VANCOUVER — Three days after the triumph of winning the Canadian Championship, managing emotions may have been a bigger challenge for the Vancouver Whitecaps than managing fatigue.
“The players did much better than me, I was exhausted already before the game,” said coach Vanni Sartini after his Whitecaps (5-5-7) played Cincinnati FC (12-1-4) to a 1-1 draw on Saturday night at B.C. Place.
“The fact that we were on an emotional roller-coaster, Wednesday will probably be one of the best times of the year for sure. But the players did very well. We have a very mature and good group.”
For forward Brian White, the fact that Saturday’s opponent was the top team in MLS provided a little extra motivation.
“For us, it was good to have it against the number 1 team in the league because that brings out the competitive fire,” he said. “I think we had a point to prove and I think it was a good result for us, but I think we could have come away with three points.”
The Whitecaps revisited their script from last week when they drew with Sporting Kansas City on a penalty from Ryan Gauld in the 88th minute. This time, they snapped Cincinnati’s six-game winning streak with an 89th-minute tally from Gauld, who had come on just 16 minutes earlier, with a shot to the bottom right corner of the goal.
Cincinnati's Luciano Acosta was the only other player to ripple the twine, firing a sharp-angled left-footed shot into the far upper corner of the goal in the 84th minute.
The Whitecaps started strong — maybe too strong, according to Sartini.
“We started too aggressive, in my opinion,” he said. “The first 20 minutes, with our midfielders trying to press every ball. They scared us with two long balls but, when we settled down, it was perfect.”
Just past the 10-minute mark, the Whitecaps drew a roar from their fans when Luis Martins fed a long ball through to Brian White, who deked two defenders as he lobbed the ball past 'keeper Roman Celentano, but couldn’t catch up for an empty-net tap-in in time.
The Orange and Blue quickly answered back, but Whitecaps stopper Yohei Takaoka got a piece of a close-range shot from Brandon Vazquez, then spun on his back to grab the ball off his goal line.
The Whitecaps’ only shot on goal in the first half came in the 23rd minute, when Ryan Raposo threaded a through ball to Sergio Cordova, whose right-footed attempt was foiled by Celentano.
The home side also failed to convert on an excellent opportunity as the clock wound down to halftime, when Cordova’s shot attempt went just to the right of the goal after an exquisite multiplayer passing sequence.
Early in the second half, Cincinnati’s best chance came off the left foot of Dominique Badji, who fired on target from outside the box in the 51st minute but was denied by Takaoka.
Cincinnati defender Ian Murphy received the first yellow card of the match, in the 29th minute. Vancouver’s Raposo was also shown a yellow card in the 60th minute, Cincinnati’s Yersan Masquera was cautioned in the 77th minute and Pedro Vite was also shown a yellow during stoppage time.
Substitutions for both sides began in the 66th minute, after Murphy was treated on the field for an injury and subsequently left the game.
Sunday’s match was the first-ever visit to Vancouver for Cincinnati, which joined MLS as an expansion team in 2019. The visitors are still looking for their first win against Vancouver. In the clubs’ two previous meetings at TQL Stadium, the Whitecaps earned a 2-1 win in the inaugural season and a 2-2 draw in 2022.
As the Whitecaps hit the halfway point of their season, they sit sixth in the Western Conference standings.
“I think for us, we want to host a playoff game,” said White. “I think it’s a good goal for us to have and something we can accomplish.”
Sartini said he’s had mixed emotions about the run of play through the first half.
“We have 22 points. I think we deserve 27,” Sartini said. “My opinion has been up and down, but how many teams in MLS can say they already won a trophy this year? No one, only us.”
GAME NOTES
Earlier this week, the Whitecaps won their second-straight Canadian Championship with a 2-1 win over CF Montreal on Wednesday. Ali Ahmed, who received the best young Canadian award, missed his fourth MLS match due to a concussion suffered on May 25. Midfielder Alessandro Schopf was also unavailable due to groin tightness.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2023.
Carol Schram, The Canadian Press
