Whitecaps out to halt LAFC's recent head-to-head dominance

The Vancouver Whitecaps had a ton of issues when facing Los Angeles FC last season.

LAFC went 4-1-1 against Vancouver across all competitions last season, including two wins in the first round of the MLS playoffs and two others in the Champions Cup.

The Whitecaps will try to turn things around when they visit LAFC on Saturday night in the first match of this season between the clubs.

Vancouver (5-2-3, 18 points) is a solid 3-0-1 on the road this season as it ventures into this battle with LAFC (4-4-3, 15 points). However, LAFC is 4-0-2 at home.

But the Whitecaps did win their regular-season visit to LAFC last season, 3-2 on June 24.

"I'm really looking forward to this game," Vancouver coach Vanni Sartini said. "It's always hard to play there. Even though they haven't had the best start this season, at home, they have a very strong record. It's always hard to go there. We won there last year so we know we can do it."

The Whitecaps are coming off a scoreless home tie against FC Austin last Saturday in which they had a 23-4 edge in shots.

LAFC dropped a 3-1 road decision to the San Jose Earthquakes last Saturday.

Cristian Olivera scored the LAFC goal and he followed up with two more during Wednesday's 3-1 win over the host Las Vegas Lights in U.S. Open Cup play.

Also scoring for LAFC was veteran Kei Kamara, who ranks third in MLS history with 144 goals, one behind legendary Landon Donovan. However, he hasn't found the net in six MLS matches this season.

"It's nice to get a goal and wash that off of you and get going," Kamara said. "Even though it's in the (U.S. Open) Cup, it feels good to pick the team up and get us back in the game."

Star forward Denis Bouanga leads LAFC in MLS play with six goals. Whitecaps standout forward Brian White leads his club with five.

Vancouver also played a non-MLS match midweek, beating Cavalry FC 2-1 on Tuesday in Calgary in competition during the Canadian Championship. The Whitecaps are two-time defending champions.

Levonte Johnson scored both Vancouver goals.