Match Preview: Vancouver Whitecaps vs Pumas UNAM – to the knockouts we go

Well, who would have predicted that the Whitecaps would win their Leagues Cup group going into the tournament? I certainly didn’t! But here we are, and for the second straight year the ‘Caps are into the Leagues Cup Round of 32, and we don’t have to play Tigres again!

That’s right, this time it’s Pumas UNAM coming to town, not an easier matchup by any stretch of the imagination but at least a fresh one. The ‘Caps have a chance to advance to the Round of 16 for the first time in the tournament’s (quite short) history, and can do so at home.

Unfortunately for Vanni Sartini’s men, while the gaffer himself will be back on the touchline for this one, Belal Halbouni is the latest casualty of the injury epidemic plaguing the club’s defenders after he picked up a concussion in the win over Club Tijuana. With Tristan Blackmon, Sam Adekugbe, and Luis Martins all also battling injuries, WFC2’s Finn Linder might be the top centre back available off the bench on Wednesday night.

The good news is that Ryan Gauld is at least back in training, and while he won’t play against Pumas he might be able to do so against either Seattle or the LA Galaxy should the ‘Caps advance to the next round of the tournament (failing that, Gauld should definitely be available for the return of MLS play on August 24th). In terms of those who are fully fit, both Ranko Veselinović and Ali Ahmed had the day off against Tijuana and should be fresh.

Up front, Levonte Johnson continues to be a bit of a confounding player, as he tallied both a couple maddening errors (including causing a rough head injury to poor Tijuana goalkeeper José Rodriguez with a shot he should have buried), but also had both a goal and an assist on the first and second ‘Caps’ goals. Despite his faults he’s definitely been more effective than Damir Kreilach this year, and given the lack of incoming transfers up front for the team, expect Johnson to see plenty of minutes off the bench the rest of the way backing up Gauld, Brian White, and Fafa Picault (who have all been fantastic at times the last little while).

While Johnson took advantage of his 45 minutes on the weekend, the same can’t be said for Ralph Priso, who while not terrible, certainly didn’t show too much in a rare chance to start. Given the level of competition provided by players like Andrés Cubas and Pedro Vite (as well as Sebastian Berhalter and Alessandro Schöpf when they’re not playing out wide), minutes in the middle of the park are going to keep being hard to come by for the young Canadian.

Looking at the visitors, Pumas have started the Liga MX season hot with 10 points from 4 matches, but stumbled unexpectedly in the Leagues Cup group stage, losing to Austin before prevailing over Monterrey on penalties to make it to the knockouts. They’ve got some firepower up front, including Mexican winger César Huerta, who led the team in both goals and assists last season, and they’ve only conceded three times in the first four league matches of the Apertura.

This is the stage where the Whitecaps fell last season, losing in a penalty shootout at home. Will history repeat itself and leave us with a dearth of August matches to watch? Or will we see the potential for an honest to god cup run? With this team, it’s quite impossible to predict any of what to expect.