Hello!

Have you recovered yet?!

I’m pretty sure I experienced every emotion possible over the course of Saturday night watching the match here at home. At times I scared the cat. At times I scared the dog. My wife & daughter laughed at my antics. They consoled me when I was down. And they helped me celebrate the result in the end.

Oh yeah… if you somehow missed it, the Whitecaps FC “slayed the eagle” and beat LAFC.

The View

Going into kickoff, I found myself a little agitated.

I’ve shared before how I’m a long-suffering Vancouver sports fan, and while I’ve watched the teams I support find different levels of success (thank you BC Lions and Vancouver Canadians), my heart has always belonged with the Vancouver Canucks and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

And it’s been a long time since the ‘Caps had a shot at celebrating league glory.

So to have to face LAFC so early - the playoff wall the team has run into the past three attempts - simply had me wonder if the Sports Gods felt the team hadn’t faced enough adversity.

More on that later.

To help get my mind away from over-analyzing a game that had not yet started, I worked on a few things:

• Spun up a From 231 Discord server.

• Dove head-first into the From 231 website.

• Walked the dog.

• Oh, and watched this fabulous episode of COPA90 on the Whitecaps. I encourage you to watch it too!

But eventually it came around to kick-off and the personal tension was in full-force.

And it seemed to be in full-force for the Whitecaps too.

The first few minutes from kick-off were pretty nervy for the home side. They gave the ball away far too easily, repeatedly made poor decisions in distribution, and aside from being tight defensively, found themselves reacting to a counter far too often.

To say I was worried at this point was an understatement. Even more than usual considering we saw a similar issue present itself down in Mexico for the Concacaf Champions Cup Final.

And we know how that ended.

Thankfully the ‘Caps found a way to settle into the match, and from there, the first-half was nearly everything us supporters would want.

We witnessed Ali Ahmed was have his way with LAFC defender Palencia. Ralph Priso, the best CB we never knew we had, showed no quarter to what few opportunities Bouanga or Son thought they had, and fresh-off-the-injured-reserve Tristan Blackmon looked like the MLS Defender of the Year.

Things were looking bright.

Yet it took a phenomenal kick from Yohei Takaoka to set Emmanuel Sabbi free at the 39’ mark to get ‘Caps their first lead.

But that’s all that was needed to get a rocking BC Place stadium going.

The home side kept their foot on the gas and continued to hammer LAFC after that goal and were rewarded for their ferocity when Mathias Laborda notched his first of the match at the 45’+1 mark to set the home fans into an absolute frenzy.

Could it be?!

With Vancouver up 2-nil at half, everyone and their next-door neighbour knew LAFC would respond.

And while I imagine every LAFC supporter and their best friend were upset with the performance (or lack thereof) of Son & Bouanga, it wouldn’t take much for either to find their way in the second.

In what seemed to be a tale of two halves, not only did LAFC come out with an aggressive attack in the second, the Whitecaps chose to be much more tentative in their approach.

We stopped seeing Ali pressure the backline. We stopped seeing smart distribution and instead, poor decision with the Whitecaps constantly force the ball into spaces they had no business considering.

Vancouver was off their game.

While Son Heung-min had found his.

It was probably not smart of us to think the Whitecaps could lock Son down the entirety of the match considering his pedigree.

But we did, and he punished us for it.

His goal at the 60’ mark was one where he and Andrew Moran found themselves behind the Whitecaps FC defenders, and despite a great first save from Yohei to keep it out, Son simply found a way to put it in.

2-1. No need to panic.

The thing is, LAFC smelled opportunity.

They continued to pressure, harass, and terrorize Tristan Blackmon and the rest of the Whitecaps FC defenders. And although this opened the field up considerably as they went all-in, Vancouver failed to take advantage of their opportunities.

Including one from Blackmon, although credit should be given to Lloris who made a great save to keep it a one-goal game.

But the thing is, Tristan collided with the post in that opportunity and went down with what appeared to be a sure knock.

Having already shown signs of tiring, I assumed Jesper would make the prudent decision and sub-in the likes of Tate Johnston or Belal Halbouni to shore things back up.

Heck… he could’ve subbed both in that point if he wanted to.

But Jesper didn’t, and got punished for it in stoppage time.

Sitting on a yellow from an earlier cynical foul, Blackmon found himself beat by Bouanga at the 90’+5 and chose to step into him in an effort to slow him down. Bouanga in turn went down like he took an arrow to the knee and leaving the referee in a tough position, Blackmon found himself the recipient of a harsh second caution.

Vancouver down to 10-men.

Oh… and before we forget, an opportunity for a dangerous set-piece from Son.

Who scored.

2-2.

Oh my world. We’re going to extra time and the Whitecaps FC are down a player.

Dire times.

So dire that I hardly recall much happening in the first-half of extra time. Aside from Vancouver simply kicking the ball well up the field only for LAFC to continually bring it back and take attempt after attempt at the Whitecaps FC net.

Yet times were not actually that dire all things considered.

Vancouver had 10 men.

Until Belal Halbouni, who came in after Blackmon was sent off, went down with an injury. In a position where Vancouver had no subs left.

Vancouver now had 9 men.

Dire times indeed.

I still don’t know how Vancouver made it much beyond that point.

And I still don’t know how LAFC bundled every… single… opportunity… including… three… in… a… row… late…

Maybe the Soccer Gods decided the Whitecaps FC worthy, having faced every test of adversity they could throw at them.

When the whistle blew at the end of extra time, I celebrated like the ‘Caps had won it. No lies.

And when Son hit the post on the first shot of kicks, I celebrated again.

So I was completely ecstatic when LAFC missed another after Delgado kicked a fabulous field goal in close, but atrocious penalty attempt.

Ain’t no way Vancouver would miss two at this point.

The first three attempts from Vancouver were class. Berhalter, Nelson, and Gauld put their shots into the twine.

So maybe I had a little unease when Ocampo put his ball into the arm of Lloris.

But Laborda? He knew the assignment. He knew the job needed to get done.

And he did it.

Whitecaps FC win.

Let the party get started!!

The Good

• Mathias Laborda. He absolutely stepped up in the moment and had himself a match and a half. I honestly do not recall a moment where he made a poor decision, which on its own would be sufficient to receive plaudits, but he also got the first and last goals.

• The right post. The left post. The crossbar. They all deserve raises. All three of them. How much they ever want to get paid.

The Not So Good

• Inconsistent officiating. When the referee elected not to show LAFC’s Timothy Tillman a caution for violently pulling Cubas’ jersey back in the first half, he set the tone the match was to be wide open. Yet somewhere through the first half he changed his mind and began to lock things down, including showing a caution to Müller for a far less egregious infraction. This then led to players on both sides constantly looking for fouls, and by extension cards, and eventually led to referee Rubiel Vazquez’s late decision on Blackmon to be the focal point of a wild match.

I’m still coming to terms that the Whitecaps FC still have to beat San Diego, and whomever comes out of the East between NYCFC and Inter Miami.

That match felt like a bloody final.

And I exhausted most of my energy thinking it was.

San Diego has had an absolute top-notch season, and will be a tough opponent to face, especially on the road.

I feel the ‘Caps match up well and presuming they can roll on to the next guy up on defense (is it Tate in and Laborda over or does Pupe get the start?), they might just have a chance.

Andiamo.

Will you be going to the official watch party at BC Place this weekend? Tickets go on sale tomorrow at $10/pop and from the early access given to season ticket holders, look to be going fast.

Or might you be headed down to San Diego to watch the match live?

Either way I’d love to hear from you and what your plans are!