New Look Whitecaps

The Whitecaps are celebrating their anniversary of the 1979 Soccer Bowl win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies at Giants Stadium in New Jersey over the Tampa Bay Rowdies and capturing the hearts of Vancouver with the title 40 years ago.

The Vancouver Whitecaps opened what is described as “A New Era” for the Soccer Club as they officially opened the 2019 season at BC Place under the tultegage of their new Head Coach Marc Dos Santos as they played host to rivals Minnesota United.

After the dismal end to the season last season changes were indeed required that saw fifteen (15) players opt out or traded, bringing the “new look” Vancouver Whitecaps team.

In total there are fourteen (14) new faces in the home opener with a mere five (5) returning players that entertained the sell-out crowd of 27,873 that filled the lower bowl at BC Place that saw them drop the entertaining match by a close 3-2 score.

Whitecaps newcomer Erik Godoy opened the scoring in the 6th minute off a perfectly time free kick from Yordy Renya for the first goal of the match and 2019 season firing it past United “Keeper” Vito Mannone.

Vancouver continued to be a threat and had the chance to extend the lead in the opening 20 minutes if not for Mannone of United FC who was forced to come up with some key saves.

Vancouver controlled the midfield with some strong defensive play but Minny managed to come close in the 20th minute as Darwin Quintero tested  new Whitecaps “Keeper” Maxime Crepeau.

Whitecaps “Snipper” Fredy Montero came close to putting Vancouver up by two goals after taking a cross feed from newcomer Hwang In-beom in the 30th minute forcing Mannone to make another impressive save keeping the game at one.

The early part of the match saw yellow cards handed out to Osvaldo Alonso (24th minute) and Vancouver’s midfielder Jon Erice (30th minute) ensuring the Referee would earn his paycheck.

Eventually Quitaro found the top corner on his attempt managing to fire it past a surprised Caps “keeper” Maxime Crepeau drawing the game even at one at the half.

The major difference in the game was a span of four (4) minutes when Minny managed to score twice with Francisco Calvo took a his perfectly timed pass sliding it past Cap’s “Keeper” Maxime Crepeau (66th minute) giving the visitors a 2-1 lead.  

The 70th minute saw Minny forward Romario Ibarra extended their lead  to 3-1 on a perfectly time shot that saw Crepeau get a piece of, but clearly not enough to prevent the goal.

The late stages of the game saw a diving header by Doneil Henry off a great cross from Hwang In-Beom that ripped the mesh making it a 3-2 with nine (9) minutes remaining

Vancouver continued to press for the equalizer but were unable to get past the Minny “D” that saw them hold on for the 3-2 victory.

Vancouver hits the road for two (2) games in Real Salt Lake (March 9th) and Houston (March 16th) having them return to Vancouver (March 30th) when the Sounders visit BC Place Stadium in a Cascadia Cup Match with a the kick-off set for 7pm

WFC Man of the Match: Yordy Reyna