Saturday, July 19

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Sports Mole previews Thursday's MLS Playoffs clash between Houston Dynamo and Vancouver Whitecaps, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Both aiming to bounce back from defeats last time out, Houston Dynamo and Vancouver Whitecaps will do battle at the Shell Energy Stadium on Thursday.

The visitors have dropped to third place in the Major League Soccer Western Conference standings on the back of a second straight league loss, while their hosts are 12 points worse off in 10th spot.

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Match preview

Houston Dynamo return to action on Thursday aiming to bounce back to winning ways and move into the top nine of the Major League Soccer Western Conference, having seen an improved run halted at the weekend.

Following a fifth-placed conference finish and first-round playoff exit last year, La Naranja currently find themselves 10th having only earned 26 points from their 22 outings thus far, winning seven and losing 10 of those.

After suffering their seventh, eighth and ninth league defeats consecutively in June, Ben Olsen's side began to bounce back with a 1-0 home triumph over St Louis City, before making it back-to-back triumphs in a dramatic trip away at San Diego FC, having led 2-1 through Lawrence Ennali and Franco Escobar, before Ezequiel Ponce drew them back level and sealed a 4-3 victory with a brace in the dying embers.

La Naranja failed to make it three in a row and continue their climb up the standings last time out, though, as they visited Real Salt Lake and left empty-handed with William Agada netting the only goal of the game late in the first half.

Still trailing the top nine by just one point and the top seven by three, Houston Dynamo will aim to bounce back again on Thursday and put an eighth MLS win of the season on the board to move into the playoff spots.

Their visitors also head into the contest in search of a return to winning ways, having fallen behind the conference leaders in recent weeks.

After finishing eighth in the Western Conference and exiting the playoffs in the first round last year, Vancouver Whitecaps enjoyed a fine start to the 2025 campaign, establishing themselves as frontrunners by amassing 35 points from their first 16 outings.

They have since hit a tougher spell, though, having added just three more points to that tally in five further attempts, courtesy of a 1-0 away triumph over Los Angeles FC after back-to-back defeats.

A 3-0 beating at the hands of Los Angeles Galaxy then followed, before Jesper Sorensen's side most recently visited Colorado Rapids and again lost by the same scoreline with Calvin Harris, Rafael Navarro and Andreas Maxso on the scoresheet for the hosts.

Still sitting third in the division and five points clear of fourth place, but trailing leaders San Diego FC by four points, Vancouver Whitecaps will hope to end their slump and narrow the gap to top spot with a win on Thursday.

Houston Dynamo MLS form:

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Vancouver Whitecaps MLS form:

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Vancouver Whitecaps form (all competitions):

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Team News

Houston Dynamo will remain without Nelson Quinones, Andrew Tarbell and Erik Sviatchenko on Thursday due to ongoing injury issues.

Ezequiel Ponce will continue to lead the attack, having notched up nine goals across MLS and cup action so far this season, while Amine Bassi should continue in support in a 4-2-3-1 setup.

Sebastian Kowalczyk will hope to displace Brooklyn Raines and rejoin mainstay Artur in the engine room, while Duane Holmes, Ondrej Lingr and Gabriel Segal will compete for attacking spots.

Vancouver Whitecaps have an injury list of their own to contend with, as Sam Adekugbe, Ali Ahmed, Ryan Gauld, Giuseppe Bovalina and Andres Cubas should all miss out again.

Brian White has been their key man going forward so far this term, having notched up 15 goals across all competitions this term including 10 in 13 MLS games after hitting 16 in each of the last two league campaigns.

Ranko Veselinovic should rejoin regular partner Tristan Blackmon at the heart of the defence, while Ralph Priso-Mbongue will hope to continue in the midfield alongside Sebastian Berhalter and Jean-Claude Ngando. 

Houston Dynamo possible starting lineup:

Bond; Andrade, Bartlow, Ortiz, Escobar; Artur, Kowalczyk; McGlynn, Bassi, Holmes; Ponce

Vancouver Whitecaps possible starting lineup:

Takaoka; Laborda, Veselinovic, Blackmon, Johnson; Berhalter, Priso-Mbongue, Ngando; Vite, White, Sabbi

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We say: Houston Dynamo 1-2 Vancouver Whitecaps

 

We expect a tight contest on Thursday but back the visitors to bounce back to winning ways and close their gap to the conference leaders.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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