The Vancouver Whitecaps are brimming with confidence as they get set to play LAFC in a best-of-three playoff series starting on Sunday night in Los Angeles.
The Western Conference leaders eliminated the Whitecaps from the playoffs last season, but Vancouver has momentum after thrashing the Portland Timbers 5-0 at Providence Park on Wednesday.
Coach Vanni Sartini and his players know that LAFC will be a challenging opponent.
Whitecaps are big underdogs… or undercats?
Vancouver and LAFC have met nine times across all competitions since April 2023, with LAFC holding a commanding 6-2-1 record. But both Whitecaps wins came in Southern California and Vancouver has defeated LAFC at least once in each of the last six seasons.
While fans of both teams and curious observers might view the Whitecaps as the underdogs, Sartini has a different spin.
“Yeah we are the underdogs,” Sartini told Daily Hive following a light recovery session on Friday. “They are the number one in the conference. It’s normal to be the underdog. I’m more of a cat person so I like to be the undercat. I hope that we will win the game being the undercat.”
Whitecaps MLS leading goal-scorer Brian White is confident no matter what the label.
“It’s something that the media and people talk about,” White said. “It’s not something like we’re the underdogs, we’re good. That’s just where we finished in the table. We have self belief, they have self belief. It’s going to be a challenge.
“Everyone’s up for it.”
Travelling Whitecaps fans
The support from the travelling Vancouver fans was felt by the Whitecaps in Portland.
Sartini and the players appreciated the time and effort the fans made travelling to Oregon on short notice in what should have been a Whitecaps home match at BC Place.
#VWFC's Vanni⤵️
“The fans that were in Portland were amazing. They were really fantastic, I saw a couple of them even shirtless. I don’t know how they did it because it was so cold. I want to thank them. They were amazing to follow the team on a Wednesday night, on a work day." https://t.co/cacZII1Qvg
— Har Journalist (@HarJournalist) October 25, 2024
“First and foremost thanks for coming to Portland,” White said. “The fans coming to LA, we’re looking forward to having you guys there. It means the world that fans are willing to travel as far as they do. Having them cheering us on, looking up in the corner where they stick them. It’s huge for us and we really enjoy having them there.
“It means a lot.”
Vanni seeing red
LAFC has been known to cause a spike in Sartini’s blood pressure.
The fiery Whitecaps coach has been shown a red card twice in the last year when his club has played LAFC. Earlier this month Sartini was issued a yellow card in a home match vs LAFC, his third of the season.
The 47-year-old Italian was then suspended due to yellow card accumulation.
Vanni Sartini has been sent off the pitch 😳 pic.twitter.com/mYo0dhYpnY
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) November 6, 2023
Can Sartini win the battle and stay out of the referee’s pocketbook?
“It’s about maybe the circumstances that happen,” Sartini explained. “Probably subconsciously because they are the big guys and I am a big social justice socialist person, I intend the game like a class war sometimes, against them. I went through with my psychologist on that actually.
“We don’t have to mull on regret and blame myself for the things that I made a mistake but try to understand why. Hopefully we understood and I will be ready to win this internal battle of not getting a card.”
Adekugbe can dominate
The Wednesday-night onslaught of goals from Ryan Gauld, Stuart Armstrong, and White took some of the focus off of the Whitecaps defensive performance and the clean sheet from goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka.
Sam Adekugbe played an integral part in the defensive shape when Portland looked to attack. The Canadian wing-back was able to shift into a 4-3-3 and support the back three.
If the Whitecaps are going to slow down LAFC’s Denis Bouanga, Oliver Giroud, Mateusz Bogusz, Kei Kamara, and Illie Sanchez, having Adekeugbe in top form certainly helps.
“Sam gave us the possibility to play that hybrid system,” Sartini said. “The three diamond and three offensively and a 4-3-3 defensively. I think he did the best game of the year, plain and simple. I think he can do much more offensively.
“I think there’s margin of improvement, but finally we saw a guy that we know that can dominate that flank from our box to their box. Hopefully it’s the same thing that’s going to happen on Sunday.”