by Graham Tooke, @chelskitooke
GALAXY RECAP
It’s been two weeks since the Whitecaps played their last competitive fixture where they surprisingly defeated the LA Galaxy 1-0 at the StubHub Center.
Kekuta Manneh scored the only goal of the match to lift the Whitecaps to their first ever points against the Galaxy away from home. It was the ‘Caps only shot on target and it paid off as the Galaxy despite racking up 8 shots failed to find the target and test David Ousted as the Dane claimed his 7th clean sheet of the year.
The immovable object collected his side a seventh clean sheet of the season
LA looked a shadow of the side that had previously gone 29 unbeaten at home prior to Manneh’s 32nd minute strike. Robbie Keane made his first start since the 2-0 loss to the ‘Caps at BC Place at the beginning of April. And despite a pair of substitute appearances leading up to the match Keane could only muster two shots as he looked well off the pace.
Vancouver on the other hand looked disciplined at the back as Waston and Kah handled the presence of Keane and Buddle with relative ease. Teibert in the middle with Laba tracked the Irishman whenever he went looking for the ball in the midfield squeezing out the space for them to operate.
With right back Sorto streaming forward into the Galaxy attack, Kekuta Manneh made the most of the space afforded to him as he singled out Omar Gonzalez one-on-one in the opening stages before getting his goal around the half hour mark.
That goal allowed the Whitecaps to sit back and park the bus as LA struggled to figure out a way around the Vancouver defense.
RED BULLS MATCHUP
Now well rested, Carl Robinson takes his side to his former club New York Red Bulls for Saturdays tilt at Red Bull Arena.
Jesse Marsch was brought in to replace Supporter Shield winning manager Mike Petke in the off season and through their first seven matches the decision appeared to be a masterstroke by the Red Bulls front office.
It now appears the honeymoon is over for the former Impact coach with the club now falling to three defeats on the trot in the past few weeks. First to the Philadelphia Union, then the Seattle Sounders, and most recently a 4-2 hammering at the hands of the Houston Dynamo have seen them fall back to mid table in the East.
Carl Robinson can only dream that Marsch starts the same back four that were overrun in Houston. An unfamiliar defense of Kemar Lawarence, Roy Miller, Karl Ouimette and Chris Duvall had little hope of dealing with Will Bruin and Giles Barnes. I would imagine that experiment is well over with Perrinelle and Zubar returning in the 3-0 US Open Cup win over the Atlanta Silverbacks midweek.
Both team are near a full clean bill of health with the only casualty in New York being Sal Zizzo as he recovers from his broken leg, while Vancouver are still waiting on Sam Adekugbe as he nurses his ankle back to full health. As far as resting players goes, Vancouver are in a good position to go with their strongest side as they don’t play for another week unlike the Red Bulls who have to have one eye on the visit of Real Salt Lake on Wednesday.
It’s hard to say how much Marsch values the challenge of Western Conference opponents with their only win coming against San Jose Earthquakes this season. But you would think he’d want to go into next Sunday’s derby with NYCFC on the back of a pair of wins.
Wright-Phillips scored in stoppage time in last seasons home opener
That could mean a start for ex-Whitecaps winger Dane Richards in the view of resting Lloyd Sam or Mike Grella. However, he has yet to hit the heights from his previous stint with the Red Bulls and may only really be seen as an option off the bench.
With three points in the back of his mind expect Robinson to set his side up to hit the Red Bulls on the counter and bunker down for the win. However, dealing with the creative influence of Sacha Kljestan feeding the free scoring Bradley Wright-Phillips means the ‘Caps backline are in for a torrid test compared to that of the Galaxy two weeks ago.
4 PM, TSN2 and TSN 1410
Probably Lineups
New York Red Bulls: Robles; Miller, Zubar, Perrinelle, Lade; McCarty, Felipe; Sam, Kljestan, Grella; Wright-Phillips
Vancouver Whitecaps: Ousted; Beitashour, Waston, Kah, Harvey; Laba, Koffie; Rosales, Morales, Techera; Rivero
