CARSON, Calif. – Vancouver Whitecaps FC entered the postseason in less than impressive fashion, but according to their Knockout Round opponents, the LA Galaxy, that is of little concern.
Over the last ten games, the Whitecaps have earned just one win—a 4-0 drubbing of Chivas USA—, but when the schedule is extended to the last 17 matches, Vancouver has won just three times. To add to their end of the season woes, the Whitecaps have earned just one road win since July—a victory over the Colorado Rapids on July 4—going 0-7-2 in that nine game span.
Although that Vancouver have had their recent struggles, Galaxy midfielder David Beckham, who has played in his share of postseason and Cup matches over his career, admitted that there were such things as “underdogs” or “favorites” in a playoff match.
“People will be looking at them, maybe, as the underdogs, but I don’t see it that way,” said Beckham. “There are no underdogs in a one-off game in my eyes. They could come here and think that they’re playing in another stadium, all the pressure is off of them, and they’re going to come here and hopefully beat us.”
With that in mind, Beckham stated that there was no chance that LA will be overlooking a talented Vancouver side.
“Not in our locker room, none of our players are in that state of mind,” Beckham added. “We have to believe that we are very cautious of Vancouver because we know that they can play and cause us problems, and score goals. They have players that have played in Europe and played in big games in their team. So we’re well aware of their firepower and we’re well-aware that they’ll get every man behind the ball on every attack, so it’s up to us to be patient, but break them down when we can.”
If the Galaxy do bypass Vancouver, then they may be forced to where the title of underdogs as they look to defend their MLS Cup title, after having played an extra match then the rest of the Western Conference field.
However, according to Robbie Keane, the Galaxy are turning their back to such thoughts, choosing to focus on the task at hand.
“We don’t really think too much about it because we’re playing at home tomorrow. Obviously, it’s certainly an advantage for us when you’re playing in your home stadium. Listen, after this and hopefully we qualify for the final, its home and away until we get to the final…We’ll just continue and concentrate on tomorrow, and hopefully get a good win so we can look forward after that.”
