’Caps need to capitalize when playing with Fire

VANCOUVER — Carl Robinson is fine with the number of chances the Vancouver Whitecaps have been creating lately.

Finishing them off has been another story.

While the Whitecaps coach said he was happy with how his players performed on the pitch in last week’s 1-0 loss to the Colorado Rapids, he said they need to capitalize on ample opportunities in the box to secure a win when they host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.

“There are a lot of good things going on in the games,” he said after practice Friday. “We’re creating a lot of chances. Too many chances, in fact.”

He said he wants to see players such as Kei Kamara chalk up multi-goal games. The 33-year-old centre forward has posted six goals and three assists for the team this year, and he’ll have an opportunity to add to that tally against Chicago.

The Whitecaps and the Fire each have 23 points, placing each team in the sixth and final playoff spot of their respective MLS conferences.

They also have identical 6-7-5 records on the season, but Vancouver is coming off a pair of losses, while Chicago is on a fivegame unbeaten streak.

The Fire scorched the Whitecaps in last year’s meeting, beating them 4-0 in Chicago.

Shutting down a hot team flush with such stars as centre midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and attacking midfielder Aleksandar Katai will be tough but possible, Robinson said.

Katai has eight goals and three assists this season, while Schweinsteiger has two goals and five assists.

“Good players score goals. And I think if we just continue to focus on our strengths, we’ll have no problem shutting them down,” Whitecaps defender Doneil Henry said.

In order to do that, Henry said the Whitecaps need to get sharper in the front third of the pitch.

“When we have that much possession, it gets easy to lose a little bit of focus,” he said.