Whitecaps ready for home stretch of MLS season after a welcome week off

It was the calm before the storm.

The Vancouver Whitecaps used a weeklong break to rest and recharge — though they still made waves off the pitch with the acquisition of former Bayern Munich star Thomas Muller — before beginning the final 10 games of the Major League Soccer season. 

The Whitecaps (13-5-6) start their stretch run on the road against the struggling San Jose Earthquakes (7-10-8) Saturday.

Vancouver has played 35 games across all competitions since February. Many players like Canadian Jayden Nelson and American Brian White, the team’s leading scorer with 11 goals, also played international matches for their country.

The Whitecaps are enjoying one of the best seasons in franchise history, managing an impressive 17-7-11 across all competitions, but the number of games and extensive travel has taken a toll.

“I feel like I played a season already and we have a lot of games left,” Nelson, a forward from Brampton, Ont., said after a training session this week. “We want to continue, we want to make a real push in MLS this year.

“It’s going to be interesting. We’re pushing towards something big this year.”

Head coach Jesper Sorensen said the break was badly needed.

“It was necessary,” said Sorensen. “I think this was the last opportunity to give everybody a break.

“I hope it’s going to be beneficial. I think everybody needed it also mentally, also the staff.”

Vancouver heads into the weekend sitting second in the MLS Western Conference with 45 points, just one back of division leader San Diego and five behind overall league-leading Philadelphia.

They will face an Earthquakes team that is 10th in the West, one point back of Colorado for the final playoff spot. San Jose is 1-3-3 in its last seven MLS games.

Sorensen said the Earthquakes play “a little bit different” than other teams the Whitecaps have faced recently.

“They’re very aggressive in the defensive style of play,” he said. “We like to play a game where it’s a little bit more closed and we play closer to each other. They want the pitch to be longer and with a lot more spaces for some of their offensive players.

“It’s going to be challenging and different for us.”

The Whitecaps are also dealing with several key injuries.

Captain Ryan Gauld has been sidelined since March 8 with a knee capsule sprain, The 29-year-old from Aberdeen, Scotland, had a career-high 17 goals and led the team with 16 assists in 37 starts and 41 appearances across all competitions last season.

The Whitecaps have also lost two defenders for the rest of the season. Centre back Ranko Veselinović suffered an ACL tear in July while Canadian left back Sam Adekugbe went down with an Achilles tendon tear in early June.

Ecuadorian midfielder Pedro Vite left Vancouver in a transfer to Liga Mx side Pumas UNAM.

“We have been a little bit short on players,” said Sorensen. “It’s a little tricky all the time. You have to try to manage players, and we have all these games.

“It’s what happens throughout the course of the season. That’s why a team needs a coach.”

Midfielder Sebastian Berhalter said the Whitecaps have been able to adapt.

“You keep chugging along,” he said. “Guys keep stepping up. I think this group has done a really good job. Guys have come in and made a difference.”

Muller, who led Germany to a World Cup title in 2014, is expected to arrive in Vancouver on Wednesday, with his first training session set for Thursday. There’s speculation he could dress for the Whitecaps next home game Aug. 17 against Houston.

“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that he’ll get on the pitch as fast as possible,” said Sorensen.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS (13-5-6) at SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES (7-10-8)

PayPal Park, Saturday 7:30 p.m. PDT

RECORD PACE: The Whitecaps are just three wins away from setting a franchise record for points in a single MLS season. The ‘Caps had a 16-13-5 record for 53 points in 2015 when they finished second in the Western Conference and third overall.

HOMECOOKING: Six of Vancouver’s remaining MLS games will be played at home. The Whitecaps have a 7-2-2 home record.

TWISTING ROAD: Heading into Saturday the Whitecaps have 22 points (6-3-4) on the road this year, tied for third most in MLS. The Caps’ also have just one win in their last four away matches and three of their five losses have come on the road.

