Latest news with #JesperSorensen
CTV News
09-06-2025
- Sport
- CTV News
Resilient Vancouver Whitecaps blank nine-man Seattle Sounders 3-0 to set club record
Vancouver Whitecaps' Jeevan Badwal celebrates his goal against the Seattle Sounders during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Vancouver, on Sunday, June 8, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Whitecaps had every excuse not to win Sunday. A roster left thin by international call-ups. An illness that kept many of the remaining players from training. It didn't matter. Vancouver's depth players stepped up as the club took a decisive 3-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders. 'I think that the players, what they did today, was exceptional,' said head coach Jesper Sorensen. The result extended the 'Caps (10-1-5) unbeaten streak in Major League Soccer play to a club-record 11 games (6-0-5). Earlier in the week, it wasn't clear whether Sunday's game would be played as scheduled. The Whitecaps were already set to miss nine of their top players due to international duty when an illness ripped through the squad. About half of the 75 players and staff who took the team's charter plane back to Vancouver after the CONCACAF Champions Cup final in Mexico City on June 1 were struck with a gastrointestinal illness that left the team unable to hold a full training session until Saturday morning. 'It was tough,' said veteran defender Ranko Veselinovic. 'Honestly, we didn't know (Saturday) afternoon whether we were going to have game or no. So, a lot happening, a lot of frustration by our side. 'We felt that it's not fair towards us that we don't know what's going to happen. We all have our routines, and it's hard to do something when you don't have all the information and when you don't know what's going to happen. But we managed to.' Seven of Vancouver's 11 starters on Sunday were listed as questionable for the game due to illness. The club signed seven Whitecaps FC 2 players to short-term agreements Sunday to bolster their ranks. Six were on the bench against the Sounders, including central midfielders Jackson Castro and Antoine Coupland, centre back Adrian Pelayo, left back Daniel Russo, right back Nikola Djordjevic and striker John Selemani. Despite the final score, Sorensen said his team should not have had to play. 'I stand by my opinion that I would have preferred this game not to be played. I would be a hypocrite sitting here after a 3-0 win, and just saying everything is perfect, because I don't think so,' the coach said. 'All our players were cleared to play medically, but we have players whose first day of training after Mexico, after a long trip to Mexico, was (Saturday). And I think the preparation, it was not good. And I think, as a coach, I was very concerned about the players' health.' It took the 'Caps some time to settle into the game and adjust to the more defensive style Sorensen wanted them to utilize. The Sounders controlled 65.1 per cent of possession across the first half and held a 6-5 edge in shots, but the Whitecaps registered the lone on-target shot. It came in the 40th minute, when wing back Edier Ocampo sliced a ball to J.C. Ngando at the top of the six-yard box and he ticked it on to Jeevan Badwal. The 19-year-old Whitecaps academy product from Surrey, B.C., stuck out his right leg just in time to redirect the ball in past Seattle 'keeper Stefan Frei to make it 1-0. Scoring at home, with his parents, grandma, siblings, cousin and girlfriend in the stands 'felt amazing,' Badwal said. 'As a little kid, I was in those stands watching a lot. But now, scoring a goal at B.C. Place in front of family, in front of fans — this means a lot,' he said. 'It's amazing.' Vancouver came into the second half with renewed energy and pressed to create chances. The Sounders (7-6-5) appeared to get frustrated and the emotions boiled over in the 52nd minute when wing back Nouhou grabbed his Vancouver counterpart Mathias Laborda around the neck and hauled him down as Laborda charged toward the Sounders net. Referee Ricardo Fierro pulled the red card from his pocket, leaving the visitors with 10 men. Seattle ran into more trouble in the 55th minute when centre back Jonathan Bell made contact with Priso as he charged up the field. Fierro once again pulled out the red card. The Sounders players argued the call, but Bell soon walked off to the locker rooms, leaving Seattle with just nine players on the pitch. Daniel Rios boosted Vancouver's lead to 2-0 in the 70th minute, collecting a pass from Priso at the top of the penalty area and firing a right-footed shot in from the top of the penalty area for his second goal of the season. Ocampo had a prime chance to make it 3-0 in the 73rd minute. In alone, the wing back twisted to blast a jumping right-footed shot on target, but Frei dove to punch the ball away. Priso, too, had a chance in the 76th minute with a high shot that appeared poised to sneak in below the crossbar. But the Seattle netminder leapt up and touched it over to keep the score 2-0. Another Sounders foul late in the game proved costly. Midfielder Joao Paulo made contact with 'Caps striker Emmanuel Sabbi inside the area and Fierro signalled for a penalty kick. Damir Kreilach, who came off the bench for Badwal in the 74th minute, stepped up and sent a low ball rolling into the corner of the goal in the 88th minute as Frei dove in the opposite direction. The win was special, Veselinovic said. 'Honestly, it's one of the nicest things this season for us. Definitely,' he said. 'So I'm really proud of these guys tonight that we found a way in a tough, tough game against a tough opponent. We found a way.' UP NEXT The Whitecaps will be back in action Saturday when they visit the Columbus Crew. The Sounders will start their quest for the FIFA Club World Cup next Sunday against Brazilian club Botafogo. This report by Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2025.
