MLS Match Preview – Vancouver Whitecaps vs Sporting Kansas City

It has arrived. We have a lot of questions around the Vancouver Whitecaps in 2020, and starting with Saturday, we will begin to get some of the answers.

Match Information

Teams: Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs Sporting Kansas City

Location: BC Place, Vancouver

Date and Time: February 29^th, 7:30 pm PST

Watching: TSN (in Canada) & MLS Live on ESPN+ (in US)

Preseason Form

The Whitecaps had a successful preseason, recording three wins, two losses, and one draw. In those six matches, they scored 11 goals, with Cavallini scoring in each of the final four.

Sporting Kansas City started their preseason strong with 4-0 victories over Phoenix Rising TC (Trialists) and FC Cincinnati. However, the rest of the preseason was not very good. They closed out their preseason with three losses to Columbus (0-2), Phoenix Rising FC (1-2), and New York Red Bulls (1=2) and managed only a 0-0 draw against Real Salt Lake. Needless to say, it wasn’t pretty. Hopefully the Caps can use that to their advantage and get off to a strong start.

Head-to-head Vancouver and Kansas City have had some memorable matches, including sending offs and big comebacks. In Major League Soccer, Vancouver has two wins, four losses, and two draws.

Who’s Available (injuries, suspensions, etc.)

The Whitecaps made a bunch of moves during the offseason, including several late moves. This means that there are a lot of new faces to get to know with the club. However, some of those new faces, and some old faces, will not be available for this one. Erik Godoy is still recovering from a leg injury. Leonard Owusu is now practicing with the club, after some visa issues, but it is unlikely that we will see him on Saturday. Same goes with center back Ranko Veselinovic. Other than that, the club is fairly healthy heading into the regular season.

Who to Watch?

In early December, Sporting Kansas City set a club-record transfer fee for Mexican striker Alan Pulido. A week later, Vancouver Whitecaps set their own club-record transfer fee, acquiring another Liga MX striker in Canadian Lucas Cavallini.

Saturday will mark the start of an era for both clubs, looking to pin their hopes on a high-priced striker. The question will be, which striker will get the better service and who will be the hero at, around 9:30pm.

Who is Going to Win

Sporting Kansas City has pretty much as many question marks as Vancouver does. Both acquired a high-priced striker to try and resolve their woes. So, how this one goes is anyone’s guess. SKC were just 3-10-4 on the road in 2019 but are 4-2-2 all-time at BC Place. This could be a good match for Vancouver, or a bad one. My prediction is a good one. It has to be. They really need it! As a result, the likely outcome is a draw, but I think Vancouver has the possibility of pulling out a win.