SUPER SABBI: Since arriving in February via transfer from French side Le Havre AC, forward Emmanuel Sabbi has scored six goals across all competitions, second most on the team. He also has added four assists. He has four goals in his last seven games, including three game winners.

UP NEXT: The Whitecaps are back in action Wednesday, travelling to Hamilton to face Canadian Premier League side Forge FC in the semifinal of the Telus Canadian Championship. The second game of the series will be played Sept. 16 in Vancouver. The Whitecaps are looking to win their fourth straight Canadian title.

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Packers star Billy Howton, believed to be the oldest living NFL player, dies at 95

HOUSTON — Billy Howton, a former Green Bay Packers star regarded as one of the most productive wide receivers of the pre-Super Bowl era who was a founder and the first president of the NFL Players Association, has died. He was 95.

Howton died in Houston on Monday, according to an obituary. Bradshaw-Carter Funeral Home confirmed his death on Friday.

Howton was born in Littlefield, Texas, in 1930. He was believed to have been the oldest living NFL player.

Howton scored the Packers’ first receiving touchdown at Lambeau Field in 1957. He was a second-round selection by the Packers in 1952 and became the first NFL rookie with a 1,000-yard receiving season after recording 1,231 yards that year. He led the league in receiving yards twice, was named to four Pro Bowls and was a two-time All-Pro.

He holds Green Bay’s single-game franchise record with 257 receiving yards in a 1956 game against the Los Angeles Rams, and when he retired in 1963, he was the NFL’s all-time leading receiver in receptions (503) and receiving yards (8,459). He was inducted into the Packer Hall of Fame in 1974.

“For my money, Howton is the toughest pass receiver to cover in the National League,” Hall of Fame safety Emlen Tunnell said before the 1958 season, which was Howton’s last with the Packers.

After seven years in Green Bay, Howton was traded to the Cleveland Browns in 1959 and then to Dallas as a member of the Cowboys’ inaugural team in 1960. He spent the rest of his career there, playing for coach Tom Landry with quarterbacks Eddie LeBaron and Don Meredith.

Howton was an All-American in college at Rice and is a member of the Rice Hall of Fame.

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Canada’s Mboko rockets to 24th in world rankings after National Bank Open win

Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko has rocketed 61 spots to a career-best No. 24 in the world rankings after winning her first career WTA Tour title at the National Bank Open. 

The 18-year-old from Toronto upset four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka of Japan in a three-set final in Montreal on Thursday night.

Mboko, who grew up in Burlington, Ont., has enjoyed a meteoric rise this season. 

She ended the 2024 campaign at No. 350 in the world and has since gone on a 53-9 tear, earning almost $1.2 million in prize money along the way. 

Mboko will take a break to rest her sore right wrist before beginning preparation for the U.S. Open in New York, where she’ll be a seeded player at a Grand Slam for the first time. 

Mboko also became the highest-ranked Canadian on the tour. Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., the only other Canadian in the top 100, dropped two positions to No. 26.

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Steelers sit QB Aaron Rodgers, other starters in pre-season opener

LATROBE, Pa. — Aaron Rodgers’ debut in Pittsburgh will have to wait.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said the team’s new quarterback and most of its other high-profile starters won’t play when the club opens the pre-season in Jacksonville on Saturday.

T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, Jonnu Smith, DK Metcalf and Jalen Ramsey are also among the group that will watch from the sideline.

“They need less runway to take off, to be honest with you, because of their experience and where they’re at in their careers,” Tomlin said Thursday.

Rodgers, who signed a one-year deal with the Steelers in early June, said Wednesday he was open to making a rare exhibition game appearance. Tomlin doesn’t think it’s required, though he didn’t rule out Rodgers making a cameo on the field later in the pre-season.

The first-team offence struggled in the early days of training camp at Saint Vincent College. Tomlin said there’s been a notable “upswing,” a major factor in why he’s in no hurry to rush the NFL’s oldest player into game action.

