Match Preview: Vancouver Whitecaps vs New England Revolution

Wednesdays’ game between the Vancouver Whitecaps and the New England Revolution sees a matchup between two teams who are in a similar place in the standings but who are trending in opposite directions. The Revs are unbeaten since firing head coach and extremely weird guy Brad Friedel while the ‘Caps seem to be rapidly spiralling out of control following a 6-1 loss to LAFC. The ‘Caps will be without Ali Adnan who is suspended through yellow card accumulation and the Revs well be boosted by new DP striker Gustavo Bou. This could be an ugly one for the Whitecaps.

Kick off: 4:00 PM

TV: TSN1 TSN3 (Radio: TSN1040)

New England Revolution:

The revolution typically play a 4-2-3-1 formation with two inside forwards as the wide players. The team revolves heavily around designated player Carles Gil, who has been putting up some incredible underlying numbers. Now that Gustavo Bou is in town the Revs will be hoping that he is able to finish some of the average three chances per game that Gil creates. New manager Bruce Arena has also meant the return of Matt Turner in goal, a keeper i’m a big fan of. A quick glance at the stats will tell you that you’d be foolish to start Cody Cropper or Brad Knighton ahead of him so naturally Brad Freidel did it all the time. It’s kind of a shame the Whitecaps have to play the Revolution after they’ve figured things out somewhat

Vancouver Whitecaps:

As was mentioned before the Whitecaps are without Adnan. What will they do without him? I have no idea honestly. At this point i’d almost rather play Scott Sutter on his off side than put Levis or PC at left back. Perhaps that Whitecaps will return to a 4-3-3 to give the left fullback some extra cover, though Marc Dos Santos has said that switching between a back 3 and a back 4 so frequently has caused problems for the team. I have no idea what they’ll do and i’m not super optimistic there’s anything they can do at the moment. I believe Fredy Montero will return from suspension but I doubt that’s exciting anybody.

Injuries:

New England

• QUESTIONABLE: D - Michael Mancienne (foot injury)

Vancouver

• OUT: D - Jasser Khmiri (left knee injury)
• OUT: M - David Norman Jr. (right foot surgery 4/5, out 3-4 months)