The Vancouver Whitecaps didn’t have long to ponder their latest setback.
After dropping a 2-1 road decision to the Montreal Impact on Wednesday, the club travelled across the continent and will visit the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night.
Vancouver has lost three of its last four in Major League Soccer and will be playing the second match of a season-long five-game road trip while the FIFA Women’s World Cup sets up shop in B.C. Place Stadium until early July.
"L.A. is definitely going to be a tough game, but I do believe we can go there and win," Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted said following the loss in Montreal. "We have the team to go into L.A. and win. We need to show that, we need to show the confidence."
Trailing 1-0 in the second half on Wednesday, Vancouver fought back to tie the game on a penalty from Pedro Morales before giving up the winner just four minutes later thanks to some poor defending.
"The best teams in the world lose games on the road," said midfielder Russell Teibert. "We know we’re going to lose matches, but it’s about bouncing back. We’ve been able to bounce back at times this year, and we’ll do it again."
The Whitecaps (7-6-2) are two points up on the Galaxy (5-4-6) in the Western Conference standings and will be playing their third game in eight days when they step on the pitch at StubHub Center.
"We’ve shown that our squad is deep," said Teibert. "There’s a good rotation in our squad. Guys can come in and play positions. I don’t think there’s going to be a factor of being tired or anything like that."
Vancouver has a decent 3-3-1 road record so far this season, although the team has not picked up an away win since mid-April and has lost all of its six previous visits to Los Angeles by a combined 13-1 scoreline.
Ousted said getting a result against the Galaxy, who had a stuttering start to the season but are unbeaten in three, will come down to the finer points at both ends of the field.
"The little details," said Ousted. "Try to clean up defensively and not let in those easy goals and then put away our chances. I think we create chances. In the boxes right now is where we need to clean it up."
Vancouver beat Los Angeles at home back on April 4, a 2-0 victory that sent the Whitecaps to the top of the MLS standings with a 4-1-0 mark. The club has come back to earth a bit since, and the reigning league champions seem eager to return the favour.
"In the game that we played there they put a lot of pressure on us and they were everywhere on the field," Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez told the club’s official website. "They just outworked us on the day in basically every facet of that game. This game is totally different."
Notes: Galaxy striker Robbie Keane said this week he expects to be available off the bench. The Irish international has played in just six games this season because of a nagging groin injury. … The Whitecaps have a bye after the match and don’t play again until June 20, when they visit the New York Red Bulls.
