PORTLAND, OR – Vancouver Whitecaps FC suffered their first loss of the preseason on Sunday afternoon, falling 3-2 to Chicago Fire in their Simple Invitational opener.
Here are three takeaways from the match:
NEW LOOK MIDFIELD
Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson said he’d use this week’s games in Portland to experiment with formations and personnel.
And that’s exactly what he did on Sunday.
With Matias Laba back in Argentina for the birth of his first child and Russell Teibert day-to-day with a calf injury, the ‘Caps lined up in a 4-1-4-1 with Deybi Flores as the lone holder, Pedro Morales and Christian Bolaños playing centrally above him, and Cristian Techera and Kekuta Manneh on the wings.