Whitecaps vs D.C United Pre Match Thoughts: Whitecaps finally return home after 41 days

Home/ atmosphere

It's been 41 days since the home supporters of Vancouver has watched their club play in a environment that is supporting their beloved team. As they finally return home after a interesting 7 match road journey. The last time the Whitecaps played a home match was a 1-0 defeat to San Jose. This is just like home for the Whitecaps supporters as they were hearing cheers for the other team when they were travelling to the away games, but this time mostly everything will be positive about the Vancouver Whitecaps FC surrounding the supporter groups. Another BC Place matchday means another opportunity for the fans to show out as the Whitecaps are expecting a huge crowd and be one of the bigger crowds of this 2023 campaign. It'll be a Orange Shirt Day event at BC Place as tonight is Truth and Reconciliation in British Columbia. So the supporters groups should be cheering with joy and passion as this is the first time in a while that the Whitecaps took a hiatus as they couldn't play in Vancouver for a long time especially during the season. It'll be interesting to see all the passionate fans at BC Place cheering loud after 41 days of not being able to watch them at their home crowd of BC Place.

Most important stretch

As I've mentioned previously that these 4 matches will be super important to the playoff race as a win if everything goes in their way then they might possibly be in 2nd if they get really fortunate, but realistically with a win will probably bump up the Whitecaps to 4th or 5th as some of the teams will probably get a victory. But on the other hand, a loss might bump the Whitecaps all the way down into the wildcard match category in the 8th and 9th slots where it'll be unideal and difficult to come back up into the automatic playoff spots with how hard and difficult these next matchups will be against the top teams in the Western Conference, this is most likely going to be the Whitecaps easiest opportunity on paper to grab 3 points against a 10th place D.C United. So returning to BC Place and maybe the best opportunity for the rest of the regular season, this is a huge occasion to get the maximum amount of points possible and it starts the crucial stretch of the season where it will basically be the main factor if the Caps will make the playoffs in this stretch. As the margin between 2nd and 9th is only 5 points so it is very marginal and anything is possible in these final few matches for Vancouver.

A look at D.C United

The mid season departure Cristian Dajome will return to BC Place for the first time after being traded. This will spark the Columbian as he contributed 17 goals and 12 assists in his time in Vancouver as he scored 11 goals in 2021 and was a huge factor for Vancouver making the playoffs, as he was a huge reason for the Caps success that season. Also the winningest coach for the Whitecaps Carl Robinson, will be returning as a assistant coach for D.C United, Carl Robinson was the head coach for the Whitecaps between 2013-2018. Another former Caps player in Erik Hurtado will return to BC Place as well. So the players and Coach returning will be interesting to see how the supporters holds up and it'll be intriguing to watch them play but this time as an opposition. Other than that, D.C United has won once and drawn 3 times in the last 5 games, only defeat in that period coming from the most recent match a goal-oriented match losing 3-5. But a statistic that doesn't go in DC United is that they have only won once in 9 matches, which is unideal to say the least therefore this is a major opportunity for the Caps to win in their homecoming after a interesting 7 game road trip. They currently stand in 10th of the Eastern Conference and is only a point behind 8th but 7 points behind 7th, so the occasion for them is also a extremely crucial match for them. A big player for D.C United is Benteke, who has equal amount goals to Brian White and actually has a higher expected goals than White and that'll be a interesting battle between these two strikers.

Vanni decisions

Will Vanni start off with a 4-3-2-1 or go back to the 3-1-4-2, it is really depending on the opposition who head coach and soccer legend Wayne Rooney prefers a setup of 4-3-1-2 so to counter against that I believe a 3-1-4-2 will work best in this game, as last game Vanni switched it mid game and changed it back so I believe he wanted to experiment but with the high press of Vancouver having 2 strikers will be beneficial. This is a crucial call for Vanni Sartini with the circumstances and position Vancouver is currently in, the setup the foundation will really matter in this one, against soccer legend Wayne Rooney and I think Vanni will be slightly intimated by the opposition coach but he will still focus and think of tactics that can outclass Rooney's DC United. A 4-3-2-1 will make the central defenders less frequent and more opened up so DC United can potentially abuse that weakness of this formation, if Vanni uses this a huge task for Cubas as he also has to cover up the center as a responsibility as a CDM. So it will be very interesting to see what will Vanni pull out of his sleeve tonight, as this is the advantage of having 2 ways of play is to adjust against different opponents, with those two formations and structure being both used and being justified this season as both of these structures have mixed results and a pretty even amount of pros and cons. Availability for the Whitecaps is probably going to be Gauld being healthy as he was fully training and the same can be said for Martins who has been out since July 21st. We really need Ryan Gauld in this pivotal match as without him it often feels like the Whitecaps are lost and don't have as good of playmaking and the ability to create opportunities, so Gauld fully training on Thursday after a left foot contusion suffered on Wednesday, so hopefully he has recovered on time for this match and can be available and fit enough to play in the starting 11 or being a super sub early on in the second half. Only Hasal should be out, but Martins is still probably unsure of and Gauld is probably the same but his resilience is something to admire, he just plays through the pain at times so if Gauld plays that'll highly increase the chances of the Whitecaps winning. This is my ideal starting 11 if assuming Gauld is only fit enough to be a sub, or if he is only 70% then we would want him to fully recover for the match versus St Louis so my lineup without Gauld looks like this.

If Gauld is fully fit and ready to rock then switch Gauld with Hoilett and do the strike pairing of Gauld and White. This helps as they can press high and they have two strikers which have different personalities if it was Gauld and White or Hoilett and White as Gauld and Hoilett are more of playmakers and passing strikers and White is like a more traditional striker. A tough decision was to put Raposo in for Adekugbe, but I think it'll benefit the team as Raposo has been in great shape lately and has been a great spark for the team.

Prediction

I predict that the Whitecaps will be the upper engine in this one as they will be the team that has more opportunities and chances, but I believe that they will struggle in burying the chances and I believe DC United will strike first against the run of play. Then Vancouver will respond and equalize. It'll end a 1-1 draw and the strike battle between White and Benteke will be the goalscorers in this match with both of them having a splendid match and scoring.

Man Of The Match

I believe tonight's Man Of The Match will be Brian White as he has been sensational recently scoring 5 goals and providing an assist in the 7 game road journey. There is no signs for me that'll tell me that White will slow down anytime soon, as Gauld most likely to play and that dynamic duo can strike another masterclass. Even if Gauld is unavailable which is unlikely since he was fully training and he wasn't mentioned in the 3 points vs DC United.

So to continue to my factors, Brian White with his run of matches and stretch recently and he seems like more consistent and comfortable with his passes. And I back him to score another one against DC United tonight.