The Vancouver Whitecaps look to stretch their unbeaten run to 14 matches across all competitions when they play a third consecutive away match on Saturday night, this time with a game against Real Salt Lake at Sandy, Utah.
Vancouver (8-1-4, 28 points) has been the surprise team of MLS this season, storming to near the top of the Supporters’ Shield standings while also navigating a stunning run to the CONCACAF Champions Cup final. The latter will be decided June 1 in Mexico City against Cruz Azul.
But perhaps there are some recent signs of a loss of momentum with Vancouver settling for three consecutive draws in all competitions. The last came in Leg 1 of their Canadian Championship quarterfinal on Tuesday night in a match that finished 2-2 at Valour FC of the second-tier Canadian Premier League.
“We have been traveling a lot, and I think that it’s also maybe wearing and tearing a little bit on everybody,” explained Whitecaps manager Jesper Sorensen. “And then I think everybody knows that there’s a game coming up June 1 that also is maybe part of where people’s heads are spending right now.”
Samuel Adekugbe scored early and substitute Ali Ahmed scored late for the Whitecaps. Team scoring leader Brian White and influential winger Sebastian Berhalter were used off the bench, while Sorensen rested midfielder Pedro Vite.
Salt Lake (4-8-2, 14 points) has had a full week to recover from a 1-0 defeat at rival Colorado last weekend.
The Claret-and-Cobalt are winless in four straight and scoreless in two in the league play. While young midfielder Diego Luna is having a breakout season with seven goals, no one else has more than one in MLS play.
But manager Pablo Mastroeni’s side received a morale boost with Colombian defender Brayan Vera returning to training for the first time since a scary head injury forced him out early in a 3-1 win at San Diego in late April.
“I feel good now, my head feels fine,” Vera told RSL’s social media team this week, in Spanish. “I think I still have to work more physically. But I want everyone who was worried to know that everything is OK and thank God I’m alive to give everything I can for this team.”
–Field Level Media
