LAFC advances to MLS play-offs with 1-0 win over Whitecaps

Vanni Sartini knows he may have upset some powerful forces in recent weeks.

The Vancouver Whitecaps head coach may have been rewarded on Friday with what he described as an “unlucky” goal that spelled the end of his team’s season.

“Maybe God was angry with me because I said many times that I was an atheist, and that’s why we lost,” Sartini said after Los Angeles FC edged the Caps 1-0. “He doesn’t exist.”

Vancouver was never favored to win its best-of-three matchup against LAFC in the first round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.

The Whitecaps limped into the postseason after losing their final four games of the regular season, falling to eighth place in the Western Conference standings.

The club then defeated regional rivals Portland Timbers 5-0 in the wild card game and earned the right to face top-seeded Los Angeles.

LAFC opened the series with a narrow 2-1 win in California, and Vancouver responded with an emphatic 3-0 win at home to set up a do-or-die matchup on Friday.

“It’s always bad to end the season like this,” Caps defenseman Ranko Veselinovic said. “There’s a lot of emotion right now. We really felt before and during the game that we had the game under control. But today they really showed why they are at the top of MLS.”

Both sides locked horns defensively for most of the first half.

Vancouver’s backline has proven to be an aggressive force, taking the ball off the feet of LAFC’s stars and limiting shots.

Los Angeles sniper Denis Bouagna had an opportunity in the seventh minute but sent his shot wide of the post.

Brian White tested LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris with his left foot from the top of the penalty area in the 27th minute. The French netminder dived and cleared the ball.

White came close to putting the visitors into the field in the 43rd minute after collecting the ball from behind Los Angeles’ back line. The American striker took a shot that went over Lloris, but the ball went out just past the post.

Vancouver controlled 59.4 percent of the ball in the first half, including a single shot on goal, to give the home team an 8-4 lead.

Sartini said Los Angeles is a dangerous but beatable team.

“The thing is, in the playoffs, the star-studded team, the big players score and the big players score,” the coach said. “Ultimately we have to accept it.”

Los Angeles entered the second half with renewed aggression and pressed for goals.

In the 54th minute, Olivier Giroud passed the ball to Bouagna in the penalty area and Bouagna shot and cleared the ball over the crossbar.

LAFC finally took advantage of the opportunity in the 62nd minute when ‘Caps’ defender Andres Cubas failed to get a header in midfield.

The ball fell to the feet of Mateusz Bougsz and the Polish midfielder went one-on-one with Vancouver goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka. His left-footed shot sailed past Takaoka’s outstretched hands to give LA a 1-0 lead.

Bougsz ran to the corner and saluted the crowd before being attacked by his teammates.

Vancouver tied the score with a free kick in the 74th minute. Tristan Blackmon ticked the ball past Lloris but the offside flag was quickly raised to disallow the goal.

LAFC will host the Seattle Sounders in the Western Conference semifinals on November 23 or 24.

Los Angeles has played in the last two MLS Cup finals. Vancouver hasn’t reached the Western Conference semifinals since 2017, when the Caps were eliminated by the Sounders.

Friday’s loss capped off a season in which the Whitecaps finished the regular season with a 13-13-8 record and won their third straight Canadian Championship title.

Sartini said the late-season slide was costly.

“Our only regret was the last two games of the regular season because we wouldn’t have finished eighth, we wouldn’t have had to qualify and we wouldn’t have played (LAFC). We probably would have played them in the next round,” he said.

Los Angeles eliminated the Whitecaps from the first round of the playoffs two years in a row.

Veselinovic said that didn’t make Friday’s loss any easier to get over.

“I think this year is even more painful. I think they were more dominant in two games last year. I think it’s a different story this year,” he said.

“We will feel this for a while.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.