FIVE KEYS to the game

1 Offence all crossed up

So, Carl Robinson, what was missing from last week’s game? “A goal,” the coach quipped Wednesday. If the Caps are going to rely on crosses from the wings and set pieces to score, then they need to be effective on them. While the electric runs made by Alphonso Davies and Cristian Techera were exciting, few passes from the outside made it to the danger zones. None of Techera’s four crosses found a Whitecap, and only one of Davies’ five attempts did. Of Techera’s six set-piece kicks — four corners, two free kicks — only one found a teammate. Of their five goals this season, only Kei Kamara’s header in the opener has come off a cross.

2 The centre-back bump

The return of Kendall Waston is huge for the Whitecaps. The team captain is a presence on the field and off, but his stabilizing influence on the back line can’t be overstated. Aaron Maund and Jose Aja have been solid on defence, but neither has the aerial intimidation that Waston brings. There’s a reason he made the list of players other MLSers hate facing.

3 The new Crew

When Ola Kamara was traded to L.A. for Gyasi Zardes and Justin Meram shipped to Orlando City for money, the Crew lost the two players who contributed 60 per cent of their goals. But it appears Columbus knew something about Zardes that the Galaxy didn’t. He had a breakout 2014, scoring 16 goals for L.A., but in the 72 games that followed, he had just 14, and never more than six in a season. But Zardes has three goals in four games already with his new team, including a last-second penalty kick against Montreal to cap a 3-2 win after his team was down 2-0.

4 Numbers game

Robinson has never lost to the Crew as head coach, going 2-0-2 in his time with the Whitecaps, but both wins have come in Columbus. It was Andrew Jacobson and Erik Hurtado scoring a 3-1 win in 2016, and Hurtado again in 2014. Robinson and his Columbus counterpart Gregg Berhalter took over their respective teams in 2014, and have put together remarkably similar records. Farhan Devji of the Whitecaps broke it down: in three seasons’ worth of games, they’re separated by just four points, with Columbus recording the fifth most points, Vancouver the seventh.

5 Kamara’s return

Kamara’s comments about his return to Columbus may have ruffled some feathers in Ohio, or had some thinking he was being taken out of context. To be clear, he has great affection for the fans there after his two spells with the club, and would be sad to see the team move. “(I’m) happy go to back, and play in that stadium again. There’s a lot of history,” he said. “Going in there, if I can say we went in and got a last win before they moved, I’d be happy with that.”