The Vancouver Whitecaps will put their five-game unbeaten streak on the line when they travel to Central Texas to play up-and-down Austin FC on Saturday in a Western Conference match.
Vancouver (2-2-3, 9 points) has won its last two matches via shutouts, including a 1-0 home victory over Portland last weekend.
That win followed a 5-0 thrashing of Montreal on April 1 and added to the Whitecaps’ shutout run that has now reached 230 minutes in MLS play. Vancouver has not allowed a shot on target in each of its past two matches.
The Whitecaps had three straight draws before their two-game winning streak, responding in a big way to an 0-2 start to the season. Julian Gressel is Vancouver’s top playmaker, sitting near the top of league in assists with four. Simon Becher leads the team with three goals through seven matches.
“We feel really confident right now,” Vancouver defender Tristan Blackmon said. “Obviously, it started off a little bit rocky, but I think we caught a little bit of momentum, and you use that to your advantage. We’re definitely going in the right direction.”
Austin (2-3-1, 7 points) is winless in its past three matches (0-2-1) and heads home after dropping a 3-0 decision at Los Angeles FC last Saturday. Austin has not won in league play in over a month since beating Real Salt Lake on the road on March 11; it has been outscored 6-1 over its current winless streak and 10-6 on the season.
“For large stretches of the game, I thought we played quite well,” Austin coach Josh Wolff said after the loss to LAFC. “These guys have to score goals and create. It’s not about just keeping the ball, we have to find ways to be more dangerous and goal-threatening.”
Despite Austin’s high-powered attack, it’s defender Jon Gallagher who leads the team with three goals. Austin forward Maxi Urruti has scored at least once against Vancouver in six of the past seven seasons with five different teams, dating to 2016. But Urruti has just one goal in five matches (two starts) this season.
Vancouver has not won on the road in 13 consecutive matches across all competitions, going 0-7-6 over that stretch. It has just four victories away from home since the start of the 2021 season, but one of those was in Austin in 2021.
–Field Level Media