LA Galaxy welcome back Robbie Keane and Gyasi Zardes from international duty.
Learning to win ugly, more of the same against the Galaxy?
by Graham Tooke, @chelskitooke
TIMBERS RECAP
It took an unlikely late winner from debut boy Robert Earnshaw for the Whitecaps to overcome Portland last weekend. Unlikely in the sense that Vancouver played absolutely wretched, allowing their Cascadian visitors to boss play and possession upwards of 65%.
Even so, for all that possession the Timbers couldn’t find a way past the defensive shield of Waston, Kah, Laba and Koffie. Continually they bombed down the right flank in a bid to put young and only recently fit Sam Adekugbe under unsurmountable pressure as he made a surprise return from his rib injury sustained in Orlando. Powell and Nagbe were relentless, but floating crosses into Ousted’s area is bread and butter for the Dane and his pair of central defensive giants.
Vancouver showed promise early on, but once Mezquida stepped up to curl home his set-piece they fell limp while Portland grew in stature. The Whitecaps holding midfield tandem are there to keep hold of possession. Neither Koffie nor Laba could get near the ball, partly due to Waston and Kah hoofing the ball swiftly out of danger allowing Portland to settle before mounting wave after wave of attacks.
It was evident that Caleb Porter knew the difficulty of the task in gaining an edge over the gritty Laba who has excelled for much of the season thus far. His performances have helped take the club past Chicago and Orlando away from home, and now Portland at BC Place. That’s likely why they directed their attacks out wide, in a hope that Adi would eventually be able to remove himself from the shadow of Waston.
The gritty performance at home is not in keeping with the ‘Caps usual attacking regime in seasons past when playing at BC Place. We all know Carl Robinson is determined to have his side impregnable at the back but that is causing the team to look disjointed going forward. Yes, they’re difficult to break down but when the ball is being booted halfway down the park for dominant centre-halfs like Borchers and Ridgewell to take control of, it makes it almost impossible for the talents of Pedro Morales to be put on display. The Chilean maestro is so far being bypassed.
GALAXY MATCHUPS
If we expect it to work Saturday against the Galaxy we have another thing coming. Robbie Keane is going to put them to the sword where Adi once failed. We can’t put all our eggs in Ousted’s basket (there’s your Easter joke) and hope he keeps the Irishman out for the entire 90 minutes. And unfortunately we still have to cope without our cool-headed but ball-grabby Diego Rodriguez as he sits out the last of his two game suspension. That means banking on Kah and Waston to handle the pressurizing nature of Keane and Gordon to play out of the back and bring our talisman into the match. If that can happen the Whitecaps will see much more efforts in front of goal rather than the other way around.
With Rodriguez out, Manneh returns from his one game suspension and could go straight back into the lineup with the likelihood of going up against right-back Dan Gargan. The full back has flourished during his time in LA thanks to his simple and reliable defending. He’s learnt the Galaxy way much like Todd Dunivant in the past. Bruce Arena once again showing his skillset to get the best out of bit part players on very low salaries to compliment the star men scattered throughout the starting 11. But if Manneh wants to be a regular fixture let’s start by getting the better of the LA fullback who should be an easy test for someone who has aspirations of playing at the highest levels in football.
To expect Rivero to get the better of Omar Gonzalez is another stressful feat for the newcomer to attend with. We’ve all seen what the curse of being named Player of the Month does to a player, especially to one so new to the league. If he does find a way to ghost in behind the US international he might not have to worry about a superman impression from Jaime Penedo who has only started in the 1-1 tie with Houston this season. Brian Rowe has been the go to man so far for Arena but who knows if he has done enough to hold onto his spot after the Galaxy lost 1-0 to DC United late on last week.
The Galaxy is riddled with danger areas and none more so than Stefan Ishizaki when he’s in full tilt. The Swede loves to get into space out wide before cutting and either delivering deep or pegging an effort at goal. The man tasked with dealing with Ishizaki will be Beitashour who has been indifferent so far, after a top performance against Orlando he again slipped to his worst allowing Rodney Wallace to cross dangerously for the Timbers’ equalizer.
Playing out of the back and making better use of Morales will see the Whitecaps earn a positive result with their only victory over the Galaxy coming May 11, 2013 at BC Place. The ‘Caps are due one.
Predicted Lineup
Vancouver Whitecaps FC: Ousted; Beitashour, Waston, Kah, Adekugbe; Laba, Teibert; Hurtado, Morales, Manneh; Rivero
LA Galaxy: Rowe; Gargan, DeLaGarza, Gonzalez, Rogers; Zardes, Juninho, Vayrynen, Ishizaki; Gordon, Keane
7PM, TSN1 and TSN 1410
