New Whitecaps coach Sartini ecstatic over first win

Vanni Sartini got emotional Sunday night.

So did Vancouver Whitecaps players – but in a good way.

Sartini, the club’s new interim coach, guided the Whitecaps to a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer action at B.C. Place Stadium. The game was as lopsided as the score indicated, with RSL only managing to score off a couple of timely bounces in the game’s final minute.

"It couldn't go better,” said Sartini. “I'm very happy right now. I'm like a little kid when he's happy. I want everybody to know that I'm happy."(

With the win, the Caps extended their MLS unbeaten streak to a record nine games, surpassing the mark set in 2014, and moved closer to playoff contention.

"I was everything on the scale,” said Sartini of his emotions. “I was excited, scared preoccupied, inspired. I was every adjective and now I'm just happy."(

Caps extend unbeaten streak

Sartini made his head coaching debut, moving from his post as the Whitecaps Academy’s director of methodology, after the club unceremoniously fired Marc Dos Santos on Friday. The dismissal came a day after a humiliating 4-3 loss to lower-tier Pacific FC in Canadian championship preliminary round play in Victoria.

The Whitecaps (6-7-8) delivered a much more inspired effort Sunday than they did in the B.C. capital.

"I think it's kind of simple to say, but the win cures everything,” said Sartini. “When you win, everything looks in a better perspective, and the guys were also happy and they should be happy -- and proud of their performance."

RSL also sported an interim coach, former assistant Pablo Mastroeni, who was promoted on Friday after Freddy Juarez unexpectedly bolted to Seattle, , albeit for an assistant’s position, according to reports. Juarez made the unusual decision with his club above the playoff bar because of his uncertain contract status with RSL next season and the team’s anticipated sale by the end of 2021, The Athletic and other media outlets reported.

The temporary Whitecaps and RSL coaches acknowledged their unusual situations in a brief conversation.

“Crazy” situation

"We just said that the world of soccer is crazy, because Thursday we had completely different jobs, the both of us, and then we were there now leading the team. As I said, this situation is kind of unusual, but that's how it works. We need to adapt or die. In Italy, we say, either we swim or we drown. So let's swim. And, let's see how much longer we can swim."

Sartini said he walked between the teams as they were about to walk onto the pitch after half-time because felt trouble brewing.

"There was the start of a confrontation or something. I just wanted to avoid any problem, to walk with our players and their players, because we were up in the score and we didn't want to risk anything -- red cards or having a brawl or something."

Instead, the Whitecaps showed their fight through strong offence and defence.

Designated player Ryan Gauld led the Whitecaps offensively for the second straight home game, scoring a goal and setting up two others, including an RSL own-goal. Brian White and Florian Jungwirth also scored for the Caps.

Anderson Julio tallied for RSL (7-8-6) shortly before the final whistle. RSL suffered its second straight loss and fourth in six games.

Jungwirth said the Whitecaps wanted to respond after letting down Dos Santos and his brother Phil, an assistant coach who was also fired, with a bad effort on Thursday.

Whitecaps “felt the guilt”

“We felt the guilt,” said Jungwirth, who scored his first goal since 2018 while playing for the San Jose Earthquakes. “We came out flying today. There was a lot of anger in us.”

Gauld took the corner kick that led to a Salt Lake own-goal in the 33^rd minute and enabled Vancouver to take a 1-0 lead into half-time. After Brian White gave the Caps a 2-0 lead in 53^rd minute, tapping in a rebound after RSL goalkeeper Andrew Putna mishandled a cross, Gauld scored on a header 10 minutes later.

Jungwirth rewarded Sartini for giving the centre back his first start as a Whitecap since being acquired in a trade from San Jose earlier in the month as he home another Gauld corner-kick.

After scoring, Jungwirth reluctantly did a dance routine with Leonard Owusu and other teammates. Owusu had choreographed the moves in training.

“When he came (following the goal), I was already celebrating,” said Jungwirtth. “I had to laugh. He insisted to do the dance. I hope it didn't look too embarrassing for me, because I know Leo's a far better dancer, I think I still did pretty well."

