Cascadia battle for the Whitecaps in Portland
Posted May 22, 2016 10:52 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PORTLAND, ORE. (NEWS 1130) – The Vancouver Whitecaps hope to keep a great run going on Sunday afternoon in Portland against the Timbers. (2pm) Vancouver has won three straight matches entering the showdown with their Cascadia rivals. The Timbers are 3-6-3 so far in MLS play, and sit a full six points back of the Whitecaps in the Cascadia table, but Vancouver has played one more derby match so far.
Last week’s win for the Whitecaps in Toronto was arguably the most exciting for Vancouver fans this season – all part of an encouraging run for Carl Robinson’s team.
“We have character.” Robinson said earlier in the week.
“Sometimes you only see it when you start winning games, but I’ve seen it when we’ve been losing games as well. We know the league is very tight and each game that you’re involved in can go either way.” Robinson added.
A big part of that character – and the win in Toronto – was the production of Vancouver’s Kekuta Manneh, whose two goal, one assist performance lifted the Whitecaps to the three points last week.
“Our confidence has grown.” Manneh said this week.
“We had a slow start, but now we’re back in the race scoring goals. There’s a few things that we have to tidy up defensively, but we’re playing great football.” Manneh said.
Fraser Aird will not be available for the Whitecaps on Sunday – the right back is serving a one game suspension for two yellow cards in last Saturday’s Toronto FC battle. Blas Perez and Octavio Rivero will need to be on their best behaviour – one yellow card for either of those two will result in a suspension for the next match.
While Vancouver has won three straight, The Timbers have dropped three matches in a row, including a recent 2-1 defeat at the hands of NYC FC.
The Whitecaps return home on May 28th to face the Houston Dynamo.
