Report and Reaction: Whitecaps Leagues Cup campaign ends with Pumas loss to the disappointment of the few

Vancouver Whitecaps’ 2024 Leagues Cup campaign is over. Good, some of you will say, and that may also include some within the club, who will now be happy to have a couple of week’s rest before the real action gets back underway at the end of this month. Not that anyone would ever say that publicly. They get fined if they do!

Mexican side Pumas UNAM came to Vancouver on Wednesday evening and moved into the last 16 of the tournament with a 2-0 win over the ‘Caps in front of a sparse crowd at BC Place. A first half goal from Cesar Huerta, capitalising on a turnover he himself forced, and a second 12 minutes into the second half from Jorge Ruvalcaba did the damage.

The Whitecaps had their chances and could have been a couple up within the first half hour, but the clinical finishing was severely lacking. It was a fairly even game, and a very entertaining first half, but the general consensus from fans and media at full time was certainly one of, well at least that’s over for another year.

Back in the dugout after his one match ban, Vanni Sartini made four changes to the team that booked their knockout round spot with a victory over Tijuana at the weekend. One was enforced, with centre back Belal Halbouni ruled out with a concussion, replaced by a rested Ranko Veselinovic. His presence and recent form was missed.

It was an entertaining and fast-paced first half, with the action flowing from end to end.

The Whitecaps had a couple of early chances, first when a Levonte Johnson pass inside just eluded Brian White, then Johnson was denied by a superb sprawling save from Pumas keeper Julio Gonzalez.

The best chance of the game so far fell to Vancouver in the 27th minute when Johnson burst through on goal, but was again denied by Gonzalez.

Yohei Takaoka was called into action in the 34th minute, turning away a Ruben Duarte shot, but Pumas weren’t tobe denied and found the breakthrough three minutes later.

Huerta picked the ball off Bjorn Inge Utvik’s foot, which was then taken forward by Piero Quispe. Quispe played it back to Huerta, who made no mistake drilling it past Takaoka from about 12 yards out.

Zurdazo del 'Chino' Huerta para adelantar a los Pumas en Vancouver#LeaguesCup2024

Watch free on Apple TV 👉 https://t.co/w5P5xSzWUe pic.twitter.com/WIVaXEHAjz

— Leagues Cup (@LeaguesCup) August 8, 2024

Takaoka was forced into another save in the 42nd minute, keeping out an Angel Rico effort, but there was an offside in the build up anyway.

The ‘Caps started the second half on the front foot, and Gonzalez saved from White in the 49th minute after a nice run and cutback from Ali Ahmed.

Pumas doubled their lead in the 57th minute when Duarte sent a low one in in front of goal and Ruvalcaba turned it past Takaoka.

Jugadón de los Pumas y Jorge Ruvalcaba duplica la ventaja en Vancouver ⚽️#LeaguesCup2024

Watch free on Apple TV 👉 https://t.co/w5P5xSzWUe pic.twitter.com/Qg45LhPlXX

— Leagues Cup (@LeaguesCup) August 8, 2024

The ‘Caps were enjoying possession but not creating anything of danger.

Ryan Raposo had a blast saved by Gonzalez in the 76th minute, but it all just fizzled out in the end, despite some late pressure from the home side.

Pumas’ quality shone through. It felt that they never really hit top form, but that was still enough to dispatch the ‘Caps. Vancouver had their chances and if they’d taken a couple of their early ones, this was a whole different end result.

Now they get to rest. Brian White looked exhausted out there and a shadow of himself without Ryan Gauld on the pitch alongside of him.

The ‘Caps are now not back in action until August 24th when an even more star-studded LAFC side come to visit. Possibly. If LAFC make the Leagues Cup final it is the same weekend and the Whitecaps game will be postponed. In that case, the ‘Caps are not back in action until the second leg of their Canadian Championship semi-final against Pacific FC the following midweek, and that is not an ideal scenario. Maybe we do have to pay some attention to the rest of the Leagues Cup tournament after all.

FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 0 -2 Pumas UNAM

ATT: 9,691

SCORING SUMMARY:
36’ – PUM – Cesar Huerta (Pedro Quispe)
57’ – PUM – Jorge Ruvalcaba (Ruben Duarte)

STATS:
Possession: VAN 58.6% – PUM 41.4%
Shots: VAN 9 – PUM 9
Shots on Goal: VAN 5 – PUM 5
Saves: VAN 3 – PUM 5
Fouls: VAN 9 – PUM 12
Offsides: VAN 3 – PUM 1
Corners: VAN 5 – PUM 3

BOOKINGS:
69’ – VAN – Fafa Picault

VANCOUVER: Yohei Takaoka; Mathías Laborda, Ranko Veselinović (Alessandro Schöpf 71’), Bjørn Inge Utvik (Giuseppe Bovalina 82’); Andrés Cubas; Ali Ahmed, Pedro Vite, Sebastian Berhalter (Ryan Raposo 62’), Fafa Picault (Damir Kreilach 82’); Brian White, Levonte Johnson (Sam Adekugbe 62’) [Substitutes not used: Isaac Boehmer, Joe Bendik, Tristan Blackmon, Ralph Priso, Ryan Gauld, Finn Linder]

PUMAS: Julio González; Pablo Bennevendo, Nathan Silva, Ruben Duarte, Lisandro Magallán; Pedro Quispe (Santiago Trigos 79’), José Caicedo; Jorge Ruvalcaba (Robert Ergas 68’), Ignacio Pussetto (Guillermo Martínez 68’), Cesar Huerta (Rogelio Funes Mori 85’), Ángel Rico (Ulises Rivas 45’) [Substitutes not used: Gil Alcalá, Rodrigo López, Pablo Monroy, Jesús Rivas, Ali Avila, Michell Rodríguez, Carlos Garcia Peralta]

REACTION:

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

HEAD COACH VANNI SARTINI

On tonight’s match:

“I think we played against a very good team. A really, really good team. But in the first half, we were the better team. We had three chances in front of the net. The first one a cross very well defended, if not Brian [White] scored a sitter. Then the goalkeeper made a top save on Levy [Levonte Johnson] and then we had one-v-one against the goalkeeper. So we were doing well, we weren’t risking anything to be honest, and then, unfortunately, we made an enormous mistake where we gave away the ball to make them score. And then the second half was really hard because against a team like this, they’re also very intelligent and very organized, they are not shy to go back and defend in a 5-4-1 with nine guys at the back, so it’s hard. And then, unfortunately in the second half, we conceded one chance and they scored the [second] goal… They defended very well, but I think the 2-0 is a little bit harsh.”

On the lessons learned tonight for the rest of the season:

“It’s a lesson if you don’t convert your chances in elimination games against very good teams, and we’re going to play hopefully a lot of these games in the near future… You need to be the best team not only from box-to-box, but also in the box. I think today we’ve been the best team from box-to-box but in the box we didn’t and that’s the game for you… We need to be all in perfect shape and we need to be more clinical when we finish. It’s not going to happen like against Tijuana where we have 15 chances, or sometimes even in the league. I think what I take away is, we have the awareness that we play good football and we’re doing well, but we need to be better in those decisive moments. That’s the key, basically.”