Saturday night in Utah, the Vancouver Whitecaps will take on Real Salt Lake for the second time in less than a month. Since that match at BC Place, Vancouver has been on a mixed run of form, with three consecutive draws, including a 2-2 result on the road in the Canadian Championship against Valour FC.
The good news for the Whitecaps is that with the cup match back on Tuesday, many of Vancouver’s regular starters were able to get some valuable rest, while some of VWFC’s depth pieces saw some much needed minutes. The likes of Brian White, Ali Ahmed, and Sebastian Berhalter should all be fresh. In addition, the Whitecaps top pairing at centreback, Ranko Veselinovic and Tristan Blackmon, are waiting in the wings. So is Yohei Takaoka, who has been on a great run of form, and he should take back the starting job between the sticks after a rare match off-duty.
Back on May 3rd, Vancouver came away with a 2-1 win at BC Place which was led by a standout performance from Jayden Nelson. Since then, Salt Lake has extended their winless run to four matches, including their most recent result, a 1-0 loss in the Rocky Mountain Cup to the Colorado Rapids.
The defensive bottom-line for Salt Lake has been decent over that stretch, with only two goals allowed, but they simply have not been able to generate enough at the attacking end of the pitch to gain any traction. The three matches since RSL played Vancouver has seen them combine for just 1.5 xG in total, which is simply not good enough. This is not a short term problem, either, as only four players for RSL have created more than 2.0 non-penalty Xg/Xa this season, whereas Vancouver has nine such players.
Despite Vancouver’s relative dominance and consistency this season, things have been a bit more challenging in recent weeks, and regaining midfield superiority is central to the recovery mission, especially after the performance down in Austin last weekend. In that department, the Whitecaps will have to operate without the services of Andres Cubas in this match, who will miss it due to yellow card accumulation. However, after strong showings against Valour and Austin, Ralph Priso will be the natural fit to take his place in the XI.
Up front, I would think that Ali Ahmed and Jayden Nelson will be the choices alongside Brian White, as Emmanuel Sabbi struggled as a starter in Vancouver’s last two matches, and Ryan Gauld remains on the sideline with his knee issue, the only remaining injury absence for Vancouver.
Finally, fullback could be a position of intrigue for the Whitecaps, as both Sam Adekugbe and Mathias Laborda are fully fit, having started midweek against Valour. Will Jesper Sørensen go back to Edier Ocampo and Tate Johnson at those positions? Or could we see a mix of veterans and youngsters in those roles? I would like to see Ocampo and Adekugbe together, as that provides the most on-ball upside, but we will see what the Danish manager comes up with for Saturday night.
Overall, the Whitecaps have the quality to go down to Utah and come away with all three points, but they must execute at a higher level than the last two matches. This is no doubt something that Sørensen will have emphasized during training this week out at UBC. Given Salt Lake’s recent struggles and their relative lack of attacking threat, this is a perfect match for Vancouver to get back to their winning formula.