Tune in on matchdays for a one hour pre-match show and one hour post-match show as Colin Miller and Corey Basso call the action live on AM730. Wednesday’s pre-match show kicks off at 5:00 p.m. PT at whitecapsfc.com/am730.
Cavallini’s influence
Lucas Cavallini has had a great start to the season.
Strikers are paid to score goals, so he will be wanting to add another to his stat column after bagging his first goal of the season back in the opening win over Portland Timbers.
This will be a match where he could find his opportunities.
Minnesota have given up a league high 10 goals. They don’t have the quickest backline, so the big man will be keen to find those spaces to exploit.
Even without a goal in recent matches though, Cavallini has continued to influence the outcome with smaller details. With his constant work rate, he leads MLS in fouls suffered and duels won, and is third in aerials won.
He's been smart in reading the match, drawing a penalty against Toronto and setting up the play that earned the penalty against Montreal. Late in last weekend’s match he showed a deft touch to get the ball out of the ‘Caps end and kill the remainder of the match.
But we all know the big man would love nothing more than to add another goal.
The press
Last time out, the ‘Caps were able to wear down Montreal with their press.
They won the ball higher up field and made them really work hard to get out of their own end. This also led to attacks starting closer to goal for the ‘Caps.
It wasn’t until Montreal added fresh legs with their substitutes that they were able to threaten the Whitecaps box in the second half, and by that point they were already down 2-0.
Marc Dos Santos and Axel Schuster have both said repeatedly that they want teams to hate playing the Whitecaps. If they can continue this kind of pressure and outwork their opponents, then they certainly will.
Set pieces
It’s been repeated a number of times already, and we know that the ‘Caps are still finding their best attacking form in the run of play, but set pieces will be crucial in this match. On both sides.
Vancouver has already won 22 corner kicks through four matches, and scored twice. They’ve also added a goal off a free kick, and were dangerous all match against Colorado.
On the other side, Minnesota is very dangerous with deliveries from Emmanuel Reynoso and Jan Gregus, and big Michael Boxall in the box – who I coached with the ‘Caps when we drafted him in 2011.
That said, Minnesota also showed a vulnerability on set pieces in their last match against Colorado, so this could certainly be an area where the match is won and lost.
It should be another cracker on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to calling the match and hearing from all of you during our pre and post-match shows on AM730.