Toronto Sun
06-06-2025
- Sport
- Toronto Sun
Did Vancouver Whitecaps eat something bad? Stomach bug hits team hard
Training schedule called off for two straight days due to gastrointestinal issue affecting players, staff Jesper Sorensen coach of Canada's Vancouver Whitecaps stands next to the bench prior to the CONCACAF Champions Cup final soccer match in Mexico City, Sunday, June 1, 2025. Photo by Fernando Llano / AP Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Vancouver Whitecaps fans must have felt sick watching their team get dismantled 5-0 by Cruz Azul in last weekend's CONCACAF Champions Cup final in Mexico City. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The team knows how they feel, too. At least 30 people, including more than half the team, was hit by a gastrointestinal issue on their way back from Mexico, which has prevented the Vancouver Whitecaps from training in full for the past two days. 'You know, in hindsight, everyone felt ill during the game,' Caps CEO Axel Schuster joked Thursday. 'Maybe it's better to have all negatives in one week this year. I will take that. If you have everything negative and all frustration packed in one week, then it's OK.' It was the Monday after the travelling party returned when the symptoms ravaged the group. They had an off day Tuesday, but training was cancelled Wednesday and Thursday as the team tried to regain its health. The Whitecaps are scheduled to host the Seattle Sounders on Sunday evening (6 p.m. PT), and were already set to have nine players miss the game because of national team call-ups. But Schuster said the game hasn't been postponed, and much would depend on Friday's training and testing results. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. There is a health and safety protocol in place that the league could trigger should player safety be deemed at risk, but that decision hasn't been made yet. 'We are now more or less working through, from day to day, how the situation evolves and changes, and what that means for training tomorrow,' said Schuster. 'I don't have an answer yet, but that we expect that things hopefully become better from day to day. '… We also work with the health authorities in British Columbia, together with the infection disease experts, because we wanted to make it very clear right from the beginning to the league that we're not making anything up, that this is a real, real, real problem that we are dealing with.' Asked if there was any suggestion of foul play, a club spokesperson said there wasn't. Whether it was a case of the team being served a bad meal or whether it was an illness contracted through other means is being investigated. As part of their preparation for Sunday's final, the team secured their own chef in hopes of avoiding any food-related issues. The likely culprit, judging by the timeline and those who were affected compared to those who travelled separately, narrowed it down to post-game meals. pjohnston@ Read More Olympics World Toronto & GTA Columnists Toronto & GTA
Calgary Herald
02-06-2025
- Sport
- Calgary Herald
Whitecaps' hammering in CONCACAF final is, sadly, fitting for Vancouver sports
Cheering for Vancouver sports teams that aren't of the baseball variety has been pure misery for a decade now. Article content Article content The misery was generally only limited to this city's winter sports — and, yes, we mean the Canucks but there was also that brief NBA sojourn that we all know was, yes, grizzly. But the Vancouver Whitecaps seem to be stuck on this list, too. (The B.C. Lions as well, but let's just deal with one football at a time, shall we?) Article content Article content How else to explain Sunday's total embarrassment in Mexico City, a 5-0 hammering at the hands of Cruz Azul, other than to chalk it up to the reality that cheering for a sports team in Vancouver is mostly guaranteed to inflict pain in the end? Article content Article content For all the brilliance this Whitecaps season has carried with it — the drubbing of Inter Miami, knocking off other strong Mexican teams like Pumas and Monterrey, the 15-game unbeaten run, the sitting atop the MLS league table, the super-entertaining brand of play (even without talisman Ryan Gauld — the loss Sunday at the hands of one of Mexico's Los Cuatro Grandes will stand out in stark and brutal contrast. Article content Sure, MLS teams have struggled in the grand final for North American football. Just three times in the 63 years there's been a CONCACAF club championship has a team from north of the Mexican border won the title. That the Whitecaps were likely going to lose, given the history, given the venue, was understandable. Article content Article content But to lose like this? Outrageous. Article content Article content We are left to consider a few things: Article content • Did Jesper Sorensen get it wrong by starting a defensive back four who hadn't started together before? Did he get it wrong by starting a midfield trio who also hadn't started a game together? Sure feels like it. The number of gaffes, especially the shocking ones from the normally steady Andres Cubas, suggest as much. So was the total lack of service for Brian White, worst embodied in the Caps getting exactly zero shots on the night. Article content • Was it the fact they played mid-week? Even if this is how Sorensen wanted, as he claimed, surely some rest, some time to acclimatize to the altitude would have been the better approach. Why didn't Major League Soccer simply make the call themselves and move that Wednesday game?
