Fresh from their victory over Valour FC in the Canadian Championships quarter-final, the Vancouver Whitecaps return to MLS action as they begin a 3-match road trip by travelling to Denver to face the Colorado Rapids.

Despite Vancouver’s 2-0 victory in the reverse fixture earlier in the season and the Rapids currently lying outside of the playoff places, this game will be a tough test for an out of form Whitecaps team. The stadium, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, always causes problems for visiting teams with its high altitude of 5200ft above sea level, and it has not been a happy hunting ground for Vancouver in recent years as they have not won there since 2019.

Although this game will be a challenge, following a rut of 3 defeats in 4 MLS games and an underwhelming performance in midweek, Jesper Sørensen will be hoping to see his team return to the scintillating form that they produced at the start of the season and earn a crucial victory in the race for the Supporters Shield.

Starting with the Whitecaps, and after yet another disappointing display, I think it is now time to look at what has been going wrong recently.

I know it has been talked about a bit in Whitecaps social media spaces and on the most recent episode of The Third Sub podcast, but I feel that the absences from both injury and international duties that the Whitecaps have suffered have taken it’s toll on the team, and the fatigue that the other guys on the roster have developed after filling in for these absences is finally taking its toll on the side.

Of course, absences aren’t entirely to blame for this slump of form, as there is a lack of depth and leadership across the squad that hopefully the Whitecaps will rectify in the summer window that have seen some players thrust into more minutes than they may have expected.

With all the players back from international duty now, we can hopefully see the Whitecaps gather some momentum, and after some more training sessions as a complete group they’ll be back to full strength ahead of a crucial second half of the season.

In terms of team news, Jayden Nelson will be absent due to suspension after his red card against LA Galaxy, but Ralph Priso will be available and he can be expected to return to the side as Andres Cubas is still out injured. As a more positive update, Ryan Gauld was back out on the training pitch this week, although it will still be a while before we can see the skipper return to the side.

Looking at the hosts, and perhaps fortunately for Vancouver, they themselves are in a dismal run of form as they have only 1 victory in their last 7 games, including a midweek thrashing 3-0 at the hands of LAFC.

Indeed, Colorado are on the whole having an underwhelming season, as they are currently sat in 10^th in the Western Conference, having played at least a game more than everyone else.

In terms of team news, the Rapids will be without former USMNT and Manchester City goalkeeper Zach Steffen due to a knee injury, whilst they will have to combat a selection issue at left-back as Sam Vines is out until August with a groin injury, and Jackson Travis is suspended after his early red card against LAFC.

When considering dangerous players in their side, top scorer and talisman Djordje Mihailovic has 8 goals already this season, and he will operate behind strikers Rafael Navarro and Darren Yapi, who will do their best to create some space in the final third. Promising midfielder Cole Bassett made his first start after returning from injury in their midweek game, and also looks set to start against Vancouver.

Overall, while this Colorado game will be a difficult one for the Whitecaps, I expect that Vancouver will capitalise on the return of their key players and will return to winning ways.