Real Salt Lake vs Whitecaps Post Match Reaction: Whitecaps fall in a controversial affair

Standings

After this defeat to fellow playoff battlers in Real Salt Lake the Whitecaps were surpassed in the standings both with Real Salt Lake and Portland who has gotten a win tonight against Colorado, so with the loss and the wins of Real Salt Lake and Portland the Whitecaps fall all the way down into 7th place barely edging the line of not making a automatic playoff position which is a bit terrifying as when you fall below that line then anything can happen and you may never recover after a major setback, as the Caps just have to held their nerves before it gets from bad to worst, as 1 week ago against TFC at one point the Whitecaps were in 2nd place but here 1 week later after 2 defeats to 2 strong teams, they sit all the way back in 7th. Which points out two things, first of all of how close the Western Conference brawl is, second of all instead of looking at the negativity of potentially dropping down into the wildcard match and having to fight to stay up their in a safer spot but the possibilities are endless as in around 1 week, don't be shocked to see the Caps up there in the standings again as only 4 points separates them and 2nd place with a game in hand which will be used in the weekday match against Colorado, so a tough 6 pointer defeat here but still have some possibilities to look forward to.

Who was the better team

Even though the Whitecaps suffered a difficult defeat to swallow, you still have to wonder did the Caps deserve 3 points or at least one? Because some people can argue that Vancouver was the superior team here against RSL. But I think it will still be valuable and assess the performance that the Whitecaps put in on a Saturday night. So the two teams were pretty even matches to be fair, but in terms of big chances I'll say Vancouver had more as both of Salt Lakes goals were a bit fortunate to say the least but is also 2 goals that's very avoidable for the Whitecaps as both goals came from set pieces, first one a direct free kick and the other one a cross in after a failed clearance after a short corner, so those were two goals that will need to be not scored if the Whitecaps want to make the playoffs. Other than that, the Caps still had multiple chances to equalize especially when it's around the home stretch of the match like the 80th-100th minute those were the moments where it felt like Vancouver Whitecaps should've easily drawn level, so it's slightly evenly matched and unlucky for the Whitecaps but here at this point of the season where every point is crucial you will have to win these games where you have had multiple chances to win, so does say the referee was certainly a bit stingy with his calls as it was questionable to say the least. So a unlucky match as I believe the Whitecaps deserved 1 point or even 3 if I was extremely generous but I think a draw would've been a fair result and that would've been critical but unfortunately the Whitecaps got slightly unlucky with the set pieces defending, and some weird referee decisions where I'll catch on later.

Stat of the match

The statistic that really intrigued me in this tight playoff matchup was the stat of shots on target, as even though Vancouver had more big chances at least in my opinion, the shots on target was a ratio of 10:2 in favour of Real Salt Lake. Which is really interesting as that means that Yohei Takaoka stopped 8 shots which didn't really feel like it, as I think that direct free kick goal he let in ginormous mistake as he was the only one that may be at fault for that goal, where some supporters forgot he got 8 saves. While on the other end, 2 on goal for Vancouver is wild as they did get outshot 15-9, but the shots inside the box were 7 for the Whitecaps, so only 2 out of 7 shots inside the box that was inside the frame, which may be some poor finishing for the Caps as there were some chances like the Becher one I don't know if you remember but that was one I thought he had to get that on target to test the keeper. But the 2 on target is not horrible, is way below average but sometimes you can survive with that, to be fair 10 shots on goal is massive, so the defenders have to cover up for Takaoka a bit better, but he also has to not get stunned easily, as he has been caught sleeping a lot of times this season it feel like. But I believe those 10 shots wasn't like huge chances there were none that was like Takaoka saved the day kind of thing, he did make some sustainable but still fantastic stops as he made some simple ones made a great diving catch off my memory, covering that near post well and that's the 2 that I can remember from the top of my head and maybe Takaoka is getting slightly fatigued and having 10 shots on his net isn't helping much, so the Caps need to cover up more shooting space as both long distance efforts where I feel like the Whitecaps have gave up a lot that led to dangerous opportunities or set pieces. So key stat of the game is the shots on goal.

