THREE THEMES
FULL HOUSE WINS
Seattle is opening up CenturyLink Field to full capacity on Friday, which is a bad sign for the Whitecaps. The Sounders are 9- 0- 1 with crowds of over 50,000 and 5- 0- 1 when attendance exceeds 60,000. Attendance is expected to top 50,000 for Friday’s game, which will decide the Cascadia Cup and have huge implications for both teams’ playoff positioning. The Caps need a win to leapfrog Portland back into the fifth and final playoff spot in the West, while the Sounders are locked in a battle with Los Angeles for the Supporters’ Shield as the top team in the MLS regular season. “We definitely feel the energy a lot more ( when the stadium is full),” Seattle midfielder Lamar Neagle told soundersfc. com. “We feel the fans and that fuels us. I think that’s what makes our games so exciting. To have the full stadium is going to be awesome.”
A FROESE- N TREAT?
Carl Robinson is fond of saying that soccer games all over the world are decided off the substitutes bench. But with Kekuta Manneh likely slotted into a starting forward spot Friday with Sebastian Fernandez suspended for yellow- card accumulation, Darren Mattocks away on international duty and the dismissed Omar Salgado in Mexico, the Caps are thin on impact offensive players. Attacking midfielder Nicolas Mezquida ( two goals in 13 games) is basically it, so Robinson also might look to Canadian youth international Kianz Froese. “It’s a great opportunity for him and it’s credit to him and his hard work,” Robinson said of the teenager, who graduated from the residency program by signing a first- team contract in September. “I’ve got confidence in those guys. If they get their opportunity … you won’t get a better environment for them to show how good they are.”
WHO HAS THE EDGE?
A loss in Seattle won’t eliminate Vancouver from playoff contention, but if they don’t pick up three points they will need some help from one or both of the teams they’ve beaten in the last two weeks. Portland, which is two points up on the Caps for the final playoff spot in the West and idle this weekend, gets Real Salt Lake at home and then has to go to Dallas. That’s a tougher finish than the Caps face. They’re at San Jose and then head home to play Colorado. RSL ( 49 points) and Dallas ( 48) are fighting to finish third and avoid the knockout round game. San Jose, beaten twice in five days by Portland and winless in 12, and Colorado are just playing out the string. The Rapids are 0- 9- 2 in their last 11, including losses of 6- 0, 5- 1 and 4- 1 in the last month.