MLS Playoffs: It’s Whitecaps vs. Portland Timbers in the first round

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The Major League Soccer playoffs are here, and Providence Park beckons for Vancouver.

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The results the Vancouver Whitecaps needed to avoid a play-in game didn’t go their way on Decision Day, meaning their post-season will begin in Portland next Wednesday.

Vancouver fell 2-1 to Real Salt Lake on Saturday night, making the Minnesota United FC result — the team the Caps needed to drop a game — a moot point. The Loons dispatched St. Louis 4-1 regardless, and Vancouver will finish the season in eighth.

But because of a scheduling conflict with a Supercross event at B.C. Place next week, they will take to the road for the play-in game. Beating Portland would mean at least one game at home, as the Round 1 series format is a best-of-three.

The Whitecaps looked like they had a shot of catching Minnesota when Ryan Gauld scored in the 58th minute — just moments after coming on as a second-half substitute — but Diego Luna equalized before an own goal sealed their fate.

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“It’s a game of moments. But it was also a game that I think, in general, we had a pretty good performance,” said assistant Mike D’Agostino, who filled in on the bench for suspended head coach Vanni Sartini.

“They had some chances, we had some chances, but obviously it’s tough when the result goes against you. But I think we’ve made some positive step in the last two games. I know it seems hard to say when you’ve lost them, but I think we made some positive steps and we can bring that into Wednesday.

“It’s a tough month, but the last two performances we’ve shown some positive signs and we’ve got our full squad back now. We’ll be ready for Wednesday. We’re motivated and ready to go, and we’ll be going obviously to win.”

Portland tied the Seattle Sounders 1-1 on Decision Day, thanks to a 68th minute goal from Brazilian Antony. It was the first goal for Portland since a Sept. 28 game against Vancouver, a three-game span.

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With the draw, Portland raised the Cascadia Cup for the first time since 2022, despite finishing in a three-way tie with Vancouver and Seattle (eight points). They got the crown on goals scored.

It means they head into their first home playoff game since 2021 with some momentum, while Vancouver is now in a seven-game winless slump (0-5-2), including four straight losses, trying to figure out their problems.

“If I knew it right now, I would tell you, but we’ve been trying to turn the page for the last few weeks and we haven’t quite got it right,” Gauld said after the game.

“So we’re going to have to look at a different approach to getting everybody ready to go on Wednesday (against Portland). We’ve got a group of strong characters and good personalities, so I’m sure that when Wednesday comes around, everyone’s going to be buzzing for it and confident that we’re going to get the result.”

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Here’s a quick look at their history with Portland.

EVEN STEVEN

The Caps and Timbers have beaten each other at home once this year, as well as a 1-1 tie at B.C. Place.

On March 30 in Vancouver, the Caps jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals from Ryan Gauld and Fafa Picault, in the third and 29th minutes, respectively. But Portland equalized through second-half strikes from Evander and Felipe Mora ties it 77, before Whitecaps wingback Ryan Raposo played the hero with an 87th minute winner.

On June 22 in Portland, Vancouver lost 2-0, going behind on goals from Mora and Jonathan Rodríguez in the first half, then playing the final 40 minutes without Alessandro Schöpf — who saw two yellow cards.

Their last meeting camp on Sept. 28 in Vancouver, with Brian White giving the Caps a third-minute lead before Rodríguez found a 43rd minute equalizer.

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NO PROVIDENCE AT PROVIDENCE

The Caps are 4-9-4 in Portland over the last decade, including the one game they played as the “home” team during the 2021 COVID-twisted season.

Two of those wins have come during the Vanni Sartini era in Vancouver.

In 2023, they built a 2-0 lead before holding on for a 3-2 victory. Two years before that, the Caps found themselves down 2-0 before scoring three times between the 63rd and 82nd minutes for the victory.

PLAYOFF HISTORY

Despite their long history, they’ve only faced each other once in MLS playoffs, in 2015.

That was the most successful season in the team’s modern history, when they finished second in the West and third overall in the league.

Vancouver got their nose in front with a scoreless draw away in the two-leg series, but then lost 2-0 at home in front of 27,837 fans. Fanendo Adi and Diego Chará with an injury-time knife scored for Portland. It was their only loss to the Timbers that year.

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That fateful game saw waves of fruitless Whitecaps attacks, and when Kekuta Manneh went down with a twisted ankle, it spelled the end of the offensive threats.

“We didn’t score a goal over two legs,” then-coach Carl Robinson said after that game. “When you don’t score a goal over two legs, unless you’re lucky and go to penalties and win, you’re not going to win a game of football and that’s what happened.

“It changed dramatically,” Robinson said of the game after Manneh’s injury.

“The kid started like a house on fire and put us in the ascendancy with playing front foot football. We hit the post and had one or two half-chances, then it changes. When it’s not your day, it’s not your day. Today it wasn’t our day.”

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