The Vancouver Whitecaps' tough times in Texas continued in Frisco on Wednesday night.
Hit hard by injuries and international call-ups, an understrength Whitecaps side made it seven defeats in as many trips to face FC Dallas in MLS play with a 2-0 loss to the Western Conference leaders. The defeat took Vancouver's winless streak to five games at the worst possible stage of the season.
"We played very well, we just didn't score a goal," Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson told Vancouver's 1410 radio after the game. "You can stand here all night and say how you deserved this or deserved that but if you don't put the ball in the back of the net, you're not going to win games of football, and that's happening at the moment."
The Whitecaps are in a bit of a rut in the goalscoring department and they're trying to quickly get out of it before the postseason gets underway.
Vancouver have managed only one win in their last seven MLS matches, scoring just three goals from open play and being kept off the scoresheet in four of those games.
With the teams around them hitting their stride, the 'Caps know that that their current run of form is simply not good enough to make a splash in the playoffs.
"The players that we've got are attacking players, exciting players," Robinson said. "I want to create chances. If you create chances, you're more likely to score. What's not happening at the moment is scoring.
"We can't cover over it, we're just not putting the ball in the back of the net. We're putting ourselves in the positions, which is good and pleasing, but we're just not showing the composure at the critical moment. We've just got to get back to work with it."
Depleted by injuries to their creative core and missing five players through international duty, the Whitecaps were always going to face a tough challenge to get a result in Dallas. With Pedro Morales, Mauro Rosales and Nicolas Mezquida all missing through injuries, and with Cristian Techera on the bench but failing to fully recover from a hamstring strain, the Whitecaps were lacking a midfield maestro to unlock the Dallas defense, and it showed.
Worryingly now for the Whitecaps this late in the season, is that the situation may not be getting better any time soon.
- Get more Vancouver Whitecaps news at WhitecapsFC.com
"We're not in a good state at the moment injury-wise, we know that," Robinson admitted. "Three of them aren't with us [in Dallas]. Cristian's with us. He sat on the bench today but there was never any intention to play him because he's injured.
"We've got to get ourselves back next week and we've got to see how they are. I think the [Houston] game will be too early for them, all three of them, so it gives opportunities for other people."
Vancouver are now precariously hanging on to third place in the Western Conference, with one game remaining, and they could fall to fifth place by the end of the weekend.
It's all about playoff positioning for the Whitecaps now and tiebreakers may still play a part in determining their postseason fate. With that in mind, and with goal differential being the second tiebreaker after wins, Vancouver knew the importance of not conceding too many goals in Dallas and Robinson was keen to praise his side's defensive efforts after the game.
"It's easy to buckle when you're two-nil down after 50 minutes in a tough place," Robinson added. "We've never won here. We could have gone under, but we didn't, we showed character. The one thing I won't doubt in my team is character.
"We've got good character in the team, we're just not scoring at the moment. We know we need to try and address that. We've got to focus on trying to put the ball in the back of the net."
