In what would turn out to be their worst loss of the season, FC Dallas was shut out by the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place by a score of 5-0 on Saturday night. The Burn rotated a good chunk of their lineup for this game, and it showed in the first half.
Lineups and Tactics
With several new faces in the starting XI, Dallas lined up in a 3-5-2 formation, with Jonathan Sirois in goal for his 6th start of the season. Ran Binyamin played as the team’s 10, behind Logan Farrington and Sam Sarver, who started as dual strikers for the away side.
The backline saw a number of changes as Sebastien Ibeagha replaced Osaze Urhoghide at CB, and Lalas Abubakar (RCB) replaced Herman Johansson, which allowed Shaq Moore to slide out wide to RWB. Joshua Torquato was inserted for Bernard Kamungo at LWB for his 1st start of the season.
Christian Cappis (CM) was reintroduced to the starting lineup after starting previous games on the bench, in place of Kaick. Most notably absent from the starting XI was Petar Musa, who currently leads MLS with 16 goals.
Vancouver sported a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Yohei Takaoka earning his 19th start of the season in goal. Brian White started at ST, with former Bayern Munich player Thomas Müller behind him at CAM, for his 13th start of the season.
The backline consisted of Tate Johnson (LB), Ralph Priso-Mbongue (CB), Tristan Blackmon (CB), and Édier Ocampo (RB). Midfielders Andrés Cubas and Oliver Larraz both started at CM, for the 16th and 8th time this season, respectively.
Emmanuel Sabbi started at LW, while Scottish winger Ryan Gauld started at RW. Most notably absent from the starting XI was Sebastian Berhalter, who departed for EFL Championship side Middlesbrough after the World Cup.
The Game
Sabbi opened up the scoring after Vancouver’s corner was deflected out. In the 11th minute, the American winger brought the ball down with his right foot and threaded the needle through a handful of Dallas defenders to find the bottom right corner.
“We never really regained ourselves after the first goal, and that was disappointing,” Head Coach Eric Quill said. “We usually have a resilient group that can bounce back after giving up a goal, but we didn’t have that tonight, and it got worse and worse.”
The Whitecaps doubled their lead roughly 10 minutes later. In the 23rd minute, Blackmon played a ball over top to Ocampo, who chested it past Norris. Ocampo then crossed it towards White, who beat his defender to the ball and tapped it in for the 2-0 lead.
Vancouver’s onslaught continued as White scored his second of the night in the 37th minute. Another cross was deflected away by a Dallas player, and White happened to be in the right spot as he volleyed home the 3-0 goal.
In the 6th minute of stoppage time for the first half, Vancouver found their 4th goal of the night. Cubas crossed a ball toward Ocampo, who headed it over Sirois from an awkward angle. A rough half for Dallas’ fresh set of legs.
“In the second half we brought out four subs, and we started to play a bit,” Quill said. “The game was gone 4-0 at half time, but we were trying to chip away at the scoreline. We tried to find a way back into the game via small pieces. I thought we were okay in certain spells, but it was a night that got away from us.”
The second half would pick up right where it left off after Vancouver scored in the 68th minute. After a cross was played toward Bruno Caicedo, the Ecuadorian winger headed it toward Müller, who played it back to him off the give-and-go. Bruno slotted it home shortly after for the final goal of the night.
Realistically, it’s hard to find any bright spots in a 5-0 loss. However, it’s worth noting that Sebastien Ibeagha had the most defensive contributions for either team tonight. Our Man of the Match did his best job of replacing Dallas’ most reliable centerback in Osaze and didn’t play all that badly.
Up next, FC Dallas travels to Energizer Park to take on St. Louis City on Saturday, April 30th at 6:00 pm CT. St. Louis is currently 9-6-6 on the season.