The Vancouver Whitecaps will try and end St. Louis City’s 13 match unbeaten run when the two teams face off Saturday night at BC Place.
The meteoric rise of St. Louis has lifted them to sixth in the Western Conference, giving them a shot at a home playoff game. They were also one of the busier sides in the summer transfer market. Out are stalwarts Marcel Hartel and Eduard Lӧwen. In are a pair of new DPs, Carlo Holse and former Rapids man Rafa Navarro, though it is unclear whether either will feature much on Saturday.
St. Louis’ run has been fueled by a couple of things. For one, Simon Becher has finally started finishing his chances. Becher has been a bulldog against the ball and has been a key part of Yoann Damet’s squad, but has been frustrating fans with his inefficiency in front of goal. Well, he has scored four goals in his last seven matches to change that narrative in a hurry.
But St. Louis are also just simply difficult to play against. The midfield duo of Daniel Edelman and Chris Durkin are a pain, and the back three of either Lukas MacNaughton or Jaziel Orozco, Timo Baumgartl, and Dante Polvara have been rock solid this year.
St. Louis wants the ball, picking out spaces behind fullbacks with runs from Tomas Toland and Conrad Wallem, the two wingbacks. That can help them get the ball onto the foot of Becher in dangerous areas. Smart tactics from Damet have helped this team be more than the sum of their parts.
Meanwhile, the fixtures are coming fast and furious for the Caps, with the team at the beginning of three straight weeks where they will be playing two matches per week.
This week didn’t start out too hot, with a 1-1 draw against Montreal in the Canadian Champion semis on Wednesday. The Caps did enough to win the match but were beset by individual errors that held them back and helped Montreal see out the result.
It is the second straight match where the Caps have been a bit sloppy, though the talent gulf between them and Sporting KC meant that it didn’t matter. They will have to lock in for this one, though, as St. Louis are the sort of team that will make you pay for misplayed passes, mistakes in possession, or poorly taken set pieces.
Edier Ocampo exited Wednesday’s match with an apparent concussion, in a big blow for the Caps, and I would be surprised if he featured over the weekend. That is a big problem, both because Ocampo has been in excellent form and because the Caps don’t have a logical backup at the moment. Rui Modesto was brought in to be exactly that, but I would imagine that it would be too quick of a turnaround to get his paperwork sorted and fitness built up for 90 minutes on Saturday. That leaves Mihail Gherasimencov as the likely replacement, with Mathias Laborda confined to centerback for the time being.
Ryan Gauld getting the start in the midweek makes me think he will be rested in favor of Thomas Müller, though it is possible Sørensen tries to start them together again. The linkup between the two players has been awesome lately and nearly turned the tide again on Wednesday. Bruno Caicedo also seems a good bet to start after both Emmanuel Sabbi and Cheikh Sabaly started in the midweek.
The Caps will be favored against pretty much everyone they play at this point, even a team on a 13-match unbeaten run. But, make no mistake, this is the toughest test the Caps have had since the World Cup break ended, given St. Louis’ form and their own tired legs. You would imagine Sørensen is not satisfied with the midweek performance, and that usually leads to a better display on the weekend. But there is little room for error in this one, and Vancouver will have to clean up its act to walk away with all three points.
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