Vancouver Whitecaps manager Martin Rennie has said that he is likely to make some changes to the midfield of the team after suffering two consecutive defeats. The team comes into the match against Portland Timbers during the weekend after having suffered defeats against LA Galaxy and Philadelphia Union in the last two encounters. As a result, they are in danger of falling out of the top five if they suffered yet another defeat against Portland Timbers. Jun Marques Davidson was one of the highly criticised players after the defeat against Philadelphia.
The defensive midfielder was not very influential in the match, while he also had an incident involving the opposition player, Daniel. Gershon Koffie has been one of the inconsistent players in the team and he will be absent for a match due to suspension. His handball in the match was deemed as intentional, which led to a yellow card from the referee. He has now accumulated a stipulated numbers of yellow cards that will automatically bring in a one match suspension for the player. Rennie has said that he has some idea of who will be partnering former Bolton midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker in the centre of the park.
Vancouver have scored only three goals from midfield this season.
“It’s going to be a challenge . . . but these opportunities come and it’s time for players, whoever gets the opportunity, to show that you deserve to be in the starting lineup and show that you want that shirt,” said the manager. “We’ve lost two in a row now and we need a game like that that’s going to be full of passion, a good derby game for us to bounce back and get back to our winning ways hopefully. That’s the best game that could come and happen for us right now in this situation,” said Reo-Coker.