By Toby Dunkelberg
With playoff hopes hanging in the balance the Seattle Sounders play host to the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday afternoon for their second darby of the season. Both teams are seeing something of a resurgence of late, with Seattle bolstered by the addition of playmaker Nico Lodeiro, and the Whitecaps winning two games in a row for the first time in months. But Saturday just as big of a problem for both.
Although it’s true that Seattle’s gone 3-2-1 since Lodeiro’s that masks their recent form of 0-2-1 since Clint Dempsey was sidelined due to an irregular heart beat. Neither of the draws against Houston and San Jose were promising, with two fluke goals against the run of play from Lodeiro salvaging the results. Without Dempsey the team lacks a third attacking threat to keep defenders honest. In his absence teams are free to man mark Lodeiro and Morris, and have done so to great effect, leaving the Sounders unable to generate chances.
With the attack limited to a goal or so a game the onus has been forced onto the defense. While they look better than they did during the summer due to the return of centerback Roman Torres, the Sounders are still overly prone individual errors especially on set pieces. This has cost them dearly and as such it’s been ten games since the Rave Green have kept a clean sheet.
It’s worth noting that although the Sounders are the home team this matchup historically favors the away team. The Whitecaps have made CenturyLink Field something of a second home, winning their last four games at the Sounders home venue. With their playoff hopes on the line it’ll be up to the newcomers in the darby, Jordan Morris and Nicola Lodeiro to change the status quo.
The Whitecaps meanwhile are riding high after taking a significant 1-0 result against Sporting Kansas City in CCL play midweek. With goals from the resurgent Erik Hurtado and newcomer Alphonso Davies Vancouver all but locked up a spot out of their group. But it looks as though that win will come at a cost. Their starers were forced into playing more minutes than coach Carl Robinson would’ve preferred, and as such it’ll be a tired and possibly barebones lineup that takes the field Saturday afternoon.
The one thing going for Vancouver is that they’ve still got the Cascdia Cup to play for. Trailing Portland by three points with two games in hand it’s the Whitecaps trophy to lose at this point. Seattle’s abysmal performances at Providence Park this season have all but ruled them out of contention. It would take winning all their remaining games in the competition and some goal differential tricker for them to defend their Cascadia Cup title.
As with all games it’ll come down to who shows up ready to play. Unfortunately for the Sounders it’s been three games since they’ve come out the gates looking reading to play soccer so I expect them to give one up early to one of Vancouver’s speedy attackers. After that it’s anyones guess as to how the Sounders respond. It could light a fire under the Sounders and Lodiero and Co. could figure out the final piece to get them creating chances again, or Seattle fans might watch in horror as their seven straight seasons of playoff soccer comes to an end in front of their eyes. This writer thinks the Sounders steal one back late but Vancouver hold on the salvage the point, and Cascadia Cup bragging rights, dooming both seasons to an early offseason.
PREDICTION
SEATTLE SOUNDERS 1 – 1 VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
Seattle Sounders FC
