Seattle Sounders have not made the start they expected, as they have recorded just a single win in their first 5 matches, but also a single loss. They will be now traveling to Vancouver, where they will be hosted by Cascadia Cup rivals Whitecaps on Friday, April 14th. Vancouver have made a worse start, as they have lost 3 times so far.
Seattle Sounders (1-1-3) made quite a bad start in the new season, as they fell to Houston by 1-2, but they have been somewhat improving ever since. They held Montreal Impact at a 2-2 draw, before defeating the Red Bulls by 1-3 at home. However, they had back-to-back draws in their next two matches, as after their goal-less draw against Atlanta United, they played for a 1-1 draw at San Jose. After a pretty careful match, it was the Sounders who took the lead at the 84th minute with Lodeiro and tried to steal all 3 points. But Wondolowski hadn’t said his final word, as he pulled even for the Earthquakes at the 90th minute for the final 1-1. The Sounders have had very much success in their travels to Vancouver as they have won the 3 previous times they visited, while overall, they have been defeated there just twice in 10 matches (4-2-4). The Sounders have only failed to score once in their last 20 matces on the road, so I expect them to score at least once here.
Vancouver Whitecaps (1-3-1) are coming off a 0-3 loss on the road against Real Salt Lake last week. Real Salt Lake were dominant in the first half, but they only took the lead at the 54th minute. However, Vancouver made a couple of changes in the 59th minute that really boosted the team, as they were actually more active overall in the second half. Even so, Real Salt Lake pulled off one of their usual goal-after-goal moves, as they managed to score twice in a 4 minute span (74th and 78th minute), for the final 0-3. Prior to that, the Whitecaps were eliminated at the CONCACAF Champions League semi-finals when they lost to Tigre to 2-1 at home (4-1 aggregate). They should now shift their focus to their MLS campaign, who has been rather bad so far.