Achi news desk-
The Vancouver Whitecaps are still alive in their quest for three consecutive Canadian Championships.
But Vanni Sartini pulled no punches in assessing his side’s 1-0 loss to Cavalry FC on Tuesday at BC Place.
“I think we need to apologize to our fans for our performance,” said the Whitecaps coach. “That was shameful.
“When one team is trying to win that and the other team is very casual, that’s a recipe for the game that happened here.”
After taking the first leg of the Canadian Championship quarterfinals with a 2-1 win over the Cavaliers on May 7, the Whitecaps held control of the outcome of the two-game tie, with away goals counting twice if necessary as a tie.
The only scoring on Tuesday was an own goal by Whitecaps defender Ranko Veselinovic on goalkeeper Isaac Boehmer, in the 32nd minute. A cross attempt by striker William Akio deflected into the net off Veselinovic.
Through the physical game, yellow cards were shown to Pedro Vite of the Whitecaps and Ali Ahmed, and to Jesse Daley of the Cavalry, Lleyton Brooks, Daan Klomp and Sergio Camargo.
Being in Calgary, Boehmer was tapped as a goalie. It was the second start of the year for the 22-year-old from Penticton, BC, with Vancouver’s first team, against Marco Carducci, a native of Calgary, on the opposite side.
The total over the two-game tie was 2-2, but the Whitecaps managed to hold the 2-1 edge in goals on the road.
Cavalry’s win was their second at BC Place, after becoming the first CPL team ever to win against MLS competition with a 2-1 victory over the Whitecaps on July 24, 2019.
“I think right now, what I feel is proud,” Cavalry coach and general manager Tommy Wheeldon Jr. said of his team’s effort. “The disappointment will probably come through when I watch the game again – how close it could have been. We needed one more goal.”
Wheeldon praised defenseman Daan Klomp as his team’s best overall player.
“I think we did pretty well, especially in the first half,” Klomp said. “In the second half, I don’t think we had enough of the ball to really put the pressure on.”
Back at BC Place for the first time since a scoreless draw against Austin FC on May 4, the Whitecaps struggled to get into good scoring positions for much of the game.
They have scored just three goals in their last six games across all competitions. Levonte Johnson, the Whitecaps’ 2023 SuperDraft selection from Brampton, Ont., scored both goals in Game 1 against Cavalry.
“This is the worst performance we’ve had in a long time,” said Whitecaps captain Ryan Gauld, who sat out the second half. “But there’s no point dwelling on it. We are through to the next round and we know we have a big game coming up on Saturday. We know we have to be better.”
The Canadian Championship semi-finals will also be a home-and-home series, with games to be played in early July and late August.
The winner of the Canadian Championship qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the elite men’s club competition of North and Central America and the Caribbean. The Whitecaps lifted the Voyageurs Cup in 2022 and 2023.
“We have a moral duty to play the best semi-final we can, whoever is going to be the opposition,” said Sartini, who suggested that in this case breaking the match from penalties could have been fairer than most road goals.
“Whether it’s a CPL team or an MLS team, we need to deserve to be in the semi-finals because we don’t deserve to be there with the performance we just gave.”
NOTES
On a rainy Tuesday in Vancouver, with the roof closed at BC Place, attendance was 11,853. That’s a fraction of the more than 50,000 fans expected when Inter Miami CF plays its first-ever game against the Whitecaps on Saturday, with Lionel Messi expected to make his only MLS appearance in Vancouver. … The loss drops the Whitecaps’ record against Canadian opposition across all competitions to 10-2-2 since Sartini took over as head coach in August 2021. … The win is the first of the year on the way for Cavalry. … Also on Tuesday, CPD Toronto beat CS St-Laurent 8-1 to advance to the semifinals with an 11-1 aggregate score.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on May 21, 2024.
