It’s been a 46-day wait, but the Vancouver Whitecaps finally returned to competitive action with an emphatic 4-1 win over Calgary Cavalry FC in the Canadian Championship.
A 14-minute flurry of goals in the second half from Brian White, Thomas Müller and Rayan Elloumi sealed the first-leg win. The Whitecaps will play the second leg at ATCO Field on July 13.
Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sørensen said he “was quite impressed.”
The Whitecaps came out strong, scoring on their first chance on goal. A throw-in into the box found its way to Ranko Veselinović, who turned and shot.
The shot was not clean, but it deflected off Adam Pearlman and bounced into the net for an own goal in the 2nd minute of play.
The Whitecaps sustained their pressure throughout the first half. Often moving through the left channel, Bruno Caicedo made life difficult for Pearlman at right back on several occasions.
His cutback to Jeevan Badwal in the 24th minute presented an excellent opportunity, but the shot went high. Caicedo had a chance a couple of minutes later himself, but the shot was wide.
Pearlman redeemed himself for Cavalry late in the half, assisting on the tying goal.
His long throw got to Daan Klomp in the 6-yard box. The centre-back struck instinctively, sending it past Isaac Boehmer in the 44th minute.
The second half started slowly. For about ten minutes, both sides plodded along, looking for opportunities but finding little.
That changed after the hour mark, which started a flurry of activity.
Müller, a halftime substitute, scored in the 61st minute. Oliver Larraz put the ball into the box for White, who turned on his heel and shot.
The shot was blocked, but the rebound fell to the German, who made no mistake.
But White also got his goal a few minutes later in the 64th minute. Edier Ocampo’s shot was punched away by Nathan Ingham in the Cavalry goal, but this time, White was there to pop in the rebound.
It was a quick few minutes that gave the Whitecaps the lead and the cushion.
“We put in the foundation in the first half by moving the ball well. And then in the second half, it opened a little bit more. That’s normal when you’re going after the ball for a while, and gaps open up in between, and the pitch gets a little bit more open,” Sørensen said.
The Whitecaps added a fourth in the 75th minute. Elloumi received the ball from JC Ngando and won the ball in the final third. The young striker played a quick 1-2 with White to get into position at the edge of the 18-yard box for the shot.
Elloumi placed the low into the corner, past the touches of Ingham. It was Elloumi’s first goal of the season.
“Coming off the bench today and scoring the goal, I’m happy for him because he works very hard every day. And he’s very ambitious, and he’s a guy that will be a good player for the future, and is already now.”
Calgary pushed to try and find something to grasp onto, knowing that even a second goal for their side would make the return trip that much easier. But the Whitecaps held firm, limiting the visitors to a single shot in the second half and none on target.
The romance of cup competitions
Cup competitions are rarely something Canadian fans see in sports outside of football. Yet in football, they are not only common, but they also create storylines that add to the history and fabric of a club.
“It’s the best there is. It has the tension, like we see from the World Cup, with the knockout games. You have to be ready. It’s where [clubs] from different leagues meet each other and where some of the biggest moments are created for some clubs,” Sørensen said.
The Whitecaps are the current champions of the Voyageurs Cup, the trophy that teams in the Canadian Championship play for. In their path to each one of their championships, they have faced clubs in the CPL, knowing that everyone loves an underdog story.
“Obviously, when we’re playing CPL teams, we will be bigger for many people and many sides, but will be even bigger for the CPL teams to beat us then. And that’s something you remember. It’s what people want to see. I think, for me, cup competitions are not just romantic; it’s great competition.”
Up next
The Whitecaps head to Calgary for the second leg of this tie in the Canadian Championship. That match is on Monday, July 13.
Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. PST.
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