Tilted ‘Caps must defend to correct campaign

An extended winless streak is not how Brian White wanted to kick off his time with the Whitecaps.

The New York Red Bulls dealt the 25-year-old striker to Vancouver on June 2, but he has yet to experience a victory with his new squad.

Weathering the club’s eight-game winless drought has been tough, but White said the pressure’s also fuelling him as the club looks to turn its season around.

“You feel it a little bit, but it’s more of a burning fire inside of you, to break this spell, to start winning games and get the ball rolling so we can progress up the table and earn more points,” he said.

Vancouver’s next chance to get back in the win column comes today when the ‘Caps (2-7-3) host the L.A. Galaxy (8-4-0) at their temporary home in Sandy, Utah. The ‘Caps have not played in Vancouver since September due to pandemic-related closures.

The Whitecaps suffered a 4-0 loss to Real Salt Lake in their last outing on July 7 and are entrenched at the bottom of the Western Conference. The Galaxy are coming off a 3-1 win over FC Dallas the same night.

Vancouver and L.A. previously met on June 23, with the Galaxy taking a 2-1 win thanks to a stoppage-time goal from Efrain Alvarez.

In order to get a different result this time out, the Whitecaps have to help out their goalkeeper, said head coach Marc Dos Santos.

“We have to do a better job collectively defensively because we shouldn’t need three goals or four goals to win games or get results,” he said.

Vancouver is tied with San Jose for the most goals conceded (22) in the West so far this season. The ‘Caps have also scored the second fewest goals in the West (12 in 12 games) and have the worst goal differential (-10) in the conference.

There are “little moments” in games where the group’s defence has slipped and goals have been conceded, Dos Santos added, noting that the team needs to be better when it comes to denying crosses in the final third and keeping its concentration and focus in injury time.

“We just have to find a way as a team,” the coach said.

After taking two days off to reset during the 10-day break in MLS play, the group returned to training ready to eliminate their mistakes.

“It’s been a lot of attention to detail and just sharpening up the little things,” White said. “When you don’t concede goals, you can’t lose games.”