The Vancouver Whitecaps travel to Northern California to face the San Jose Earthquakes Wednesday for the second time this season. In their previous matchup at Empire it was a late goal by Davide Chiumineto that salvaged a point for the Caps. Both teams are looking to break streaks as the Caps have lost four in a row while the Earthquakes have not won a game in six games.
The club got an unexpected break with the postponement of the Saturday match with Real Salt Lake due to poor field conditions. While they played the friendly on Monday, the starters only played a half and thus the team got an entire week before this match against the Earthquakes. The rest allowed many nagging injuries extra time to heal and decreased the chances that the players would reinjure themselves.
The starters up front will depend on if Hassli and Chiumiento are over their injuries and if they are ready to go, then both should be starting. The departure of Dunfield means the central midfield will most likely have Vagenas and Koffie starting with Camilo and Salinas on the wings. The backline may return to the one before Harvey was acquired with Rochat and Boxall in the middle while Leathers is on the left and either Duckett or Knight is on the right. The goalkeeping duties should fall again to Joe Cannon who has made seven of the team’s last eight starts in goal.
The Whitecaps are desperate for a victory at this point of the season as they have not given up the hope of making the playoffs. Currently on a four game losing streak, the chances of ending that streak will not be easy facing one of the best in MLS. Of the new additions, only Mustapha Jarju will be available as Jordan Harvey will have to serve a suspension due to an accumulation of cautions. The team will still be without their Captain Jay DeMerit as he recovers from an ongoing groin injury.
The Earthquakes are also on a negative streak as they have not won a game in the past six matches (2 losses, 4 draws). The main cause of this streak is their scoring, which has dried up in the past six games with only two goals and being shut out five times. They decided to shake things up and made a three for one trade with TFC last week picking up Alan Gordon, Jacob Peterson and Nana Attakora.
The Whitecaps are showing signs that their possession style of play is starting to work even if the results are not showing. There are obvious keys the Whitecaps will need to improve on in order to pick up their first victory on the road. The attackers will need to capitalize on their chances and the defenders must avoid any momentary lapse in concentration. If they are able to accomplish both for the full 90 minutes then the Whitecaps might return back from California with three points.
(image courtesy of Bob Frid)
