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“I said in an interview after the game I felt like I had to be brutally honest,” said Whitecaps midfielder Russell Teibert. “You want to be as upbeat as you can, but this is sports. And these are one of those times where you almost feel sick to your stomach from the result, because you put so much into it.

“We created so many chances, and it comes down to both boxes. I know we’ve said that a couple times this year, but we can’t come out of this game saying we deserved … to win when we weren’t clinical enough in the final third.”

Here’s what we learned …

Let’s Get In Formation

The Caps came out in a traditional 4-4-2, but had their wingers — Alphonso Davies and Christian Techera — press more centrally to allow the fullbacks to overlap, essentially attacking in a 2-1-5-2. Defensively they pressed high up the wings as well, swarming the ball and putting pressure on the Seattle ball-carriers.

The pressure helped serve up the game’s first chance 11 minutes in, with Nico Mezquida missing from close range after being led into the box by a Kamara header, but he sent his shot over the far corner.

It proved costly as Seattle earned the opening goal, employing the same overlapping attack strategy. With the Caps wingers tucked inside, Seattle took advantage of an overload on Brett Levis, who had to choose between stopping Cristian Roldan or taking the onrushing Kelvin Leerdam. Roldan laid the ball off to Leerdam, and the hesitation caused by the overload meant Levis couldn’t get in front of the cross.

Ruidiaz made a perfect run, cutting in from behind an unsuspecting Kendall Waston to beat the Caps centreback and Sefan Marinovic to the ball.

Photo by DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS

By The Numbers

The Whitecaps won the possession battle, holding 52 per cent of the ball — but remain winless when doing so. They’re now 0-4-1 on the season when seeing more of the ball than the opposition.

They did outshoot the Sounders 21-7 overall, but only put five of those on target. Vancouver is now 0-4-1 when only scoring one goal, and it was the first time in the last six games they’d only scored one or fewer. The last time was the 2-0 loss in Seattle.

“I think sometimes in football you don’t get what you deserve. I thought that’s what I saw today. I thought we were the better team,” said Vancouver coach Carl Robinson. “We should have won that game today. We’ve lost it, and we have to accept it. It’s disappointing against a rival, but I can’t ask (the players) to do anything more.”