Match Preview: Vancouver Whitecaps vs F.C Dallas

I can’t imagine how the players are feeling because even I am a bit fatigued after the Vancouver Whitecaps’ latest run of games. On Saturday the opponent will be F.C Dallas.

Kick Off: 4:00 pm (May 25th)

TV: TSN 1/3/4/5

Radio: TSN 1040

FC Dallas:

Well they’re a team I guess. Looking over their highlights and statistics it’s hard to pick out anything particularly notable about F.C Dallas. They have a 5W-3D-5L record, an even goal difference and are generally middle of the pack by most measures. The mostly play a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3, like basically every other team in MLS. As far as notable players they have hot prospect and Football Manager regen Paxton Pomykal who’s been making a name for himself in 2019. They also have Jesús Ferriera, son of David Ferriera who’s leg was savagly broken by Jonathon Leathers in the Whitecaps’ first year in MLS. Will Jesús be out to get revenge for his father? We shall see.

Dallas are in a poor run of form so I suppose this is the time to play them. They haven’t won any of their last five matches. They don’t have a player with more than four goals and actually average fewer shots per game than the Whitecaps. It’s an immovable object vs an immovable object! It’s just going to be two giant boulders sitting there!

Vancouver Whitecaps:

The Whitecaps are coming off two road draws against teams who are down on their luck but on paper are pretty good. That’s ok but at some point the wins have to start coming. You’ve got to win your home games if you’re going to be a good team in MLS. The Whitecaps have left too many points on the table at BC place so far this season. Of course they probably knew that already so there’s not much good in me telling them. It’s really hard to predict who the Whitecaps will field for this game because of the fixture congestion. I would imagine Hwang will be in the starting XI as he started both previous matches on the bench. The rest seemed to do him some good as, despite missing a chance to square the ball to Felipe, he did come on and make 2 key passes and have a 90% passing accuracy against the Red Bulls. We saw how much livelier Fredy Montero looked after being rested for a couple games so hopefully that will work with Hwang as well. You have to wonder with how many players the Whitecaps brought in this year, who had already played a full season elsewhere, just how much of a factor fatigue has been this season.

I predict a 1-1 draw.

Injuries:

Dallas

• OUT: F - Santiago Mosquera (knee injury)
• QUESTIONABLE: F - Cristian Colman (left ACL tear 10/4)
• QUESTIONABLE: M - Carlos Gruezo (lower body strain)
• QUESTIONABLE: GK - Jimmy Maurer (ankle injury)

Vancouver

• OUT: M - Michael Baldisimo (left ankle contusion)
• OUT: D - Jasser Khmiri (left knee injury)
• OUT: M - David Norman Jr. (right foot surgery 4/5, out 3-4 months)
• OUT: F - Yordy Reyna (left hamstring strain 4/27, out at least 1 month)
• OUT: F - Lass Bangoura (left hamstring strain)
• OUT: D - Doneil Henry (left hamstring injury)