VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC vs. SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC
BC Place | Vancouver, B.C.
Sunday, Oct. 2 | Week #30 | MLS Game #315
8 p.m. ET (FS1 | MLS LIVE in Canada)
The Western Conference playoff push and the chase for the Cascadia Cup come into contact together when Vancouver Whitecaps FC play host to Seattle Sounders FC on Sunday afternoon at BC Place before an FS1 and TSN1 audience. Whitecaps FC are on the verge of playoff elimination, in a must-win situation six points below the red line with three games to play, following their 3-3 home draw with the Colorado Rapids last weekend at BC Place. Sounders FC are the hottest team in MLS, with three consecutive victories following their 1-0 win against the Chicago Fire at midweek, pulling them into a tie for sixth place and the final playoff berth in the conference.
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- Erik Hurtado scored his second goal of the season – just two games after scoring his first MLS goal in nearly two years – and added an assist as Whitecaps FC came back three times in a dramatic 3-3 draw with the Colorado Rapids on Saturday afternoon at BC Place.
- Nicolas Lodeiro recorded his eighth assist in Sounders FC’s 4-2 win against the LA Galaxy on Sunday afternoon. Lodeiro has a goal and/or assist in each of his last eight matches, dating back to Aug. 7, with three goals and eight assists in that span, playing a part in 11 of Seattle’s 18 goals scored over that stretch.
- The teams are meeting for the third time this season, splitting the first two, both at CenturyLink Field. Pedro Morales scored a goal in each half as Whitecaps FC took a 2-1 win March 19; on Sept. 17, Jordan Morris scored the game’s lone goal in a Sounders FC victory.
- The Sounders FC win in the last meeting was the first by the home team in six league matches in the series, since a Vancouver win at BC Place on July 5, 2014. The visiting team had won all five games in between – Whitecaps FC winning three times in Seattle, and Sounders FC twice at BC Place.
REFEREE: Ricardo Salazar. AR1 (bench): Frank Anderson; AR2 (opposite): Peter Balciunas; 4th: Juan Guzman
MLS Career: 226 games; FC/gm: 26.5; Y/gm: 3.3; R: 64; pens: 76
SUSPENDED: VAN: Kendall Waston (through Oct. 2) … SEA: Nicolas Lodeiro (yellow card accumulation; through Oct. 2)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: SEA: Osvaldo Alonso, Joevin Jones
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: VAN: Fraser Aird, Andrew Jacobson, Kendall Waston … SEA: Andreas Ivanschitz, Nelson Haedo Valdez
DISABLED LIST: none
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME [MLS] (16 meetings): Whitecaps FC 6 wins, 22 goals … Sounders FC 6 wins, 22 goals …Ties 4
AT VANCOUVER (8 meetings): Whitecaps FC 2 wins, 8 goals … Sounders FC 3 wins, 12 goals … Ties 3
2016 (MLS):
3/19: SEA 1, VAN 2 (Ivanschitz 52 – Morales 10, 74)
9/17: SEA 1, VAN 0 (Morris 81)
- The teams are meeting for the third time this season, splitting the first two, both at CenturyLink Field. Pedro Morales scored a goal in each half as Whitecaps FC took a 2-1 win March 19; on Sept. 17, Jordan Morris scored the game’s lone goal in a Sounders FC victory.
- The Sounders FC win in the last meeting was the first by the home team in six league matches in the series, since a Vancouver win at BC Place on July 5, 2014. The visiting team had won all five games in between – Whitecaps FC winning three times in Seattle, and Sounders FC twice at BC Place.
- Coaches record: Brian Schmetzer vs. VAN: P1 W1 L0 D0 … Carl Robinson vs. SEA: P8 W4 L3 D1
LAST MEETING (MLS):
- The game's lone goal came nine minutes from the end. Nicolas Lodeiro sent in a teasing inswinging cross from the right flank and Jordan Morris got onto the end of it with a diving header in front of Whitecaps FC goalkeeper David Ousted for the winner.
- Sounders FC goalkeeper Stefan Frei was not called upon to make a single save in the match, but was saved by the woodwork when Vancouver substitute Giles Barnes cracked a low drive off the base of the far post just a few minutes before the lone goal.
- SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC (4-2-3-1): Stefan Frei - Tyrone Mears, Roman Torres, Chad Marshall, Joevin Jones - Osvaldo Alonso, Cristian Roldan - Alvaro Fernandez (Nelson Haedo Valdez 62), Nicolas Lodeiro, Andreas Ivanschitz (Erik Friberg 72) - Jordan Morris (Zach Scott 90).
- VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC (4-4-2): David Ousted - Jordan Smith, David Edgar, Kendall Waston, Jordan Harvey - Christian Bolanos, Pedro Morales, Matias Laba, Cristian Techera (Giles Barnes 62) - Erik Hurtado (Blas Perez 83), Nicolas Mezquida (Alphonso Davies 71).
