Friday night’s banger of a game between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Houston Dynamo will not soon be forgotten. It showcased both the Dynamo’s red-hot attackers and their incompetent defenders as well as Vancouver’s own problematic shape and comical inability to finish chances. It was nutty late night soccer.
Some thoughts on what transpired:
— Vancouver knew going in that without Juan David Cabezas in the lineup, Houston are not threatening with the ball at their feet deep in midfield. Eric Alexander and Darwin Ceren don’t stretch teams or control tempo in possession, so the Whitecaps’ two midfielders in their 4-4-2 sat off the ball and tried to coax low-percentage long balls to the wings.