Soccer : Can Sounders Shake Off Vancouver?

This hasn’t been an ideal start to the season for the defending champs. The Seattle Sounders have just one victory after five MLS matches, but at least they’re outperforming the Vancouver Whitecaps. These Cascadian neighbors will face off Friday (10 PM ET) at BC Place. At press time, the Whitecaps are slim +140 home favorites, with Seattle priced at +195 and the draw very much in play at +235.

Vancouver also have just one win after five matches, but they’ve lost three times, while the Sounders have three draws to show for their efforts. Seattle got off to a slow start last year, too, but stormed their way to MLS Cup glory after firing head coach Sigi Schmid. They’ll almost certainly take a step back this year now that Brian Schmetzer is on full-time; however, that has more to do with the extreme roster turnover MLS teams experience than any fault of Schmetzer’s.

That turnover should benefit the Whitecaps after they missed the playoffs last year. There are considerable flaws on this team, most notably on defense, but they’ve got a proven goal-scorer in former Sounders forward Fredy Montero, who’s on loan from Tianjin TEDA of the Chinese Super League.

Soccer Odds: ‘Caps-Sounders at BC Place

The defending MLS Cup champion Seattle Sounders try to shake off their early-season rust this Friday (10 PM ET) when they visit their Cascadian rivals, the Vancouver Whitecaps. Seattle have one win and three draws after five matches, while Vancouver are near the bottom of the Western Conference at 1-1-3.

At press time, the Sounders are available at +195 on the MLS odds board, with the home side at +140 and the draw pegged at +235. Seattle took two of their three matches last year before winning the title. Vancouver ended up missing the playoffs after a promising 2015 campaign.