game, there was no action in the midfield as the LA Galaxy tore through the Whitecaps defense and Cubas had to be on cleanup duty to take care of things. Cubas found himself in more attacking positions today and did provide some threat, but that also could be why the midfield felt a little thin at points. Either way, it’s refreshing to know that an average day for the Paraguayan is a good performance overall.

Julian Gressel: 7.0

AD

Gresselmania took over California as the recently committed American stunned with a free kick that led to Blackmon’s header. Gressel added more to the attack and showed how much of a threat he could be with his passing and dribbling. Having him as designated free kick taker could pay dividends as the season goes on.

Ryan Gauld: 7.0

In a traditional good Gauld performance, he cut through defense with his passing and pushed the play as much as he could. It’s a shame that there weren’t better options on the end of his chances, especially in the first half.

Cristian Dajome: 6.0

Dajome has been notably improved from last season. Presumably, this has to do with him finally playing in an attacking role. The positives in his play do make for a better attacker than defender and today he showed just that. Overall though, for Dajo to be at his best, Sartini would need to find a formation that makes the most of the Colombian, and this formation clearly doesn’t do that.

Brian White: 6.5

It looks like all White needed was confidence. Nothing really changed in his style of play, but after scoring in the CCL, you can see a fire in the American’s play which I think is encouraging. Unfortunately though, the extra 5% he needs to take him to the next level is still missing at times. Hopefully, he can stay on this upward trajectory and we can see him hit 10-12 goals this season.

Sergio Cordova: 5.5

Cavallini may have had his fair share of frustrations and violent tendencies but at the very least he put the ball in the back of the net to justify his DP tag. Cordova on the other hand is a DP on a trajectory to be less impactful than the polarizing Canadian was even on his worst days. It’s unfortunate that he’s picked up an injury before contributing to the Whitecaps as now there will be even more pressure to perform once he returns. His size makes him look clumsy on the ball and his control does not help the issue. I am not impressed with this signing so far.

AD

Agree with these ratings? Sound off in the comments below.