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“They complement each other well,” Dos Santos said of his attacking trio, who will get the call for a third straight game Wednesday.

“Fredy is a more possession-oriented player, who looks for the ball into feet and not that much into space. But having a No. 9 that checks in like that allows your wingers to be your players for penetration and getting in behind. What I feel that Lass and Lucas bring is they always keep the defenders on their toes. It’s tough to defend guys who are always getting in behind. Where I’m going to be picky and demanding with Lass and Lucas is they have to do much better with their final product. You get in that final third, and then the quality of the last pass, the quality of shot, they could have had more points with assists, or even goals.

“They need to come a little better. We’re happy that it’s growing, but it’s still not at my level of expectation or what I want as a coach.

“Look, We’ll get in behind (Atlanta), I’m sure. We’ll create chances, I’m sure we will. Now we’re going to have to be good in those moments to finish the actions we have. Because we won’t have a ton of them — this is a reality when you play against Atlanta.”

They’ll also have to do it without the critical but unheralded play of midfielder Jon Erice. The Spaniard rolled his ankle Tuesday in training, and has been ruled out for Wednesday’s match and Saturday against Sporting Kansas City.

Not only is he one of the best passers on the team, his defensive presence in the No. 6 role in front of the back line has been exemplary this season, with prosoccerusa’s Manuel Veth noting he has the most defensive actions per 90 minutes among all Whitecaps midfielders with 7.46 per 90 minutes.