Number-crunching Caps look to claw way up table
Win at home, don't lose away the mantra of side's mathematically minded coach
The formula for the Vancouver Whitecaps' season is: w(h) + d(a) = p.
Translation from Vanni Sartini: Win at home, and don't lose away, and you'll qualify for the playoffs.
“I like math,” joked the jovial Caps head coach. “Except the last year of high school when ... math becomes all of this function, tangent and whatever, when it became really too far away from reality.
“If we keep doing the things that we're doing at home ... two points per game, it means that we finish (the regular season) with 34 points at home and will need only 14, 15 points away (to make the playoffs). As with any game home, it's so important first not to lose, but very important to win.”
Real Salt Lake (7-3-4, 3rd West), the team the Caps (4-7-2, 12th West) host today at B.C. Place, have used that formula to great success early in the season. Their home record of 5-0-1 is the best in MLS, and they're flirting with a .500 record away from Rio Tinto Stadium at 2-3-3.
But history was Sartini's second-favourite class, and history isn't working in RSL'S favour. The Cobalt and Claret have won just twice in 12 games at B.C. Place (29-1) dating to 2011.
With 14 points, the Caps are just a single point ahead of 14th-place Sporting Kansas City, but a win today would pull them within a point of seventh place and a playoff berth. Vancouver went unbeaten at home in May, with just a single loss in seven games across all competitions.
“(There is) the awareness that we're doing well, but we haven't done nothing yet — or at least we haven't done enough yet,” said Sartini. “We're still behind the line of the playoff, and tomorrow is a big chance because we are the only team playing, and winning could put us only one point behind the line.”
“I think the team proved that we're a resilient group,” added striker Brian White. “Obviously, the season didn't start the way we wanted, but we're crawling our way back, carving out results on the road.
“None of us put our head down and gave up on the season when it didn't start out so well. I know that perception was pretty bad at the start, but we knew that we had a long season to go and we had opportunities to climb ourselves out of it.
“(Today's game) is not gonna make or break the season, but at the end of day, we need to get these points at home against teams that are above us to climb our way up the table.”
With Lucas Cavallini away — or at least on the other practice field at the University of B.C. — with the national team, White will get the start up top for the Caps. He missed three games with COVID-19, and while he's practised all week, isn't at 100 per cent yet, and likely won't make the full 90. Neither will midfielder Ryan Gauld, who's battling a hamstring injury, but is available to play today. Tristan Blackmon, Thomas Hasal and Russell Teibert will all miss the game with injuries.
“It's been great to get back out there and be able to run around again,” said White. “I was locked away in a hotel for a week or so. So it's good to be back out there. It's tough to sit (out) and watch, but the team did a good job getting results.”
Real has their own injury problems. Team captain Damir Kreilach had back surgery earlier this week and will be out long term, with three other players listed as out and two questionable.
Goalkeeper David Ochoa was felled by multiple injuries this year, but former Cap Zac Macmath has capably filled the void of the 21-year-old Mexico international. He leads the league in saves (53) and is third overall with five clean sheets.
The Whitecaps will likely deploy themselves as they did against Kansas City, with Florian Jungwirth stepping in as a No. 6 in front of a three-man backline. With the German in the middle, the Caps were efficient and organized, ceding little to KC.
He'll be called upon to run the show at the back, and spring the Caps' forward on counters against a team that presses at the third-highest rate in MLS.
“They have a very strong and crowded attack,” said Sartini. “We need to be very, very careful and organized defensively, because when a team brings a lot of players upfront, it also leaves a little bit of space behind. So (if ) we're able to contain their threats, then when we have the ball, I think that we can be dangerous.”