The Vancouver Whitecaps will look to get back on the winning track Saturday afternoon when they visit a Toronto FC side still searching for its first victory.
The Whitecaps (4-1-0, 12 points) saw their perfect start to the regular season halted in last Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to the Chicago Fire, a game in which Vancouver was depleted by injuries and international call-ups.
Even so, it was a 1-1 game for 46 minutes after Daniel Rios’ leveler, before Chicago scored twice inside the final half-hour.
First-year Vancouver manager Jesper Sorensen will see Brian White, Pedro Vite and Andres Cubas return from their respective national teams after missing Saturday’s defeat. And although the loss may have been understandable given those absences, Sorensen said there’s no sense of relief from seeing that perfect season-opening run disrupted.
“No, you don’t want to get the talk about being undefeated done with,” Sorensen said. “You always go for each of the games with the ambition, with the hope that you will not lose. You want to win. But you also know that it’s part of the game.”
That attitude has put Vancouver in this position in the league, as well as into the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals against Pumas UNAM in a series that will begin next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Toronto (0-4-1, 1 point) suffered a fourth consecutive defeat, 2-1 against the New York Red Bulls on Saturday despite Toronto manager Robin Fraser’s decision to start Lorenzo Insigne and play the full 90 minutes.
With reports that Insigne had refused a move away from TFC, the Italian did not dress in Toronto’s first four matches. But he assisted Deandre Kerr’s 70th-minute equalizer — Kerr’s second goal of the season — before the Red Bulls went in front again through Emil Forsberg’s penalty.
“It’s the same thing that I tell you every week,” Fraser said of his decision to play Insigne. “I pick the group that I think is going to give us the best chance to win. And today was no different. And Lorenzo gave us some good moments and some honest work. And I think for someone who hadn’t played in a long while, his contribution was quite good.”
–Field Level Media
