Whitecaps seeking season-changing win at Canadian Championship
Vancouver hosts Montreal tonight
Vancouver Whitecaps defender Marcel de Jong says his team simply hasn’t been good enough to win lately.
After losing five of their last six matches, the Whitecaps are looking for redemption when the Montreal Impact visit Vancouver for the second leg of their Canadian Championship semifinal tonight.
Montreal won the first match 1-0 last week.
Winning at home is a huge opportunity, but the Whitecaps will need to focus to secure the victory, de Jong said.
“We’ve been not fully there every game. We have to be better, we need to step it up,” he said after a training session this week. “Concentration, mentality, focus, everything has to be a little bit sharper, a little bit better. And that’s what you have to do to win games.”
Mistakes and penalties have been killing the team in recent games, said head coach Carl Robinson.
“We’re shooting ourselves in the foot at the moment,” he said.
A hand ball during Saturday’s game in Seattle led to the Sounders scoring on a penalty kick. Later in the match, Vancouver midfielder Efrain Juarez was handed a red card after a scuffle with a referee. The Sounders beat the ’Caps 2-0. Robinson said he let his players know after the game that he wasn’t impressed.
Keeping 11 men on the field is key to winning, he said, noting that last year the club was able to scratch out victories even when they were down players. That’s not the case anymore. “The league is getting better and better, players are getting bigger and bigger, stronger and stronger. So if we go down to 10 men, nine men, we’re not going to win games,” Robinson said. “It’s as simple as that.”
It’s been a tough month for the Whitecaps, who have faced a schedule of five games in 15 days and the distraction of Alphonso Davies reportedly signing with storied German club Bayern Munich.
The 17-year-old hasn’t played in the last two matches and Vancouver has missed Davies’ “attacking talent,” Robinson said.
“We’ve probably let it affect us a bit too much. Not intentionally, but if we can get him back in the groove as early as possible once it’s all said and done and over the line, then I think everyone’s happy,” he said.
Winning in Vancouver, where the ’Caps have been 4-2-4 this season, could help give the club a much-needed confidence boost.
“This could really turn our season around,” said midfielder Russell Teibert. “We’re not sitting exactly where we want to be in this season and getting a result, going out and winning this game, then propelling ourselves on to win the Canadian Championship could really turn our season around.”
Defender Doneil Henry said he knows how good it feels to win the tournament. The 25-year-old has three Canadian Championship titles from his time with Toronto FC and that experience is motivating him for tonight’s game.
“We’re going to come full guns blazing,” Henry said. “I think everyone in the group knows how important it is, especially right now coming off another loss.
“We’re not happy.”
MONTREAL (9-12-1, MLS) at VANCOUVER (7-9-5, MLS) Tonight, 7 p.m. PT, B.C. Place
PROTECT THE NET: Vancouver is sitting at the bottom of the MLS Western Conference when it comes to goals against. The Whitecaps have allowed 42 goals in 21 games, while the Impact have conceded 37 in 22 matches.
CANADIAN COMPETITION: The Canadian Championship requires teams to start a minimum of three Canadian players in every match. Both the Whitecaps and Impact have 10 Canadians currently listed on their roster, not including players who are on loan to other clubs.
HEAD TO HEAD: Tonight’s match will mark the 70th time that the Impact and Whitecaps have faced off, dating back to 1993. Montreal has won 33 of the bouts and Vancouver 22, while 14 games ended in a tie.
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY: Montreal won the first-ever Canadian Championship in 2008. The Impact went on to back-to-back victories in 2013 and 2014, before the Whitecaps swept in to take the tournament title in 2015. It was the only time Vancouver has won the championship.
In the other semi, Toronto FC hosts the Ottawa Fury after winning the first leg 1-0.