Hello!

My expectations of every Whitecaps FC performance, regardless of competition, are high. I’d hazard a guess that many of you readers equally have high expectations too. This edition of the ‘Caps is aiming to exceed the performance of last season.

So when you see a couple matches like we did on Wednesday and again on Saturday, you might get a little angry knowing they can play better than than have.

And as Harrison Ford’s character in the Apple TV show Shrinking might say, “Woof!”

The View

As I shared at the end of the last issue, the Whitecaps FC are finding themselves in a stretch of match congestion over the course of these three weeks (the one previous and two upcoming). And add in the requirements to start a minimum number of Canadians in the Canadian Championship matches, and you have yourself a recipe for some solid roster rotation.

Or as some might suggest, roster experimentation.

With the Whitecaps looking to secure their fifth Canadian Championship in a row, we saw Jesper Sørensen dress a fairly strong lineup against CF Montreal on Wednesday night - save for a few adjustments to have Canadians Sam Adekugbe and Isaac Boehmer to join fellow compatriot Jeevan Badwal in the Starting XI.

Arguably a solid lineup designed to get a result.

So consider me surprised how lackadaisical the Whitecaps were to start the match, and with the effort through much of the first half.

Now it should be said not all ‘Caps came out lacking. Édier Ocampo was playing brightly down the right wing and was the start of the few chances the home side had, so it’s a shame that he began to suffer a migraine late in the half only to leave the match entirely at half-time.

But it was this lackadaisical play that led to an ill-presented pass to Oliver Larraz, who followed it up with an ill-placed pass to nowhere, which in turn allowed CF Montreal to chip it over an ill-positioned Isaac Boehmer to take a 1-nil lead.

Woof.

Knowing a result was likely necessary, the Whitecaps made changes going into the second that saw both Andrés Cubas and Thomas Müller enter, and came out like the side we expected them to be all first-half.

Sure it took until 72’ mark for Ryan Gauld to level the match up, but it also took a number of phenomenal saves from the CF Montreal keeper to even get to that point, let alone keep it square through to the final whistle.

Crisis somewhat adverted.

Yet the changes that happened to kick off the second half, as well as the loss of Ocampo due to the continuance of migraines, meant that Jesper likely went with more experimentation than he planned to against St. Louis City on Saturday.

We saw Wednesday starters Gauld and Brian White on the bench at kick-off, and Mihail Gherasimencov slide in for the injured Ocampo in the Starting XI. Yet we also saw newsletter favourite Bruno Caicedo at kickoff, so not all was bad.

So maybe it’s wrong of me to question this “experimentation,” combined with Emmanuel Sabbi looking to atone for booting balls into the suburbs only a few nights earlier, as Vancouver came out flying from kickoff.

When Sabbi notched his goal only a few minutes from opening (and celebrate directly in front of 231 I might add), it was clear the rout was on and all was good in BC Place Saturday night.

Right? Right?!

Actually, wrong.

Though the ‘Caps did continue the early press for a short while after the Sabbi goal, it was clear that St. Louis had figured out a means to get through the mountainous Vancouver backline - Gherasimencov Pass.

While not directly responsible for the first goal against - that honour goes to Tristan Blackmon and Mathías Laborda for allowing former ‘Cap Simon Becher to take a splendid through ball between them - Mihail lost his man on both the second and third St. Louis goals late in the first half which all but took whatever wind was left in Vancouver’s sails.

I don’t know how to suggest it any other way, he looked absolutely lost. And with Jesper sharing this opinion (or maybe not), we saw Mihail depart at half-time for Cheikh Sabaly to help shore things up.

Yes, you read that correctly - Cheikh Sabaly (credit to him though, he did what he needed to do back there).

But the damage was done, and though the Whitecaps FC did get themselves a penalty shout later in the half, it wasn’t meant to be as VAR called down to take it away.

Final score, 3-1. But worse that the scoreline and the loss, was how lacking the Whitecaps were in nearly every aspect of the game. High expectations or not, the side should play considerably better than they did.

Woof.

The Good

• Sam Adekugbe. Considering how those two matches were, I struggled to find anything “good” about them, yet after some consideration I had to give Sam his due. It’s good seeing him back in the Starting XI and a consistent option off the bench.

The Not So Good

• Oliver Larraz. It’s such a shame he setup the CF Montreal goal so well as his recent play had been far superior than the performances we saw from him over the past week.

• Mihail Gherasimencov. He’s young and he will learn. Hopefully from the bench moving forward.

Another week and another two matches, this time both in MLS action. We have LA Galaxy swinging through town on Wednesday night, in a match that I expect we see Vancouver set the tone for what’s to come in light of the performance this weekend. And Austin FC stops by for an afternoon visit on Sunday.

As is the usual case for me, I won’t be able to be in my usual seats for the midweek match, but I look forward to cheering the ‘Caps on to a victory Sunday afternoon. See y’all there!