Whitecaps FC/Fans Stand For Ukraine

Photo Credit D. Laird Allan/Sportswave

The Vancouver Whitecaps FC played host to the defending MLS champions New York City FC at B.C. Place stadium in a matinee game in front of 18,463 supporters who waited for their return.

This 50/50 proceeds of the match were all going to the situation currently underway in Ukraine which clearly showed nothing but class by the Whitecap FC organization. 

Alex Schuster mentioned “The club is encouraging all the fans attending the home opener to dress in blue and yellow and stand united with all Ukrainians in Canada and around the world, 

Whitecaps FC CEO and sporting director. Reaching out to our community members and our supporters in a unified effort in the message to condemn this war.” 

New York City FC managed to outshoot the Whitecaps soundly by a margin of 19-11 while peppering them by a 4-1 margin in shots on net.

Given all the changes in the off-season, Vancouver is coming off a disappointing loss in the opening game of the  2022 season dropping the home opener to the Columbus Crew by a 4-0 margin hoping to regain the form they showed in their final 22 games that saw them qualify for postseason since 2017. 

In their final nine home game’s last season they had the best home record winning percentage of .830 winning 7 of the matches, with 1 loss and one draw.

The first half was a very slow and dull affair with neither team coming close to scoring.  

It took the Whitecaps a full half to begin to be more aggressive as they only managed 1 shot on net for the entire match. 

Possession time for NY was 71% and it’s fair to mention that without Whitecaps keeper Thomas Hasal the Cap’s would have been on the losing end of the home opener.  

Hasel came up with a huge 5 alarm save in the 89th minute allowing the Cap’s to preserve the clean sheet and secure the single point.  

Hasal took over as the Caps No. 1 earlier this year after Maxime Crepeau was dealt to Los Angeles FC in a blockbuster deal which was due to a personal situation.

Overall the home opener for the Caps proved to be a good result against the defending 2021 MLS Champions.

Next match has the Caps play host to Sporting KC at BC Place with kick-off set for 5 pm..

Saturday saw the Whitecaps without defender Jake Nerwinski, due to a red card suspension, while Erik Godoy (Defender) was out with a calf injury and midfielder Caio Alexandre is still recovering from foot surgery, while NYC Defender Anton Tinnerholm is nursing an Achilles tendon.