Two teams in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference continue to fight to stay in the hunt for the postseason, as the Vancouver Whitecaps are set to host the Houston Dynamo in the lone match on Friday night.
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The Whitecaps and Dynamo are right next to each other in the standings coming into Friday night, with Vancouver holding a slight edge. After drawing with Nashville SC last Saturday, the Whitecaps are tied for 10th in the West with 27 points, five back of the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers who are tied for the last postseason position. They are winless in their last five regular season contests, though three of those contests have ended in a draw. The team’s last win came, shockingly, over the league-leading Los Angeles FC back on July 2. Since then, the Whitecaps have struggled against teams they should be pulling together wins against, including the likes of the Chicago Fire and Cincinnati FC. They will look to try and finally pick up three points at BC Place, where they are 5-3-3 this season.
Sitting just two points back of Vancouver and seven back of a playoff spot, sit the Dynamo. Despite having a win in the last month, Houston has struggled in recent weeks. They have just one win in their last seven matches (a 2-1 decision over the San Jose Earthquake almost three weeks ago), and are coming off an embarrassing 6-0 loss against the Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia Union. They are now tasked with trying to jump past the Whitecaps in the standings with a road win, something they have only done three times in their first 11 matches away Houston this season.
In their first meeting down in Houston back on March 12, the Dynamo were able to pull out a 2-1 victory.
What: MLS Soccer
Who: Vancouver Whitecaps FC (7-10-6) vs. Houston Dynamo (7-12-4)
When: Friday, August 5
Time: 10:30 p.m. ET
Where: BC Place (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Stream: ESPN+
Check out the MLS standings and results here