VANCOUVER, BC – Vancouver Whitecaps FC are set to host Honduran side C.D. Olimpia at 7 p.m. PT in their second CONCACAF Champions League fixture (Sportsnet One).
Here are some news and notes on Vancouver’s starting lineup.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
70.Paolo Tornaghi; 6.Jordan Smith, 4.Kendall Waston ©, 18.Diego Rodríguez, 3.Sam Adekugbe; 20.Deybi Flores, 15.Matías Laba; 38.Kianz Froese, 9.Nicolás Mezquida, 11.Darren Mattocks; 88.Robert Earnshaw
Substitutes
1.David Ousted, 13.Cristian Techera, 22.Christian Dean, 26.Tim Parker, 31.Russell Teibert, 32.Marco Bustos, 34.Caleb Clarke
NOTES:
- Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson makes 11 changes from Vancouver’s last match – a 2-0 win over Colorado Rapids on September 9. Five starters – Tornaghi, Rodríguez, Flores, Froese, and Mattocks – started the first CCL match against Seattle back on August 5.
- The starters have an average age of 24 years, six months, and three weeks. In total, nine different birth countries are represented in the starters: Argentina, Costa Rica (x2), Cuba, England, Honduras, Italy, Jamaica, Uruguay (x2) and Zambia. The starters also include two Homegrown Canadian internationals in Adekugbe and Froese and three on the bench in Bustos, Clarke, and Teibert.
- Striker Robert Earnshaw makes his first start and eighth appearance for the first team. Earnshaw's last official MLS start was on September 28, 2014 as a member of the Chicago Fire. Earnshaw has made three appearances, including two starts, with WFC2 of the USL this season.
- Sam Adekugbe’s last start with the first team came back on May 13, when he suffered a right ankle sprain in the first leg of the ACC semifinal.
- Darren Mattocks, who starts on the left wing, has scored in four straight competitive matches with the Jamaican men’s national team.
- Honduran midfielder Deybi Flores has played against C.D. Olimpia five teams (as a member of his former club C.D. Motagua).
- Costa Rican defender Kendall Waston wears the captain's armband for the first time as a member of Whitecaps FC.
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