All those positive, on-the-pitch vibes have dissipated for the Vancouver Whitecaps lately.
Yes, they’re still one of the best teams in the MLS, sitting second overall in the Western Conference with 33 points. They’re still first overall in points-per-game, with conference-leading Houston Dynamo having played one more game than Vancouver.
However, the cracks in the armour are starting to show.
Vancouver was 10-2-2 entering the FIFA World Cup break. Since then, they’ve won just once in five games, with a 1-2-2 record.
The team isn’t looking as connected since the departure of their 2025 MVP, Sebastian Berhalter. However, a major issue in their latest loss to Houston was finishing.
The Whitecaps fired 17 shots at Houston’s keeper. Only one of them hit the target.
Striker Ryan Gauld was asked if the newly installed turf at BC Place had anything to do with the lack of accuracy.
“I mean, it’s not great,” Gauld told Daily Hive’s Har Johal after Wednesday’s 1-0 loss. “It’s not a great turf. I think you can even see that watching from the outside.”
“But it’s the same for both teams. So it’s not an excuse. Both teams have to play on it. That’s just how it is, and we need to just look at our game more as a whole instead of looking at the surface we’re playing on.”
Whitecaps’ Ryan Gauld (left) isn’t thrilled about the turf at BC Place. (Simon Fearn-Imagn Images)
Natural grass has sprouted up in BC Place over the last couple of years. It was first installed back in 2024, when Ryan Reynolds-owned Wrexham FC played a match at BC Place.
This summer, natural grass from Abbotsford was installed for the seven FIFA World Cup matches that Vancouver hosted at BC Place. The ambiance, coupled with the grass, had players from around the world raving about the stadium.
āThe stadium is very, very nice. Itās unbelievable. Everyone was buzzing. They loved it. Felt pretty cool. The pitch was great quality tonight,ā Australian goalkeeper Patrick Beach said back on June 13.
Unfortunately for the Whitecaps, they weren’t able to experience that.
And, unless their home stadium is somewhere other than BC Place at some point in the future, playing on grass won’t be a reality.
“The challenge with grass is you can’t really cover it for more than about five to six days without it just being destroyed,” BC Place GM Chris May told Postmedia last year.
“We are a multipurpose stadium that needs to serve everyone,” May continued. “So I would love to keep that grass afterwards. It’s nice, but we have to balance that with the need to continue driving the business, and what that means across the board.”
Currently, six of the 30 MLS teams play on artificial turf: Atlanta United, Charlotte FC, New England Revolution, Portland Timbers and the Seattle Sounders.
As Gauld said, it isn’t an excuse. But things like turf can become more bothersome when the team goes through a minor skid.
Turf aside, Vancouver is still tied for the best home record in the West, with a 7-2-1 mark.
They return to BC Place for another match on Saturday against Dallas FC at 6:30 p.m. PT.