The Vancouver Whitecaps will try to reverse their late-season slide in Wednesday’s Western Conference wild-card match when they visit a Portland Timbers side coming off one of its most dramatic results of the season.
Vancouver limps into the postseason having lost four in a row and is winless in its last seven MLS competitions. Even with that slide, the Whitecaps secured the eighth seed, one higher than the Timbers, but were forced to relocate the match to Portland because of a venue conflict in Vancouver.
Despite his side’s recent struggles, coach Vanni Sartini thought his team’s regular-season finale provided evidence that maybe this slump could end as the playoffs start.
The Whitecaps were decidedly unfortunate in their 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake Saturday. Fafa Picault missed a penalty before Salt Lake regained a late lead through a fluky own goal.
“It’s hard to win games if you basically give two goals to the other team. It is what it is,” Sartini said Monday. “There were some … moments, I would say, that I’ve seen in the game that make me really, really, really optimistic for Wednesday.”
Portland hasn’t exactly been streaking into the playoffs, either.
Antony’s 68th-minute equalizer helped the Timbers secure a 1-1 draw at the Seattle Sounders on Sunday and capture the Cascadia Cup, the annual regular-season contest between Portland, Seattle and Vancouver.
But coach Phil Neville’s squad has still earned only four points from its last five matches — all via draw — and has suddenly seen its dynamic attack go quiet.
Evander has been among the league’s best players with 15 goals and 19 assists but has only one of each in the last four matches. Those are the only two goals Portland has scored during that span, its most futile four-match attacking stretch of the season.
“We have to have the courage, we have to have the quality to play,” Neville said after the Seattle draw. “And I’ve got to say it’s the front six, and the front four in particular, (that) have to deliver for us.”
Wednesday’s match is a win-or-go-home scenario. The winner advances to face top-seeded Los Angeles FC in the best-of-three first round, which begins Sunday.
–Field Level Media
