Although the Whitecaps spent the week in Vancouver training, they will be once again on the road when they face Los Angeles FC on Saturday 7:30 p.m at the Banc of California Stadium.
It will be the third game in a row on the road for the Whitecaps. The Caps managed a 2-2 draw against FC Dallas last Wednesday and then lost 1-0 to rivals Seattle Sounders thanks to a last-minute collapse.
As a result, the Whitecaps have seen the gap to the playoffs grow from one point to six since the start of their road trip.
“If we want to get an opportunity to be in the top seven at the end of the season we have to get points,” Marc Dos Santos said after training on Thursday.
LAFC on the road, however, will be a difficult opponent. The Los Angeles based club beat Sporting Kansas City 5-1 on Wednesday and with 40 points is nine points ahead of second-placed LA Galaxy in the Western Conference standings.
The Whitecaps were one of the few teams this season that managed to take three points from the league leaders. Dos Santos, however, was quick to point out that that 1-0 victory from Apr. 17 will have very little impact on Saturday’s game.
“It is two different games,” Dos Santos said. “The two games are too far apart.”
Nonetheless, Dos Santos was optimistic, heading into the game on Saturday.
“Games aren’t won on paper and standings,” Dos Santos said. “They are won during the 90 minutes on the field. So I don’t think we have to change our way, no matter the opponent, it doesn’t matter.”
Some of that optimism might come from the fact that with Canada eliminated from the Gold Cup Maxime Crépeau, Russell Teibert, Derek Cornelius and Doneil Henry have all returned to Vancouver.
“They are all available,” Dos Santos said on Thursday.
Crépeau and Henry, in particular, have been key players for the Whitecaps this season.
“It is going to be do or die,” Crépeau said on Thursday. “The mindset is to win every game. It was difficult watching the games without being able to help the boys.”
Although the Canadian boys are back with the squad, there will be still some players missing. Lass Bangoura advanced with Guinea to the round of the 16 of the Africa Cup, and Joaquín Ardaiz is still out with an injury.
“It looks like LAFC is going to be a no, but Calgary [in the Canadian Championship] on Wednesday is going to be an option,” Dos Santos said.
The head coach was a bit less informative when it came to the availability of Ali Adnan. The Iraqi national team player’s loan from Italian side Udinese Calcio expired on Jul. 1, but the 25-year-old is still in Vancouver and spend the last two days training individually.
“It looks promising. I won’t say anything until something has been confirmed,” Dos Santos said to TSN reporter Corey Basso on Saturday. “Yeah, I’m not going to answer [questions about Adnan’s future].
”Look, I respect you guys, and I know that you’re doing your job, but it’s been annoying now for me. For one month, everybody’s always asking me. But when it’s confirmed, on the right side or not, then we can talk.”
It is understood that the Whitecaps have agreed on terms with Ali Adnan. But Whitecaps still have to agree on terms with the Serie A side. Pro Soccer USA has been told that there has been some significant interest from the Turkish side Besiktas and the Saudi-Arabian based club Al-Ahly. The question now is whether the Whitecaps’ offer has been better than what those two clubs offered.
Either way, it has been a slow process.
“It’s a process, a lot of people are involved,” Dos Santos said. “On Ali’s side, and our side, it’s done. Now it’s a little bit out of our control, and it’s frustrating.”
The problem is that Udinese is not quite sure yet what to do with Adnan. The club has ended their summer break on July 1 and new sporting director Pierpaolo Marino has only been in his position for one month. As a result, the club is still in a consolidation period leaving the Whitecaps, and Adnan, in a state of limbo ahead of their must-win fixture in Los Angeles.