The Vancouver Whitecaps have surprised people this season.
They are on top of the Western Conference and are in the quarterfinal of the CONCACAF Champions Cup after upsetting Mexican giants Monterrey in the round of 16. This time, they face another Liga MX side: Pumas UNAM. On Wednesday they come into BC Place for the first leg.
A look at Pumas
The Whitecaps and Pumas have met before and it was recent. The two clubs met at BC Place last August in Leagues Cup. In that Round of 32 match, Pumas prevailed 2-0.
But a lot has changed since these two teams met. For instance, both have new coaches. Jesper Sørensen replaced Vanni Sartini in the offseason for Vancouver and former Whitecap Efrain Juarez (remember him? He played for the Whitecaps in 2018 and did not live up to the hype.) replaced Gustavo Lema last month as Pumas head coach in March.
Winger César Huerta was hard to stop for the Whitecaps in that Leagues Cup match and scored the first goal. However, the Mexican international was sold to Anderlecht in Belgium in January.
In the Apertura, (first half of the Liga MX season) Pumas finished fourth with a 9-4-4 record. But in the Clausura, (second half) they are sitting in 10th with a 5-2-6 record. In their last five games, they have won two games and lost three. The poor form in the Apetura was why Juarez replaced Lema on the touchline.
In the CCC, Pumas had to come from a 2-1 deficit against Cavalry of the Canadian Premier League to win 3-2 on aggregate in the round of 32. In the round of 16, Pumas got by Costa Rica’s L.D. Alajuelense.
The Dynamo boast the likes of former Houston Dynamo midfielder Adalberto Carrasquilla and wingers Leo Suarez and Jorgje Ruvelcaba.
Depleted Whitecaps squad up for the challenge
Despite the Whitecaps’ good form, injuries have been plaguing them.
In the 0-0 draw with Toronto FC, midfielder Andres Cubas and right-back Mathias Laborda left the game with injuries. For a team already missing captain Ryan Gauld and left-back Sam Adekugbe, that was another big blow.
Fortunately, it looks like Cubas won’t be out for long but unfortunately, that cannot be said about Laborda.
Despite all the injuries, Sørensen and his squad are looking forward to facing Pumas and the opportunity to go further in the tournament.
“It’s not familiar territory for the club, but we’re going to embrace every moment,” said centre-back Tristan Blackmon per JJ Adams of The Province. “We’ve shown what we can do as a team, no matter who’s on the field. I think now the experience that we’ve built as a team and as a collective is going to start to show in these bigger games.”
“It’s a privilege to be among the eight teams that play the last big games in CONCACAF,” said Sørensen. “That’s something we should enjoy and look forward to. It’s a big game for us. We are against great opponents now. So it’s not unknown territory for the club, but it’s not the usual territory, We should just be embracing the moment and put everything in it.”
Both teams are on the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to form. But cup competitions are a different breed, especially ones between MLS and Liga MX teams.
“Momentum in sports is huge,” said Blackmon. “We lost the game against Chicago. We got the tie, a hard tie, against Toronto. But I think the feeling around the group is very good.”
Kickoff for the first leg is at 6:30 pm Pacific on Wednesday. The second leg from Mexico City is next Wednesday and kickoff for that is at 7:30 pm Pacific.
