Cruz Azul in control after three-goal Champions Cup away win over a valiant Vancouver FC

Vancouver Football Club opened its fourth campaign with an historic match on a cool, crisp, and a little foggy evening at Willoughby Community Park in Langley on Wednesday evening.

The venue experienced only its second announced sell out match, with 6,038 in attendance. The other being VFC’s inaugural home fixture on Sunday, May 7, 2023 where 6,177 attended. Arguably the biggest game in the young club’s lifespan, this was a first-ever journey into the CONCACAF Champions Cup and an encounter with the holders from Mexico City, the mighty Cruz Azul.

It wasn’t simply the amount of people but also the atmosphere they created. It felt like 30-40% of those in the stadium, on the campus of the Langley Events Centre, were clad in blue and there to support the visitors. Their banners let everyone know that they had traveled from all over, including from places like Texas, Nevada, California, and obviously Mexico. They banged their drums and chanted throughout the match. Their cries of “Azul! Azul!” rung throughout the ground. Not to be outdone, the Eagles faithful were joined by many from the local football community, including many Whitecaps fans who developed a strong dislike for Cruz Azul due to their loss last Spring in the Final of this competition. The Fraser Valley Fanatics were in good voice and for the first time did a march to the match from the other side of the ice hockey arena to their home in Section N of the general admission south stand.

Having earned the opportunity to become the second coach in the existence of VFC, Martin Nash was making his competitive debut without the interim tag. His starting XI showed a mixture of club stalwarts (five) and new signings (six), but the selections collectively left many wondering how they would line up. Captain Callum Irving took his place between the sticks, initially with a back four of: left back Tyler Crawford, centre backs Tom Field (formerly of Cavalry) and Matteo Campagna, and right back Paris Gee. The flat midfield four, from left to right were Thierno Bah, Damiano Pecile (last with SC Covilhã in Portugal and a former Whitecaps MLS homegrown signing), Marcello Polisi (last with USL side Detroit City), and Morey Doner (formerly from another USL side, Oakland Roots). Up top were a duo who are not out-and-out strikers but played there in the pre-season matches versus Phoenix Rising – Mo Amissi (last with Modern Sport Club in Egypt) and Luis Toomey (last with Auckland FC in Australia’s A-League).

Leading the Mexican side into this match was their Argentine coach Nicolás Larcamón. If that name sounds familiar, that may be for one of any number of reasons. He has been a coach at a variety of clubs in Liga MX (as well as in Venezuela, Chile, and Brazil). He won this competition in 2023 with Club León. He also last coached Necaxa and was prominently featured in that club’s documentary on Disney+ here in Canada. His lineup would include two players, Augustín Palavecino (central midfielder) and José Paradela (attacking midfielder), from his Necaxa side. It also contained five starters from the team that won against the ‘Caps in June. That included the entire back three of Gonzalo Piovi, Willar Ditta, and captain Érik Lira. The other two were midfielder Carlos Rodríguez and left sided attacker Carlos Rotondi. Larcamón deployed his troops in 3-4-3.

Once the pre-match ceremonies were complete, the game got underway. It only took 87 seconds for the first tasty challenge. Pecile looked to set the tone with a heavy challenge on Palavecino that saw the Argentine remain on the pitch for extended period of time. The Eagles’ midfielder was promptly booked by Puerto Rican Referee, Jose Raúl Torres Rivera. In the mixed zone after the game, Pecile would tell the media, “To be honest, I slipped so I didn’t mean to kill him like that.”

It took until the seventh minute for the first chance of note and it came from the home side. Pecile’s midfield partner Polisi rose to head wide at the near post from a Toomey freekick. Seven minutes later the visitor had their first quality attack of the game. Some good passing unlocked Rodríguez on the left and he floated a cross to the back post. Centre forward Gabriel Fernández attacked the ball well, but his header hit the leaping Crawford in the back and went off his face. Even though the pace was taken out of the striker, Irving had to be at full stretch to get down and to his left to keep his side level.

The guests wouldn’t have to wait long to get on the board. Almost halfway through the half, more excellent passing found Palavecino at the top of the box with time a space to put a low shot toward goal. Field was able to get a foot to it, but that touch saw the ball land at the left foot of Fernández. With Irving having dove to make the initial save, Uruguayan had an open net to place the ball into and Cruz Azul led 1-0.

There were not a lot of other clear-cut chances created, and it looked like the lead might only be one going into the locker rooms at the half. It wasn’t to be however, as Bah lost his footing in the 44th minute and failed to control a long ball from Irving, which was won by Amaury Morales. Not only did the young homegrown Mexico City kid start the play, he would also finish it.

