Whitecaps FC vs. Real Salt Lake Match Day Report: Last home game for a long time

Looking to catch Vancouver Whitecaps FC at BC Place sometime soon?

Well, here’s your chance.

The ‘Caps host Real Salt Lake on Saturday afternoon in their final home match until July 12 (as a result of scheduling conflicts with the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup).

Match Day: Saturday, May 30

Kickoff: 3 p.m. PT

Venue: BC Place

TV: TSN1/3 (colour commentary by former ‘Caps captain Jay DeMerit)
Radio: TSN 1410

Make sure to bring at least one dollar to the match in support of Whitecaps FC’s #BuckUp for Mental Health campaign presented by Desjardins Insurance. 

Whitecaps FC

This will be Vancouver’s seventh and final match in what has been a busy month of May.

In MLS competition, the ‘Caps began the month well with a road draw at Portland Timbers and a big 3-0 win over Philadelphia Union. From there, they have suffered back-to-back losses for the first time this season at the hands of Seattle Sounders FC and most recently Colorado Rapids.

It’s also the first time the ‘Caps have been shut out in consecutive matches, but it’s not as if the chances aren’t there. They came close last weekend through a disallowed Pedro Morales goal and an Octavio Rivero header off the crossbar.

“We can’t just rely on Octavio,” Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson told reporters this week. “He’ll score goals, without a doubt, but we need other players to step up and we’ve got to keep working at it.”

“If they do stop Octavio, then we have to find solutions out wide or solutions in the central midfield areas,” Robinson continued. “And that’s what we’re working on day in and day out.”

Real Salt Lake

Is it too early to look at the standings?

Probably, but let’s do it anyway.

RSL enter the weekend seventh in the Western Conference with 17 points. However, that’s only three points back of the third-place ‘Caps, which goes to show how tight things are already.

Most recently, the Claret and Cobalt fell 1-0 to LA Galaxy on Wednesday night in Carson, California. To add insult to injury, centre back Jamison Olave was shown a red card in the match and will therefore miss Saturday’s meeting with Vancouver.

“Salt Lake are another team similar to us,” Robinson said. “They go through ups and downs and they’re in that category like us. I always talk about Seattle and LA and the so-called bigger teams. But we’re in a group of teams in the middle of the pack really that are trying to get out ahead in the early stages of the season, so it’s going to be a very interesting game.”

Head-to-head

Talk about two evenly-matched teams.

Whitecaps FC’s all-time MLS record against RSL is 4W-4L-4D. The ‘Caps have won the last two meetings, however, including a 1-0 win at Rio Tinto Stadium earlier this year.

On that occasion, RSL were without attacking threats Javier Morales and Joao Plata due to injury. But both players appeared as subs in RSL’s last two matches and could potentially start this weekend.

Did you know?

This will be Whitecaps FC’s first opportunity to play on the new BC Place turf, which was just installed ahead of the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Whitecaps FC winger Cristian Techera and RSL striker Joao Plata are both listed at 5-foot-2, making them the shortest players in MLS.