by Graham Tooke, @chelskitooke
Rapids Review
The Vancouver Whitecaps return home from a lengthy but largely successful road trip. With the culmination of the FIFA Women’s World Cup the Vancouver Whitecaps will get their second outing on the now worn-in turf at BC Place when they host Sporting Kansas City Sunday evening.
Returning with three wins out of five is a fantastic achievement for a club beginning to make a statement in this league as a top club. But no one would have expected their two losses to have come against Montreal and Colorado. Both strugglers got one over on the Western Conference’s leading side.
The Rapids celebrate opening the scoring early on
Last weekend got off to an awful start as Colorado made the most of a defensive lapse down the left. Luis Solignac found an unmarked Vicente Sanchez at the back post for the opening goal in only the second minute.
The Whitecaps did pick up their level of play claiming an equalizer later in the half when Manneh tapped in his third in four games. But the loss of Pa-Modou Kah to injury around the half hour mark proved to be too much for replacement Diego Rodriguez to cope with as he failed to catch up to the pace of the game.
The second half was decidedly more in Colorado’s favour and Kevin Doyle powered in his first MLS goal from Pittinari’s uncontested cross. Vancouver had a couple of half chances but the usual pattern of poor finishing crept in to their game and the Rapids snatched only their third win of the season, their second over the ‘Caps.
SKC Matchup
Graham Zusi in action for the US at the Gold Cup
Both Sporting Kansas City and Vancouver will have to make do with a couple of Gold Cup absentees Sunday evening. Kansas City are missing Graham Zusi (USA) and Marcel de Jong (Canada) but you could say they’ve been let off the hook as Honduras veteran Roger Espinoza and US internationals Matt Besler and Benny Feilhaber have been left off their respective nations rosters, possibly with an eye towards being brought in at the knockout stage.
The Whitecaps are missing a couple of depth guys in Russell Teibert (Canada) and Darren Mattocks (Jamaica) who met Saturday afternoon in a last minute 1-0 win for the Jamaicans. The absences of de Jong and Zusi will likely hit Sporting harder than the two missing from the Whitecaps who have seen more time from the bench.
Sporting Kansas City are holding tight in 6th, however, they are also three games back of the Whitecaps and only five points back of top spot so it would be unsurprising for Peter Vermes to have his side fighting for the MLS Supporters Shield come October knowing how well organized this side is.
The additions of Krisztian Nemeth and Soni Mustivar have helped take the pressure off key men like Feilhaber and Dwyer who have had to shoulder much of the load this season. Only in recent weeks has Dom Dwyer begun to find the net at a similar level to last season. A hat trick against FC Dallas in the US Open Cup has definitely aided the front man’s confidence as he had only scored once in his first seven matches of 2015.
Mustivar is the surprise package thus far having excelled in recent weeks as the holding midfielder in the Sporting midfield allowing Feilhaber to affect the game in the attacking third. A big part in how the mustachioed midfielder has 9 assists this year.
Both sides are swift in transition so this has all the makings of a wide open goal fest. The 4-3-3 regularly employed by Vermes could see Dwyer, Nemeth and Peterson keep the Vancouver defense very busy. And with Diego Rodriguez likely filling in for the injured Kah the young Uruguayan will have to learn fast if he wants to be a regular in Carl Robinson’s plans.
But the ‘Caps will have their own opportunities to attack at the other end with old man Rosales getting his opportunity to see extended minutes in the central attacking role behind Rivero with Pedro Morales still sidelined with a calf injury. The Argentine has looked refreshed playing in behind the striker that’s in turn seen improved performances from Techera and Manneh on the flanks.
Probable Lineups
Vancouver Whitecaps: Ousted; Beitashour, Waston, Rodriguez, Harvey; Laba, Koffie; Techera, Rosales, Manneh; Rivero
Sporting Kansas City: Melia; Anibaba, Ellis, Besler, Dia; Feilhaber, Mustivar, Espinoza; Peterson, Dwyer, Nemeth
6 PM, TSN1 and TSN 1410
