If Vancouver Whitecaps FC's goalless draw with New York City FC is to be remembered, it will be for the "Stop the War Now" and "We Stand with Ukraine" efforts put on display Saturday night.
Prior to kickoff, Vancouver players wore white t-shirts bearing the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine, captioned with "WE STAND WITH UKRAINE" in bold black lettering. The coaching staff wore similarly white t-shirts with multicoloured "STOP THE WAR NOW" superimposed over the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine.
A young supporter proudly holding a Ukrainian flag placard above his head.
New York City FC Captain Sean Johnson, and his Vancouver counterpart Russell Teibert, proudly walked in carrying Ukrainian flags and sporting Ukrainian armbands.
The supporters held up Ukrainian flag placards, some brought from home, while others had been left on their seat when they arrived. They wore anything that they could find that was blue and yellow. There were Swedish National Team kits, Manchester United's 2021/2022 alternate kits, Adidas blue and yellow tops, whatever they had, they wore, and they wore it proudly.
A large Ukrainian flag was moved along the lower bowl, as for the first time ever, the Ukrainian National Anthem was sung alongside the Canadian and American National Anthems.
It is somewhat fitting then, that on a night where the people of Vancouver declared their support for Ukraine, the match mirrored the senseless of the struggle currently going on in Eastern Europe.
New York City FC were repeatedly booed by the home crowd for making numerous lateral passes, while not under threat, across their backline, and occasionally moving into midfield, but rarely the attacking third. Vancouver fared no better, though perhaps that could be forgiven, as they finished with less than 30% possession.
"I think we were much better than them," said New York manager Ronny Deila. "We created six, seven, eight chances. We didn't take our chances, and we gave them one or two. That's good when you are away. There was really good energy; was a lot of fight in the team. We created enough to win, but we didn't take our chances today. We just can keep on defending well and create chances. We know we have players that will start scoring."
Santiago Rodríguez locks Florian Jungwirth’s right hand between his chest and elbow, as clear a symbol of the scoreless draw as there ever could be.
Officially, Vancouver managed a solitary shot on target, while New York quadrupled that number, but none seemed to seriously test either goalkeeper.
"We knew exactly how they were going to play so it was a lot about balance in the counter-attacks," Deila explained. "It was about moving the ball well so we'd get it into the final third as much as possible. In the end of the game, it opened up a bit more, that's why we introduced Thiago Martins into the field. We wanted a goal at the same time so we tried to get two strikers, but it wouldn't go in today, but that’s how football is sometimes. It's about belief, continuing what we're doing, create enough chances, and as I said before, we have players that can score goals."
During the rare moments where Vancouver got the ball, Déiber Caicedo would run towards the goal line, look for someone to pass to, and find nothing but the orange men of New York.
It was a frustrating night all around, and if not for the glowing support for Ukraine, this is a match that would best be forgotten by all who bore witness to it. Hopefully Vancouver Manager Vanni Sartini, or his New York counterpart Ronny Deila, will be able to find something from the match to use as a teaching moment, but the odds are not in their favour.