The Vancouver Whitecaps looked to maintain their lead at the top of the Western Conference.
Standing in their way was St. Louis City SC, and they were red hot. St. Louis was in sixth place heading into the game and was on a 13-game unbeaten streak. They had eight wins and five draws in that span. St. Louis City’s last loss was on May 3, a 2-0 away loss to Austin.
For Vancouver, it was the start of three matches in nine days, all at BC Place. After that came a trip to Montreal for the second leg of their Canadian Championship semi-final on September 16. The first leg ended 1-1. It was crunch time for Vancouver.
The Whitecaps remained one of the highest-scoring teams in MLS heading into the game (48 goals, third highest in MLS), and they also conceded just 18, the second least in MLS. The blue and white wanted to put on another offensive display in front of their fans.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. Whitecaps fans went home disappointed as their team was outclassed by St. Louis City. The visitors’ unbeaten streak continues.
First half: Great start! The rest… uh…not good!
It took two minutes to open the scoring. Emmanuel Sabbi took advantage of a really bad St. Louis giveaway. For whatever reason, Daniel Edelman decided to pass the ball backwards with no one around. Actually, Sabbi was there, and he made him pay by blasting the low shot past Roman Burki. The Whitecaps were off to the races.
They were energized. Cubas was everywhere as he always was. He gave away the ball, and then he won it back. Jeevan Badwal was doing well with and without the ball. Sabbi even had a glorious chance for the brace in the eighth minute. He received the pass from Thomas Müller and nearly beat Burki, but the ball just went wide of the left post. It was like millimetres away from going in.
The Whitecaps were winning the battles in the midfield at this point. However, St. Louis also came close to tying the game. The ball found its way to former Whitecap Simon Becher, and he was in alone on Yohei Takaoka. The Japanese goalkeeper managed to make a phenomenal reaction save with his left leg.
Becher got his goal just minutes later. He slipped in behind Tristan Blackmon and Mathias Laborda to receive Alexandru Matan’s pass and buried it past Takaoka. It had to be him.
It was clear the Whitecaps were missing the pace, overlapping runs and crossing of Edier Ocampo. Mikhail Gherasimencov was playing in the right-back position. But that was not his natural position.
Some of the passes were not great either. Vancouver was playing erratically and allowing St. Louis to thrive in the chaos.
St. Louis was also doing a good job of breaking up the Whitecaps press and going on the transition. That’s how they got their second goal. Gherasimencov was also caught ball watching as Tomas Totland beat Takaoka. It was uncharacteristic of Vancouver to look so deflated after taking an early lead. Usually, they keep the foot on the gas. Not this time. Perhaps this was the result of a rotated lineup.
Things got worse for the home side. Once again, they were giving St. Louis City too much space, and they added a third. Totland charged into the box and cut the ball back to Conrad Wallen, who was on an island. He took the opportunity and scored.
The Whitecaps looked like a deflating balloon as the first half went on: They slowly looked worse and worse. Now it was up to them to get more air in for the second half.
Second half: Whitecaps can’t find a goal
Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sørensen rolled the dice at halftime. Gherasimencov, Badwal and Rayan Elloumi were off. Cheikh Sabaly, Oliver Larraz and Brian White were on. It looked like Vancouver switched to a back three with Blackmon, Laborda and Tate Johnson as the defenders. Sabaly looked like he was higher up the pitch.
Sabaly and Sabbi were among the Whitecaps attackers attacking the box. There was a shout for a penalty around the 54th minute when the St. Louis defender on the ground looked like he clipped Sabaly. Although it did look like Sabaly just fell into him.
Sørensen was also quick to bring on Ryan Gauld. The Scotsman replaced Sabbi in the 59th minute. Gauld brought some new energy on the right side as he was charging into the box and winning corner kicks.
But the crosses were not finding their targets. St. Louis was also doing a great job of blocking shots. Their backline and especially their midfield were tough to break down. The passes in the final third were also wasteful, and they weren’t taking the opportunities to shoot.
Vancouver was given a lifeline in the 75th minute. Sabaly’s cross was aimed at White, and it looked like there was a handball on the St. Louis player. The St. Louis players protested, and the referee was called to monitor. The verdict? No penalty. The referee did not see a handball. (Frankly, it was tough for us to see in the press box. It did look like White was grabbed, though.)
Bruno Caicedo wasn’t having the best game. His passes and decision-making were wasteful. It was also a less-than-stellar game from Müller. He was losing the ball in the final third and was quiet in the build-up. Not to mention, there were a couple of times when he should’ve shot instead of passing.
The team as a whole were really outplayed. They looked disjointed and sloppy since Sabbi’s early goal. Easily the worst game of the season for the Whitecaps and a number of the players.
One thing worth mentioning is that Yadaly Diaby made his Whitecaps debut off the bench and played eight minutes. He didn’t look out of place, and hopefully there are good things to come with him.
Stat of the match
For the first time this season and in the Sørensen era, the Whitecaps lost a game when they scored first. Before Saturday’s game, they had 29 wins, four draws and zero losses in MLS (including playoffs) when they scored first since Sørensen took over before the 2025 season. All good things must come to an end.
What was said.
They (St. Louis) tactically played a very good game,” said Sørensen after the game. “We had some structural problems, and we didn’t make the necessary adjustments until halftime, and that’s also on me. I think they were very good at playing through us…It was a game where we had structural problems…But I can’t complain about the effort. We didn’t have the quality when we had the ball.”
He also spoke more about why the team lost the early momentum after Sabbi’s goal.
“We had some good opportunities,” he said. “We played very fast and forced the play a little bit too much at one point. I think there was too much back and forth and it became too open for us.”
Sørensen also talked about the tough schedule and the impact it had on the game.
“We have a tough schedule, and it is what it is,” he said. “We have a strong squad and a couple of new players who have not really been in the mix yet. It’s tough to win the games, but it’s nice when you win, and you know you have another game coming up (quickly). But we are a strong side.”
Unfortunately, none of the players were willing to speak with the media after the game.
Tweet of the match
Maybe that explains the Whitecaps loss on Saturday! The Whitecaps got the Canucks bad aura! But in all seriousness, the ‘Caps have only themselves to blame. But it was funny that the reception to the Canucks on the jumbotron wasn’t super enthusiastic and that there were a few boos.
Wrap-up
What makes this loss sting even more is that they got help on the out-of-town scoreboard. Second-place Houston Dynamo and third-place LAFC both got draws. Even Supporters Shield winners Nashville SC drew. This was a missed opportunity for Vancouver to increase the lead on top of the Western Conference and close the gap a little on Nashville in the Supporters Shield race. Luckily, the ‘Caps remain on top of the Western Conference.
The Whitecaps will look to turn a page on this appalling game as the LA Galaxy come to town on Wednesday. Kickoff for that game is at 7:30 pm. Vancouver needs to prove that Saturday night was an anomaly and not the start of a downward spiral.
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