SATURDAY - vs. LA Galaxy (by Darcy Green)
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency squads kicked off their weekend of back-to-backs on Saturday against LA Galaxy Academy at South Surrey Athletic Park.
The U-18s claimed their match with a 3-0 win, while the U-16s suffered a 3-0 defeat.
U-18
Whitecaps FC faced a good challenge against LA Galaxy, but managed to secure a solid 3-0 win.
After a few chances by both sides, Brody Huitema was able to hammer it home and make it 1-0 for Whitecaps FC in the 40th minute.
The second goal came from Titouan Chopin in the 57th minute, as he collected the ball and went around the LA keeper.
Finally, the Blue and White sealed the match on 67 minutes with a third goal scored by Mitch Piraux after a lovely cross from Matthew van der Eyden.
Goalkeeper Marco Carducci kept the clean sheet in net.
Head coach Gordon Forrest was happy with the play of his squad.
“They really worked hard today,” commented Forrest. “Defensively, they were very solid and managed to keep a clean sheet. They were also able to create a few more chances, which is fantastic. Overall, they had a real good performance against another MLS academy squad.”
Whitecaps FC U-18 lineup versus LA Galaxy U-18:
Marco Carducci; Jordan Haynes, Jackson Farmer, Nicholas Prasad, Matthew van der Eyden; Spencer Deboice (70 Marco Bustos), Mitch Piraux, Liam Elbourne, Carlos Marquez; Titouan Chopin, Brody Huitema
U-16
Whitecaps FC came into the match confident, but unfortunately did not come out with a win, as they fell 3-0 to LA Galaxy.
The Blue and White let two goals in on rebounds in the first half and they were unable to bounce back in the first half.
In the second half, the team was reignited and had several chances to come back. However, the team was not able to regain their form from prior weeks and fell to LA Galaxy in a 3-0 loss.
Saturday’s squad featured many younger players due to U-18 call-ups and injuries, but it was seen as a positive by head coach Craig Dalrymple, who felt the younger players on his squad got some great experience.
“At this point, with a very young squad, we’re trying to keep everything focused on performance based objectives as opposed to results”, said Dalrymple. “We played several players who still have a few years at the U-16 level. It’s a very young squad that is getting some great experience and development.”
Whitecaps FC U-16 lineup versus LA Galaxy: U-16
William Diaz; Eric de Graaf (Erik Morden 70), Evan Libke, Vagelli Boucas, Matteo Bordignon (Matthew Baldisimo 45); Francesco Saporito, Jeevan Kang (David Norman 45), Dario Zanatta (Matthew Chow 70), Tommy Gardner (Cuthbert 60); Aymar Sigue, Terran Campbell (Andy Xu 45)
SUNDAY - vs. Chivas USA (by Sandy Beeson)
Sunday saw a pair of tough results for Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency teams as they took on Chivas USA Academy sides at Cloverdale Athletic Park in Surrey.
The U-18s were on the wrong side of a 3-2 thriller against their Chivas USA counterparts whilst the U-16s succumbed to a 3-1 defeat.
Despite the results, there were plenty of positives for both teams as they fielded inexperienced lineups against another set of fellow Major League Soccer academy teams.
U-18
Whitecaps FC (9W-6L-1D) showed character to fight back twice against a strong Chivas USA side but conceded a late goal to lose 3-2
The first half saw Chivas take the lead in the 27th minute in a closely contested tie.
After the break Vancouver leveled the game in the 73rd minute. Marco Bustos brought the ball forward and, after two efforts were saved, Brody Huitema buried the third opportunity for Whitecaps FC.
With the game now wide open, Chivas USA regained the lead in the 80th minute before a late rally saw Whitecaps FC equalise for a second time when a driven cross was headed in by Huitema in the 87th minute.
Vancouver pushed for the winner but were undone on the break as Chivas USA scrambled a winner in the final minute of the match.
Coach Gordon Forrest saw the loss as a learning curve for the young team and emphasised the need to keep performance levels consistently high.
"It was a tougher day at the office for our guys but it's all good learning on the back of a good strong performance on the Saturday to try and maintain that for the Sunday game as well," commented Forrest. "For the players' development, and young players especially, its keeping that consistency right through every game that we play.
"It was an interesting game and we had good points throughout the game. Credit to them, they went 1-0 down and brought it back to 1-1, they went 2-1 down and brought it back to 2-2. There's little things that we need to tidy up to keep that consistency, to keep that performance strong all the time.
"Overall we set out to achieve certain things in the games and we've had a balance of that over the weekend, which is good because from the good things we can get confidence from that and from the things we need to improve on we can learn from that as well. Over the weekend against other academy setups its a great challenge to see where we stand individually and as a team as well."
Whitecaps FC U-18 lineup:
Marco Carducci, Matthew van der Eyden, Jackson Farmer, Nicholas Prasad, Jordan Haynes, Mitch Piraux, Liam Elbourne (46 Kianz Froese; 60 Marco Bustos), Sebastian Cabrera, Titouan Chopin (46 Yassin Essa), Brody Huitema, Spencer Deboice
U-16
With the U-18 side depleted by call-ups to Canadian U-17 and U-20 national teams, several U-16 players moved to the U-18 side, thus allowing a number of youngert U-15 players to suit up for the U-16s.
In the end, the
Whitecaps FC U-16s (6W-8L-2D)
fell to a 3-1 loss in a game that was closer than the scoreline suggested.
Vancouver came up against a good attacking side as Chivas USA bagged an early goal in the 10th minute.
Whitecaps FC held on until halftime when coach Craig Dalrymple made a number of changes.
Just after the break came a turning point in the match with Matthew Chow finding himself one-on-one with the Chivas USA goalkeeper with an opportunity to level the scores. The 'keeper made a fine save and pumped the ball up field to set up a quick counter attack from which Chivas doubled their advantage in the 52nd minute.
The result was effectively sealed when Chivas added a third in the 65th minute, although Vancouver did keep playing hard to salvage a consolation goal in the 75th minute as substitute Thomas Gardner crossed to the back post where he found Francesco Saporito who scored with a simple header.
Dalrymple was encouraged by the performance of his young squad against a fellow Major League Soccer academy team.
"Chivas are a good team, they're flying high in their conference and they're a very good team that move the ball well and they've got a lot of attacking-minded players that cause problems," said Dalrymple. "They scored one early in the game and we held on until halftime, regrouped and reshaped the team for the second half and we came out with a lot more purpose and craft in the second half.
"It was a real good test for such a young squad against an MLS club that are doing well. The future looks bright for the young lads that played today, they've still got a couple more years on these lads that they played against today.
"Its a great learning opportunity and that's the nature of being part of a club like Whitecaps FC. You'll see a domino effect with guys away on international duty and it provides an opportunity for younger players that can step in and do a job, and that's what they did today. It was always going to be tough against a good squad and to their credit they battled and the learning rewards will far outweigh the result in years to come.
"As a club we're staying true to our philosophies of providing opportunities for younger players and focusing on our players' success rather than team success at the U-16 level."
Whitecaps FC U-16 lineup:
William Diaz, Matthew Baldisimo (45 Matteo Bordignon), Vagelli Boucas, Eric De Graaf, Alexander Comsia, Jeevan Kang (45 Thomas Gardner), David Norman, Dario Zanatta (45 Terran Campbell), Aymar Sigue, Joshua Cuthbert (45 Francesco Saporito), Matthew Chow
