The Loss Against Seattle Will Strengthen The Whitecaps

Looking at the 1-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders, I've been trying to find some positives about the friendly. Of course, it's a poor result, and it highlights a few overall problems which the team has, but there were certainly some good things seen. It's important to remember that this wasn't an ordinary match. It was 105 minutes split up into three 35 minute periods.

The Whitecaps started well, pressuring the Sounders while remaining compact and organized. Both sides created chances, the Whitecaps having the majority of them. But in the 63rd minute, a moment of distraction led to the only goal of the match. The frozen White and Blue defence let Estrada backheel the ball for Evans, who blasted the ball into the roof of the goal.

I could complain about the defence not closing down the two players (who were in the Whitecaps box), but it was an unlucky second of hesitation (which hopefully won't happen again). After the goal, the Whitecaps fought hard to equalize, hitting Seattle's crossbar as they created plenty of scoring chances. But the match eventually came to an end, with Sigi Schmidt's side winning the preseason friendly 1-0.

Although the Whitecaps lost, it was a good loss. The team was full of energy right from the start of the match, and coach Teitur Thordarsson was happy with the result as well. Here's what the Whitecaps coach said after the match.

"All in all, it was a very good game from our side... For me, Seattle didn't really have any big chances, so it was unfortunate for us to lose the game like we did. However, results do not matter at this time, as we wanted to look at players today."

Here's the official Whitecaps video below which interviews some players along with the coach.



While Thordarson was looking at the players, I was looking at the players which weren't there. While I'm content with the team as it is, I feel like it's lacking slightly up front. An experienced center-forward would be useful, and he would have probably scored a few of the good chances created in the match.

It was an exciting match, and the Whitecaps will have a chance to extract revenge because they'll be playing Seattle again in the preseason on March 6th. The Whitecaps will be facing Columbus Crew next, on Tuesday February 8th. The team will certainly be hungry for a win, and I think this loss will give Thordarson a few things to improve before the 'Caps take on Columbus Crew.