VANCOUVER, BC – Vancouver Whitecaps FC (4W-1L-0D) extended their winning streak to four matches and moved into the top spot in Major League Soccer on Saturday night with a convincing 2-0 win over LA Galaxy (1W-2L-2D).
Here are three things that stood out to me.
COMPLETE PERFORMANCE
From start to finish, the 'Caps were in complete control of this match. It was easily their most comprehensive performance this season. Considering the opponent, the defending MLS Cup champions, you could even make an argument that this was their best showing since joining the league in 2011.
Teams don’t dominate LA like Vancouver did on Saturday night. It just doesn’t happen. Consider this: the Galaxy only created five chances in Saturday’s loss, according to Opta. That’s not only their lowest total this season – it would have tied their lowest total in all of last season as well. They barely had a sniff at goal.
Sure, the Galaxy weren’t up to their usual standards, but let’s give credit where credit is due. The 'Caps were thoroughly deserving of the victory. As has been the case pretty much all year, they were strong in both boxes. The difference on Saturday was their dominance in midfield.
Case in point: they completed a total of 389 passes. Coming into the game, their highest total of the season was 294 (on opening night against Toronto FC). Their passing accuracy was also a season-best 80.71 per cent.
The number that stands out to me the most, though, is their 37 interceptions. That’s easily their highest total this season (19 was the previous high) and also their highest total since joining MLS. That tells me that whenever they lost the ball, they did a great job of winning it back.
All these stats are just a fancy way of saying Vancouver did a much better job of keeping possession, which was clearly a big focus after seeing less than 40 per cent of the ball in last weekend’s win over Portland.
MAN OF THE MATCH?
It sure wouldn’t have been easy picking the man of the match for this one.
Nicolas Mezquida got the nod in stadium, TSN gave it to Pedro Morales, and Russell Teibert took the honours on the TSN 1410 post-match show. You can make strong cases for all three, as I will below.
Mezquida: Was influential in Vancouver’s attack. Created a game-high three chances and played a big part in setting up Octavio Rivero’s goal (see below).
Morales: Easily his best performance of the season. Had a game-high 83 touches (compared to just 59 last week). Also picked up another assist – and another beauty with his off foot. I can't tell for certain, but it sure looks like he megged Omar Gonzalez with that pass (see below). He now has game-winning assists in three straight games.
Teibert: Probably would have got my vote. I spoke earlier about Vancouver’s improved midfield play and Teibert played a massive part in that – on and off the ball. He completed a team-high 55 of 60 passes for a sparkling 92 per cent completion rate and marked Robbie Keane out of the game. The young Canadian also had a career-high seven interceptions. In fact, one of his interceptions actually led to Kekuta Manneh's goal, as you can see above.
And how about an honourable mention for Kendall Waston?
The big man, as they call him, was an absolute rock in the middle. He had a game-high nine interceptions, the second highest total by any MLS player this season, and 11 clearances. He also won each of the 11 duels he was involved in – a duel is defined as a 50-50 contest between two players. Check out one of his interceptions below. He makes plays like this look easy.
Who was your man of the match? Let us know in the comment section below.
SCOOTER’S CELEBRATION
I’ll admit it; I’m a sucker for celebrations.
We were treated to a Robert Earnshaw front flip last weekend and we got another good celebration on Saturday.
After Manneh scored his first goal of the season, he stuffed the ball under his shirt and ran over to dad-to-be Jordan Harvey, who announced via social media earlier in the day that his wife is pregnant.
We hear a lot about how close this team is and that’s a pretty good example.
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