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Both visiting Vancouver Whitecaps (11-11-7, 40
points) and host Los Angeles Galaxy (11-11-8, 41 points) will be
sporting new coaches as they hope to improve their playoff
hopes. Both clubs remain in contention but currently sit below
the Western Conference postseason bar behind sixth-place Seattle
(44 points).
Vancouver's Craig Dalrymple will coach his first game after Carl
Robinson was fired Tuesday with five games left in his fifth
season with the club.
"I see it as a great challenge," said Dalrymple, a former
Whitecaps player who headed the team's academy. "I have
tremendous support around me in the club."
Whitecaps players, who expressed displeasure with Robinson's
firing, are out to prove that they have not written off this
season while also showing support for Dalrymple, who will only
serve out the season and is not in line for a permanent post.
"It's about being a professional," striker Kei Kamara told
reporters. "He's part of the system. It's a respect level.
"The season is not over yet and we're not giving up on anything.
I don't want anybody to think because this move was made we are
throwing in the towel."
The Whitecaps have five games left in the regular season. With a
win, the Caps can leapfrog the Galaxy and move closer to the
Sounders in the playoff race.
Meanwhile, Galaxy players are showing that they believe in their
new field boss, Dominic Kinnear, who has been at the helm since
Sigi Schmid, the all-time winningest coach in MLS history,
resigned earlier this month.
Kinnear guided the Galaxy to a win over a strong Seattle club
last weekend. It was L.A.'s first win since July. But he claims
not to have done much tinkering, other than put a fourth man on
the back line.
"Nothing has changed a whole lot," Kinnear, a veteran MLS coach
who excelled with San Jose and Houston, told reporters. "I think
the demeanor has changed."
According to Galaxy captain Ashley Cole, players have adopted a
"new mentality" following the coaching change.
"I think on Saturday again we'll see the Galaxy that we should
be," Cole told reporters.
--Field Level Media
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