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Whitecaps, Sounders weigh priorities as CONCACAF Champions League commences
Perspective rarely bleeds into Cascadia matches. These are genuine rivalries, not the canned sort often espoused elsewhere. The passion fueling them requires a certain level of application and commitment regardless of the circumstances. These games are tense and heated, even as the players change and the stakes vary.
Those tenets remain in place as Vancouver Whitecaps host Seattle Sounders on Wednesday (live, 10:00p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports Go), but the setting offers a continental twist. This fixture opens their trek through Group F in the CONCACAF Champions League. This three-team pod -- including Honduran giants Olimpia -- offers just one berth in the quarterfinals. The reality of the situation forces both MLS teams to weigh how ardently they want to pursue it.
Vancouver enters the Champions League for the first time with fixture congestion firmly in mind. The start of the Group E schedule coincides with the two-legged Canadian Championship final against Montréal Impact and the regular MLS schedule load this month. Those obligations require the Whitecaps to play eight games in total this month. It is their highest total in any month since joining MLS in 2011.
Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson plans to distribute the playing time carefully to protect his squad over the course this month. The placement of this game -- wedged in the calendar between the 3-0 victory at Seattle over the weekend, a home date with fellow CCL side Real Salt Lake in league play on Saturday and a trek to Montréal to start the Canadian Championship final next Wednesday -- ensures a necessary reliance on depth and youth as the Whitecaps take their bow.
“It’s a fantastic competition, one that we’ve never been in,” Robinson told The Province. “So we’ll enjoy it. We’ll take it seriously. (The lineup) is based on who I think has got the energy levels, because three games in a week is difficult. There will be changes, but it will be the best lineup that I think can go out and win this game, with an eye on Saturday’s game, with an eye on next Wednesday’s game as well.”
Seattle coach Sigi Schmid faces a more complicated choice as he contemplates potential alterations to his side. Sounders FC is in the midst of a dire spell in league play with seven defeats in the past eight matches. The absences of Clint Dempsey (CONCACAF Gold Cup commitments), Brad Evans (Gold Cup) and Obafemi Martins (injury) hindered the attempts to procure points over the past couple of months, while the performances across the board dipped without those key figures to establish the necessary foundation.
“Considering the circumstances and losing so many in a row, it’s not an ideal situation,” Evans told reporters after the defeat on Saturday. “But the only thing we can do is put a smile on, come into practice and get back to work. I say put a smile on, but we’ve all got to have good attitudes moving forward. We can’t sink the ship right now. If changes need to be made, that’ll come from up top. But we’ve all got to come in and work. We’ve got a big one on Wednesday night.”
At some point, this group needs to stop the rot. The acquisition of Austria playmaker Andreas Ivanschitz on Tuesday could help in the medium-term, but the players already in-house must summon the first response. There is certainly some value to pursuing a result at B.C. Place ardently -- Sounders FC have not scored a goal or won a game since July 4, after all -- and securing a second victory in Vancouver after the 2-0 league triumph there back in May matters as well.
Investing in this particular fixture extracts a toll, though. As Chad Barrett highlighted with some candid remarks to the Seattle Times about the competition’s value in the buildup to this fixture, it is a scenario where the Seattle players might prefer to focus on their league duties instead of the extracurricular activities.
These eagerly contested encounters have a way of attracting focus, though. Both teams might opt to rotate here given their obligations, but the base responsibilities -- the commitment to contest everything in a derby match, the desire to open this Champions League campaign with a good result -- remain nevertheless. It is down the two sides to see how this first meeting unfolds and then assess how to move forward from there.
