What You’ll Watch

The Seattle Sounders return to the pitch after week off. They will stay on the road as they travel north of the Border and take on the Vancouver Whitecaps for the first time in the young 2019 MLS season. This is the first of two meeting this season for the Cascadia rivals.

The Sounders now sit in second place in the Western Conference as well as the Supporters’ Shield standings with a record of 3-0-0 (nine points in three games played; 3.0 ppg) and Vancouver sits in 11th place with a record of 0-3-0 (zero points in three games played; 0.0 ppg). Last time out, the Sounders defeated the Chicago Fire 4-2 and the Whitecaps lost 3-2 to the Houston Dynamo.

This will be the 23rd all-time MLS regular season meeting between these two. The Sounders hold a record of 10-7-5 with 33 goals scored and 27 conceded. In Vancouver, the Sounders hold a slim 5-3-4 advantage with 15 goals scored and 13 conceded.

A Tale of the Tape

Seattle

Leading Goal Scorer: Jordan Morris and Raul Ruidiaz, three goals each

Assist Leader: Nicolas Lodeiro, three assists

Vancouver

Leading Goal Scorer: Fredy Montero, Erik Godoy, Lass Bangoura and Doneil Henry, one each

Assist Leader: Yordy Reyna, Inbeom Hwang and PC, one each

Injury Report, Suspensions and International Duty

Vancouver

Out: Michael Baldisimo (left ankle contusion), Jasser Khmiri (left knee injury) and Brett Levis (right hamstring strain)

Questionable: N/A

Suspensions: N/A

International Duty: N/A

Seattle

Out: N/A

Questionable: N/A

Suspensions: N/A

International Duty: N/A

Match Officials

REFEREE: Robert Sibiga

AR1: Kyle Atkins

AR2: Micheal Barwegen

4th: Ramy Touchan

VAR: Edvin Jurisevic

AVAR: Rene Parra

What to Watch

• After three games, the Whitecaps still don’t have a point. It’s tempting to say they are a bad team, but it’s probably more accurate to say they just aren’t good. They’ve lost all three of their games by one goal, managing to do just enough to lose each one when a tie probably would have been a fair result. In Week 1, it was an inability to play out of the back or control Darwin Quintero. In Week 2, it was a questionable penalty and having nothing in the attack. In Week 3, they were again turning the ball over deep in their end and failing to track runners.
• Some growing pains are to be expected, though. This was roster that was almost completely overhauled in one offseason (seriously, they let go of 21 players and have signed nearly that many). There’s definitely some talent, especially going forward, but they may need a bit more time to figure things out. That said Fredy Montero is still a handful and South Korean Hwang In-beom is a joy to watch.
• Most of their damage offensively has been done on set-pieces and counter-attacks, which probably sounds familiar if you’ve been following the Whitecaps. The faces may be different, but this still seems to be how they prefer to break down opponents and they can be dangerous.

How to Watch

Date/Time: Saturday, March 30 @ 7:00 PM

Location: BC Place — Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

TV: JOEtv

Streaming: YouTube TV (WA except those w/i 75 miles of Portland), ESPN+ (rest of USA)

Radio: 1090 KJR AM (English), El Rey 1360AM (Spanish)