FIVE KEYS to the game
1 Eliminate the incommunicado
Defensively, the Whitecaps have played fairly solid this season, limiting shots to outside the 18-yard box — 36% — for the most part. But in their past two losses, they’ve given up four goals, all of which came off defensive lapses. It wasn’t more apparent than the second goal last week, where Stefan Marinovic and Kendall Waston got their wires crossed, the ball popped loose as they collided and Diego Rossi punched it home. Coach Carl Robinson called it “schoolyard stuff.”
2 Riddle in the middle
With Kamara out, they lose a player who was adept in holding up the ball in the centre of the field in the attacking zone. Robinson says Blondell has that ability, but if that doesn’t materialize, the Caps will struggle to do much more than the crosses and long balls that have become their trademark … and the bane of the fans’ existence. There needs to be more creativity in the centre attacking midfield. Felipe’s ball to Kamara for the winner in Columbus might be the only time they’ve moved through the middle with possession to score this season.
3 Go wide, young man
Alphonso Davies is electric. If he was a Tesla, he’d be the car running on Ludicrous Mode. His charges down the wings have been exciting — he leads MLS with 35 completed dribbles — but haven’t yet born the fruits of success. The Caps need him to keep his crosses in the box where the forwards have a chance of running on to them.
4 A Sporting chance
The Caps can be encouraged by Seattle’s 2-2 draw with Sporting last week. The Sounders came into the game winless and scoreless, but took a 2-1 lead into the 73rd minute, despite seeing just 41 per cent of the ball overall. The Western
Conference cellar-dwellers, Seattle hadn’t scored in 320 minutes this season before Will Bruin scored in injury time. It took a 78th-minute goal from Graham Zuzi — his second in five games after going 26 straight games without scoring — to save the home side from defeat. There’s also a strong chance Felipe Gutiérrez, who leads his team with five goals in a four-game span, will miss his third straight game with a hip injury.
5 Simulation stimulation
In last week’s loss to L.A., Felipe spent plenty of time on the ground, being fouled six times while committing zero fouls — the first time this year that a player has been fouled at least six times without committing at least one foul in a game. It only happened nine times last year. If he can earn a free kick in a threatening position, it would help the offensively challenged Caps find a way to generate some scoring. Speaking of offensive, some Caps fans were offended by some gamesmanship (re: diving) Felipe conducted against L.A., and apparently MLS was, too. The league’s disciplinary committee fined him for embellishment for an injury-time incident against LAFC.