Saturday night at BC Place, the Vancouver Whitecaps suffered their first loss of the MLS season by a score of 1-0 against the San Jose Earthquakes.

For the second straight match, the Whitecaps struggled to find a breakthrough when chasing the game, and San Jose, while perhaps not as well drilled and efficient as the Seattle Sounders before them, were equally effective in frustrating Jesper Sørensen’s side by clogging their own box and funnelling the Whitecaps into low-danger areas.

There was a good amount of rotation going into this match, and while it would be easy to blame the weaker XI, I actually thought Vancouver was better in the first half. JC Ngando and Oliver Larraz both put in solid performances, and Vancouver’s second-half changes actually seemed to stagnate the group, as Thomas Müller in particular was very erratic and did not aid Vancouver’s lack of attacking fluidity.

With an international break upcoming, this is a good chance for the Whitecaps to reset and make some tweaks, which feel much needed after the last week or so.