|
|
First thoughts
The Vancouver Whitecaps return to BC Place on Sunday after a couple of hard fought draws on the road. They will face off against a Western Conference Playoff rival in FC Dallas, who sit three spots above them in the table, but only two points ahead of Carl Robinson’s side.
Sunday’s fixture will be the first for the Caps since team captain Jay DeMerit announced his retirement on Thursday.
Keep thinking
It’s been an exceptionally busy couple of weeks since the end of the World Cup break for Vancouver and Carl Robinson has had to use a large complement of players over the last several fixtures. However, with a roster comprised mostly of young legs and the match being played on artificial turf, Vancouver could have an advantage against a Dallas side that also played midweek, albeit in a friendly against English Premier League side Aston Villa.
However, while the legs could be tired, FC Dallas will enter play on Sunday with plenty of confidence courtesy of the team’s five game league unbeaten run. Interestingly, that streak has been largely engineered without two of the squad’s most important players, Mauro Diaz and Fabian Castillo. While Diaz has returned from injury and will be available for selection on Sunday, Castillo will be serving the final match of a four-game suspension.
In many ways, the Whitecaps and FC Dallas have been very similar in terms of offense this season, as both teams have spread the goalscoring among a large number of players on the roster. That said, the challenge for Dallas is clearly two pronged: contain the pace of the Whitecaps young forward and reduce the impact of midfield maestro Pedro Morales.
Given the fact that the Whitecaps defense has been quite leaky at times this season, Dallas should be in a good position to come away from something away from this match if they can shut down Morales, Darren Mattocks, Kekuta Manneh and Erik Hurtado.
While Dallas come into this fixture with some momentum, two aspects should give Whitecaps supporters hope that their team will be able to come away with three crucial points. The Texas side has not been particularly good on the road this season and the Whitecaps have generally been better at home. Furthermore, Dallas have struggled in recent visits to BC Place.
In the end
Home field advantage should give Vancouver the advantage in this match. Add in the fact that Vancouver will have had over a week of rest and preparation for the game and it is not a stretch to surmise that the Whitecaps will pull out their first win since the beginning of July.
Prediction
Vancouver Whitecaps 2 – 1 FC Dallas
|