Match Preview - Real Salt Lake

Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Real Salt Lake
BC Place Stadium
Kickoff: 7pm
Radio: TSN Radio Vancouver
TV: TSN

Referee: Allen Chapman
Assistant Referees: Corey Rockwell, Apolinar Mariscal
Fourth Official: Baboucarr Jallow
VAR: Kevin Stott

Coming out of the international break Vancouver and RSL are in precarious positions, both battling for playoff spots. The Caps currently sit in 4th, 4pts behind 1st Seattle and only 1 point ahead of 6th place Dallas with the least number of games played.

The Caps open home this 4 match homestand, knowing that they control their own destiny, with the least number of games played. Also, it does mean some fixture congestion. In years passed, that has resulted in doom. This year, rotated Caps lineups have netted some pretty good results, so perhaps a little congestion isn’t a bad thing.

On paper, most would think it's one of those “should win” games, however, this is MLS where anything can happen. I have also not forgotten the whitewashing at Rio Tinto aka the snow game.

The Caps run in looks like: home to RSL, Minnesota, Columbus, Colorado, away to Seattle, Sporting KC, Red Bulls, home to San Jose and away to Portland on Decision Day. With 2 of them being midweek, and having games on weekend before and after, we should see some medium to heavy rotation by Robbo.

RSL, on the other hand, sit in 8th place, 2 points behind 6th place Dallas and 9 points clear of 9th place LA Galaxy, with the most number of games played.

Their run in is interesting. Away to Vancouver, home to Portland and Seattle, away to LA and Colorado and home to Sporting KC on Decision Day. With no team breathing down their neck, and all the teams in front of them with games in hand, it’s hard to know exactly how the team will react should they fall more than a game out of the playoff picture.

Both teams need points and with both playing again on Wednesday, the timing of subs could also play a factor.