Report and Reaction: Whitecaps book Canadian Championship final spot with workmanlike, if not electrifying, win over Pacific

The threepeat remains on for Vancouver Whitecaps, who booked their place in next month’s Canadian Championship final with a dominant, and mostly comfortable, 2-0 aggregate win over Canadian Premier League side Pacific at a sparsely attended BC Place on Tuesday evening.

An early first half goal from Ryan Gauld had the Whitecaps one up at the break, but didn’t really tell the tale of the half, with the MLS side recording almost 80% possession. Pacific were more threatening in the second half, but wasteful of their few chances, and that 1-0 scoreline was how it was to finish on the night, in a match that wasn’t a classic but allowed the Whitecaps to shake off some rust after nearly three weeks out of action.

With an eye clearly on Saturday’s game in Austin, Vanni Sartini played most of his first choice starters, but kept a couple on the bench, in the Whitecaps first match back on the pitch for 20 days. Pacific were missing players through injury and recent additions Moses Dyer and Devin O’Hea were cap-tied and with their form and scoring disappearing on them in recent weeks, this was always going to be a tough ask of the Vancouver Island side, with the first goal on the night absolutely critical.

The ‘Caps came out fast, looking to put the tie to bed early. Gauld had a nice interplay with Brian White three minutes in, with the striker’s long range effort saved by Emil Gazdov. It was a sign of things to come.

Gauld saw a shot saved minutes later, with White’s overhead kick off the rebound going over.

The breakthrough came 11 minutes in, with Gauld celebrating his first call-up to the Scottish senior men’s national team in fine fashion.

Ryan Raposo did well to break up a play deep in the Pacific final third. As the ball broke to Sam Adekugbe, his neat touch inside played in White, whose shot was saved well by Gazdov, only for the rebound to fall to the Scot, who blasted high into the net from a few yards out.

HOT START 🔥 @RyanGauld puts us ahead early! #VWFC | #CanChamp | @onesoccer pic.twitter.com/43pb537k5K

— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) August 28, 2024

Gauld’s goal had been the difference make in the first leg, and with Pacific’s scoring woes this season, his second already felt like the tie had been put to bed, but the Whitecaps couldn’t afford to be complacent.

The ‘Caps joy at the early goal was soon tempered by concern over a possible concussion for Brian White seconds later from the subsequent kick off. Closing down an attempted clearance, White who took a ball to the head at point blank range. After a lot of concern from his teammates, a groggy White had to go off in the 15th minute, replaced by Damir Kreilach.

The injury had brought an eerie hush to the stadium and it seemed to suck a little bit out of the ‘Caps. The rest of the half followed a pattern of the Whitecaps pressing hard, dominating possession, and rarely letting Pacific get out of their own half, but without adding to their tally.

Kreilach had the ball in the net for the Whitecaps in the 32nd minute, tucking away a neat through ball from Alessandro Schopf. The flag went up quickly for offside, but replays showed the Croatian was the right side of the line and the goal should have counted.

Clear cut chances were few, with Dario Zanatta wasting a rare one for the visitors moments later by blasting over from a good position. Reon Moore then went down softly in the box for Pacific, under the attention of Mathias Laborda, but the referee waved away the penalty appeals.

The second half saw Pacific open up more, but the Whitecaps were still dominating.

Kreilach came within inches of connecting on an Adekugbe cross, before Man of the Match Gazdov pulled off a tremendous double save in the 65th minute. First denying Pedro Vite’s shot with a low save to his right and then tipping Schopf’s susbsequent strike over the bar.

Kreilach again came close to adding a second for the ‘Caps, but his header off a Raposo cross grazed the outside of the right post and behind for a goal kick in the 79th minute, with Zakaria Bahous replying for Pacific with a long range shot that flew over.

Adonijah Reid sent a dangerous ball across the Whitecaps goal with five minutes remaining, but there was no takers for Pacific.

The last chance of the match fell to Laborda in stoppage time, but his effort went over and the referee blew an end to proceedings moments later.

It was a workmanlike performance from the Whitecaps. They weren’t at their best, but they didn’t have to be. The long layoff certainly looked to have seen them gather some rust. Hopefully this will allow them to shake some of it off. With White now almost certainly missing at least one game, and with no new faces on the horizon, goals for the ‘Caps are going to be a concern as they return to MLS action. Someone needs to step up to fill the void left.

