Whitecaps look to tame Lions and extend streak
Two streaks collide today at B.C. Place Stadium as the Vancouver Whitecaps (5-5-5) take a fivegame unbeaten streak into their afternoon matchup with the Orlando City Lions (6-6-1), who have dropped four consecutive games heading into their longest road trip of the season.
KEY MATCHUP
Jose Aja vs. Dom Dwyer
Dom Dwyer is the engine that powers Orlando SC. In his seven games played, the Lions are 6-1, with Dwyer scoring six of their 18 goals.
Without him, they’re 0-5-1 and have scored just four goals (.67 gpg).
He should be back, and the task of stopping the striker falls to his former teammate, Jose Aja.
The soft-footed and lanky 6-4 centre back never really found a home in Orlando despite solid numbers — his passing percentage was tops among MLS centre backs in 2016 — and was traded to Vancouver in February.
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH
1. Report to the headmaster You can tell not scoring is starting to frustrate Kei Kamara — and that’s a good thing. He’s doing everything but score, and a motivated Kamara is a dangerous one.
In the six games the 6-3 striker has played since returning from his groin strain, he’s had goals (wrongly) disallowed and missed gimmes and tough chances alike, but was coldblooded on a 100th-minute penalty against Dallas.
The re-emergence of Cristian Techera and Yordy Reyna, who have combined to score seven of the team’s last nine goals, should open some room for Kamara to operate.
2. Red Bulls reunion Felipe and Orlando’s Sacha Kljestan used to run the middle of the pitch as midfielders with the New York Red Bulls, with Kljestan leading the league in assists the past two seasons (17 in 2017, 20 in 2016).
This season, Felipe is tied for the third-most assists in MLS with six, two ahead of his former teammate, as they prepare for their first game head-to-head since being traded away from the Big Apple.
“Sacha is well-known as a player. He’s a complete player. It’s always good to play against good players, because you can measure how good you are,” Felipe said.
“When they blow the whistle, I’m going to go at him.”
3. How to go fast while on a fast Most would view going without food and drink for a day as a punishment. Aly Ghazal sees it as a blessing.
As a practising Muslim, the Whitecaps midfielder goes without any food or water from sunup to sundown during Ramadan, the annual month of fasting that this year stretches from May 15 to June 15.
To maintain his energy levels, Ghazal consults with nutritionists and doctors to make sure he eats and drinks properly to maintain his fitness during games and training.
“It’s not something that we can be easy with, just leave it,” said the Egyptian national.
“It’s one of the things we have to do as a Muslim.”
4. Flight on the other foot Travel is tough on the Whitecaps, the league’s most-travelled team, but it goes the other way, too. Saturday’s game is the second stop in a three-game, 10-day, 10,500-kilometre trip for the Orlando Lions, who beat Miami United 3-0 in U.S. Open Cup play Wednesday before flying the 4,500 kilometres to Vancouver, with a trip to Montreal next on the agenda.
But Orlando will be on a charter flight, allowing them to set their own schedule and bring as many players as they’d like, instead of having to make decisions on possible player fitness ahead of time.
5. Let’s get in formation If it ain’t broke, why fix it? The Whitecaps will roll out their 4-4-2 formation again — though some may call it a 4-4-1-1 with Yordy Reyna being given the freedom to rove — as it generated the most scoring opportunities of any MLS team last month.
Kamara started the last game on the bench, but it’s difficult to see him staying there with a twoweek break after this weekend.
The questions again revolve around who will play on the back line, with Kendall Waston preparing for the World Cup with Costa Rica and Marcel de Jong still rehabbing a hamstring injury.
Brek Shea, on the left side, Doneil Henry and Jake Nerwinski joined Aja last week, and did a credible job limiting the Rapids.
The back line is the biggest question facing the Caps, as it has been defensive lapses that have cost them goals — and wins — in the last seven games. They’ve given up 220 shots against — second-most in MLS — and they’ve been getting unlucky (or undisciplined, depending on your perspective), with their 28 goals against far higher than their expected goals against of 21.9.