The Whitecaps are stumbling down the stretch, their offence running cold at the worst possible time.
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The Vancouver Whitecaps are in the drivers’ seat.
Too bad the car is outta gas, it’s missing six cylinders and hasn’t run well for nearly a month.
Hearken back to early September, and the Whitecaps were just three points out of third place in the West, with a game in hand, and the idea of home-field advantage in the first round was a happy daydream.
But after Saturday, that dream seems more like a feverish hallucination after a 1-0 loss to Minnesota United FC at B.C. Place.
The thing about games in hand is you have to win for them to have any meaning. Instead, the Whitecaps frittered away the advantage with a five-game losing streak, scoring just four goals over that span.
The Major League Soccer playoffs are just around the corner, a mere two weeks and change away, and Vancouver is assured of a spot in the post-season, their first back-to-back appearances since 2014-15.
But instead of a few extra days of rest and hosting a first-round match, the likelihood of being stuck in the wild-card play-in is a growing possibility.
Minnesota (14-12-7) leapfrogged Vancouver (13-11-8) with Saturday’s result, dropping Vancouver into eighth place, putting the Caps in wild-card territory. Portland, who play Sunday, are currently in ninth. The eighth-place finisher would host that game.
Vancouver has two games remaining: a rescheduled date with LAFC at B.C. Place on Sunday, Oct. 13, and away to Real Salt Lake on Decision Day, Saturday, Oct. 19.
Making Vancouver’s road even bumpier: they’re losing six players to international duty this week, all of whom will miss the crucial LAFC game.
Ryan Gauld (Scotland), Pedro Vite (Ecuador), Andrés Cubas (Paraguay), Fafà Picault (Haiti) and the Canadian duo of Ali Ahmed and Sam Adekugbe have national team commitments this coming week.
“No one else does it,” Gauld said earlier this week when asked about the late-season call-up.
“I don’t see why this league is the only one that does it. I guess we’re in a position where we just have to do what we’re told, play games when they’re scheduled.”
In the schedule-maker’s defence, the LAFC match — original planned for Aug. 24 — was moved after the Black and Gold made the Leagues Cup semifinal round.
The more concerning issue is how Vancouver has been playing over the past three weeks. They have just four goals and two points in their five-game slide. Given the importance of Saturday’s game, the Caps started their best 11, including Gauld, Cubas and their third Designated Player, Stuart Armstrong. Vancouver couldn’t even manage a shot, a corner kick or win a single aerial battle in the first half, despite having 60 per cent possession.
They went down 1-0 24 minutes into the game after Hassani Dotson converted a penalty kick. The call was a controversial one, with Mathias Laborda’s back leg adjudged by referee Ramy Touchan to have taken down Minnesota’s Carlos Harvey just inside the box. VAR Jorge Gonzalez didn’t see any video evidence to overturn the call after a lengthy check, and the call stood.
Ten minutes later, Vancouver tied the game when Adekugbe’s shot from the left side deflected off Miguel Tapias and past Dayne St. Clair. But Gonzalez signalled Touchan to check the replay, having spotted a marginal foul by Gauld on Minny’s Sang Bin Jeong in the lead-up to the goal.
The possession bulge led in the second 45 minutes, and while the Caps pressed for the tying goal, they only managed two on target and a half-hearted penalty shout on a corner kick headed down onto the torso of Kelvin Yeboah.
The Loons finished the game with a (16-4, 8-2 on target) advantage in shots, and if it wasn’t for Yohei Takaoka stoning Loïc Mesanvi on a breakaway and Joseph Rosales hitting a post, the game would have been well out of hand. Minnesota leads the West in both away wins (8) and away goals (28).
Vancouver’s home performances have been erratic, with the worst record (6-6-4) out of current playoff teams.
AROUND THE HORN
MINNESOTA
Minnesota has one game left — at home to St. Louis on Decision Day. The Loons host a Loo team with the third-worst record in the West, just one away win, and nothing to play for, having been long eliminated from playoff contention.
PORTLAND
The Timbers are in a bit of a slump, with a 1-0 home loss to Austin pushing their winless streak to three. They play Dallas at home on Sunday, and close out the season two weeks later with a Cascadia Cup match against the Seattle Sounders. The Toros have been eliminated from playoffs, and the Sounders will be keen to hang on to their top-four spot in the West. Whichever team wins that game wins the Cascadia Cup.
REAL SALT LAKE
Real is the team the Caps have the best real chance of catching for a spot in the top 4, but the cobalt and claret had a date with the San Jose Earthquakes — the worst team in MLS — on Friday night. A win in both of their final two games would set a new club record for points (59), as they wrap up the season at home against Vancouver on Decision Day.