Houston vs Whitecaps Post Match Reaction: Vancouver Whitecaps lose 6 pointer to the Houston Dynamo

Initial thoughts

The initial thoughts to this matchup in Houston at Shell Energy Stadium are two things, first of all we got heavily unlucky here, but on the other hand conceding 4 goals that could've been easily avoidable is pretty embarrassing as some of the times I feel like the Dynamo was toying with the Caps defenders. To concede 4 goals on a 1 expected goals for Houston is detrimental, as it shows that the Whitecaps can be possibly get extremely unlucky with the chances as in no world did the Whitecaps deserve to concede 4 goals in that game, it was just the Dynamo got some fortunate bounces and clinical finishing with a combination of some appalling defending by Vancouver on one of the goals.

Other than that, this is a huge not 3 points dropped but 6 points dropped, as in this Western Conference brawl that is so tight and no room for comfort as heading into the game, Vancouver was in 4th and Houston was in 5th it basically just reversed it self after the disappointing match for Whitecaps fans, but like it is ginormous that the Dynamo not only got their 3 points that would be pivotal to get home field advantage or just to get into the playoffs, they also take 3 points off their Western Conference enemies right now in this playoff brawl in Vancouver, so it is difficult and sad that the Whitecaps couldn't capitalize on this opportunity to get a good advantage in terms of the points over the Dynamo in the standings as well as keep on pushing on this road trip. So a pretty big 6 pointer is dropped for the Whitecaps and now they have to focus on another 6 pointer on the weekend this time against 6th place RSL who is only 1 point away from Vancouver.

Road trip

Speaking of the road trip, it's finally coming close to the end as even though there's still two more games of this road journey, it feels like that it is super close till the end and they just have to show some resilience as they're only around one week away from returning back to their beloved BC Place after a month, but this has certainly not been a bad road trip for the Caps it was just this performance that kinda brings down this road trip in my view, as a almost heartbreaking result here in a unique fashion against a team that's similar to you is certainly a difficult pill to swallow. But it has still been a great road trip nonetheless the Caps just have to finish on a solid note and it will be considered a great road journey as playing 7 games away from home is extremely difficult and unpredictable but they have done a splendid job up until this matchup against a harder team, so it is crucial to put yourself in a position for success after this upcoming two matches and that might either be the turning point or the breaking point for the Whitecaps if they can just see out this road journey with some decent results.

Stat of the game

Well the obvious stat would be expected goals, as scoring 4 goals on 1 expected goals is a bit crazy and insane, but other than that stat that I always go to which is the expected goals category, but other than that I believe there's another stat that stands out for me which is the statistic of shots and shots on target, as tonight the Whitecaps outshot Houston in shots and it is uncommon to see the team that's winning in terms of getting outshot by the opposition, let alone get battered along the way. As this is a rare occurrence in this one, as it is common in soccer that the counter attacking team win a game as the opposition who had more shots couldn't capitalize but here the Caps got absolutely destroyed to pieces in a 4-1 defeat. Even though the difference between the shots is only 3 towards the Whitecaps favour, but that's still quite a bit as every shot should be a good opportunity to score so it is a bit uncommon for the team that is outshooting the opposition to lose in humiliating fashion as a 4-1 defeat.

Game Recap

A free kick drawn right outside the box for Houston after a questionable foul call on Javain Brown and Hector Herrera is the taker for Houston and it deflects off Brian White's head and goes in the ack of the net.

Between the first and second goals, the best chances between the both sides was probably the long range efforts by Ahmed and Pedro Vite both had to make Steve Clark work.

Then right before the halftime whistle, Houston were on the attack Dorsey was down the right flank, he was defended by Blackmon as Dorsey kept on dribbling into the box, Blackmon kept on leaving room and as soon as Dorsey sniffs a opportunity he finesses it and scores.

Gauld in the 52nd minute has a great shooting opportunity but it goes a few inches wide just barely inside the box.

There is a controversial call of a challenge by a Dynamo player not being a red card, the referee decides to not look at VAR and some Vancouver supporters and the Vancouver Whitecaps admin certainly didn't agree with the decision, and this was when it was 2-0 so that could've shifted the energy for the Whitecaps to get back into this game.

Here is Houston down the left, a left footed ball by Smith and it is diving headered in by Ivan Franco and it made it 3-0, against the run of play as well.

Now here is Smith down wide and he tries to cut it back in deflected by Brown the ball is around the penalty spot a sliding challenge by Berhalter no call but Aliyu puts it in anyways, and it is right here where it was like this is a humiliating loss.

Before the realms of stoppage time, a ball put in by Hoilett is blocked falls to Becher in a difficult spot, passes it back to Hoilett he crosses that in to Brown on the left side of the 6 yard box who cuts it back and successfully forced a own goal by Sviatchenko who earns a consolation for the Whitecaps and it spoils the clean sheet of Clark.

Man Of The Match

Well this game is a different occurrence I'd say as usually there's too many good candidates that makes it difficult to choose Man Of The Match for the Whitecaps, but here this is the complete opposite as nobody scored, conceded 4 goals the only one that went past Steve Clark was an own goal by a Dynamo player. So in a pretty uncommon situation here with no goal scorers and not many decent performances by the Whitecaps the player that was the best in the pitch in my opinion Ali Ahmed. As the young Canadian has shown his ability despite the tough 4-1 defeat that his team took, as all around he was a good playmaker for today good at forcing contact and getting the foul calls, in fact he got the most fouled player in this match with 7 fouls being called in Ahmed's favour, other than that he got a great passing accuracy rate in 93%, 26/28 of his passes were completed which is very good for a central midfielder. Ali Ahmed was also impressive as he took a long distant effort, which needed Clark to stop it as it was a rapid driving shot towards the net, another nominee may have been Junior Hoilett but I thought when he came in it could've helped the Whitecaps get some calm and bring some experience and leadership to this match where the Whitecaps were struggling but unfortunately I didn't see much of that, which might be expecting too much as he is only making his debut, but I think that's something that Hoilett can do using his leadership to compose this Whitecaps team. So Ali Ahmed is my Man Of The Match, in this absurd situation for the Whitecaps.