WFC2 fall to Sacramento, shutout of playoffs

After a full month on the road, Whitecaps FC2 finally returned home to Thunderbird Stadium where they dropped a hard fought, 2-1 decision to Sacramento Republic FC. The loss seals Vancouver’s playoff fate as the team had been on the brink of being mathematically eliminated for several weeks.

“Getting near to the end of the season where we knew it was getting really tough, going to be really, really hard, almost impossible for us to get in, it was more so just playing for pride,” said midfielder Jordan Haynes. “We’ve got to come out and show up for the fans at least … we don’t want to just keep losing every game.”

Coming off of a bye week and playing a team still in the thick of the playoff chase, the ‘Caps appeared a step behind the visitors for the majority of the first half. Despite barely seeing the ball for the first 20 minutes, WFC2 nearly grabbed the lead just before the half hour mark.

Captain Tyler Rosenlund nicked the ball from the Sacramento midfield before finding a streaking Marco Bustos just inside the box. Luckily for the Republic, keeper Dominik Jakubek was alert to the danger and came flying out to deny Bustos. Four minutes later Sacramento took the lead through Justin Braun. The visitors’ captain was able to corral a loose ball in the Vancouver box by deftly turning ‘Caps defender Jordan Farmer before sliding the ball under the onrushing Paolo Tornaghi in the Whitecaps’ net.

Vancouver would equalize in the 66th minute as the recently substituted Victor Blasco threaded a perfect through ball to Bustos who had made his run in behind the defence. From there, the ‘Caps most dangerous player calmly rounded the hard charging Jakubek before depositing his seventh goal of the year, which ties him for the team lead.

The game didn’t remain tied for long, however, as Sacramento hit right back five minutes later, with their captain dealing the damage again. After Blasco got caught trying to play his way out of danger at the back, Braun latched onto a low cross at the front post, directed his second of the game past a helpless Tornaghi. WFC2 threw everything forward for the last 20 minutes but were unable to seriously threaten Jakubek’s goal.

“I don’t think we were very, very good in the first half, I think maybe a little intimidated, maybe gave them a little too much respect," said head coach Alan Koch follow the match. “I think in the second half we played more of our game, we possessed the ball, we went at them. I would have liked to get something from the game … if we had played like we did in the second half, maybe that would have been the case.”

While the ‘Caps will be disappointed to come away without any points in front of the home crowd, the performance of 17 year old Thomas Gardner was a big positive. Recently signed from the Whitecaps academy, the central midfielder made his professional debut in the 78th minute as he replaced Rosenlund. The North Vancouver native never looked out of place, showing good poise under pressure and an ability distribute the ball quickly.

“Obviously when you throw a young player on you almost hope for the best,” Koch said of the Gardner’s debut. “Knowing he’s a good player we knew he’d play relatively well, I’ll have to look at the tape but I don’t think he coughed up possession much…. We’re very, very pleased with his first professional game and hopefully he can build on that.

WFC2 play their next game on Sunday September 13 at 3pm as they welcome the Orange County Blues to Thunderbird Stadium.

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