It certainly won’t be ideal circumstances when the Seattle Sounders visit the Vancouver Whitecaps tonight. While the Sounders will be missing several key contributors, the Whitecaps have been absolutely decimated by a combination of international call-ups and illnesses that were contracted on their way back from playing the Concacaf Champions Cup final a week ago.
The Whitecaps are so short-handed that they made seven “extreme hardship” signings from their MLS Next Pro affiliate, likely the most a team has ever had to make for a single game.
The circumstances aside, this is a pretty important match. Not only will it count in the Cascadia Cup standings, but it also represents a potential six-point swing in the Western Conference standings. The Whitecaps currently sit atop of the conference with 32 points, with the Sounders six points behind in fourth place.
Prior to their 5-0 loss to Cruz Azul, the Whitecaps had been on a 15-game unbeaten run across all competitions that included a 10-game unbeaten run in league play, where they’ve lost just once all season. No other team in MLS has fewer than three losses this year.
The Sounders have been on a pretty good run of form as well, having gone 6-2-2 in their last 10 despite losing last week.
Notes
- Among the seven players the Whitecaps signed on short-term loans were two players for whom this is their first professional contract. There are two forwards, two defenders and three midfielders among that group. Normally, a team would be limited to four short-term signings for a single match, but the Whitecaps were granted an extreme hardship waiver by the league.
- The Whitecaps currently lead the Cascadia Cup with three points by virtue of their season-opening win over the Portland Timbers. The Sounders and Timbers each have one point after tying their meeting.
- This will be the 155th all-time meeting between the Sounders and Whitecaps. The Sounders lead that series 74-53-27, which includes matches in the NASL, USL and MLS.
- This will be the Sounders’ final match before the Club World Cup, in which they debut next Sunday against Botafogo.
Absences: Injury, international duty and suspension
Whitecaps
OUT: Sam Adekugbe - International Duty; Ali Ahmed - International Duty; Sebastian Berhalter - International Duty; Giuseppe Bovalina - International Duty; Andrés Cubas - International Duty; Ryan Gauld - Knee; Tate Johnson - International Duty; Jayden Nelson - International Duty; Pedro Vite - International Duty; Brian White - International Duty
QUESTIONABLE: Jeevan Badwal - Illness; Tristan Blackmon - Illness; Isaac Boehmer - Illness; Édier Ocampo - Illness; Ralph Priso - Illness; Emmanuel Sabbi - Illness; Bjørn Inge Utvik - Illness; Ranko Veselinović - Illness
Sounders
OUT: Paul Arriola - Knee; Reed Baker-Whiting - International Duty; Osaze De Rosario - International Duty; Yeimar Gómez Andrade - Hamstring; Kim Kee-hee - Calf; Jordan Morris - Hamstring
QUESTIONABLE: Stuart Hawkins - Quad
Recent form
Sounders: 🅻🆆🆆🅳🅻
Whitecaps: 🅳🆆🅳🅳🆆
Kit matchup
Officials
REF: Ricardo Fierro; AR1: Andrew Bigelow; AR2: Walt Heatherly; 4TH: Mo Mohseni; VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero; AVAR: Craig Lowry
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How to Watch
Match date/kickoff time: Sunday, 6:10 PM PDT
Venue: BC Place, Vancouver, B.C.
Global Streaming English: MLS Season Pass (Keith Costigan & Maurice Edu)
Global Streaming Spanish: MLS Season Pass (Carlos Mauricio Ramirez & Max Cordaro)
Local Radio: 93.3 KJR-FM Seattle, iHeartMedia (Carlos Mauricio Ramirez & Max Cordaro)
Local Spanish Radio: El Rey 1360 AM (Rodriguez, Maqueda, Tapia)
Is this game available to stream for free? No
Will Sounders radio be available as an alternate feed? No
