Vancouver Whitecaps FC have found tremendous form recently after suffering an opening day loss to Toronto in front of the BC Place faithful. Since the disappointing 3-1 loss to the rival Canadian club, the Caps have won four straight games including impressive wins over Western Conference foes, Portland Timbers and LA Galaxy.
Octavio Rivero has been a massive part of the success of Vancouver, netting four goals in five games played in the 2015 season. Another component to the great start by Vancouver has been the goalkeeping by David Ousted and the Whitecaps' rock solid defense in the past four games. They have only given up one goal in the past four matches! Kendall Waston and Pa Modou Kah are a defensive partnership to look out for in MLS possessing a good deal of strength and pace between the two.
The Columbus Crew have started off 2015 sluggishly after only gaining three points in three games, including losses to Houston Dynamo and NY Red Bulls. Columbus' only win has come against Toronto in a 2-0 win at home the second game of the season. After losing to Red Bulls on March 28th, the Crew look to bounce back by stunning the league's best team at their home ground. In the last five meetings between the two teams, Vancouver have won three, and Columbus are winners of two.
Columbus have only played three matches this season while most of the Eastern Conference have played four or five (besides MTL and NYRB). A win for the Crew would boost their positioning to be tied on points with Chicago (six points) for 4th place. On the flip side, the Whitecaps can go five points clear at the top of the Western Conference table if they win at home.
The playmaker of the midfield, Wil Trapp, did not feature for the Black & Gold against the Red Bulls due to a right calf strain and is questionable for the match with Vancouver. Also potentially missing for Columbus is another midfielder, Romain Gall due to a knee sprain.
Vancouver will be without Andre Lewis (right ACL sprain), Mauro Rosales (right ankle sprain), and Marco Bustos (foot contusion), all midfielders. Gershon Koffie is probable for the clash, dealing with a left MCL sprain.
Whitecaps FC look to continue their dominance in MLS and retain first in the West as Columbus seeks to slide up the Eastern Conference table with a win. You can catch all the action on TSN at 10pm EST(7pm PT) on Wednesday night as Vancouver Whitecaps FC and the Columbus Crew battle for three points in the early MLS season.