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Vancouver Whitecaps prepare for L.A. Galaxy; Jose Mourinho pulls a Chelsea coup

The Caps will try to leap frog the L.A. Galaxy on Saturday, and sit one back of Landon Donovan and the defending MLS champions.
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Landon Donovan and the L.A. Galaxy enter Saturday's tilt at BC Place one point ahead of the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Here's what we know: the L.A. Galaxy are the defending champions, the Vancouver Whitecaps are not, and kickoff is 6 p.m. on Saturday.

The Caps made the playoffs last year – tumbling out early and courtesy of the same Galaxy – but this year appears to be much more their speed and much more on purpose. Tomorrow's game will be held at BC Place, where Vancouver has only lost once this season, and the Caps enter the contest with the fourth most goals in the league and maybe the MLS's best upfront pairing made up of Kenny Miller and Camilo.

(*On Friday, Miller announced he was retiring from international competition. He has 18 goals and 69 caps in 12 years for Scotland.)

Of course, the Galaxy have scored the second most goals in Major League Soccer, and the combination of Landon Donovan and Robby Keane – who have traded hat tricks in L.A.'s last two contests – seems like a trump card to whatever Vancouver can offer.

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Since joining the MLS, the Whitecaps have gone an unflattering 1-6-1 against Los Angeles. Sure, their first victory came this season (improvement?) but they promptly lost their next match, 2-1.

So, for the Whitecaps to win, they'll need to focus on what they don't know.

The past is the past, right?

To the future, the Whitecaps sit fifth in the Western Conference, just one point back of L.A. and just six back of first-place Real Salt Lake (and with two games in-hand of them, too.)

It seems, if history matters little, the Whitecaps are now even with the Galaxy.

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*Other international soccer news

Scotland's Kenny Miller retires from international soccer

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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho steals coveted Brazilian strike Willian off the free agent market, and away from rival Tottenham Hotspur:

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Striker Neymar will fill the void left by injured superstar Lionel Messi in Barcelona:

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"New" Manchester United manager David Moyes is still chasing free agents, as the window draws near a close:

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Manchester City will be without Vincent Kompany for a month:

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