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At 6-1-0, they’re sitting atop the entire league — tied with the surprising San Jose Earthquakes — and seeded top of the table because they have the league’s best goal differential (+15) driven by the league’s best offence (19 goals for).
In soccer, you probably know that scoring goals is what matters most. (Actually, stopping goals matters too, but good news: the Whitecaps are also adept at that.)
They’re riding high. Their squad is starting to settle in. It’s set to get stronger too: Ranko Veselinovic will soon be an option at centre back again. Maybe they’ll even be able to add Ryan Gauld in the coming weeks.
Even without those two, their prowess was on display Saturday in a quality 2-0 win over New York City FC. The first goal was scored by Mathias Laborda, the dynamic defender who usually lines up at left back but who was playing centre back because Veselinvoic has been out since last summer and his replacement, Ralph Priso, is out for about two months with a hamstring strain suffered while playing for Canada last month.
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Laborda has been a master at getting loose at set pieces since he joined the Whitecaps in 2023 and scored his second goal of the season.
The Whitecaps’ other goal came from a familiar source: Brian White, the best striker the Whitecaps have ever had. He’d had a series of chances in the game but kept getting denied by NYC’s brilliant goalie Matt Freese, who is making a strong case to be the USA’s No. 1 keeper at this summer’s FIFA World Cup. He made eight saves against the Whitecaps, many of them spectacular.
In the 87th minute, White got his head on to a low cross from winger Bruno Caicedo, sealing the very fine win for the home side.
“We just keep going with trying to score,” White said after the game. “The mentality’s just keep going.”
White now has six goals on the season, putting him third in the league behind the tied league leaders Sam Surridge (Nashville) and Peter Musa (Dallas), with seven goals each.
The home crowd, once again, was given a thrill ride of a game. People want this team to thrive and they’re doing their best to keep shouting that message.
At the other end of the pitch, Yuki Takaoka wasn’t tested much — just two official shots on target for NYC — but he had to be on his toes for both. The Whitecaps’ high-octane offence rightly gets all the headlines but if the Whitecaps are to return to the MLS Cup final, maybe even win this time, it will be about their ability to snuff out opposing offences.
More than once, the visitors piled up the field on a quick break, only for their scoring chance to disappear because of the Whitecaps’ ability to back track and then close down space. More than a handful of New York’s efforts to shoot the ball were simply deflected away because the Whitecaps’ defenders gave their opponents nowhere to go.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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