Match Preview: Orlando City vs Vancouver Whitecaps – a tale of two availability reports

Who loves club soccer during the international break? Well it’s certainly not the Vancouver Whitecaps, and it’s not Orlando City either. Everyone please say a big thank you to the Leagues Cup for making this very crucial matchup (in terms of the fight for playoff seeding for both teams) be held this weekend.

It’s perhaps a little fortunate for the ‘Caps that they’re meeting a team with an unavailable list of players just as long as their own, or at least as fortunate as you can be in a situation where you’re so depleted. Between the two sides, there are 22 players who are out due to either international duty or injury, with another three listed as questionable. I’m not quite sure if I’ve ever seen that!

For the ‘Caps, that means that a full 40% of the outfield players on their roster are unavailable to play, a number that could settle at about 45% if Joedrick Pupe is unable to give it a go this weekend too.

With just 15 or 16 available outfield players to choose from, Jesper Sørensen will have to do a little Frankenstein work with his lineup down in Orlando. Perhaps the saving grace is that Sebastian Berhalter was not called up by the United States for their friendlies, so the duo of him and Thomas Müller can ride again in the middle of the park.

Assuming that Emmanuel Sabbi and Daniel Rios take two of other spots up front beside Müller, Sørensen has a few options as to how he can fill in the final spot in the attack (given that Ryan Gauld is not ready to start yet).

One of them would be to play Édier Ocampo on the wing again, although that might only be possible if Pupe starts as he could slide Mathias Laborda over to right-back once again and avoid having to play Giuseppe Bovalina there.

Another option is to give either Liam Mackenzie or Nelson Pierre the opportunity to start, with Mackenzie already starting once earlier this year under similarly dire circumstances (the loss to Chicago during the March international window).

The other option is to bring in another midfielder instead, and either using one of JC Ngando or Jeevan Badwal as the #10 and pushing Müller out wide, or going back to the 4-3-3 system that Sørensen used religiously earlier on in the year with Müller again playing out wide (although presumably tucking in early and often, as Gauld was used in the role before his injury).

Regardless of how they line up, the ‘Caps will be working hard to earn a result as they know that even a draw puts them in a much better position heading into Decision Day. Getting a point would mean that it’s entirely in the Whitecaps’ own hands whether they finish above or below San Diego, and three points would add LAFC to that list too. First in the West is very attainable, but it will almost certainly not happen with a loss on Saturday afternoon.

Orlando are no pushovers though, and they could still theoretically finish anywhere from fourth to ninth in the East so they have plenty to play for. Missing players like dynamic fullback Alex Freeman and double-digit goalscorer Marco Pašalić hurts, but the Lions do still have star forward Martin Ojeda, who ranks fifth in MLS in goal contributions (16 goals, 14 assists).

This is just the sixth all-time meeting between the sides, and – incredibly – the first time they’ve faced off since 2019. Before that, they’d played in each of Orlando’s first five MLS seasons.

In fact, that last meeting was so long ago that there’s not a single player from that season’s Whitecaps roster that is still around in Vancouver today. Two from Orlando are still around and are likely starters in this one: centre-back and team captain Robin Jansson and defender/midfielder Kyle Smith.

As the appetizer to Thanksgiving weekend, let’s see if the Whitecaps can bring a big win home for the holidays!