As he sat in his office following training on Saturday and watched the San Jose Earthquakes defeat Minnesota United FC, 3-1, Vancouver Whitecaps FC coach Carl Robinson said he had a sense of deja-vu.
It was just seven days earlier at TCF Bank Stadium that Robinson felt hard done by a 1-0 loss to the Loons. The same, he surmised, was true of Adrian Heath’s side against the Quakes. Robinson and the 'Caps will play the Quakes in a Western Conference tilt on Wednesday night (10:30 pm ET | TSN1,5 — Full TV & streaming info), with San Jose looking for their first winning streak of 2018.
“I thought we deserved to win and we didn’t and on Saturday I think Minnesota probably deserved to win and they didn’t,” Robinson said after training on Tuesday. “That’s what happens in this league.”
For San Jose (2-5-2), it meant the end of a seven-match winless streak that started after the Quakes opened the season with a 3-2 win over Minnesota. Still, first-year San Jose coach Mikael Stahre said there’s much more improvement to be made despite the much-needed three points.
“I think now we can look at this game and we can be really critical with a victory for us,” he said. “I think that’s good. When you win, you can build confidence for sure, but you also can be really critical and adjust things with a positive mindset. I think that’s the most important thing at this point.”
If not for more missed chances — a recurring theme for the ‘Caps this season — Vancouver (4-5-2) could be heading into this midweek tilt on a three-match winning streak, instead of going 1-1-1 following a come-from-behind 2-2 draw with the Houston Dynamo Friday night at BC Place.
“It’s going to be a difficult game,” Robinson said. “They’ll be full of confidence coming into the game, but so are we. It’s a great comeback on Friday night, fully deserved. We should’ve put the game out of sight with the chances we had. We didn’t, but we didn’t give in.”