Jungwirth displayed emotion in a different way in the first half as he shoved RSL’s Noah Powder in the back after he took down Bruno Gaspar hard, earning a yellow card for the infraction.

"That's the way I play,” said Jungwirth. “I leave it all for the team. When I'm on the field, I'm a wild dog. I go in every duel. I don't mind what happens. And when someone attacks my teammates, I'm gonna protect them in every way. … I've never received a red card in my whole career, so I know which buttons I have to push in my opponents to provoke them. That's the way I play. That's the way I've performed for years. It's worked out well for me, and I hope the fans and the coaching staff like that."

Sartini had no complaints about Jungwirth or any other Vancouver players. However, RSL interim field boss Mastroeni was less than impressed with his charges.

RSL coach: Wrong mentality

“I feel like we didn’t have the right mentality,” Mastroeni told reporters. “Physically, I think they were first to most balls and picked up all the loose balls. It was a very difficult match.”

RSL’s only goal resulted after a shot bounced off a Whitecaps defender, hit the crossbar and came right to Julio. Before then, RSL’s best chance came late in the first half. Justin Meram booted Powder’s rebound on a hard shot from distance over an open net.

While the Whitecaps hoped to build on the win, RSL players wanted to forget their loss. Salt Lake captain Albert Rusnak said his club’s effort “went wrong pretty much everywhere.”

“This is one of those games you don't take anything from into the next game,” said Rusnak.

 

Whitecaps come home to spirited win

The Vancouver Whitecaps got the homecoming they wanted Saturday night.

And, Ryan Gauld got the home debut he sought.

In their first real home game since March 2020, the Whitecaps posted a 2-1 comeback win over Los Angeles FC in Major League Soccer action at B.C. Place Stadium.

“The win was important to get (the fans) back,” said coach Marc Dos Santos, whose team played its first real home game in 539 days.

Gauld, a recently acquired 25-year-old Scottish midfielder who came on , delighted a small but raucous crowd as he headed in the winning goal in the 89th minute off a a Ryan Raposo cross.

Gauld enjoys "pretty good" debut

"As debuts go, it was pretty good," understated Gauld, who is Vancouver’s designated player.

Gauld also thought he scored his team’s first goal in the 60th minute as he pounded in a rebound after the ball bounced off the crossbar. But officials determined that Brian White’s attempt in a scramble seconds earlier actually crossed the goal line.

The Caps (5-7-8) were forced to play their previous home games in Sandy, Utah due to Canada’s border closure due to COVID-19, and they drew a tough opponent in LAFC (6-9-6). The hosts trailed 1-0 on Diego Rossi’s penalty-kick in first-half stoppage time after a video review showed that Vancouver defender LAFC striker Brian Rodriguez just inside the Whitecaps area.

The deficit came despite the fact that Vancouver earned seven corner kicks in the first half but still allowed LAFC more shots on target and a decisive edge in ball-possession time.

“The first half wasn’t good,” said Dos Santos. “We’re aware of that. But in the second half, we responded quick.”

The Caps got a bit lucky when LAFC’s Diego Rossi hit the post after Vancouver goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau stopped Brian Rodriguez about five minutes before Gauld emerged as the homecoming hero. Had LAFC scored, it might have spoiled what Dos Santos called a “fairy tale moment” for Gauld.

But the Caps’ return to B.C. Place was a major story in itself – with plenty of atmosphere, starting from singer Marie Hui’s booming renditions of both the American and Canadian national anthems.

Raposo had "goosebumps"

"Coming out for warmups, I had goosebumps right away,” said Raposo, who played his first game before fans in Vancouver after joining the team last season shortly before COVID hit. “We had kind of gotten used to playing away.”

After the win, the 1960s song Stand By Me was played over the stadium speakers, and fans sang heartily along after the Caps who tied a club-record eight-game unbeaten streak with the win. The unbeaten streak comes after they suffered five straight losses early in the season.

By airing the song, the club was trying to send an obvious message to the faithful as it attempts to improve on the field and recover from the pandemic’s financial impact.

“It (was) definitely nice to sing along with them after the game – for sure,” said Raposo. “Good vibes.”

And, the Whitecaps hope those good vibes continue as more home games and a potential playoff spot loom.