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Whitecaps open crucial homestand against RSL (Sep 09, 2017)
There will be plenty of postseason implications in play for both Real Salt Lake and the Vancouver Whitecaps FC when the two sides meet on Saturday at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Just seven points separate first-place Seattle and Real Salt Lake in the eighth position in the Western Conference, so there is plenty to be decided over the final two months of the regular season.
Vancouver enters Saturday's contest in a solid position, unbeaten in its past three matches and 5-2-2 in its last nine MLS contests. The Whitecaps (11-9-5, 38 points in 25 matches) begin the weekend in fourth place but they are just three points ahead of surging Real Salt Lake, with three teams (Houston, FC Dallas and San Jose) in between. Vancouver has games in hand on every team in the West but one.
The Whitecaps head to the weekend with the third-best points per game average in the Western Conference, a crucial stat that will come into play if teams are tied at the end of the season. Vancouver was idle last week because of the international break for World Cup qualifying, and enters Saturday's match on the strength of a 2-1 win at Orlando City.
Saturday's contest also begins a four-match homestand for the Whitecaps and is the first of three games in a seven-day stretch for Vancouver.
Vancouver coach Carl Robinson has been forced to juggle his lineup plenty over the past month and will do so again against Real Salt Lake. The Whitecaps are battling injuries, have players returning from international duty (World Cup qualifying) and will be juggling the lineup to deal with the attrition the roster has endured.
"It's been one thing after another, but that's why I have a squad -- I keep reiterating it's about squad," Robinson said. "The perfect example was Orlando two weeks ago, where I made eight changes, and people said I was crazy, or mad, or don't know what I'm doing. No one gave us a chance, to go into an environment like that and win the game."
Real Salt Lake (10-13-5, 35 points in 28 matches) is just two points behind FC Dallas for the West's sixth and final playoff spot. RSL has played the most games in the conference and enters the weekend on a bit of a hot streak after it throttled Colorado 4-1 in its most recent match on Aug. 26, and is 5-1-3 in its past games.
RSL enters Saturday's contest without any major concerns coming off the international break. Goalkeeper Nick Rimando (U.S) and attackers Jefferson Savarino (Venezuela) and Albert Rusnak (Slovakia) were all with their respective national teams over the last week, but Rimando and Savarino didn't see any game action and Rusnak played limited minutes. Barring any travel issues, all three should be good to start on Saturday.
RSL used the bye week to rest and fine-tune its strategy and tactics for the stretch run.
"It's about not dropping off physically but not overly exerting the players, about keeping them mentally focused but getting them rest physically and mentally," RSL coach Mike Petke said about the off-week, "And then we'll obviously work on the things we need to work on leading into the Vancouver game."
Despite having played two games more than the sides they are chasing in the standings, Real Salt Lake still has a solid chance of making waves in the final six matches of the season.
"We have these breaks because we've played more games than everybody else," Petke said, "which puts us outside watching results, which you don't want to do. But from a physical rest, mental rest (standpoint), yes, I think it has paid dividends."
