Match Preview: Earthquakes vs Whitecaps

On Saturday August 25th the Vancouver Whitecaps visit Avaya Stadium to face the San Jose Earthquakes. The fixture will be the first of a home at home series with the Quakes. Both teams are coming off of ties against challenging eastern conference opponents.

The Whitecaps desperately need to take advantage of these next two matches as they’ll not face a weaker side all season. This should be an easy six points for the Caps, which might be the most worrisome thing about this pair of games. Carl Robinson has to have his team focused and ready to tear the Quakes apart. Anything less than a victory has to be considered failure with how close the standings are in the west. The fan base may just mutiny if the Caps continue to let points slip away late in matches as they have been all season.

The Quakes have had an abysmal season to this point collecting only 12 points through 19 matches. They have not won a home match in over 170 days. To add salt to the wound the MLS has just handed their most consistent midfielder Shea Salinas an additional match ban for a flagrant elbow during a match against the Colorado Rapids a couple weeks back.

Wondo Watch With the season essentially in the gutter the Quakes are playing for milestones and Chris Wondolowski is on the verge of a major one. Wondo now sits only 4 back of Landon Donovan in 17 fewer games. For the last four matches manager Mikael Stahre has had Wondo playing off the bench, and not always in his usual #9 role either. Stahre’s strange on-field decisions has with the bulk of the fanbase (those that remain anyways) calling for his head. The Whitecaps fans would be apoplectic if we had a manager like Stahre, and I empathize with suffering of the Quakes fan base.

Last XI GK Andrew Tarbell, DF Nick Lima, Guram Kashia, Florian Jungwirth, Joel Qwiberg, MF Magnus Eriksson, Anibal Godoy, Luis Felipe Fernandes, Jahmir Hyka, FW Valeri Qazaishvili, Danny Hoesen.

Subs GK James Marcinkowski, DF Francois Affolter, Jimmy Ockford, MF Christopher Wehan, Jackson Yueill, FW Dominic Oduro, Chris Wondolowski