St. Louis CITY SC (17-10-5) at Vancouver Whitecaps FC (11-10-10) Wednesday, October 4, 2023, 9:30 p.m. CT BC Place AppleTV+ MLS Season Pass Statistics: St. Louis CITY: 56 Points, 62 GF, 40 GA, net +22, Form WWWWWLLWDLLWWWLDLLWWWLWWLWLDDDWW, Away 6-7-3 Vancouver Whitecaps FC, 43 Points, 51 GF, 47 GA, net +4, Form: LLDDDWWDDWLLWLWDDWLLWWLWWDWLLDD, Home 7-3-5 We have quick turnaround for our trip to Vancouver, while the Whitecaps complete a run of four matches in 11 days, including two road trips. They lost at RSL, when a 3-2 win vanished in controversial VAR decisions (a goal line no goal call and a handball no-call) and became a bitter 2-1 loss. We can identify, been there, done that. They lost a 1-0 lead and fought back from a 1-2 deficit to snag a 2-2 draw at Colorado. They played their first home match in weeks after 7 straight on the road and fought to a 2-2 draw with DC United. We have clinched the Western Conference title, but still have the target of snagging as many points as possible to be eligible to host the Cup match against as many Eastern teams as possible. BC Place is the only MLS stadium with a Polytan artificial surface, and risk of injury to key players in this match may influence our lineup. Discuss.
I haven't heard of any problems with the turf at BC Place. St. Louis adapted to artificial surfaces at Portland and Seattle, so I don't know that there will be much concern here. The Whitecaps may not have much say in the matter though, since the BC Lions are the principle tenant of the stadium. Ryan Gauld and Brian White are the big hitters for Vancouver. If you can hold them at bay and make somebody else on the Whitecaps beat you, you may stand a fighting chance against them. It would be nice to see St. Louis finish with 60 points. It just sounds better than something in the 50's!
PRO's assignments for the match: St. Louis CITY SC at Vancouver Whitecaps REF: Pierre-Luc Lauziere AR1: Jeremy Hanson AR2: Meghan Mullen 4TH: Mark Allatin VAR: Luis Guardia AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert This is our first rodeo with Lauziere. He generally does not play cards, averaging just 3 YCs/match (51 in 17 matches) and has only issued one red all season (a mustard-and-ketchup). On the other hand, he averages 21 fouls/match, though, which works out to 0.74 fouls per tackle. He has also awarded 7 penalties in the 17 matches.
Seems like a possible letdown game. Would be hard to blame the guys after the emotional win Saturday, and clinching of first place. Maybe a little squad rotation? As @fortcollins said, we obviously still want to pick up as many points as possible, but wouldn’t mind Klauss coming off the bench only if needed here to help keep him fresh.
This may change our expectations for the Vancouver match. Here's the DISCO Report: St. Louis CITY SC Suspended: none YC Caution (1 away from suspension): Lucas Bartlett, Anthony Markanich, Tim Parker Vancouver Whitecaps: Suspended: none YC Caution (1 away from suspension): Sebastian Berhalter If I'm in BC's shoes, I'm sitting Markanich and Parker to preserve their availability for the home match with Seattle. I'd also sit Rasmus Alm, who was listed as questionable last match anyway. According to the 2023 MLS Competition Guidelines, the YCs reset before the playoff anyway, so cards earned in the Seattle match would not matter for the playoffs. Similar to the application of yellow card accumulation for players, yellow cards will reset at the end of the MLS Regular Season (if a team qualifies for the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs) and also before MLS Cup.
We don't play again til the 21st. Not sure keeping people fresh is of importance, I would be more concerned about keeping people sharp. Now if someone has been feeling a little niggle, there is no reason to risk them.
Starting XIs: St. Louis CITY SC Lundt-Nerwinski-Yaro-Parker-Markanich-Blom-Lowen-Ostrak-Stroud-Gioacchini-Adeniran Subs: Burki-Bell-Hiebert-Jackson-Klauss-Pompeu-Thorisson-Vassilev-Watts Vancouver Whitecaps FC Takaoka-Blackmon-Brown-Veselinovic-Larvea-Ahmed-Shoop-Cubas-Raposo-Gauld-White Subs: Boehmer-Teibert-Becher-Laborda-Adekugbe-Ngando-Hoilett-Vite-Berhalter Interesting. No Burki or Klauss, but BC is risking YC accumulation for Markanich and Parker.
If they were to pick that yellow up against Seattle, would they be banned for the first playoff game?
No. All YCs reset to zero before the playoff start and again before the MLS Cup final. Both Parker and Markanich played cautiously in Vancouver (well, except for Parker's couple of bear hugs on Ahmed). In the second half, Markanich was overrun on three straight plays after their first goal. My read was that he had been told not to draw a yellow, and was being cautious. Parker has a lot more experience, and knows the line very well. Also, this ref was more into whistles and fouls and not so much into playing cards.
And now we grab the popcorn, sit back, watch the East and West have circular firing squads, and wait. Strange week just to be spectators. Atlanta, New England, and Nashville can help put a dent in the hopes of Columbus, Orlando, and Philadelphia to finish with more points than CITY. Montreal can juggle our bracket by beating Portland. FCD and San Jose can kill each other with a draw in their match. Vancouver could really hurt Seattle today. Austin could sneak into the bracket and cause massive harm to LAFC. And with highly unlikely road upsets, Colorado, kansas, and the Gals could respectively weaken, weaken, and deny other playoff or contending teams.