Alphonso Davies and the Whitecaps can make it two wins in a row by beating the Loons in Minnesota today — and we’ll tell you how
Clubs coming off crucial victories
Today’s Major League Soccer match is a meeting between two teams that bought themselves some breathing room with crucial wins last week.
The Vancouver Whitecaps halted a three-game slide with a 2-0 victory over Real Salt Lake, while Minnesota United FC applied a tourniquet to their four-game losing streak by beating the Houston Dynamo 2-1.
The Whitecaps (4W-4W-1D, 3rd West) play at TCF Bank Stadium against United FC (3-5-0, 7th West) starting at 11 a.m. The game will be televised on CTV and TSN 1. TSN 1040 AM will have the radio coverage.
THE BIG MATCHUP
Whitecaps’ midfield vs. Darwin Quintero
The Loons’ attacking midfielder joined the team at the start of April, and the 5-5, 142-pound dynamo has been a revelation. In the five games before the Liga MX vet was in their lineup, Minny scored six goals. In the three he’s played, they have five, with the Colombian international scoring two and assisting on another.
Whoever slots in at the defensive midfielder position for the Caps, whether it’s Aly Ghazal, Russell Teibert or Felipe Martins, will have their hands full.
FIVE KEYS TO THE GAME 1. Ready, get set
We covered off the lack of setpiece goals before last week’s Caps game with Real, as Vancouver has yet to score off a corner kick or free kick this season. Just two other teams have yet to convert one — Dallas, and this week’s opponent, Minnesota.
It wouldn’t be a big deal for most clubs, but the Caps are a team struggling to score, and one of their biggest weapons from last year — a league-leading 18 of their 55 goals came off set pieces — has misfired all season.
Cristian Techera, who takes most kicks, will miss this game because of suspension, leaving Martins and possibly Yordy Reyna to take over his duties.
2. Open play, open looks
The Whitecaps have surrendered 17 goals this year, most in the Western Conference and second only to the Montreal Impact’s 21. But take away the two games where they’ve played most of the game short-handed, and it’s a much more respectable seven goals against.
It also puts their league-high 13 goals surrendered in open play in a little more kindly light. The same can’t be said for Minnesota, which is tied with the Caps with 13 against in the same category.
3. The power of Carl compels you!
The Whitecaps are like the Exorcist; they seem to despise possession. Their road possession this season (37.6 per cent) is the lowest in coach Carl Robinson’s tenure, and worst in MLS for the third consecutive year.
Before this season, the Caps averaged between 43 and 47 per cent, and were even mid-pack in 2013 and 2014. As has been covered ad nauseam, it hasn’t mattered in the past, given their impressive road record, and this weekend they go against a side with the third-best home possession numbers in MLS, but have only scored four home goals.
4. Block party
The Whitecaps are one of the best teams at keeping shots to outside of the six-yard box and beyond on the road, funnelling most shot attempts (59 per cent) to the middle of the field where the towering Tico, Kendall Waston, awaits. He has blocked 11 shots this season, most in MLS. Minnesota takes 70 per cent of its attempts from the middle of the field toward the top of the box, right in Waston’s wheelhouse.
5. More line dancing
Robinson has established himself as a coach who likes to juggle the lineup early in the season to see what he’s got, but this year he’s been forced into it by injuries and suspensions to several key players.
Kei Kamara is back to full training, but won’t play this week, along with Jordon Mutch, who aggravated his hamstring injury against Salt Lake. Techera spent this week training with residency players after picking up a red card against Real, meaning he will be out for this game. Who Robinson ends up fielding this week is a toss-up, apart from Anthony Blondell up top.