Two first-half, game-ending injuries; a straight red card for a goalkeeper and a last-gasp effort in stoppage time—this match had it all.
But it was the Houston Dynamo that came out on top, defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps 1-0 at Shell Energy Stadium.
The match was the Whitecaps’ third one in eight days, and it appeared as though that pace caught up to them.
Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sørensen had praise for his team in the first half, but not about the second.
“I was not happy with the second half,” he said. “You can lose a game in many ways, but I’m not focused on the result, but how we did it. And I think that we played extremely stupid in the second half.”
The Whitecaps almost got the jump on Houston within the first few seconds of the match. Sebastian Berhalter’s long switch to Müller was quickly redirected into the path of Ocampo, but the fullback’s shot was just wide of the far post.
But Vancouver kept their possession game flowing, working the ball through the middle and then to the flanks. In particular, the switching play of Thomas Müller and Jeevan Badwal was pleasing. The Surrey local product had one of his better halves with the team, linking play effectively and being creative in moving the ball into dangerous positions.
However, those dangerous creative plays were few and far between as Houston’s low block made that final pass into the 18-yard box difficult for the Whitecaps.
Berhalter thought he had broken the deadlock in the 17th minute with a shot that deflected off Brian. However, White was marginally offside, and the shot was quickly chalked off.
There were scary moments in the 23rd minute in the aftermath of a Whitecaps’ corner. Diadie Samassékou fell hard after challenging Blackmon for the ball in the air.
The Houston midfielder was on the deck for over 10 minutes with a suspected concussion. A stretcher and ambulance were brought onto the pitch to take Samassékou immediately to a local hospital.
The Whitecaps were also forced into a first-half chance as Larraz went down in the 39th minute, holding his left hip. Andrés Cubas, who was getting a rest on the bench, was called into action.
“It broke out rhythm a little bit,” Sørensen said of the two injuries. “We couldn’t really pick up the same rhythm as we started out with.”
The second half brought more surprises for the Whitecaps. Yohei Takaoka was given a straight red card in the 64th minute for bringing down Mateusz Bogusz on what was deemed a clear goalscoring opportunity.
The Japanese goalkeeper was given his walking papers, paving the way for Isaac Boehmer to get his first minutes in MLS in over a year.
Boehmer had a couple of big stops in his half hour, but the team collectively was unable to hold out the relentless pressure of Houston. Guilherme Augusto scored in the 96th minute.
It was pretty much the final play of the match. As the whistle blew for full-time, players hit the pitch.
Sørensen critical of Whitecaps second half
Sørensen said his team played into spaces where Houston was more aggressive in the second half, making it more difficult to build up.
“We got ourselves into a lot of defensive transition moments, and Houston was a better team today.”
The build-up between the two clubs was fairly even in the first half as well. Touches inside the box were close to even. However, that changed after the red card. Houston ended the match with 24 touches inside the box compared to Vancouver’s 13.
The Whitecaps only recorded two in the entire last 45 minutes.
Up next
There is one more match before the World Cup break. Vancouver heads to back to California to play San Diego on May 23.
Kick-off is at 6:30 p.m.
