With points in three successive fixtures, the Vancouver Whitecaps return home to BC Place Stadium on Saturday, looking to close in on a postseason berth when they host the San Jose Earthquakes.
The Caps remain below the playoff line following their 0-0 draw versus the Houston Dynamo, while the Quakes fell behind Vancouver in the table on Wednesday, with a 3-1 defeat to the Seattle Sounders.
Match preview
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Vancouver continue to generate positive results on the road with points in eight consecutive games after their draw in Houston.
Vanni Sartini saw his team struggle to control the tempo of that encounter, withstanding a lot of early Dynamo pressure while rarely creating much themselves.
For the first time in a while, his players did not look in sync for long stretches of their game against Orange Crush, unable to find much of a flow and firing only five shots throughout the 90 minutes, only one of which was on target.
While they have been making steady gains with virtually every match they play, those gains have been minimal, with seven of their last 13 league affairs ending in a draw.
The Whitecaps are only three points behind Minnesota United in the playoff battle, after getting some help in other matches in midweek with San Jose and Los Angeles FC both losing.
They may be right in the thick of the postseason battle, but making it there will not be easy, with the Caps facing the Western Conference-leading Seattle Sounders twice and Sporting Kansas City once before the regular season is done.
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San Jose are still alive in the race for a postseason berth, but Matias Almeyda will not be pleased with his players' performance in their last outing.
His side were slow out of the gate while allowing the Sounders to get into dangerous areas, and you cannot do that and expect to win against the reigning Western Conference champions.
Four points is far from impossible to overcome but with the standings so tight at the moment, coming away empty-handed even once could be all that it takes to end your season.
The Goonies struggled to maintain possession against the well-organised Rave Green while they were far too indecisive in the attack.
Like Vancouver, they are also a pretty formidable side to play against on the road, going unbeaten in their last eight matches, including winning a wild 4-3 contest at Austin FC last Saturday.
Even though they find themselves trailing in the playoff chase with only seven games remaining, the message should be pretty straightforward, to take care of business and win, and if they can do that, then a postseason berth will be theirs, seeing as they face the likes of LAFC, Real Salt Lake and the Vancouver Whitecaps down the stretch.
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Team News
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Maxime Crepeau played another massive part in the Caps draw this week, stopping all four shots that he faced for his second successive clean sheet.
Michael Baldisimo replaced the injured Ranko Veselinovic at the back, Javain Brown came in for Bruno Gaspar at right-back, Janio Bikel replaced Russell Teibert in midfield, while Patrick Metcalfe slotted in at left wingback on Wednesday with Cristian Dajome moving up front to replace Brian White while Ryan Raposo came in for Ryan Gauld.
Caio Alexandre is still out with a foot injury, Cristian Gutierrez has a left quad strain and Erik Godoy has not recovered from a right foot issue.
Quakes winger Cristian Espinoza is eligible to return following his yellow card suspension, while Matt Bersano is out with a hand injury, Tanner Beason remains questionable with a left thigh problem and a concussion continues to keep Jeremy Ebobisse out of action.
Benji Kikanovic made his third straight start, playing the full 90 minutes, while Jack Skahan made his first appearance since July 24 against the Houston Dynamo.
Chris Wondolowski has 14 goals in his career versus the Caps, while Javier Lopez was held goalless on Wednesday for the first time in four successive games.
Vancouver Whitecaps possible starting lineup:
Crepeau; Gaspar, Baldisimo, Rose, Jungwirth; Caicedo, Owusu, Teibert, Gauld; Dajome, Cavallini
San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:
Marcinkowski; Judson, Nathan, Alanis, Marie; Remedi, Yueill, Salinas; J. Lopez, Kikanovic, Cowell
We say: Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 San Jose Earthquakes
These teams go into this match having travelled down a similar path as they each had lengthy winless runs early on before chipping away with a series of draws to climb back into the playoff conversation.
Vancouver look more comfortable at home, having lost only once since their return to BC Place, and they have a goalkeeper at the top of his game who is capable of stealing a match on his own.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Vancouver Whitecaps win with a probability of 43.99%. A win for San Jose Earthquakes had a probability of 31.02% and a draw had a probability of 25%.
The most likely scoreline for a Vancouver Whitecaps win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.4%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.1%) and 2-0 (7.25%). The likeliest San Jose Earthquakes win was 0-1 (7.65%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.8%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 3.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Vancouver Whitecaps would win this match.
