Chicago Fire Vs Vancouver Whitecaps: 3 things to watch for – Group B finale

2. Goalkeeper calamity for Whitecaps

It’s gone from bad to worse awfully fast for the Vancouver Whitecaps. In their dismal 3-0 loss showing the Seattle Sounders, goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau suffered a fractured thumb. That left 21-year-old Thomas Hasal, the backup, to make his tournament debut.

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Now, after unfortunate circumstances, the Whitecaps will go into their group finale with no backup goalkeeper. MLS has a league-wide system, a reserve goalkeeping pool for emergency scenarios such as this one. With the transfer window already closed, no moves or transactions can be made. Head coach Marc Dos Santos talked all about it with reporters on a video conference call:

"“The problem is that the goalkeeper is here was used for the Sporting KC game. Now we need to have a transfer window to allow this goalkeeper from the US to join a Canadian team and the transfer window is closed right now. So it makes it impossible for us to do a move. The backup is no one. It’s going to be a situation where we’d have to go into full emergency mode, but hopefully that won’t happen.”"

Heading into the tournament, the Whitecaps came in with three goalkeepers but Bryan Meredith left the team due to the passing of his mother. It’s a harsh and unfortunate series of events that has only made matters more difficult for the Whitecaps.