After what seemed like a season turning win last week, the Whitecaps returned to their regular form losing to D.C. United 4-0. The match turned in the last minute of the opening half and the first five minutes of the second half when two goals were scored and ended the Caps chances at picking up a second straight win. The Whitecaps gave up two goals to Pontius and singles to Najar and King with the all four all goals being attributed to backline and goalie error.
The control of the match went back and forth with DC United pushing play for the first fifteen minutes, the Caps taking over for the next fifteen and the balance going back to the home side for the next ten. With about five minutes left in the first half, the Whitecaps came close to scoring on a Camilo free kick as well as the scramble afterwards but they were denied by the third string goalkeeper. Then in injury time, D.C. United opened the scoring as Chris Pontius opened the scoring as he converted a cross from the player of the week Dwayne De Rosario.
Three minutes into the second half the Whitecaps fell behind two as Jay Nolly gave up a weak goal between his legs from a sharp angle. The Whitecaps had a couple of chances to pull within one as Thorrington missed the net in the box and Hassli was stopped by the DC goalkeeper. Another defensive breakdown by the Whitecaps led to another Pontius goal, when a shot deflected off a block to the winger and he made no mistake. Salt was poured onto Vancouver’s wound with less than ten minutes to go as Brovsky was turned inside out by King and his shot was poorly mishandled by Nolly.
The Vancouver Whitecaps seem to follow up each victory this season with a poor performance on the road and the loss to DC was by far the worst of those. The backline was a shambles in this game and Jay Nolly made a number of mistakes instead of bailing out the defenders. What also compounded the backline issues were the number of players playing out of position as only Boxall played in his normal position by the end of the match. During the match, midfielders Thorrington and Brovsky each saw time playing at the fullback position once DeMerit was taken out of the match.
After a number of solid games the midfielders as a group regressed against DCU especially Vagenas and Salinas who barely did anything with the ball and when they got touches, failed to make the right decision. There was very little service for the strikers, Hassli and Camilo, up front making it difficult to score and get back in the game. They will have a week to prepare before they face their expansion cousins, the Portland Timbers, for a chance to win the Cascadia Cup.
(image courtesy of Getty Images)
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