最新杏吧原创

City SC is undefeated in 12 in a row in MLS play, 13 overall, and now goes on the road for back-to-back games, both on artificial turf. Vancouver is second overall in the league, nine points back of Nashville, which is chasing the league record for points in a season.

Here are five things to know about City SC鈥檚 game with its toughest opponent yet:

The biggest test yet

City SC, with its club-record run, is nine points back of Vancouver, and it could have been seven if it hadn鈥檛 blown a 3-1 lead on Sunday.

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a great challenge,鈥� said Damet. 鈥淵ou travel to the West Coast, you play on turf. They are, in my opinion, the best team in the league, and I鈥檓 speaking about results. I think they are. We want to challenge ourselves. I think every time there is those kind of opportunities ahead of us, I think the guys are excited. The group is excited. I think that鈥檚 what we want. We want more of those challenges.鈥�

During this run, City SC has gone 3-0-1 against the teams ahead of it in the Western Conference standings, which is one of the things that has enabled them to jump up so quickly. But only one of those games, against slumping San Jose, was on the road.

鈥淚t will be a fun game for sure,鈥� said wing back Conrad Wallem. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good team, probably one of the best teams in the league, if not the best. It鈥檚 always fun to play those teams. We are traveling there to get a result, for sure. We can beat them, and that鈥檚 what we鈥檝e been working on.鈥�

New faces

City SC could have as many as three brand new faces in the lineup, though it may not be until Wednesday in Portland that everyone gets put to work. The club acquired Rafael Navarro, Damion Downs and Charles-Emile Brunet on Wednesday, the final day of the transfer window. The new players will have had two practice sessions before the game, which isn鈥檛 a lot, but Navarro and Brunet, who came to 最新杏吧原创 from other MLS teams, are in midseason form. Downs, who came in from England where he鈥檇 been training but didn鈥檛 appear in any of his club鈥檚 first six games, may need more time.

Navarro, who played 90 minutes for Colorado on Saturday, said he is ready, but how much he plays is up to Damet.

Sporting director Corey Wray may have lost the club鈥檚 two best field players, Marcel Hartel and Eduard Lowen, in the window but still managed to come away with a better roster. And the club has backed up its on-field success with spending $18 million to bring in Navarro and Carlo Holse.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a good sign from the club that we鈥檙e headed in the right direction,鈥� said Wallem. 鈥淚 told you last time I sat here, when you were panicking about players leaving, I told you guys there will probably come in new faces, and they did.鈥�

On the road, again and again

City SC plays at Vancouver on Saturday and then at Portland on Wednesday. It鈥檚 the first time the club has had back-to-back West Coast games, and while that means a longer trip because the club will stay in Vancouver to train after its game before heading south, it means one less slog to the West Coast and, at a time when there are plenty of new faces, plenty of team bonding time.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to try to maximize everything we can in terms preparation and recovery,鈥� Damet said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good time of the year to get on the road a little bit and spend some time together.鈥�

Damet said with the extended trip that more players would come along on the road trip than they would normally take.

The only trip comparable to this in City history came in season 1, when it played in Toronto on a Saturday and then flew directly to Los Angeles for a midweek game.

In and out

Center back Jaziel Orozco was sick and missed practice on Thursday, which could affect his availability on Saturday. Tomas Ostrak didn鈥檛 practice much of the week because of his hamstring injury, but Damet said he would be available for the weekend. Brendan McSorley trained with City2 this week and is expected to play with them on Saturday to start his final step in getting game ready.

Oh, and last week 鈥�

The roster dramatics this week helped overshadow many of the memories of the team鈥檚 colossal collapse against Dallas on Sunday, blowing a 3-1 lead in the final 10 minutes plus stoppage time of the game.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lesson to take from it,鈥� Wallem said. 鈥淲e have been probably in a position more in the last couple of months of finding ourselves defending a lead than we did before. Before we were chasing a lot more in the last periods of the game, so that鈥檚 a learning curve we need to have for sure to know how to see out games and to protect leads, but also not just think about protecting the lead but also probably go for another goal instead of starting to sit deep. So I think there鈥檚 a lesson there for sure because we haven鈥檛 been too comfortable with that. A part of the game we probably need to improve is when the game goes to 3-1, we should have that game in our pocket.鈥�

In City SC鈥檚 four ties in its undefeated run, it has given up the tying goal in the 90th, 55th and 97th minutes. In the other it scored the tying goal in 72nd minute.