WHITECAPS SEEK ELUSIVE WIN IN PORTLAND
Martin Rennie downplays two- game losing skid and precarious position for final playoff berth
The Vancouver Whitecaps have lost two games in a row, and haven’t looked particularly good doing so.
And yet head coach Martin Rennie didn’t seem to feel tonight’s match on the road against the Portland Timbers could be the turning point of the Whitecaps’ season, as club captain Jay DeMerit said it was to reporters just a few minutes earlier.
“I don’t know, turning point would be suggesting you’re doing very badly and then you want to do very well,” said Rennie Thursday after training.
“I mean, I don’t think we’re doing very badly. We’re right up there in a good position on a good number of points in a playoff position, so I think it would be more a case of continuing to do well rather than turning things around.
“Obviously the last couple games weren’t as good as we would like but I think we all feel good about where we are and we obviously want to play well, get a good result and move forward.”
Fortunately for the Whitecaps, the local Major League Soccer side has a pair of two- game losing streaks already this season and neither of those has advanced to a third loss.
The Whitecaps enter their Cascadia Cup match in Portland with two wins in their last five games, and continue to occupy the fifth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The two clubs have met once this season, playing to a 1- 1 draw back on May 26. On paper, the Whitecaps might seem like the favourites, especially with the Timbers sitting at the bottom of the conference standings with only five wins.
All of those wins have come on the Timbers’ home pitch at JELD- WEN Field. The Whitecaps, conversely, have lost their last four games away from the friendly confines of BC Place Stadium.
With the Whitecaps only five precarious points clear of sixth- place FC Dallas, Rennie acknowledged the club’s struggles on the road and the need to fix that, given there are only two months remaining in the regular season.
“We have four home games coming up in a stretch towards the end of the season, which is obviously very important for us,” said Rennie.
“But before that, we’ve got big games on the road, so we must do well in those games and get some kind of consistency building up to the end of the season.
“The way it always works in North America is you have to be getting better as the season goes along.”
The Whitecaps will be without Gershon Koffie today, on his 21st birthday, after the midfielder was suspended one game and fined an undisclosed amount of money for a dangerous tackle on Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Andy Rose and hand gesture in the closing minutes of Saturday’s 2- 0 loss.
What roster moves and tactical changes Rennie has planned against the Timbers will have to wait until game time to be divulged, however there’s a good chance John Thorrington will draw into the lineup.
Thorrington has only one start for the Whitecaps since July 4, thanks mostly to a right quad strain and the addition of designated player Barry Robson to the midfield.
The 32- year- old MLS veteran last started on Aug. 15 against FC Dallas, again because of a Koffie suspension, which was due to yellow card accumulation. “I prepare every game sort of the same and I hope … that I’m playing,” said Thorrington. “I prepare that way and if I get called, I get called. If not I’m still ready to contribute [ in] whatever role I’m asked to play, whether that’s to come in or start a game.”