Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. Orlando City SC | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. Orlando City SC
2018 MLS Regular Season – Week 15
BC Place – Vancouver
June 9 – 7 pm ET
WATCH: TSN 1/4, ESPN+

After four consecutive maddening (if entertaining) draws, Vancouver Whitecaps FC finally returned to the win column with a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids last week. Next they host an Orlando City SC team desperate for three points after suffering their fourth consecutive defeat, dropping a 3-0 decision at NYCFC last Saturday.

The Whitecaps have earned a point in all three of their matches against the Lions (2W-1D). This will be Orlando’s second trip to Vancouver – the first ended in a 2-2 draw in July 2016, per Opta.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Cristian Techera scored his fifth goal in his last four games, Yordy Reyna followed late in the first half and, perhaps most importantly, Whitecaps FC (5-5-5) were strong defensively, conceding just one goal for the first time in five games.

Part of that success fell on the shoulders of a new back four of Jakob Nerwinksi, Jose Aja, Donell Henry and Brek Shea.

“I think the last four games we probably have not got what we deserved out of the games, but we played very well performance-wise,” Carl Robinson said on Tuesday. “We just needed to tidy up a little few things within the defensive side. I think we’ve been really fun to watch attacking-wise and create lots of chances scoring goals, but we just had to go back to the drawing board on the defensive side. Games were too often and we were conceding too many goals.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: D - Kendall Waston
International duty: D - Kendall Waston
Injury Report: OUT: GK - Stefan Marinovic (left knee sprain); QUESTIONABLE: M - Jordon Mutch (right hamstring strain), D - Marcel de Jong (left hamstring strain)

Projected Starting XI
(4-4-2, right to left)
GK: Brian Rowe — Jakob Nerwinksi, Jose Aja, Donell Henry, Brek Shea — Cristian Techera, Felipe, Efrain Juarez, Alphonso Davies — Yordy Reyna, Kei Kamara

Notes: Techera scored five goals in the month of May – second only to Josef Martínez (six). Techera has never had more than seven goals in an MLS season. … Vancouver have scored multiple goals in six of their last seven games, including five straight (2W-1L-4D). The franchise MLS record for consecutive games with multiple goals is six (May 11-June 19, 2013).

Orlando City SC

Orlando City SC (6-6-1) were on the front foot for much of the first half and were unlucky to head into the break trailing, and they were even less fortunate not to level when Sacha Kljestan missed a second-half penalty kick.

That miss, along with a pair of posts struck by Josue Colman, summed up a frustrating night in the Bronx for the Lions, who dropped their fourth in a row.

Orlando, though, rebounded in the midweek for a 3-0 victory over Miami United FC in the Fourth Round of the U.S. Open Cup with Stefano Pinho, Dillon Powers and PC scoring for the Lions, who saw Jonathan Spector play the opening match in his first appearance since suffering a concussion that forced him to miss the last eight games.

“It’s great, he’s a terrific leader and you can hear him communicating back there and trying to organize, so I was really happy to get him back involved and hopefully we can move forward now,” Jason Kreis said of Spector. “We have to be a little bit nervous because this is the first time he’s been put under real duress, so we’ll see how he reacts over the next couple of days.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: D - Mohamed El-Munir
International duty: M - Yoshi Yotun
Injury Report: OUT: GK - Mason Stajduhar, D - Scott Sutter (lower body injury); QUESTIONABLE: F - Dom Dwyer (lower body injury), D - Lamine Sane (lower body injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Joe Bendik — Will Johnson, Jonathan Spector, Chris Schuler, Mohamed El-Munir — Uri Rosell, Cristian Higuita — Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, Justin Meram — Josue Colman

Notes: The Lions have won six of the seven games this season that Dom Dwyer has appeared in (1L, averaging 2.6 goals per game). They are 0W-5L-1D in the six games that he has not played in (0.7 goals per game). … The Lions enter the weekend on a franchise-record four-game losing streak in which they have conceded nine goals and scored just three. They outscored opponents 17-9 during their six-game winning streak.

All-Time Series

Overall: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 wins, 5 goals … Orlando City SC 0 wins, 3 goals … 1 draw
At Vancouver: Whitecaps FC 0 wins, 2 goals … Orlando City SC 0 wins, 2 goals … 1 draw
Last meeting at Vancouver: Vancouver Whitecaps 2, Orlando City SC 2 (July 16, 2016)