by Graham Tooke, @chelskitooke
RSL RECAP
Darren Mattocks’ fine form continued as he fed off of Russell Teibert’s pin-point cross heading the Whitecaps to the top of the table last Saturday. Their position on top solidified by a healthy 16 points from their 8 games played so far.
Carl Robinson took a positive step with his team selection for the visit to Rio Tinto Stadium lining up with two strikers; Darren Mattocks partnering Octavio Rivero. Despite the change in system the tactics were wholly negative as the game struggled for any real flow, but at the very least stymied the threat from a Real Salt Lake desperately missing the influence of Javier Morales.
With Salt Lake missing one Morales Vancouver had to make do without their talismanic Morales due to suspension. Nicolas Mezquida stepped into a more natural role behind the strikers and played it well doing his best to distribute from an advanced position.
As if the match couldn’t have turned any uglier, RSL substitute Carlos Saucedo was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Mauro Rosales. The tackle looked to do some damage to Rosales’ ankle that had only recently healed but the Argentine winger managed to run off the injury and should be in contention for Saturday evening.
Mattocks looks like a brand new player.
Had Darren Mattocks not popped up in the box late in the match to gift Vancouver a superb winner the match was likely heading to a bore 0-0 draw as David Ousted was once again in inspired form keeping out numerous chances from Alvaro Saborio.
Jeff Cassar’s hopes of a comeback were dashed when Jamison Olave received his second booking in the dying stages for pulling back Mattocks and will head to New England Revolution without his key centre back.
DC MATCHUP
DC United is unbeaten in four but this will be their first trip of the season to the west coast. Their last match ended in a 1-1 draw with the Western Conferences Houston Dynamo at RFK Stadium in front of 13,000. Chris Rolfe scored a spectacular free kick to put the home side ahead before Ricardo Clark cleaned up with an equalizer.
Their previous meeting before Houston was a 1-0 win over Bruce Arena’s LA Galaxy, a side that Carl Robinson out mastered to a 2-0 victory at BC Place.
Ben Olsen will be delighted to welcome back Fabian Espindola from a long term suspension for shoving an assistant referee towards the end of last season. Goals have been few and far between as they’ve been heavily reliant on their backline to keep clean sheets for much of the season. A reshuffled defense that has missed Steve Birnbaum for the last three matches due to injury.
Hamid could be missing for a second game straight, leaving Dykstra to start in goal.
And the injuries haven’t ended there. Eddie Johnson has been the latest long term casualty who appears to be on the verge of premature retirement. While Luis Silva their creative force in behind the strikers missed out on the first three matches of the season with a leg injury. And now Bill Hamid may miss the trip to Vancouver handing a potential second start to Andrew Dykstra.
However, it hasn’t at all been a negative experience for Ben Olsen as goals have come from the unlikeliest of sources. Perry Kitchen the defensive midfield war horse came up with a brace against New York Red Bulls two weeks ago.
One area that has yet to worry Carl Robinson is his front line with newcomer Octavio Rivero leading the way with five goals. He also has a resurgent Darren Mattocks to call upon, who appears to be playing for the team for the first time in his short career. A successful spell away with the Jamaican national team have given the SuperDraft pick a new lease of life in Vancouver, enough so that his coach was willing to deviate from his regular one man striker force and use two up front.
It wont hurt to have Pedro back in the starting eleven after last weekends performance.
Pedro Morales will go straight into the lineup to boost the flair that was missing when they played with three men protecting the defense last wek. Laba, Koffie and Teibert all lined up to prevent Real Salt Lake breaking through and did a fantastic job but going forward was extremely labored. The Chilean in behind Mattocks and Rivero this weekend could see the trio cause a few headaches for Boswell and Opare.
Kendall Waston will have to be careful this weekend if he hopes to be available for the Cascadia Cup clash in Portland next weekend as he currently sits on four bookings one away from an automatic suspension.
Cristian Techera arrived in Vancouver this week to begin the next stage of his career. The one nicknamed ‘The Bug’ has already caught the eye with lightning quick feet. But it’s his strength on the ball that has been most impressive. In training he was seen holding off the ‘Caps burly centre backs thanks to his low centre of gravity. It’s highly unlikely he starts against DC United but a late substitute appearance to get the fans on their feet is a very probably outcome.
Probable Lineups
Vancouver Whitecaps: Ousted; Adekugbe, Waston, Kah, Beitashour; Laba, Teibert; Mattocks, Morales, Rosales; Rivero
DC United: Dykstra; Kemp, Opare, Boswell, Franklin; Rolfe, Kitchen, Arnaud, Silva; Pontius, Espindola
7:30 PM, TSN1 and TSN1410
