Two teams needing to right the ship face off Sunday when the Vancouver Whitecaps host Toronto FC.
Vancouver (1-6-1) has lost three straight and languishes in the league basement with the fewest points it has ever had at this stage of an MLS season. Toronto (3-5-2) has also lost its last three, hasn’t won on the road in 13 outings and arrives with a long list of missing players.
Something has to give.
The Whitecaps have had time to prepare for the all-Canadian matchup, given they have been off since a 3-0 loss in Austin on April 23.
“I think the break came at an ideal time for us to reassess, regroup, re-evaluate and to re-energize,” said Vancouver veteran Russell Teibert.
“We’re ready,” he added. “The energy’s been good around the (training) facility. The environment is very good right now. But all that being said, we need to translate it into the game on the weekend because it’s a massive game for us.”
In contrast, Toronto spent the week on the move. It lost 2-1 to visiting Cincinnati last Saturday and travelled to and from Cincinnati for a 2-0 loss in a midweek rematch before flying west — an itinerary that stretches some 4,000 kilometres.
And Toronto arrives with a thin roster.
Star Mexican defender Carlos Salcedo and Ifunanyachi Achara are in health and safety protocols while Chris Mavinga, Jonathan Orosio, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty and Noble Okello are out injured. Wingback Jacob Shaffelburg is listed as questionable while midfielder Ralph Priso is suspended after his red card in Cincinnati.
“It’s true they have injuries, they have some problems but they still have a lot of quality players like (Jesus) Jimenez, (Alejandro) Pozuelo (Michael) Bradley. Those are players that in any moment can invent something,” said Whitecaps coach Vanni Sartini. “So what we need to do is be very focused when we don’t have the ball. We need to be compact, we need to be very good defensively, because that we know if we limit them then we’re going to have the chance to score when we have the ball. But it’s not going to easy for sure.”
The Toronto injuries have come in a congested part of the schedule,
“Luckily you don’t have this every week but there are moments in seasons where games crash together and if it coincides with other factors, then yeah, you scramble a little bit,” said Toronto coach Bob Bradley. “I think the challenge always is to find a steady way to keep everybody going.”
TFC captain Michael Bradley, Bob’s son, called it “a difficult stretch for a lot…