Heat, sun and the Vancouver Whitecaps slumping.
It must be summer.
Tonight made it back-to-back frustrating MLS performances as the Whitecaps were handily defeated by the Colorado Rapids 3-0 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Aside from last season, when the Whitecaps had a great July, the first full month of summer has been a difficult one in recent history.
Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sørensen said they have struggled in recent weeks with players out either through injury or international call-up.
“It is what it is,” he said of having several players unavailable the past month. “We have also struggled a little bit with having the energy and with what made us a good team.”
The Rapids started early with two goals in the first half that also included a penalty save by Yohei Takaoka. The home side added another in the second half.
It was a score line that flattered the Whitecaps as the Rapids could have easily doubled the three goals they finished.
“I think we lack that discipline and that toughness right now, and we have to fight back to it. Maybe we got a little bit overconfident in the period here.”
While both clubs needed a win for different reasons, it was only the Rapids who looked cohesive and prepared from the opening whistle.
The Rapids kept stretching the Whitecaps wide, forcing gaps between fullbacks and centre-backs.
The home side thought they had the lead in the 11th minute. Calvin Harris laid a ball across the 6-yard box. Takaoka punched it away, but it hit Mathías Laborda and headed towards the net.
It would have counted if not for Laborda’s work rate in getting back and clearing it off the line.
The relief was short-lived. Only a minute later, Harris had a clear shot on goal as Tate Johnson tried to get across and mark Djordje Mihailovic. The pass was missed, and Harris easily put the ball past Takaoka for the first goal of the match.
Colorado added a second in the 30th minute. Mihailovic found Rafael Navarro streaking into the 6-yard box and hit him with a hard low cross. Navarro redirected the pass, getting a foot ahead of Bjørn Inge Utvik, and pushing it past Takaoka.
To add to the Whitecaps’ misery, Colorado was awarded a penalty in stoppage time of the first half. Replays showed the foul, a poor tackle by Sebastian Berhalter, to be outside the 18-yard box. But VAR chose not to intervene.
Navarro stood tall for the shot, but Takaoka stood taller, guessing the correct direction and emphatically pushing the ball away.
It was a lone silver lining in the half for the visitors.
“I think we struggled a lot in the first half. I think that we were on the back foot, that we looked slow and indecisive. We were a little undisciplined. Our positioning was not that good, and we had difficulties defensively,” Sørensen said.
The second half brought more of the same. Andreas Maxsø scored off a headed corner in the 59th minute.
Maxsø’s header hit off the ground and bounced off Takaoka and over, one that the Whitecaps’ keeper would like to have back.
Defensive issues are creeping in for the Whitecaps
Heading into this match, the Whitecaps had the second-best defence in the league and a goalkeeper with a record nine clean sheets in 21 matches.
But in the last five matches, they have let in 13 goals. Three of those games had three or more goals against.
“I think we play a little disconnected right now,” Sørensen said. “I think that…they are playing around us and also through us in a way they didn’t do in the beginning of the season.”
Sørensen said that relationships between defenders must be “cleaned up” and called for players to support one another when one gets beaten.
Up next
There is no rest for the Whitecaps. They face the Houston Dynamo in the midweek match on Wednesday, July 16.
Kickoff is at 5:30 p.m.
