The Whitecaps are unbeaten in their last eight matches against Columbus (W5 D3) dating back to 2012, though they haven’t met since September 2019. The eight-match run is tied for both the longest regular season unbeaten run against a single team in the Whitecaps’ MLS history as well as the joint-longest winless run against a single team in the Crew’s MLS history.
The Crew won their last three matches of the 2021 season, but it wasn’t enough to get them into the postseason. Columbus became just the fifth defending champion in MLS history to fail to make the playoffs and the second coached by Caleb Porter (Portland in 2016).
Vancouver ended a three-season playoff drought in 2021, reaching the postseason for the first time since 2017. After losing five straight matches from May 12 to June 23, the Whitecaps lost only three of their final 25 regular season matches (W10 D12). Only conference top seeds New England (50) and Colorado (45) took more points than the Whitecaps (42) from June 26 through the end of the season.
Lucas Zelarayán scored eight goals from outside the box in the 2021 MLS season, three more than any other player in the league. In his two MLS seasons, Zelarayán has scored 11 goals from outside the box, more than 12 teams have in that time.
Brian White contributed to at least one goal in seven of his last eight regular season matches in 2021, totaling six goals and four assists in that time. White’s 10 goal contributions were tied for the most by any player since from beginning of October to the end of the season (with Cristian Arango).
