Oliver Larraz

Two draws, one...

And, and Oliver Larraz's goal against LAFC, that was a real beauty.

No goals last night in the match at, at St. Louis, and it was kind of funny because I watched, after the St. Louis match was over, I actually went back and, and watched the LAFC match again, and it was almost a carbon copy, very scruffy, very cagey kind of match.

Like, they were very similar, like the, the, just what happened on the pitch.

So I think it's really, really important Ralph Priso and Matheus Laborda hit the ground running.

In front of them, you have Oliver Larraz and Andres Kubas forming the midfield partnership.

Yeah, and, and I thought Kubas again was a big difference for the Whitecaps, that, that steadying influence, the, the aggressive midfield player that, uh, whenever...

When Kubas is not there, the, the Whitecaps are a different team.

He's the best in the league at, at playing that number six position, that little bit of a destroyer, I think they call it nowadays.

He, he's, he's magnificent at that, and he gives us that element of steel in the middle of the park.

So the, the Whitecaps, I'm delighted that he's back, and, and, and Oliver Larraz I think is just growing from game to game.

Mm.

Did I...

Oliver.

Oliver Larraz.

Yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't know.

Maybe it is Olivier.

I could've...

I've, I coached against him in, uh, MLS Next Pro, so I think it's Oliver, but I like Olivier.

Then it would be Olivier Laraz.

Yeah, obviously that's still part of the Sebastian Berhalter, I think ... deal, right? I think that, that makes you not having him there.

And that's not to s- be a, a, a knock towards Oliver Larraz.

We'll, we'll talk about [laughs] we'll talk about his contributions-

Yes

And that's me going back to Whitecaps were finding space all over the pitch, down a man, and I don't...

That might be the key to the success, but obviously you don't want to be playing with 10 men.

But he's going up the right wing, great delivery, right onto the head of Oliver Larraz, who did everything right, and you've just got to give your hat tip to Luis.

Fantastic stop.

Not many options does well.

Picks out Larraz.

And he finds it.

And

And what a save by Yohitaka Oka.

And then cleared out for a corner by Ryan Gould.

Big high five between Gould and Larraz.

Yohei Takaoka as Yohei Stonewall saw it in close.

Sure.

All right, I'm not gonna talk about Oliver Larraz or Andrés Cubas.

We're gonna get right into our players for the match.

Go ahead, Philly.

And it's just like, "Yo, we're gonna be fine," right? They're still figuring out the post-Berhalter era.

You're right, Lárraz has been good, but Sebastian Berhalter was the best midfielder in, in the league over the first half of the season.

He was best 11 last year, right? Like, just being good, that's still a, a pretty vast drop-off.

And, and that's no disrespect to Lárraz, it's just how good Berhalter's been.

Um, I just still really trust this team, even if I can't explain some of these results.

[laughs] The, the thing that worries me is this is exactly how I felt this time last year about the Columbus Crew.

Don't know what happened.

But, uh, yeah, he did get the goal from the corner kick from Oliver Larraz.

He did give away a penalty, though, in the, late in the-

Mm

And just looking back, yeah, I kind of do wish they got someone more proven to replace him.

I get why they chose someone like Cvetković, b- you know, it's for the future, and this club has always been a team that to make moves like that, but yeah, it just feels like there's that gaping hole that still hasn't been filled.

Nothing, no disrespect to Oliver Larraz.

He's done well for the most part, but-