Game Recap

The first chance of the game was basically a corner by Gauld, and White was let space in the box, he gets up he heads it, the header takes a bounce on the ground and it gets past MacMath and Vancouver strikes first.

Then afterwards, really nothing major happened no big chances and the first half ends and the Whitecaps still have the lead.

In the 47th minute, RSL gets a free kick from a good distance like around 35-38 yards if I had to give a rough estimate, but most people were expecting a cross but Vera saw Takaoka a bit outwards and leaving a bit of space on Takaoka's left and he strikes it to the bottom right corner and catches Takaoka out of position and buries a unexpected goal.

Now after a short corner by RSL, which goes back out to outside the box, as Gomez dribbles past Gauld, crosses it in and Glad runs to the spot and scores the header as he outjump the Caps defenders and finishes it off.

Long ball by RSL, headerwon by Brown but Laryea gives it away a through ball by Luna sends Arango through on a tight angle and he shoots but Takaoka does his job at the near post.

Long throw in by Blackmon, reaches Veselinovic, I don't know if it was on purpose but it bounces to Gauld on a half volley around the penalty spot that goes wide.

A really short free kick for Vancouver, wide and just outside the box, Gauld swings it in, it reaches Whites head again, it was going to the bottom left corner but a wonderful stop by Zac MacMath but it may have already rolled in so they go to a VAR check and after further review there was no further evidence it crossed the line, there was also a controversial potential foul inside the box as well, I'll take a deeper dive to that later.

A giveaway by Richie Laryea and the ball, Hidalgo receives and he makes a run forward inside the 18 on a wide angle and he shoots it near post but it didn't fool Takaoka.

A cross by Ali Ahmed and White couldn't win the header but Hoilett is right there and he heads it high for Becher who volleys it with power at around the penalty spot area but it goes just wide.

Crossed in by Junior Hoilett, the header was deflected by a RSL player and Gauld tries a volley that was blocked by Vera but the Vancouver players and Vanni Sartini is livid they thought it was a handball, the referee has a major decision to make and he didn't change his decision and didn't give the penalty to potentially draw the game.

Full time and RSL win 3 points n a controversial outing.

Controversial decisions

The game for the referee of this match Malik Badawi was having a pretty smooth experience, until the later stages of the game but for most of the match he didn't give many questionable decisions maybe just a bit of calls where it was called slightly incorrect, some in Vancouver' favour and some in Real Salt Lake' favour but it wasn't deliberately obvious that he was giving advantage to one team, as he was being pretty fair out there for the most part. Now he faces his first tough decision of the match as Brian White heads the ball that could've potentially went past the line midair before MacMath saved it, but after a further VAR review the referee did not give the goal to the Whitecaps as there is no goal line technology in the MLS yet, so they'll have to figure it out by using different views to give different opinions and I think a reason they didn't call that a goal is that is as simple as there is no extreme evidence that absolutely convinces us that is a goal, other than that no goal decision by Malik Badawi, there was a potential penalty inside the box as it looks like MacMath and a RSL defender possibly tripped Tristan Blackmon, but they didn't focus on that as the referees were too focused on the decision of the goal and didn't really look at the other things that could've possibly happened, for me I believe that the Apple TV camera angle gave me not much to no information at all, and with the lack of Goal Line Technology you will have to broadcast the viewers on a better angle, and I believe that it barely didn't cross the line but it was still obviously super close and the trip on Blackmon I believe that was a penalty, as the goalkeeper for Real Salt Lake stretched his legs out that made Blackmon unaware, also a potential shove or a bit of a off balance falling by a RSL player so there was two chances to give the Whitecaps either a goal or a penalty but nothing was called by this referee. Here is a link that gets you the angle on the goal and the potential foul.

.https://twitter.com/hashtag/VWFC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Then the one that I despise the most, the handball call as I genuinely believed that, that would be pretty easily be called a handball but after a false alarm by the referee Malik Bawadi they had one last check on VAR as the Caps players and management was screaming at him to at least go check it, they took a look to me it does very deliberately hit Veras arm and that should be a penalty.

I believe that the Whitecaps could've got 3 points if the referee has made his decisions a bit better, and hopefully this does not affect the Whitecaps and their playoff chances or we'll all look back on this game and potentially the ref.