The Vancouver Whitecaps will shoot for a season sweep of host Austin FC and look to extend their unbeaten streak when the sides square off on Saturday.
The teams met on April 12 in Vancouver, with the Whitecaps shellacking Austin 5-1.
The Whitecaps (8-1-3, 27 points) continue to top the Western Conference standings and head to the capital of Texas on the heels of a 2-2 home draw with Los Angeles FC on Sunday.
After LAFC scored two early goals, Vancouver’s Brian White responded in the 26th and 70th minutes, his second multi-goal contest of the campaign.
Vancouver is unbeaten in seven MLS matches (4-0-3) dating back to a 3-1 home loss to the Chicago Fire on March 22. The Whitecaps’ never-say-die attitude was on ready display in the comeback win vs. LAFC.
“It shows the turning of what we were in the past,” White said. “At times we would have been really happy to come out with a point. Now we’re a little frustrated that we let in two not great goals. We have to continue to learn from these mistakes we made and hopefully continue to improve and do better.”
With eight goals, White is in a three-way tie for third in MLS.
Austin FC (5-6-2, 17 points) will have less rest than Vancouver entering the match, as they posted a 1-1 draw against visiting Atlanta United on Wednesday. The result snapped the Verde’s three-game losing streak.
Brandon Vasquez’s free-kick goal in the 55th minute staked Austin to the lead, but the Verde could not hold on, conceding in second-half stoppage time.
“We just need to be more cohesive,” Austin FC defender Jon Gallagher said of the late equalizer. “We needed to be more compact. It ultimately could have been stopped.”
Vasquez leads the Verde with four goals; no other Austin player has found the net more than once.
It won’t take a lot to get the Verde’s attention for Saturday.
“We know what happened in Vancouver, and a lot of us still have a really sour taste about what happened there,” Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver said, “so we want to make sure that we’re ready.”
–Field Level Media
