Whitecaps vs Sporting KC Match Preview: A Saturday Night Battle At BC Place

The Whitecaps vs Sporting KC match preview for Saturday evening from BC Place Stadium as Vancouver looks to get their first win of the season. It will be a tough challenge as Sporting KC has had Vancouver’s number in the past.

The Whitecaps will try and channel their playoff loss from last year. Sporting KC ended the Cap’s season with a 3-1 victory at Children’s Mercy Park in the first round of the Western Conference MLS Playoffs. We can go back even further to SKC knocking Vancouver out of the MLS is Back tournament in Orlando. Either way, there are lots of reasons the home side should show up for this match.

Vanni Sartini On The Match Against Sporting Kansas City

Head coach Vanni Sartini spoke about the upcoming match against Sporting KC on Wednesday when he addressed the media. He was positive as always but felt his team should have been rewarded with a result against LAFC with how the squad played. Vanni also spoke about last years playoff loss to Sporting KC and if it would be a motivational factor for the Whitecaps Saturday.

“I don’t think so, I think the motivation is done by the fact that we are a little bit behind in the standings and we want to win and the motivation is also given by the fact that we play in front of our fans. So we want to share the joy of 3 points with them. We have two games now, Kansas City and Portland at home, and at the end of these two games the standings must be a little different than [it] is now and that’s our objective.”

On the play of Kansas City of late and their struggling start, “We always expect them to be in the highest part of the standings. They won the last game so I know one game in MLS can really change your outlook, and having more confidence to play better so we know it’s going to be a really, really hard game. But at the same time we know that if we play our level, if we play well, if we play the game that we’re supposed to do we have good chances.”

Lineup Previews, News, And Notes

They trained finally with the team, they will be available for the game [and] everyday they are better. They won’t be 100% so they wopn’t be fit to play 90 minutes but they will be part of the game for sure.” Vanni Sartini said about Ryan Gauld and Brian White who were both back at training this week.

That is great news for head coach Vanni Sartini who will also have players returning from International duty. I asked him about intergratting the players coming back to the squad.

“We should have Javain [Brown] earlier because he’s suspended for today’s game… He will be with us [Thursday] and Friday so we will evaluate his condition to see if he can be a starter or come from the bench. About Guti or Cava it is a big question mark… We will see what condition they arrive in on Friday to see if they can help for the game.”

Besides the players returning from Interantional duty, Erik Godoy and Caio Alexandre remain out for the Whitecaps. I imagine we will see some version of a 3-5 formation with either one or two at the top. Here is what I think the Whitecaps could go with against Sporting KC.

Sports Talk Like And The Vancouver Whitecaps

The kickoff will be just after 5:00 pm PST time from BC Place between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Sporting KC. Will the Whitecaps be able to get their first win of the year or will they continue to stay at the bottom of the Western Conference standings?

Make sure to follow me on Twitter @JoshuaGriffith0 for the latest news and notes about the Caps as we get closer to match time. Check out the latest episode of the 90+ podcast as we are joined by Daniel Sperry to break down things from a Sporting KC perspective.

Don’t forget to check out the Sports Talk Line website for all your sports news and notes about everything from Formula 1 to Football. Stay tuned for a full Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Sporting KC recap after the match including media from the coach and players, “The Unnamed Moments Of The Match” and much more!

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