Just not today !

 

 

I am not a big fan of Whitecaps, think they are fairly limited and they have lost 11 of 16 starts, but they do not "do" draws, have won the other five and can occasionally turn it on, usually at home and they have beaten both Montreal Impact and a very strong Toronto FC team here in BC post lockdown and also won 2-1 away to Real Salt Lake , who they face today, at altitude in Sandy just three weeks ago.

 

Real are a shade of odds on to gain revenge, can that be correct ? The visitors are probably the better team, but are only 3 points ahead of Vancouver and their form is very erratic, we rarely see them play the same week to week and that is something we have touched upon multiple times already this season. There is just no way of knowing which Real will turn up, but we have seen more of their My Hyde than Dr Jekyll side in 2020. Also, on the road they have won 1/6 and they are rarely at their best away from the comforts of home, they have not won more than four road starts in any season since 2013, in that time, across six years + they have a 23.2% away win rate (29/125) and that makes odds of circa 50% for today difficult to agree with. Both teams are a little short handed and Whitecaps have two suspensions which maybe makes the away odds more palatable, but RSL are missing Albert Rusnak who is their most dynamic player and one who scores a lot of goals from midfield. This season they are 0-0-4 in his absence (2-11 goal difference) and won just 1/7 in 2019 without him.

 

Edit: late yesterday, Whitecaps got the red card and suspension awarded to defender Erik Godoy rescinded and he can play today.