The biggest surprise about the Vancouver Whitecaps' 1-0 win at Orlando City on Saturday evening wasn't the scoreline. Yes, this is the league's longest road-trip, and yes, this is Vancouver's second straight road game, and yes, they've historically struggled away from BC Place. All those things are true.
But OCSC, even with their roots, are still an expansion team, and good MLS teams should be expected to beat an expansion team. The 'Caps made hard work of it, but they did eventually get their result, and I refuse to be shocked by that.
No, the big surprise was that this one ended with 22 players on the field. This was as brutal and reckless as any MLS game I've seen in a long time, going back to the bad old days of 2011, and it was highlighted by this monstrosity of a tackle:
We'll see what the disciplinary committee says later this week. But if I played fantasy, I'd be ready to drop Kekuta Manneh from my squad for a round or two.
Here are a few other takeaways from a muggy evening in Florida:
1. Flattening out
Vancouver went on the road to Chicago last week and got a 1-0 win that couldn't have been more different from this one. That game was characterized by up-and-down play, the two teams content to go at each other in the open field and look for goals at the cost of defensive solidity and shape. Only some spectacular goalkeeping (and some iffy finishing) prevented it from being 4-3.
The 'Caps were particularly vulnerable trying to track runners between the lines, with Chicago's attacking midfielders – well, really only one of them – causing more danger than either their lone forward or either of the wingers.
If flashbulbs are going off in your mind, it's because you've realized "Hey, that Kaká guy plays as an attacking midfielder. Shouldn't the 'Caps have had trouble with him?"
Yes. If they'd played like the did against Chicago, they surely would have. But in this one, they parked the bus:
Only one player in white was regularly pushed into the attacking half. This was a smash-and-grab with the primary idea being that Gershon Koffie and Matias Laba would stay deep and connected to the central defense, eliminating Kaká's ability to combine and create in the final third.
Obviously, since Vancouver are contentedly flying across the continent with three points in tow, it worked. Neither Koffie nor Laba was great, but neither really made a mistake, and the two guys behind them – Kendall Waston and Diego Rodriguez – were similarly mistake free.
This was basically the intro seminar for "How to get a Road Point: 101."
2. The big trade-off
Every yin has its yang, and in this case pulling Koffie and Laba deep ended up pulling Pedro Morales deep as well. These are the things you have to sacrifice when you're on the road and Kaká is lurking, doing stuff like this:
Sometimes it's just a good idea to have numbers back. You can still be dangerous playing like that if you're good in transition, as Vancouver generally are.
They weren't on this day, however, with the exception of one "How did he do that?" first-half through-ball from Morales to eventual hero Octavio Rivero. Manneh – who actually came into the game leading the league in chances created, and could have had three assists already this season – was particularly guilty of spraying his passes, in the process creating a graveyard for promising Vancouver counters.
As a result, in the game's first 85 minutes Morales had just three touches in the attacking third. It wasn't until late, when Orlando City went chasing a game-winner they probably felt they'd earned, that the game got open enough for the 'Caps to send their playmaker forward.
3. Why can't Orlando City score?
This is the sum total of Orlando City's attack so far in 2015:
There are a couple of things going on here. One is that right winger Kevin Molino's been all over the place, and it's not clear who's supposed to add width on that side of the field. Sometimes it's overlapping fullback Rafael Ramos, but A) his final ball has been lacking, to put it gently and B) he and left fullback Brek Shea are still trying to work out their balance on who goes, who stays.
Another is that both of the deeper-lying central midfielders – Amobi Okugo and Darwin Ceren, who've both been largely excellent defensively – are hesitant to get forward. There are times when you need that third-man run into the box, or even just another set of feet to play to in possession.
But the big one is that through three games, OCSC's center forwards have combined for exactly one shot on goal. In 270 minutes they've only taken three shots from inside the 18, and haven't hit the target with any of them.
To put that into perspective: Rivero had two today alone, despite being on the road and in a bunker.
OCSC have used four guys (Carlos Rivas, Bryan Rochez, Pedro Ribeiro, Cyle Larin) at that spot so far. One of them has to step up in the weeks to come. If not the Lions will see more bunkers, and while Kaká will create the occasional magic, actual goals will remain few and far between.
