The Vancouver Whitecaps are searching for their first win of the 2017 MLS season after trading-off Kekuta Manneh to Columbus Crew in exchange for Tony Tchani. Notwithstanding, Caps manager Carl Robinson will now hope on “Designated Player” Fredy Montero, who's still finding his first Major League Soccer goal after on loan from Chinese Super League.
Meanwhile, La Galaxy manager Curt Onalfo will be looking forward to welcoming back two of his key players Giovanni Dos Santos and Ashley Cole as they are likely to a return into the Galaxy XI lineup this Saturday, while Gyasi Zardes have now gained fitness and will be available if called-upon.
Vancouver Whitecaps outlook
There is no doubt that the Whitecaps will be looking to consolidate for a home win this weekend when they take on Galaxy after their last devastating home loss to Toronto FC on March 18. This encounter will be their third home game of the 2017 season. Despite the trading of Kekuta Manneh to Crew SC, Robinson still has some attacking weapons to look-up to like Cristian Techera, Alphonso Davies, Christian Bolanos and Nicolas Mezquida to wreak havoc on the Galaxy back-line.
The Caps are also aware that their current position in the MLS log was as a result of the red cards booking to Shea and David Ousted in their last two games but hope to amend those lapses when they test a Galaxy side this has been riddled with injuries in recent times.
LA Galaxy outlook
LA Galaxy will be hoping to capitalize on their winning momentum this Saturday after coming-off from their last week's 1-2 away win over Real Salt Lake in Utah thanks to an Emmanuel Boateng effort that gave the winning goal. Galaxy will now hit the road to Vancouver with close to a full array of players as Galaxy boss Curt Onalfo has some critical decisions to make, deciding whether Gyasi Zardes and Giovanni dos Santos starts the encounter and to opt in key attacking pedigree into his starting lineup.
While Galaxy skipper Jelle Van Damme is returning to action from a match suspendion, veteran left-back Ashley Cole is back to full fitness and Jermaine Jones is coming back from an international duty.
This is good news for Onalfo but it remains to be seen how Sebastian Lletget's absence will likely affect the team on Saturday, as the 24-year-old American international was beginning to exert his outright influence on the team.
