Slumping Caps look to douse Fire
Squads appear similar but flaming hot visitors unbeaten in past five outings
The Chicago Fire seem to be the Vancouver Whitecaps of the Eastern Conference.
Then again, they have two former Caps on their Major League Soccer roster.
Tony Tchani and Christian Dean make their first return to B.C. Place Stadium as members of the opposition when the Whitecaps (6-7-5) host the Fire (6-7-5) Saturday night, a battle of two teams with near mirror-image statistics.
Vancouver and Chicago have played the same number of games, and sit in the same spot — sixth, just above the playoff red line — in their respective conferences. The Caps have 26 goals, the Fire 27. Vancouver has conceded 35 goals to Chicago’s 31. Shots on goal? Eighty apiece. Offsides? Forty-five each. Corners? A slim 81-79 margin for Vancouver.
But that mirror analogy gets smudges on its face if you factor in recent results. The Fire come in on a five-game unbeaten run — seven if you include U.S. Open Cup play — including a 3-2 win over New York City FC last week, while the Caps have faltered since coming back from the World Cup break, losing back-toback games.
Vancouver was thumped by the Philadelphia Union two weeks ago, losing 4-0 on the road, then returned home to put forth a lively performance at home against the Colorado Rapids, but lost 1-0 on an own goal.
The Rapids were Western Conference cellar-dwellers and had demonstrated no real road success coming in, but the Caps lacked the ability to break down the visitors bunkered down in their own box, despite holding a season-high 71.6 per cent possession advantage.
“I thought we defended very, very well on the weekend, and limited them to very few chances. We did score at one end, but it was the wrong end,” a rueful Carl Robinson said this week.
“We created chances time and time again, and we dominated the ball. Every time we’ve dominated the ball this year, we’ve lost,” added the Whitecaps coach.
The Fire have a much superior roster to the Rapids, but will likely follow the same playbook so many other teams around the league have when playing in B.C. Place: Pack the box, dare the Caps to break them down, and take your shots when they come.
Colorado were outshot 26-9, with goalkeeper Tim Howard making 10 saves, and despite a season-high 652 passes, the Whitecaps couldn’t get the final touch to breach the Rapids’ defensive wall.
“(You have to) keep the ball moving,” said midfielder Jordon Mutch, who was one of the more dangerous Caps against Colorado after coming on at halftime.
“Especially when a team sits back like that, it’s just being simple. On turnovers, keeping them penned in, and keeping that pressure, because hopefully they fold. You’ve seen it with Spain and Russia in the World Cup. They did the exact same thing, and they couldn’t break Russia down.”
The Fire’s patch of five MLS games without a loss — much like the Caps’ six-game stretch before the break — isn’t quite the impressive achievement it appears to be, taking at look at their opponents. It started with a 2-1 home win over San Jose, followed by a 1-1 tie with New England, then two road draws at Colorado and Seattle, before last week’s home win over New York.
San Jose, Colorado and Seattle, respectively, have the worst records in the West, while New England and NYFC have three road wins between them.
That’s not to say these paper tigers can’t give the Caps a good mauling. Their roster boasts some serious firepower with goal of the week champ Aleksandar Katai (eight goals) and last year’s Golden Boot winner Nemanja Nikolic (seven goals). Lest we forget the engine that drives it all, Bastian Schweinsteiger, the 33-year-old midfielder who tops the Fire with five assists.
“He’s getting on, he hasn’t got the legs anymore, really,” a deadpan Mutch said of the German national team legend.
“He’s obviously got the experience, but hopefully we can play in that aggressive manner and take the game to them, and hopefully do it well.” NOTES: Whether former Caps Tchani and Dean see the field is a toss-up, as both have only seen spot duty. Tchani, a midfielder, has made seven starts and two substitution appearances for Chicago, while Dean, a centre back, made two starts in March, but hasn’t been seen since. … Whitecaps midfielder Yordy Reyna and centre back Jose Aja will return from one-game red card suspensions, but winger Cristian Techera still has two games left in his ban for using abusive language in the loss to Philly. Captain Kendall Waston will also likely be sidelined. He’s still working back from the lower-body injury suffered last week against Colorado.