Match Preview: Vancouver Whitecaps vs St. Louis City SC – Müllermania marches on

After all the the build-up and the celebratory, nearly euphoric atmosphere inside BC Place for the Vancouver Whitecaps debut of Thomas Müller, having it consist of an incredible goal called offside and then two dropped points at the death might have felt a little on the nose when it comes to the MLS history of the club.

The good news is, that’s not the only chance that the ‘Caps will have to try and capitalize on all of these newfound eyeballs! That’s definitely one positive of having the star that everyone is coming out to see on your own side of the pitch – you’ve got a repeated draw instead of just a one-time thing!

Once you’ve got a lower bowl sellout (which has the potential to happen two weekends in a row, or at least be close to it), then the next step is to put forth a strong performance and a win to send the fans home as happy as possible. Especially now with there being an incredible three-week gap between Saturday’s game and the team’s next outing following the postponement of the Orlando fixture, there needs to be three points to keep some momentum going.

Now, St. Louis aren’t very good, but Houston is outside of the playoff picture currently as well and we saw how that turned out. Hopefully the finishing boots are on a little tighter across the board this time around.

The biggest question heading into this weekend is whether Müller might be ready to start. He certainly was ready to put in a shift when he came on for 30 minutes last time out, and flashed the type of dynamic and smart play that he was brought in to provide.

You could also see a slight tweaking of Jesper Sørensen’s system, as even before the German star came on the ‘Caps looked to be playing a bit more of a 4-2-3-1 shape against Houston, with Jeevan Badwal regularly pressing high and centrally. Now, the teenager didn’t properly play as a #10 in possession, but Müller was closer to that when he came on, trying to get as involved as possible in the centre of the attack.

Given that his game is all about finding pockets of space and creating within them, giving the Raumdeuter as much potential ground in the final third to cover as possible will certainly be a priority. And with Andrés Cubas and Sebastian Berhalter being very willing runners themselves, Müller should be able to fit nicely at the top of that midfield triangle.

One of the players he was able to link up with a couple times in his debut was Jayden Nelson, who has put in a couple of fantastic shifts the last two games in terms of creating danger and putting together some dazzling runs. The only issue is that he hasn’t been able to find the back of the net himself in any of his last 10 appearances, and should have absolutely been able to bury one against the Dynamo.

Despite that, and the fact that Emmanuel Sabbi has found the net three times in the same stretch, the young Canadian feels from an outside eye to be seemingly more secure in his starting spot for the time being, with Ali Ahmed now also back in the fold and pushing for minutes. To be fair, you would expect all three of those wingers to find their way on the pitch in every game that they’re healthy, it’s just a matter of whether from the start or the bench.

Defensively, top of mind is the status of Tristan Blackmon, who was substituted off at halftime last Saturday due to some mild knee pain. Despite not participating in training on Thursday, the front office clearly felt comfortable enough in the current CB options to send Bjørn Inge Utvik back to Norway, despite the new additions to the position either having arrived injured (Joedrick Pupe) or just now joining the team (Sebastian Schonlau).

It’s also perhaps another chance for Belal Halbouni to make himself heard, if he should be picked to partner either Blackmon or (potentially?) Schonlau. The big Syrian-Canadian defender still has just eight starts in all competitions since he came to Vancouver last season, and only three of them in MLS play, so any opportunity is an important showcase.

For the visitors, St. Louis City are in the final stages of a dreary campaign, with just five MLS regular season wins on the year and a paltry five points gained from 13 road games. In some sort of cosmic oddity, the American outfit has the exact mirrored goal tally (29 for, 44 against) as the Whitecaps (44 for, 29 against).

The two sides did play each other to a goalless draw back in April, a game that’s highly forgettable not just because of the score but also because of the fact that the two games directly on either side of it were the 5-1 Brian White-led demolition of Austin and the 2-0 Champions Cup first leg triumph over Miami.

The Whitecaps do have a solid record against the relatively recent MLS addition, dropping their first-ever game against St. Louis but then winning the next three before that aforementioned draw.

A win this weekend would see them either leapfrog or keep pace with Minnesota United in the standings, with those two teams the most likely of any to be able to chase down the highly impressive San Diego expansion side for top spot in the Western Conference. If the ‘Caps are going to have a shot at doing that, a home tilt against the team that’s 14th in the conference is a must-win.