The victory at least gives the Whitecaps the chance to host Toronto FC on September 25th, as they look to lift a third straight Voyageurs Cup. To achieve that, they’ll need to be more clinical in front of goal.

FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 1 – 0 Pacific FC [Whitecaps win 2-0 on aggregate]

ATT: 10,966

SCORING SUMMARY:
11’ – VAN – Ryan Gauld

STATS:
Possession: VAN 68% – PAC 32%
Shots: VAN 15 – PAC 8
Shots on Goal: VAN 7 – PAC 3
Saves: VAN 3 – PAC 6
Fouls: VAN 3 – PAC 18
Offsides: VAN 0 – PAC 3
Corners: VAN 5 – PAC 5

BOOKINGS:
0’ – PAC – Juan Quintana
45’+2 – PAC – Cédric Toussaint
90’+1 – PAC – Kevin Ceceri

VANCOUVER: Isaac Boehmer; Mathías Laborda, Ranko Veselinović, Bjørn Inge Utvik (Tristan Blackmon 63’); Ryan Raposo (Belal Halbouni 82’), Pedro Vite, Andrés Cubas, Alessandro Schöpf (Sebastian Berhalter 74’); Ryan Gauld (Fafa Picault 63’), Brian White (Damir Kreilach 16’), Sam Adekugbe (Ali Ahmed 63’) [Substitutes not used: Yohei Takaoka]

PACIFIC: Emil Gazdov; Juan Quintana, Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, Kevin Ceceri; Kunle Dada-Luke, Sean Young, Cédric Toussaint (Adonijah Reid 45’), Georges Mukumbilwa (Marco Dominguez 45’); Pierre Lamothe (Reon Moore 30’), Steffen Yeates (Zakaria Bahous 69’); Dario Zanatta (Andrei Tircoveanu 69’) [Substitutes not used: Sean Melvin, Christian Greco-Taylor]

REACTION:

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

VANNI SARTINI

On the match:

“I think we went a little bit down when Brian [White] got the injury …but I think to be honest the first half was really good. Even the first 10 minutes before the goal, [we had] three or four chances, we could have scored more than one goal…We did very well in the first half, we didn’t concede anything, the only scares were on two silly mistakes giving away the ball. In the second half, James [Merriman] made some changes, they came out much more aggressive than the first half…we were a little slow in the first 15 minutes, I think until I made the three changes they were better than us in those 15 minutes. They didn’t have big changes, but they were always there. Then we went to a 3-5-2 with fresh guys in the mid and wide with Ali. I think we could have scored a second goal, but I’m satisfied with the performance of the team.”

On playing Toronto FC in the final:

“I think it’s going to be very different than when we played them at the beginning of the year. They are much more structured defensively than when they came here. They are much more compact and you could see, if you are not a good team you don’t go to Houston and win the game. They are really good with the ball, with a lot of players. I think of course we have the skill and quality to win the game. It’s going to be hard, but we’ll be ready to go. I think it’s a 51-49 for us because we’ll be here at BC Place. It will be a beautiful night against a rival.”

CAPTAIN RYAN GAULD

On going to a third straight Canadian Championship Final:

“It’s huge for everyone. As I always say, we all play football to win and to win trophies, so to get back into another final and have the chance to do it again, would be really good. You know, we got the luck of the draw again in that we’re at home, and hopefully we can do three in a row.”

On learning about his Scotland call-up:

“I found out just during the night. Obviously, this one was announced around mid-day there [in Scotland], so it’s our night here. I just knew, obviously, that the squad was being announced so I just kind of woke up in the middle of the night, checked my phone and I was like ‘okay, there we go, called up, very nice’.”

GOALKEEPER ISAAC BOEHMER

On facing TFC in the final after this season’s earlier win:

“It’ll be a new game, we’ll be ready for it. They’re going to come out flying so we just have to be ready, stay focused for that game. It’s obviously going to be a completely different game that what it was a few months ago when we beat them. But they have good players, so you never know what can happen in these games so, we’ll just be ready for it.”