The Vancouver Whitecaps will try to avoid a second Round 1 series sweep at the hands of LAFC in as many seasons when they host Game 2 on Sunday evening.
The eighth-seeded Whitecaps have played top-seeded LAFC more than any other opponent during the past two seasons, with nine fixtures in total across all competitions. They’re winless in the last seven of those, with their last positive result of any sort a 2-2 draw at home in the Leagues Cup in July.
Vancouver manager Vanni Sartini believes it might take something special to force a third match in Los Angeles, even after the Whitecaps put forth a credible performance in a 2-1 defeat in the series opener a week ago.
“The main takeaway is that playing well is probably not enough against them,” Sartini said. “So we need to play well like we did last game. But also, we need to (have) a little bit of extra. That can be the extra performance of the individual, or even the extra … courage we need to have when we are attacking.”
Ryan Gauld had that kind of performance two matches ago when he scored a hat trick in Vancouver’s 5-0 Western Conference wild-card win at Portland.
But it’s fairly clear that he and/or team scoring leader Brian White will have to be heavily involved to prolong this series.
LAFC’s options — such as 2023 MLS Golden Boot winner Denis Bouanga, Game 1-winning goal scorer Cristian Olivera and France’s all-time international goal-scoring leader Olivier Giroud and others — are more diverse.
Perhaps that’s why LAFC manager Steve Cherundolo isn’t overly concerned about a potential tactical switch by Sartini.
“It’s 100 percent possible, but it’s not possible to restructure your roster,” Cherundolo said. “Even if there are formational changes, it’s still the same players. So if we can focus on individuals and traits and habits of those individuals, then you have a pretty decent idea what’s going on.”
–Field Level Media
