Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. Houston Dynamo | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. Houston Dynamo
2018 MLS Regular Season – Week 11
BC Place — Vancouver
May 11 - 10:30 pm ET
WATCH: TSN, ESPN+

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Vancouver Whitecaps FC welcome a return to BC Place after suffering their third consecutive road loss, falling to Minnesota United FC, 1-0, on Saturday, while the Houston Dynamo won for the second time in three games, defeating the LA Galaxy, 3-2, at home Saturday night.

This is the second meeting this season between the Western Conference rivals with the Whitecaps claiming the first road victory in the all-time series, winning 2-1 at BBVA Compass Stadium on March 10. Kei Kamara scored the opening goal and set up Brek Shea’s winner.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Carl Robinson made four changes to the side that defeated Real Salt Lake, 2-0, the previous week, bringing Felipe, Alphonso Davies and Bernie Ibini into the midfield and starting Nicolas Mezquida up top with Anthony Blondell in a changed 4-4-2 formation.

Kamara made his first appearance since April 7 after missing three matches with an adductor strain. He came off the bench with Yordy Reyna for the final 27 minutes, but Vancouver (4-5-1) was unable to find the equalizer and were shutout for the fourth time this season and third time in the last four matches.

“I don’t think we’ve created as many chances as I would like,” Robinson said. “That might be down to six away games, it might be down to the personnel we’ve had. On Saturday we went with a certain way, we played a simple formation and created a boatload of chances, but we didn’t take them. We have to continue to keep working it, trying to create them chances and then obviously finish them chances off.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: D - Kendall Waston
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - Jordon Mutch (right hamstring strain)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Stefan Marinovic — Sean Franklin, Kendall Waston, Jose Aja, Brett Levis — Aly Ghazal, Russell Teibert, — Alphonso Davies, Yordy Reyna, Brek Shea — Anthony Blondell

Notes: Vancouver put up 19 shots in their 1-0 loss to Minnesota last weekend, the third-most shots in a match in which they were held scoreless in franchise MLS history. … The Whitecaps have lost four of the last five games (1W). Additionally, they have been held scoreless in three of the four games.

Houston Dynamo

Wilmer Cabrera made two changes to his starting XI from the team that lost to Minnesota the previous week, replacing Leonardo with Adolfo Machado in central defense and bringing Eric Alexander back into the midfield for Oscar Boniek Garcia.

Houston (3-3-2) led 2-1 two minutes into the second half on goals by Alejandro Fuenmayor and Romell Quioto before Ola Kamara leveled for the Galaxy five minutes from full time. Memo Rodriguez, though, headed in the dramatic 90th-minute winner.

“It’s a good reward for a group of men who have fought a lot today and they went with a good mentality onto the field against a team that is very talented,” Cabrera said after the game. “i think we were overall better, but we got punished again with one or two mistakes that we made. They had the quality to punish you, but we were resilient in all aspects. We wanted to win, we had that mentality.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - A.J. DeLaGarza (torn left ACL), M - Juan David Cabezas (left quad), D - Philippe Senderos (right hamstring), D - George Malki (left knee sprain), D - Dylan Remick (concussion), D - Kevin Garcia (left hamstring), D - Jared Watts (right hamstring)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Joe Willis — Andrew Wenger, Adolfo Machado, Alejandro Fuenmayor, DaMarcus Beasley — Eric Alexander, Darwin Ceren — Alberth Elis, Tomas Martinez, Romell Quioto — Mauro Manotas

Notes: The Dynamo lead MLS with 11 first-half goals this season. The Whitecaps have conceded seven goals in the first half, tied for the fourth most in MLS. … Houston is winless in their last nine regular season away games (3L-6D). They have also conceded two goals in each of their last three games on the road.

All-Time Series

Overall: Vancouver Whitecaps FC 7 wins, 18 goals ... Houston Dynamo 4 wins, 14 goals ... 2 ties
At Vancouver: Whitecaps FC 6 wins, 13 goals … Dynamo 0 wins, 4 goals … 2 ties
Last meeting at Vancouver: Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2, Houston Dynamo 1 (Aug. 19, 2017)