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'Caps, Sounders meet in Cascadia clash

Jul 5, 2014 - 12:15 AM Vancouver, BC (SportsNetwork.com) - The Cascadia Cup takes center stage on Saturday as the surging Seattle Sounders travel to BC Place to battle Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

The Sounders have been the most constant side all season and find themselves on top of the Western Conference with 35 points, 10 clear of the second-place Colorado Rapids, and the club is coming off a 1-0 win away from home against D.C. United at RFK Stadium.

Vancouver has struggled a bit upon its return to MLS action following the World Cup break, having played to a scoreless draw with Montreal Impact on June 25 and suffering a 2-0 loss to Colorado last weekend.

Seattle had the upper hand from the outset against D.C. and snagged the only goal of the contest in the 39th minute when Gonzalo Pineda whipped a brilliant cross into the penalty area where Chad Barrett rose highest to nod it past United goalkeeper Bill Hamid.

Missing Clint Dempsey due to international duty with he United States and Obafemi Martins with a red-card suspension, Barrett deputized nicely, helping the Sounders claim an important three points.

"That was our objective at the start of the season. What we really wanted to do was improve our depth up front," Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said. "We knew there was going to be a period of time where we were going to miss Dempsey. By bringing in Kenny Cooper and bringing in Chad Barrett, we wanted to push Lamar Neagle back wide, which gave us the depth up front."

"I wasn't trying to replace Clint, I was just trying to fill a void. Sigi gave me the opportunity, I've had some great service, my teammates have helped me along the way and I'm happy to put the goals in for them," Barrett said. "I'm doing something productive for the team and that's all I was trying to do."

Vancouver will be desperate to claim three points after back-to-back poor performances which resulted in a draw and a loss and zero goals scored over the two contests against Montreal and Colorado.

Vancouver fell behind on 20 minutes following a well-placed strike into the bottom left corner from Dillon Powers, and it was 2-0 for Colorado after Vicente Sanchez converted a penalty kick to essentially wrap up the points for the Rapids.

"We gave away two bad goals," Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson said. "The lead-up to both goals was not good and our positioning was poor. We switched off and the second goal was a blatant penalty, I'm not complaining about that."

This will be the second meeting of the season between the rivals. The clubs played to a 2-2 draw back on May 24 in Vancouver.