With the ‘Caps playoff hopes hanging by a thread with eight games to go, WFC2 put on one of their worst displays of the season in a 4-0 home loss to the Tulsa Roughnecks.
WFC2 started the night only one point out of the last playoff spot, but having played more games than anyone else in the conference and with a four game road trip looming, the front end of a home set with Tulsa had the feel of a must-win game for the ‘Caps. After a promising early start, WFC2 looked discombobulated following Ben McKendry’s removal due to a knee injury around the half hour mark, eventually conceding four second half goals, matching their worst loss of the year.
“The second 45 minutes was the worst 45 minutes we’ve had all season,” said head coach Alan Koch. “That was embarrassing; it was us as boys playing against men.”
The veteran visitors from Tulsa came to town with a plan to defend first and counter attack when given the chance, and their plan worked to perfection. The ‘Caps dominated possession for most of the game; they failed to put serious pressure on the Roughnecks' goal. Central midfielder Ben McKendry went down in the 26th minute while lunging for a ball near midfield and immediately signalled for assistance. His removal, due to what Koch is calling a minor knee injury, brought on striker Caleb Clarke and forced Marco Bustos to drop into a more defensive midfield role than he is used to.
WFC2’s second half undoing began almost immediately following the break. Diego Rodriguez stumbled, forcing Paolo Tornaghi to make a wonderful save on a Roughnecks’ breakaway three minutes into the half. Three minutes after that, the ‘Caps defence got caught napping as Steven Miller tracked down a cross that seemed destined to go out of play. Miller found Sammy Ochoa alone in the box and the striker ripped home the first of the night. Only five minutes after that, things got even worse for the home team as Miller separated from Will Seymore to head in a cross in the 56th minute. Miller would add another in the 86th before substitute Kyrian Kidd added the finishing touches on an embarrassing performance for the Whitecaps in the 88th minute.
“They did a good job of sitting back and closing down the space, they made it difficult for us but I think we all know we are a lot better than we showed tonight and unfortunately that wasn’t a very good performance,” said Koch following the match.
The loss means that Vancouver is now ninth in the west, two points back of Tulsa for the sixth and final playoff spot. The outlook is more grim on further examination however as Orange County and Portland both find themselves between WFC2 and the last playoff spot and both have at least two games in hand on the young ‘Caps.
“We knew with eight games left we needed to get on a roll, and especially at home we’ve been very good but tonight wasn’t good enough,” said captain Tyler Rosenlund. “But we can’t sulk, we’ve got to make sure we come out next week and get a win and hopefully get on a roll.”
Making life even tougher for Vancouver is the fact that they play their next four on the road, where the team has only one win all year. The road trip starts next Friday in Tulsa where a win is even more crucial following the latest loss.
“Obviously after tonight’s performance we need to change some things to be successful against them next week,” Koch said of next week’s rematch in Tulsa. “We’ll make those adjustments and hopefully put in a better performance and see if we can get a result on the road.”
For Rosenlund, the scenario for WFC2 to threaten for a playoff spot is fairly clear to the veteran.
“Realistically with seven games left we probably need to win at least six so we need to treat every game as a playoff game.”