By Chris Tsakonas
New York City suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place tonight. Mathias Laborda opened the scoring in the 44th minute, with Brian White doubling the lead in the 87th minute.
Vancouver dominates first half
From the opening whistle, Vancouver controlled the run of play and regularly threatened the New York City final third. The Whitecaps had seven shots inside the opening 25 minutes, with the best of those chances coming in the 21st minute when a pair of close-range chances from Brian White were blocked by New York City defenders.
When both teams went back to the locker rooms for halftime, Vancouver outshot New York City by a decisive 14-3 margin.
“In the first half, the turnovers for our quality were way too many, so easy loss of possession,” head coach Pascal Jansen said. “I thought we were a little bit in a rush also the first half, and not accurate enough going into the final third.”
Laborda capitalizes off free kick
After weathering the first-half storm effectively for 44 minutes, New York City conceded a free kick outside the left edge of the penalty area. Sebastian Berhalter delivered a looping cross to the back post. Mathias Laborda came in to meet the cross and beat Freese from a sharp angle to give the Whitecaps the lead.
Pigeons struggle to take flight in final third
Vancouver controlled much of the run of play through the opening 55 minutes, but then New York City began to generate more pressure on the other end.
Despite regularly pushing into the final third during that stretch, it only led to three additional shots as Vancouver largely contained the Pigeons at the end of each buildup. The final blow came in the 87th minute, when Bruno Caicedo whipped in a cross from the left side to set up a second goal from White off a diving header.
“Even though we were able to get a good amount of possession today, we were also sloppy,” Jansen said. “The topic that we were discussing throughout the week – intensity and defensive urgency – is something that was not there for the 100% today.”
New York City’s first shot on goal didn’t come until the 90th minute, when a header from Kai Trewin was saved by Yohei Takaoka.
Next Up
New York City will return to Queens next Saturday night to host Charlotte FC at Citi Field. Live radio commentary will get underway at 7:15 p.m. with Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence at newyorkcityfc.com/radio.