He passed to Paradela and headed up field. Paradela laid it off for Fernández who decided to have a go from distance. Irving did well to make the save, but the rebound fell to the ambitious Morales who scored low to the far side and the defending champs had doubled their lead and deservedly were up by two.

Coming out of the dressing rooms for the second half, Nash altered the Eagles’ formation shifting to a back five with Doner dropping to rightwing back and Gee pushing inside. The midfield shape seemed a little more fluid. The changes seemed to help and, on the hour mark, the CPL club could have scored their first continental goal.

Amissi won the ball, Toomey collected it and played a through ball to the on rushing Bah in the inside left channel. The young Canadian got the best of Lira going from his right to his left, but he put his shot into the side netting.

Vancouver’s best foray forward was responded to by the Mexicans within five minutes. Palavecino would combine with Jeremy Márquez and hard-working Fernández to score a very well-worked goal through the inside right channel. Palavecino outran his marker to receive the layoff from Fernández to stroll in and cooly finish low to the near post.

Nash reacted with a triple substitution that saw Nico Mezquida replace Toomey in attack, David Norman came on for Pecile in the middle of the park, and debutant Kian Proctor was swapped for Crawford on the left side of defence.

The switches led to VFC’s best spell on the night and all the subs would get involved.

Mezquida took a freekick from about 40 yards out on the left in the 71st minute, which fell to Bah but his shot was thwarted by Cruz Azul ‘keeper Emmanuel Ochoa and Proctor’s reaction with his weaker foot went out for a goal kick.

Two minutes later it was another Mezquida freekick that would have the crowd on their feet, this one about 20 yards out near the right touch line. The Uruguayan’s deep cross found Campagna at the back post and the big defender sent his header back to just above the penalty spot, where Norman rose acrobatically to hit a bicycle kick with his preferred left peg. Ochoa did well to dive to his right and make the spectacular save that kept VFC off the scoreboard. A fantastic effort and an equally fantastic stop.

A couple of minutes later Norman won the ball back and released Polisi to get forward. He played Bah in on the right. He looked to be in on goal when substitute Jorge Rodarte slid into from the side and brought him down. The referee didn’t hesitate and pointed directly to the spot to the delight of the home crowd!

Refereeing at VFC matches has been an issue over their first three seasons. Many times they wished they could have had the help of VAR to overturn wrong calls and this was the first time VAR was ever in use at one of their matches. They probably wished it wasn’t being employed on this night either. Jose Raúl Torres Rivera didn’t take too long in determining that Rodarte had won the ball before he had gone through Bah and awarded a corner to the hosts.

Before the match finished things got a bit spicy between the sides. Abdoulaye Ouattara, who replaced Polisi in central midfield, was booked for a foul on Fernández. The entire Cruz Azul bench took exception to the tackle and strongly expressed themselves. Spanish speaking Mezquida didn’t appreciate something that was said by Larcamón and they got into it, resulting in yellows for each of them. To be fair, Fernández could take no further part in the match and with no subs left the visiting side played down a man for the final moments of the evening. One would have to think that this will add fuel to fire for the return leg next Thursday. That match will be played in Puebla as Cruz Azul’s stadium isn’t available.

For VFC this night was similar to the match that got them here – the Canadian Championship final for The Voyageurs Cup – it was about more than the result. It was about proving that the club has come a long way in a short time and is worth more attention, attendance, and adulation from the local media and fans across the lower mainland. On the pitch, this new group of players battled well against the record 7-time winners of the competition.

Transfermarkt values the VFC squad at less that 2 million Euros and Cruz Azul at over 70 million Euros. The gap didn’t look that massive over the 90 minutes, even though they had over 70% possession, outshot the Eagles 20 (6 on target) to 6 (2 on target), and completed more than twice the number of passes. Norman’s bicycle attempt, the chance Bah created, and the PK he almost won all stood out even though none ultimately breached Ochoa’s goal line. Off the pitch, the great match weather, full stadium, and overall atmosphere showed newcomers and those who have attended sporadically in the past how progress is being made.

Will it be enough to help more people engage with VFC? Time will tell, but a lot of the onus on that lies with the club itself.

They have just under two months before Vanni Sartini’s HFX Wanderers come to town to open the CPL season. Between now and then the stewards of the club will continue to do all they can on the business side – marketing, ticket sales, etc – but they also have to engage media a lot more and be a lot more proactive to garner interest and not switch outlets off covering them. On the pitch, Martin Nash spoke at the pre-match press conference about looking to make three more additions to the playing side. Presumably one of those additions will be meant to fill the Hugo Mbongue-sized void in the squad with a further option at the back and one in midfield.

There is certainly a lot to look forward to in 2026 for Vancouver FC and this was a good way to start what could be a pivotal year for the club.