“I just make judgments based on what I’m looking at,” Tomlin said. “I just feel comfortable with what I’ve seen during this portion of the process that makes me (OK with Rodgers sitting out).”

Rookie quarterback Will Howard is unavailable after injuring his right (throwing) hand on Tuesday. Tomlin described Howard as “week to week,” and said there’s a chance Howard will be available at some point later this month.

The Steelers signed well-travelled backup quarterback Logan Woodside to pick up some of the reps with Howard out. Woodside has a long relationship with Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. The two were together in Tennessee in 2019 and 2020 when Smith was the Titans’ offensive coordinator. Woodside also spent time in Atlanta during Smith’s three-year tenure as Falcons’ head coach.

There’s a chance Woodside could be available to play against the Jaguars, though the bulk of the snaps will likely be split between veteran Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson.

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Mahomes, Chiefs starters to play in preseason opener against Cardinals

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is glad that coach Andy Reid is sending him onto the field with the rest of their starters when Kansas City visits the Arizona Cardinals for their preseason opener Saturday night.

“I don’t necessarily look forward to getting hit,” Mahomes added with a smile Thursday.

Getting hit is exactly why some teams have eschewed playing starters at all in the preseason. When coaches finally decided it wasn’t worth the risk to their most valuable players, they began sitting them for one or two games, and last year, teams such as the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles sat them for the entirety of their exhibition slate.

That has never been Reid’s preference, though. Nor has it been that of Mahomes, who believes it does him some good to get hit — once, at least — so that he can get into the right mindset for the rest of the preseason and ultimately the regular season.

“There’s always a little shock,” Mahomes said.

Now, don’t get any misconceptions. The Chiefs might only have those starters on the field for a single series in Arizona, especially if it goes well. But the plan, at least after their final practice before their opener, was that each quarterback will get a full quarter — Mahomes the first, Gardner Minshew the second, Bailey Zappe the third and Chris Oladokun the fourth.

The rest of the offense would presumably follow suit.

There are certainly things that the three-time defending AFC champions want to see out of their preseason opener. Tops on the list is their new-look offense line, where first-round pick Josh Simmons has already turned some heads as the new left tackle and Kingsley Suamataia has the inside track on replacing two-time All-Pro Joe Thuney at left guard.

The Chiefs have invested heavily in their offensive line, both in draft capital and financial resources, over the past couple years, and the need to upgrade the left side in particular became evident in their Super Bowl loss in February.

There is also some competition for the final spots at wide receiver, and some different names could get some extended looks with the first-team offense. That’s because Rashee Rice is sidelined with a groin injury and Marquise Brown with an ailing ankle.

“I think (my advice) is go out there and do what they’re doing this camp,” Mahomes said. “It’s going to be a bigger stage going up against another team, but I think Coach Reid prepares us better than anybody else in the league to go out there and play your best football. We practice hard and we practice fast so when it gets to the game, it’s not that huge step up.”

It’s still a substantial one, especially given Arizona is taking the same approach as Kansas City this year.

Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon, who held out quarterback Kyler Murray and others his first two years and barely played any starters in the preseason last year, said this week, “I told them (Monday) night that they are going to play.”

“It’s the best thing for our team this year, honestly,” Gannon explained. “We are at a good point with our health, we’re at a good point with our development, and I think this year with our team it’s the best thing to do for our guys.”

NOTES: Hall of Fame WR Terrell Owens watched the Chiefs practice at Missouri Western on Thursday. He played two seasons for Reid in Philadelphia. “Just watching people grow, I’m in a great position to see that,” Reid said. … Former Raiders coach Antonio Pierce also has been in camp, helping longtime friend and Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. “Maybe we’ll ask him about some Las Vegas Raiders stuff,” Spagnuolo said with a smile. … CB Kristian Fulton (knee) came off the PUP list and took part in individual drills Thursday. LB Drue Tranquill (back) also returned to practice.

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