Vancouver Whitecaps forced to play home match in Portland
With the border still closed, the Vancouver Whitecaps will be forced to play a home match on the road later this month.
Major League Soccer has added additional games to the Whitecaps’ schedule, with Vancouver playing three games in nine days in the United States. The Whitecaps will play road matches against Real Salt Lake on September 19 and LAFC on September 23, before a home match against the Portland Timbers on September 27.
The twist is instead of playing the Timbers at BC Place, the “home” match will be played at Providence Park in Portland.
Canada’s mandatory 14-day quarantine law during the pandemic has made scheduling games rather difficult for the MLS’ three Canadian teams. American teams would have to quarantine for 14 days before playing north of the border, which isn’t feasible. It’s the same reason why the Toronto Blue Jays are playing their home games in Buffalo this year.
Following a tournament held in a bubble in Orlando in July and August, MLS restarted its season with games played in home stadiums. The Whitecaps, Toronto FC, and Montreal Impact have remained in Canada, playing six games each among themselves. Vancouver picked up a 3-2 win against Toronto FC last Saturday at BC Place — the first professional sporting event held in Vancouver since the start of the pandemic — with no fans in attendance.
The Whitecaps have two more games scheduled at BC Place in the next week, both against Montreal, on Sunday and Wednesday. Those matches will each begin at 6:30 pm PT and can be seen on TSN.
The remainder of the Whitecaps’ schedule will be announced at a later date, “pending further developments regarding travel protocols,” the team announced. After September, the Whitecaps will have nine more matches to play in the regular season, which wraps up on November 8.
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