Whitecaps FC-Revolution Preview
After losing the opener to a five-game road stretch, the Vancouver Whitecaps have relied on defense to claim a pair of victories and goalkeeper David Ousted had a particularly noteworthy performance in their latest match.
The Whitecaps will try for another victory Saturday night against the New England Revolution, who have earned just one win in nearly two months.
Vancouver (9-6-2) bounced back from a 2-1 loss against Montreal on June 3 with a 1-0 victory over Los Angeles three days later. Then after an extended break, the Whitecaps edged the New York Red Bulls 2-1 last Saturday.
Ousted became just the third MLS goalkeeper to stop two penalty kicks in one game, and Kianz Froese provided a key goal in the 77th minute, his first in seven career contests. Kekuta Manneh also scored in his second straight contest.
The Whitecaps now face a team that's 1-4-4 in its last nine league games and is missing one of its top players in Jermaine Jones, who is expected to miss at least one more month following sports hernia surgery. New England (6-6-6) also lost a U.S. Open Cup game June 17.
"I think (this game) is pretty big. For us, we have played a lot of games this past week and a half, it is going to be nice to go home and play in front of our home fans," midfielder Kelyn Rowe said. "It is going to be a tough one on Saturday as well, but coming home might give us that little bit of an edge."
The Revolution suffered a second consecutive MLS loss Wednesday, 2-1 in Columbus, and failed to take advantage of Lee Nguyen's second goal in 16 games in the opening minute.
Nguyen's career-best 18 goals in 2014 were the fourth-most in MLS, and Charlie Davies is among the league leaders this year with seven. He scored in back-to-back games before Wednesday's loss.
"Their front three of (Teal) Bunbury, Davies, and (Juan) Agudelo with Lee Nguyen and (Diego) Fagundez underneath is arguably one of the strongest in MLS," Vancouver coach Carl Robinson said. "We've got to be on top form with that, but if we're organized and disciplined then we'll get our opportunities at the other end of the field. Then we're very much confident we can go there and get a result."
The Whitecaps won't have defender Kendall Waston or midfielder Gershon Koffie because of one-game suspensions for yellow card accumulation. New England's Andy Dorman is also out after receiving his eighth yellow card of the season against Columbus.
The Revolution and Whitecaps played to a scoreless draw at Gillette Stadium in the most recent matchup March 22, 2014. New England is 2-0-1 all-time at home against Vancouver.