CTV News
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Cruz Azul whips Vancouver Whitecaps 5-0 to win CONCACAF Champions Cup
Angel Sepulveda of Mexico's Cruz Azul, left, is congratulated after scoring his side's 5th goal against Canada's Vancouver Whitecaps during the CONCACAF Champions Cup final soccer match in Mexico City, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) Ángel Sepúlveda scored twice and Cruz Azul routed the Vancouver Whitecaps 5-0 on Sunday to win its seventh CONCACAF Champions Cup. Sepúlveda finished with a tournament-best nine goals. Ignacio Rivero, Lorenzo Faravelli and Mateusz Bogusz also scored for Cruz Azul, which built a 4-0 lead by halftime. The Liga MX club tied crosstown rival Club America for most titles in the tournament. It was Cruz Azul's first title since 2013-14 when La Máquina beat Tijuana. The Whitecaps were looking to make history as the first Canadian team to win the tournament, and the first winner from Major League Soccer since the Seattle Sounders in 2022. 'We came with hope, aspiration and ambition, of course now we leave with devastation,' said Whitecaps coach Jesper Sorensen. 'But we have played a great tournament going this far. We have beaten great teams on the way under tough conditions. But today we couldn't really put up a good performance to really shake a good team. 'Football at this level is brutal and if you cannot put up your best performance when it's needed. It makes it difficult (to succeed) … It was the entire group's ambition to win and play our best game of the season so far, and I would say that maybe we did the opposite.' Cruz Azul had four shots on goal in the first half and scored on all of them. La Máquina took advantage of a defensive lapse by the Whitecaps and Ignacio Rivero coolly finished with his left foot in the seventh minute in front of cheering home fans at Estadio Olímpico Universitario. Faravelli's goal came after a similar defensive lapse, struck from distance and went into the net after hitting the post. After Sepúlveda's sliding goal in the 37th, Bogusz added a goal in the 45th just before the teams went into the break. Sepúlveda added another goal on a header in the 50th. It was Cruz Azul goalkeeper Kevin Mier's fourth clean sheet of the tournament. The Whitecaps had no shots on goal during the match. Vancouver was without Sebastian Berhalter because of yellow card accumulation. He scored in both legs of the semifinal against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. The Whitecaps had hoped that captain Ryan Gauld would return from a knee injury in time for the game but he was not available. Cruz Azul advanced with a two-legged victory over UANL Tigres. It was the first meeting between the Whitecaps and Cruz Azul. A sold-out watch party in downtown Vancouver went from wild to mild by halftime, sensing a runner-up status was inevitable. Social media reaction was mixed, with people applauding the Whitecaps' superb season and unbeaten streak, while people such as Rob @604robbie on X stated: 'Nothing more Vancouver sports then not showing up in the most important game of the year.' Glyn Bough @GlynBough said on X the difference in class was so evident. 'The speed of though, action, positioning and quality of pass or defending the pass is at a different level from the Mexican side.'
France 24
02-06-2025
- Sport
- France 24
Cruz Azul thrash Vancouver Whitecaps to win CONCACAF Champions Cup
Angel Sepulveda scored twice for Cruz Azul, who led 4-0 at half-time in Mexico City and equal rivals Club America's record of seven CONCACAF titles. Sepulveda finished as the tournament's top-scorer with nine goals while the Whitecaps became the third Canadian team to reach the final and lose. It was also the third straight year in which an MLS team has been beaten by a Mexican club in the continental final. The Whitecaps had high hopes of becoming the first Canadian team to win the trophy having beaten two top Mexican teams, Monterrey and Pumas, on their journey to their first appearance in the final. But they were utterly outclassed by the Mexico City club. It was an uncharacteristically poor performance from Jesper Sorensen's Whitecaps, who were punished by some ruthless finishing from the Mexican side. Cruz Azul enjoyed home advantage at their Estadio Olimpico Universitario and they immediately brought the crowd to their feet with an eighth-minute opener. The Whitecaps gave the ball away in their own half and Carlos Rotondi pounced, threading the ball through to Ignacio Rivero, who took it first time with his left foot to fire into the far corner. It was another giveaway that led to the second, 20 minutes later, when Andres Cubas lost possession and Lorenzo Faravelli showed no hesitation as he unleashed a fierce drive which crashed in off the inside of the post. The Whitecaps, who beat Inter Miami in the semi-final to reach their first CONCACAF title game, looked nothing like the team that has impressed so much this season and they were soon in deeper trouble. The Vancouver defence were slow to react to a quick throw-in and Rotondi broke down the left and delivered a pinpoint low cross which Sepulveda deftly flicked past Yohei Takaoka. It was one-way traffic and Vancouver were punished again when a half-clearance fell to Polish midfielder Mateusz Bogusz just outside the box. The former Los Angeles FC player drilled home from the edge of the box. Cruz Azul went in at half-time having scored four goals from four attempts on goal and with their opponents looking shell-shocked. It got worse five minutes after the restart when Cubas was robbed again in deep midfield and from the counter-attack Jorge Sanchez crossed and Sepulveda rose superbly to head home his second and his ninth goal in the competition. "We took the final very seriously and it was a perfect performance. The truth is that we had the game wrapped up by half-time," said Mexican international Sepulveda. Daniel Rios, Vancouver's Mexican striker said the team had been impacted by playing at high altitude with the game played at 2,240 metres (7,350 feet) above sea level. "We made a couple of mistakes and they were very decisive every time they attacked. The altitude really affected us, we couldn't adapt and we're going home disappointed," he said. The victory gave Cruz Azul qualification for two FIFA competitions -- the 2025 Intercontinental Cup and the 2029 Club World Cup.
