Vancouver v Los Angeles (0-4) - Second Half Adjustment Propels Four LA Goals

Vancouver’s Strategy

     Still trying to figure out how to best use his new signing, Tom Soehn made a formation adjustment from the San Jose match. Peter Vagenas was left on the bench and Davide Chiumiento started in the center. The switch resulted in a diamond 4-4-2 look, with Chiumiento in front of the holding midfielder Koffie.

LA’s Strategy

     Without David Beckham, Bruce Arena made slight tweaks to the Galaxy approach but maintained his preferred 4-4-2. Sean Franklin played on the right side of midfield and AJ DeLaGarz moved to right back. Juninho and Michael Stephens paired in midfield and Mike Magee and Juan Pablo Angel were the two strikers.

Vancouver Can’t Finish First Half Chances

     Through the home crowd’s enthusiasm, Vancouver was able to start the match off brightly. Hassli and Jarju looked lively and were interchanging well. Hassli prefers to come deeper and work the channels to find space. He did a good job finding Jarju on crosses and also does well to half turn and fire off an unexpected shot. Also, Chiumiento was influential sitting behind the two strikers. He was given a free role and found space between LA’s midfield and defense. Koffie was not over stretched because Salinas and Camilo took turns tucking into midfield to support him.

     After all the good football the Caps played, they were unable to test Josh Saunders. Jarju shot high a few times and the Whitecaps were incapable at finding the final ball to set up a clear chance. The Galaxy would have been thrilled to go into the intermission level. Their passing was sloppy and predictable. Passes wide to the left in search of Donovan were the only strategy they had to create chances. However, Donovan could not find players with his crosses.

Arena’s Adjustment

     Looking in danger of dropping two or three points, Bruce Arena adjusted his tactics at halftime. Donovan was moved up as a second forward to Angel. Magee dropped into the left side of midfield to help defensively. Suring up the midfield stifled the Caps second half attack as they enjoyed much less of the ball than they did in the first half. Also, Dunivant was urged to attack and got higher up the pitch trying to exploit left side which was Vancouver’s soft spot.

     This all paid off in the 61^st minute. A mere two minutes earlier, Salinas had picked off a Magee pass and made a solo run but was unlucky in hitting the inside of the crossbar. This consistent inability to finish was finally punished when Juninho sent a high through ball towards the left channel. Boxall slipped on the turf and Donovan was free on goal. His first touch was good and he sent a sweet left footed shot with the outside of his boot past Joe Cannon.

     The floodgates were officially opened in the 74^th minute when Jordan Harvey inexplicably stuck out his right arm to deflect a long ball away from Franklin. The position of Franklin was not dangerous and the play by Harvey was unnecessary. Donovan buried the penalty for LA’s second and the life was sucked out of the stadium.

     Six minutes later, LA had a third when Donovan picked up a long ball from Dunivant down the left hand side. Soehn had taken off Leathers and no right back was on the pitch. Donovan squared the ball to the back post and Franklin was able to get his foot in ahead of Harvey. It is worth noting that Franklin made an incredible sixty yard run to find that position and was rewarded for his determination. The fourth goal came in the 90^th minute and was an embarrassing one for the home side to concede. Adam Cristman floated a header over the head of Joe Cannon, after Rochat and Harvey declined to contest the substitute striker in the air. The humiliating fourth simply highlights the needs for Vancouver to bolster their defense in the offseason.

Conclusions

     Vancouver can take some positives out of the match. Hassli and Jarju seem to linking up much better than they were a week ago. With Chiumiento and Camilo in midfield, the Whitecaps can create chances, but desperately need to capitalize on them to gain confidence. Give the attackers some tme to gel and I think they will score goals.

     Meanwhile, the Caps are a defensive mess. New arrival Jordan Harvey conceded a penalty and allowed Franklin to beat him to the back post for the third goal. However, the right side was far worse. Leathers could not contain Donovan and Boxall did not support his fullback. The Galaxy focused on attacking this flank with Donovan, Magee and Dunivant.

     For LA, they got the three points they were looking for. It was a solid road performance but one where you would have expected more from them in the first half. The back four were okay, but DeLaGarza did not look as comfortable playing on the right side. Gonzalez was welcomed back in and played well. The Galaxy conceded possession around their penalty area, but did not allow many shots on Saunders’ goal.

     Los Angeles’ problems were in two areas. The partnership of Juninho and Michael Stephens in midfield struggled defensively. In the first half, the Galaxy were stretched in the middle when Chiumiento and Hassli dropped into midfield. Arena did fix this problem by dropping Magee to the left, who helped tuck inside to do more of the dirty work that Donovan did not do. Also, Gonzalez and Dunivant were keener on stepping up to try and dispossess players further from goal.

     Secondly, LA has an anemic strike force at the moment. Sounding redundant from earlier articles, Juan Pablo Angel and the rest of the forwards are not getting the job done. Angel made little impact and was hardly involved in the match. Putting Donovan up top, with Angel, could be the solution to ignite the strikers. Donovan would do the running into the channels while Angel could stay more central to hold up the ball and receive passes from Donovan in space around the box. We will just have to wait and see how Arena approaches this minor dilemma.

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