Twenty-five points and one striker apart
Sporting Kansas City traded their leading scorer four days before hosting the best team in the Western Conference. Dejan Joveljic left for the Seattle Sounders this week with eight goals to his name this season, more than twice the total of anyone else on the Kansas City roster.
The table fills in the rest. Vancouver sit top of the West at 12-4-4 and 40 points, carrying a goal difference of plus-27 that no other club in Major League Soccer can match. Kansas City sit bottom at 4-14-3 and 15 points, five matches without a win at 0-4-1. Twenty-five points separate the two sides meeting on Saturday night in Kansas City, Kansas.
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Wicky is asking for time
Raphael Wicky has framed the season as a construction project rather than a rescue mission. “We have to give them time,” the Kansas City coach said of the club’s new arrivals. “We have to give these players time to integrate. We build a culture together.”
The most significant of those arrivals is Owen Wolff, acquired in a trade with Austin FC. He recorded 10 goals and 23 assists across 147 appearances for Austin and was named the club’s Offensive Player of the Year last season. He is also the son of Josh Wolff, which gives the move a resonance in Kansas City that the raw numbers do not capture. He is listed as out with a knee problem for this match.
“I’m planning on having him with the team,” Wicky said. “It’s more about giving him time and training with his teammates. We believe strongly in him. Owen is very comfortable in the pocket in between the lines.”
Until Wolff is available, the scoring burden falls on Stephen Afrifa, who has eight goals in 62 appearances.
Vancouver expect a full squad
Jesper Sorensen has two players to monitor and little else to occupy him. Brian White missed training time with a quad complaint and Jeevan Badwal was absent for personal reasons, though the Vancouver coach expects both to be available. “We just don’t want to force things,” Sorensen said. On Badwal: “He is good to go. He’ll be ready for the game.”
The Whitecaps have gone 2-1-1 in league play this month and put five past Dallas without reply last week. They also took the earlier meeting between these clubs 3-0 on April 17, through Emmanuel Sabbi, Bruno Caicedo and Thomas Muller.
Sorensen is not treating the rematch as a repeat performance. “I don’t know if some of the players they signed will be participating or not,” he said. “We have to go play our style of game and hopefully that will be enough to secure a good result.”
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