The Vancouver Whitecaps continue to search for their first points of the 2023 Major League Soccer season when they host Dallas on Saturday at BC Place Stadium.
Vancouver suffered another 2-1 defeat last weekend, most recently versus the San Jose Earthquakes, while Dallas earned their first three points of the campaign, beating the Los Angeles Galaxy 3-1.
Match preview
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They got off to another fast start a week ago, but Vancouver failed to sustain that early momentum in San Jose, having now lost consecutive matches in this competition despite leading at the interval.
While they have played some beautiful football at times this season, Vanni Sartini has watched his team lack aggressiveness defensively, and it cost them against the Quakes.
So far in 2023, the Whitecaps have excelled in the press, which has been quick and disruptive, while creating plenty of turnovers that Vancouver have converted into effective transitional attacks.
All four of their goals conceded so far in the regular season have come in the second half, and they have all occurred in quick succession, with Vancouver allowing two in just over two minutes versus Real Salt Lake before the Goonies found the back of the net twice in less than 10 minutes.
On Wednesday, the Caps were deadly in the attacking third, opening their CONCACAF Champions League (CCL) campaign by thrashing Real Espana 5-0, their largest margin of victory in any competitive fixture since 2017.
Vancouver enter this contest unbeaten in their last six regular-season affairs versus the Toros, winning three consecutive matches against them at BC Place.
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After a forgettable opening fixture in which they were shut out 1-0 by Minnesota United, Dallas responded well at home to the Galaxy last weekend, scoring three unanswered goals.
It still took nearly the entire first half for Nico Estevez to see his side generate some scoring chances, but they showed plenty of improvements from what we saw in their opening match when the Toros only registered one effort on target.
While Dallas were outstanding at Toyota Stadium in 2022, they looked like a different team away from home, winning just one of their last seven games outside of Big D, including a 2-1 defeat in the playoffs at Austin FC.
If you count that loss, Dallas have only scored one first-half goal in their last six away games, failing to find the back of the net on three occasions.
The Toros were the top defensive unit in the Western Conference over the 2022 regular season, conceding a mere 37 goals, allowing one or fewer on 11 separate occasions.
Dallas have not beaten the Caps on their home field since 2018, when they captured a 2-1 victory, while they have not won on Canadian soil in this competition since that aforementioned triumph.
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Team News
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Deiber Caicedo remains on the sidelines for Vancouver following his right knee meniscus surgery, while Mathias Laborda made his first appearance since signing in January as the Uruguayan replaced Tristan Blackmon in the starting 11 against the Quakes.
After setting up their opening goal of the campaign, Julian Gressel put together another excellent match for Vancouver last weekend, assisting on the first of the year from Alessandro Schopf, while Ryan Gauld is still looking to get off the mark after leading the Caps in assists in 2022 (five) and scoring on eight occasions.
Goals from Blackmon, Ryan Raposo, Pedro Vite, and Brian White plus an own goal by Real Espana's Devron Garcia helped the Whitecaps to a comfortable CCL victory on Wednesday, as Yohei Takaoka collected his first clean sheet with his new club.
Tarik Scott will not return to the Toros in 2023 after undergoing ACL and LCL surgery late last month to repair his knee, while Sam Junqua was on the bench, having signed with Dallas from the Houston Dynamo in late February.
Alan Velasco scored just his seventh career goal for Dallas last weekend, while Jesus Ferreira notched a brace for his first two of the campaign, moving him into third in all-time goals for the club with 38, behind Kenny Cooper (46) and Jason Kreis (91).
Paul Arriola had the only goal for the Toros in their previous visit to BC Place, when a goalkeeping error from Jimmy Maurer eventually led to a penalty as Edwin Cerrillo brought down Ranko Veselinovic in the box in stoppage time, allowing former Caps striker Lucas Cavallini to put home the winner.
Vancouver Whitecaps possible starting lineup:
Takaoka; Brown, Blackmon, Veselinovic, Martins; Gressel, Cubas, Schopf; Dajome, Gauld; Cordova
Dallas possible starting lineup:
Paes; Twusami, Tafari, Martinez, Farfan; Lletget, Cerrillo, Quignon; Obrian, Ferreira, Arriola
We say: Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 Dallas
Although the Caps are pointless this season, they have played a lot sharper than their record suggests, and they showed a killer instinct in their midweek encounter, something which should give them a ton of confidence heading into this match.
Dallas reacted well last week, but they have put themselves in bad positions often in the early portion of the campaign, and we expect to see a Caps unit hungry to win their first of the MLS season this weekend.
How to watch
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Joel Lefevre
