Tough Whitecaps happy to play role of underdog
The Vancouver Whitecaps have made a habit of grinding out points away from home this year — they need one more gritty effort to guarantee an easier playoff road.
The Whitecaps visit the Portland Timbers on the final afternoon of Major League Soccer’s regular-season today knowing a draw or better against their bitter rivals will secure top spot in the Western Conference for the first time in franchise history.
“As a manager and as players, you want to play in the games that mean something,” head coach Carl Robinson said. “There’s going to be emotion.”
After blowing a chance to clinch at B.C. Place Stadium in last weekend’s disappointing 1-1 tie with the San Jose Earthquakes, a result that would have also locked up a bye to the West semifinals, Vancouver (15-11-7) sits two points up on Portland (14-11-8) and the Seattle Sounders (13-9-11).
While a win or a draw secures first in the conference, a Whitecaps’ loss at Providence Park would see the Timbers earn the No. 1 seed and push Vancouver down to second or third, depending on what the Sounders do at home against the lowly Colorado Rapids.
“They want something that we have right now,” Vancouver striker Fredy Montero said of Portland. “We’re going to fight, we’re going to battle.”
That scrappy mentality has served the Whitecaps well away from home, where they have the conference’s best record at 6-8-2.
Using a deep squad with a number of interchangeable parts, Vancouver’s impressive road performances have included a first-ever win at FC Dallas, a victory at Orlando City SC after a brutal travel day, and the snapping of Sporting Kansas City’s 24-game unbeaten run at home.
“We know we can win the game in the first minute or the 90th,” Montero said. “Sometimes we win games playing [ugly]. They are not pretty games, but we win.”
The downside heading into today’s game is that the Whitecaps have lost both meetings with Portland this season by 2-1 scorelines, and haven’t picked up a result at Providence Park since earning three ties there during the 2015 campaign.
The Timbers are 10-2-4 at home this season, and have won five straight in front of their fans dating back to the middle of July.
“Portland clearly are favourites,” Robinson said. “They can be the favourites. Orlando were favourites when we went in there, K.C. were favourites when we went in there. We’re better as an underdog.”
Finishing first would be quite an achievement after the Whitecaps missed the playoffs by eight points in 2016. But the real reward is getting one of the conference’s top-two spots and avoiding a dreaded single-elimination knockout round match next week.