Vanni Sartini hits out at referees following MLS Cup playoffs elimination

Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini was visibly upset with referee Timothy Ford in his side's 1-0 loss to LAFC, as the defeat sealed the Western Conference team's playoffs demise in 2023.

With just a few moments left in the game, the Whitecaps lined up to take a corner kick in a bid to find the back of the net to force a penalty shootout against the reigning MLS Cup champions. However, Vancouver didn't even get the chance as Ford essentially ran into Alessandro Schopf as he was about go line up a strike at LAFC's goal.

Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka came up for the last-ditch corner kick, but after Schopf was on the ground without the ball, the Black and Gold raced forward on a counter-attack.

Golden Boot winner Denis Bouanga put the ball in the back of an open net, but it was chalked off due to offside. Vancouver had one last go, but they were still unable to find an equalizer and were dumped out of the first round of the playoffs at the hands of LAFC.

After being sent off after the grand ordeal, Sartini kept voicing his frustrations as he exited the field, becoming an even bigger hero for the Vancouver supporters at BC Place.

"At the end, we didn't have a fair chance, to be honest," Sartini said after the game. "[It's] because today unfortunately the referee had the bad game."

Sartini went on to explain that in in most cases, when a referee collides with a player/interferes with the travel of the ball, play is stopped and a drop-ball is given to the team who was affected by it. But that wasn't the case in this contest.

"I don't understand, to be honest, why he didn't stop [play] because every time that the referee touches the ball ... he stops and gives the ball to the team that was in possession of the ball. We were in possession of the ball, and we lost possession because of him. I don't know why he didn't give us possession immediately," he said.

Although Vancouver's solid 2023 campaign came to a disappointing and frustrating end, Sartini knows what he has in his team and believes they're now on to bigger and better things for the 2024 season.

"The biggest takeaway from this season is that we are a team that can easily start the next season and say ‘we want to win this thing.'"

With Ryan Gauld and Brian White leading the charge up front next term, Vancouver will look to build on their 2023 season that saw them return to the playoffs after missing out in 2022 and finishing in sixth place in the Western Conference.