VANCOUVER – Entering this weekend three points out of a playoff spot, the Vancouver Whitecaps know Saturday’s road game against the San Jose Earthquakes is about as close to a must-win match they will ever play in August.
For those Whitecaps fans who drink from a glass half-full, they will say this is a contest for the taking, as the Earthquakes have just one home win all season. For those whose glass is half-empty, they will see this is a tough task, as Vancouver is winless in nine career MLS trips to the Bay Area.
“It’s important for us that we’re still in the race to not look at them [or their record],” defender Marcel de Jong said of San Jose, who are just 1-5-5 at Avaya Stadium this year.
“They’re playing at home and don’t want to get beat in front of their fans.”
“When we look at our last four MLS games, we’ve gotten eight points,” Whitecaps goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic added. “We have nine games left and everything to play for. All in all, we’re very positive.”
One thing that will help Vancouver’s cause in trying to move up the standings is that their schedule is now somewhat normal. When you add in the two-legged final of the Canadian Championship against Toronto FC, the Whitecaps are coming off a stretch of five matches in a span of 14 days.
“It’s been a hard couple of weeks with a lot of games,” de Jong admitted. “It’s good for us that we can have a normal training week and prepare ourselves right for the game.”
“We’re no different than any team in this league in that we have to focus on one game at a time,” coach Carl Robinson commented. “We were positive with our last two away performances in the league. It’s going to be a very difficult game for us. We’re under no illusions, but it’s a game we firmly believe we can go and win.”
Vancouver enters the weekend alone in eighth place in the Western Conference (9-9-7). They are one point behind the Seattle Sounders and three back of the Portland Timbers, two teams who face one another on Sunday.
If the Whitecaps are to stay in the playoff conversation into September, they will have to avoid conceding too many untimely goals. In their 2-2 draw last weekend at home against the New York Red Bulls, Vancouver gave up the opening goal five minutes into the match. They also allowed a heartbreaking equalizer in the 90thminute to let what seemed like an easy three points slip away.
“I keep stressing every week that when we play, we all have to be at our levels,” Robinson stated. “If we’re not, and I mean every player, it’s going to be very difficult to win games in this league.”
NOTES & TIDBITS
Both of Vancouver’s goals scored by Kendall Waston against the Red Bulls last weekend came off corner kicks, the first for Vancouver this year.
Of the 40 goals scored by the Whitecaps in 2018, 14 have come in the final 15 minutes of a match. They are tied with the Red Bulls and Los Angeles Galaxy for the most goals in that interval.
Saturday marks the 20th regular season meeting between Vancouver and San Jose in MLS. The Whitecaps are 6-4-9 against the Earthquakes, with their most recent meeting ending in a 2-2 draw at BC Place on May 16. Since joining MLS in 2011, Vancouver’s record in San Jose is 0-3-6.
San Jose enters the weekend with the worst record in MLS (3-13-8, and 17 points). Coming off a 1-1 draw last weekend against Toronto FC, the Earthquakes have posted just one victory over their last 15 regular season fixtures.
The top two active goal-scorers in MLS history are set to face each other on Saturday. Strikers Kei Kamara and Chris Wondolowski have combined for 249 regular season goals. Kamara leads all Vancouver players this season with 10, while Wondolowski has tallied seven. Wondolowski has scored 11 times against Vancouver, the most of any player in MLS.
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