3 KEY TAKEAWAYS: Whitecaps kick off 2025 with late defeat to Saprissa in Concacaf Champions Cup, Leg 1
The Vancouver Whitecaps kicked off their 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup campaign with a bit of a set-back, as Ryan Gauld's first-half go-ahead goal was cancelled out by a Mariano Torres rocket and a 95th-minute stunner by Ariel Rodriguez, with Deportivo Saprissa pulling off the come-from-behind 2-1 win in Leg 1.
So, with a date at BC Place set for February 27 (10PM ET / 7PM PT, watch on OneSoccer), here are 3 things we learned from this Leg 1 battle:
Sørensen sees good & bad in coaching debut
It’s never easy to play in Concacaf – and that task only becomes harder if you’ve never had the chance to experience it in any form.
It's why fans were curious to see how the Whitecaps' new head coach Jesper Sørensen would handle his first test in a hostile environment: Would the 'Caps rise to the occasion... or might they look like a team with a new coach playing in a new environment?
The answer? A bit more boring; they looked somewhere between excellent and timid.
For large stretches of the game, the Whitecaps looked to have already onboarded Sørensen’s new tactical system, doing well to dominate possession, and looking very comfortable on the ball. In particular, the team did well to find the control that Sørensen’s system is known for: Pushing Saprissa onto the back foot and opening up spaces, which they then quickly attacked.
Unfortunately, they also fell back into some old (and bad) habits as the game wore on.
Having grown used to a system under Vanni Sartini that could sometimes lead to wide-open games, the Whitecaps gradually began to do just that, opening up a match they would’ve been far better suited shutting down.
This will be the challenge Sørensen now faces going forward. There’s no doubt that this team has the players to play in his system, but he’ll have to get them used to playing more methodically, on both sides of the ball, to ensure they avoid a repeat of this match.
The good news is that this is far from a bad result. Thanks to their away goal, the Whitecaps can advance with a 1-0 win in Leg 2 at BC Place. But first, they’ll look to focus on learning from their mistakes in their MLS opener against the Portland Timbers on Sunday.
Saprissa takes (late) advantage of growing confidence
For a minute, it looked like it could be a long night for Saprissa. After the Whitecaps grabbed an early lead, they looked likely to add to it, as they had some excellent opportunities to find a second goal.
However, a second goal didn’t come, as Saprissa managed to survive each Whitecaps attack, raising their confidence significantly for a noticable boost in the second half. Armed with the knowledge that they needed just one moment of magic to draw themselves level, Saprissa started to take more risks – and it paid off.
Once Mariano Torres nabbed a (gorgeous) equalizer, Saprissa started to apply even more pressure on the Whitecaps late, hungry to grab a win.
They were pushed on by the roar of their home crowd at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, who also seemed to grow into the game after showing signs of discontent in the first half. Saprissa started to be first to every ball while playing more on the front foot.
Naturally, there will be other factors at play that led to this late surge - after all, this was the Whitecaps' first competitive test of 2025, meaning some tired legs were at play, without mentioning the usual difficulties that playing in the heat of San José can usually provide.
Yet, had Saprissa not survived the Whitecaps' early pressure – in which they seemed likely to go up 2-0 or even 3-0 – the Whitecaps could’ve easily been spending the last 20 minutes of the game sitting back and just absorbing pressure.
Instead, they were forced to open up the game a bit, and that played into the hands of the hosts. Now? The job is that much more difficult in Leg 2.
Ali Ahmed, J.C. Ngando show chemistry out wide
There’s no doubt that this Whitecaps team can score goals.
The Whitecaps are always dangerous when the 1-2 punch of Ryan Gauld and Brian White are on the pitch together; Gauld had 17 goals and 16 assists in all competitions in 2024, and Brian White added 16 goals and three assists in all competitions, after all.
Despite that, there have been some concerns over the last few seasons on whether or not the Whitecaps were too reliant on White-Gauld as beyond them, goals have sometimes been hard to come by – doubly so with the departure of Fafa Picault to Inter Miami.
The good news for the Whitecaps? Two players seemed to show they could be ready for bigger roles - Ali Ahmed and J.C. Ngando, who had good chemistry down the right-hand side of the pitch, with Ahmed lined up at right wing and Ngando underneath him as a right-sided central midfielder in the Whitecaps 4-3-3 formation.
First, there was Ahmed, who was lively down the right. Given the freedom to push forward and run into the space behind Saprissa’s defenders, he did well to chip in with an assist and had several dangerous moments where he looked likely to add another assist or a goal of his own.
Of course, fans of the Canadian men's national team will be used to seeing this sort of performance from Ahmed, who did well in a regular starting role for his country in the back half of 2024, but it’s worth noting that these sorts of performances were harder to come by for the Whitecaps - this assist has already bettered his 2024 total for the Whitecaps in that department. They’ll be encouraged to see him already involved offensively, as they’ll feel there is a lot more of that for him to unearth.
For the good work Ahmed did, however, it’s worth noting that Ngando was quite crucial to helping him find space down the right, as the Whitecaps midfielder unlocked the Canadian international with several good passes down that side.
In his first game back after a loan stint with the Los Vegas Lights in the USL last season, Ngando showed why the Whitecaps are expecting big things for him this year, as he’ll be expected to help fill the shoes of Armstrong with his ability to hold onto the ball, break lines and combine with his teammates.
Now, the goal will be to ensure contributions like this from players not named White and Gauld become regular occurrences. Between returnees Ahmed, Ngando and Pedro Vite, as well as newcomers Jayden Nelson, Emmanuel Sabbi and Daniel Ríos, the Whitecaps have options to help with their depth scoring, something they’ll look to lean on going forward.
So what comes next?
With this first leg now completed, both teams will meet again in exactly a week, this time in Vancouver at BC Place on Thursday, February 27th (7:00 p.m. PT).
Before then, both teams have league matches to play - the Whitecaps will head to Portland for their 2025 MLS regular season opener vs. the Portland Timbers at Providence Park on Sunday, February 23rd (1:00 p.m. PT), while Saprissa will host Sporting San José in Liga FPD action at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá that same Sunday (1:00 p.m. PT).
Watch the Concacaf Champions Cup live on OneSoccer. For a full list of what games will be available in round one, click here. In addition to its website and app, OneSoccer is now available on TELUS channel 980 and on Fubo TV. Call your local cable provider to ask for OneSoccer today.
