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Vancouver Whitecaps: Late goals, tactical balance and a late playoff push

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The Vancouver Whitecaps faced the San Jose Earthquakes for the second consecutive Saturday, and just like the first, they walked away with three points. This time, Vancouver took a two-goal lead and, despite a late San Jose push, hung on for three vital points in the Caps’ late playoff push. 

Whitecaps again concede late at home

Despite dominating the game for 90 minutes, the match became a nailbiter in extra time after Earthquake striker Valeri Qazaishvili pulled one back in the 91st minute. What followed were five nervous minutes of injury time, in which the Earthquakes had chances to equalize. 

It was the third home game in a row the Whitecaps gave away a late goal.

Two weeks ago against the New York Red Bulls, Michael Murillo scored in the 84th minute. And on Aug. 8, in the first leg of the Canadian Championship final, Toronto managed a late equalizer in the 96th minute through a Doneil Henry own-goal. 

“Am I upset about the late goal scored against us? No, I am not,” Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson said when asked about the conceded goal. “Let us focus on the positives, and the positives are that we collected three points today.”

Whitecaps need balance between attack and defence 

“More important than the points, I thought, was the performance. I thought they played excellent. We played with a smile on our faces. Lots of good football up until the 91st minute,” Robinson said after the match. “We were a bit lazy about our decision-making in the final third. We let them off the hook a bit too often.”

Alphonso Davies and Yordy Reyna, in particular, dominated the midfield for the Whitecaps. Both transitioned the ball quickly through the middle of the park on countless occasions. 

Davies not only scored his sixth of the season, but he also became the first player to complete 150 dribbles in MLS this season. Having played in 23 matches for the Vancouver Whitecaps this year, that is an average of 6.5 completed dribbles per match.

Reyna, in the meantime, was also excellent. The Peruvian completed 43 passes (89.6 percent pass completion rate) and assisted both goals. 

“We got a terrific young player in Yordy Reyna. I think he is playing with an elegance at the moment, a smile, a little bit of attitude. Sometimes he bangs a ball and gets booked, but I don’t want to take the devil out of him because otherwise, we won’t get performances like this,” Robinson said. 

Davies and Reyna are perhaps the most creative attacking combination in the league at the moment. Vancouver’s creative talent has been responsible for the seventh-most goals in the Western Conference. At the same time, the Whitecaps have the third worst defense in the West.

Playoff push continues 

In other words, the Whitecaps need to find a balance between attack and defense to make a push for the playoffs. 

Undefeated in six games in Major League Soccer, the Whitecaps now have a 32 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to projections by FiveThirtyEight.

Prior to the doubleheader against the Earthquakes, the Whitecaps chances of making the playoffs had dropped to just 23 percent.

Heading into the international break, the Whitecaps are seventh in the Western Conference, one point behind Cascadia rivals Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers. 

The Whitecaps will face Seattle next at home at BC Place on Saturday, Sept. 15. Another home game follows that match on Sept. 23 against FC Dallas.

Those two games will be decisive for the Caps in their hunt for a playoff spot.