The Vancouver Whitecaps begin their MLS stretch run on Saturday night, taking on Austin FC at Q2 Stadium in central Texas as they look to improve their position in the fight for a home playoff spot.

The Verde showed the Caps who they are during the return leg of this fixture at BC Place, when they parlayed their conservative, direct style (and an egregious penalty no call) into a 0-0 draw.

That basically has been Austin’s MO all year, though they might open up a bit now that flashy new signing Osman Bukari has landed. Bukari has shown a nice interplay with designated player Sebastian Driussi and his pace could cause problems.

But Austin still likes to play more defensively, with their attack ranking at the bottom of basically every statistical category. They’ve put the fewest shots on target of any team in the league, are tied for last place in goals per game and were starting to fade fast in the playoff race before adding some reinforcements in the transfer window.

That made their outburst during the Leagues Cup group stages all that much more surprising, beating Mexican giants Monterrey and Pumas (though both sides showed varying degrees of apathy to the competition). LAFC promptly dispatched them in the knockout stages 2-0 but they followed that up with a win over Nashville last weekend.

Austin added some reinforcements along the backline during the transfer window. But they also have the second highest expected goals conceded of any team in the league and have given up eight fewer goals than you would expect.

A lot of this, however, is down to the talent of Brad Stuver, who remains one of the best keepers in the league and is near the top of MLS in clean sheets.

The Caps dusted off their post Leagues Cup rust with a 1-0 win to advance to the Voyageurs Cup final on Tuesday. There was a major casualty from that match, however, with Brian White exiting with a concussion and he has already been confirmed to miss Saturday’s match.

Levonte Johnson, meanwhile, will also miss out with a hamstring injury. Mathias Laborda has been dealing with a knock and its uncertain if he will be back as well.

Not having White and Johnson will leave Vanni Sartini with some options. We probably will see Damir Kreilach up top alongside Ryan Gauld and Fafa Picault. Beyond that, you’d expect a pretty close to first choice side.

This team isn’t quite the same without White, however. If he is out for a prolonged period of time, that will really hurt, as Kreilach hasn’t quite lived up to what the Caps were hoping for when they brought him in.

Meanwhile, the Caps have struggled with teams that have put men behind the ball this year (the 0-0 draw against Austin is a good example) and Austin is particularly difficult to play against at home. The Caps will be desperate for points here given the number of players they’ll miss during the international break but without White (and on the heels of having to play in the midweek) this feels like a trap game.

(Image Credit: Max Visuals)