After winning their last three games across all competitions, the Vancouver Whitecaps were brought crashing back down to earth with a 4-0 thrashing at the Seattle Sounders on Tuesday.
Goals from Nico Lodeiro, Raul Ruidiaz (2), and Alex Roldan sealed a dominant victory for Seattle, who controlled 56% possession and generated 2.72 xG to the Whitecaps’ 0.74.
Vancouver were also outdone by their Cascadia rivals in the duel department, with Seattle enjoying 59% success on the ground and 57% in the air.
It’s in this area that Whitecaps playmaker Ryan Gauld thought the game was won and lost, accusing his side of not ‘wanting it’ enough on the night.
“The frustrating thing is it looked like they wanted it more than us. That can’t be allowed to happen,” a visibly frustrated Gauld told reporters after the match.
“We didn’t really have any response for really breaking them down or stopping them playing. So there’s not an awful lot I can say. We’re just we’re all frustrated, and we’re all p***ed off.
“And when you come to a place like this, to lose a penalty in the first couple of minutes and chase the game, we’re just making things tough on ourselves. It’s just one of those nights that you want to forget. We were second best all over the pitch, and against good players like Seattle have got, they’re gonna punish us. It’s the kind of performance we can’t repeat.”
Gauld’s view was echoed by his head coach, Vanni Sartini, who criticized his team’s slow start and used the game to remind the Whitecaps that they won’t enjoy much success in MLS if they continue to put in such sub-par performances.
“It was 100% not our game (tonight),” Sartini said. “Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong and it’s our fault mainly. … For me, it’s our fault because the way that we started the game (was) not intense enough, not locked in enough to do what you’re supposed to do.
“I think it’s a good reminder that if you’re not performing at the top of our skills, we’re gonna lose against every team.”
While the manner of Vancouver’s defeat on Tuesday was a shock, the result shouldn’t be.
This was the Whitecaps’ seventh defeat from eight road games so far in the 2022 MLS season, with their three away points only propped up by San Jose Earthquakes, Sporting Kansas City (both 2), and Colorado Rapids (1) in the Western Conference.
Home advantage is notoriously important in Major League Soccer but if you’re to be competitive, challenge for the Supporters’ Shield, or simply make the Playoffs, you have to find ways to take points on the road.
Sartini has called for his entire outfit – coaching staff included – to take a strong look at themselves in order to fix Vancouver’s away problems.
“We need to look at ourselves — not only the players but also the coaching staff in the way that we prepare, the choices that we made — because it can’t happen again,” said Sartini. “We need to do points away. We just won in Kansas City and then we lost every game away, while at home we have a very good record.
“So if we want to make those the effort that we are doing at home worth it, we need to start and get points away. And in order to get points away, we need to be more intense. We need to be on top of our game. And today, we didn’t.”
