The Seattle Sounders travel North of the border on Sunday, October 2nd to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps. The Sounders find themselves in a playoff position for the first time all year as they are currently sitting in sixth place. Vancouver enters this game six points back of Seattle in eighth place.
Last time out
The Sounders are coming off a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire this past Wednesday night at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, WA. The lone goal came in the 24th minute from a Chad Marshall header. The ball was sent in from the corner by Andreas Ivanschitz. It was Marshall’s fourth goal of the season and Ivanschitz’s eighth assist of the year.
Vancouver is coming off of a 3-3 draw with the Colorado Rapids at BC Place in Vancouver, Canada. Both teams traded goals off and on all night long at BC Place. Colorado got on the board first in the eighth minutes when Dominique Badji scored. Just six minutes into the second half, the Whitecaps levels the score on Kendall Waston’s goal in the 51st minute. Just six minutes later, Colorado retook the lead when Shkelzen Gashi converted the penalty that the Rapids had earned.
In the 70th minute, Pedro Morales got the Whitecaps level once again when he was left all alone in the box after receiving a pass from Giles Barnes. Gashi scored his second goal of the night in the 75th minute off of a beautifully placed free kick.
Just as soon as it seemed to be another loss for Vancouver, the Whitecaps struck again in second half stoppage time. A hopeful ball was sent into the box by Jordan Harvey that took a few deflections and somehow the ball fell to Erik Hurtado. Hurtado buried his shot to secure a point at home for Vancouver.
Last meeting
These two teams met just two weeks ago with Seattle coming out the victor after Jordan Morris scored the lone goal in the 81st minute for a 1-0 victory for the Sounders. It was a game that was, for the most part, dominated by Seattle. Vancouver had their chances but was not able to convert when it mattered the most. This will be the third and final meeting of the season between these two clubs. Both teams have won one game each.
Keys to the game
Nicolás Lodeiro will not play in this game due to yellow card accumulation. The Sounders will also be without forward Clint Dempsey for this game and the rest of 2016. The Sounders will need to find a way to create chances without the crafty Uruguayan in the lineup. In just ten games, Lodeiro has scored three goals and has eight assists, tied with Ivanschitz for the team lead. He will be missed dearly in this game if Seattle can’t create without him.
Vancouver is one of the fastest team in all of MLS. They have no problem sitting back and waiting to hit teams on the counter-attack. With Hurtado finally scoring his second goal of the season last week, Vancouver will hope he can continue to score.
Prediction
With so much riding on this game for playoff positioning, expect a breakneck pace that will be set by Vancouver. They have no margin for error. A loss by the Whitecaps will all but eliminate them from playoff contention. Seattle needs to keep rolling the way they have these last few months. They have been virtually unbeatable since the end of July. They have actually secured more points in their last ten game, 21, then they did in their first 20, 20 points.
Morris and the Sounders will somehow pull some magic and pick up a much-need three points on the road to help make their playoff positioning a little bit better.