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Whitecaps through to CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals

Next step for Vancouver is reigning Major League Soccer champions Los Angeles FC
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Vancouver Whitecaps FC鈥檚 Brian White (middle) fires a shot between the defence of Real Espana鈥檚 Junior Garcia (right) and Getsel Montes for a goal during second half CONCACAF Champions League soccer action in Vancouver, B.C., Wednesday, March 8, 2023. The Whitecaps advanced to the quarterfinals in CONCACAF Champions League play Wednesday after completing a 7-3 aggregate win over Honduran side Real CD Espana.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Rich Lam

Cruising through to the quarterfinals in CONCACAF Champions League play will come with a massive challenge for the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The 鈥楥aps advanced Wednesday after completing a 7-3 aggregate win over Honduran side Real CD Espana.

Getting through, though, means facing reigning Major League Soccer champions Los Angeles FC in next month鈥檚 quarterfinals of the tournament between the top clubs in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

鈥淚t will be a nice clash against, probably, the best team in North America,鈥 Whitecaps coach Vanni Sartini said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a great stage for us to try to go to the semifinals. So I鈥檓 really happy that we went through.鈥

Espana battled its way to a 3-2 victory in the second leg of a round-of-16 series at Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on Wednesday.

Getsel Montes had a brace and Ramiro Rocca added a goal for the home side, while Brian White and Simon Becher each scored for Vancouver.

The Whitecaps came into the game up 5-0 after a decisive first-leg win at B.C. Place on March 8.

鈥淚鈥檓 happy the qualification was never in discussion. We were always in the game,鈥 Sartini said. 鈥淎nd at the end, I told the guys, even if they were a little bit down, today we did not lose 3-2, we won 7-3. So we need to be happy.鈥

LAFC took a 4-2 aggregate win over Costa Rican side Liga Deportiva Alajuelense on Wednesday. After taking a 3-0 win in the first leg of their series, LAFC dropped the second leg 2-1.

Espana heavily out chanced the 鈥楥aps in Honduras, putting up 10 on-target shots against Vancouver鈥檚 four.

Vancouver expected the home side to attack a lot, Sartini said, and the team did a good job withstanding, then countering until White opened the scoring in the 66th minute.

鈥淎nd then it became a little bit careless,鈥 the coach said. 鈥淚 think players were very tired at the end. And the fact that a lot of players who played 90 minutes, they never played 90 minutes before today. And the wind became a big factor in the second half.鈥

Midway through the second half, Whitecaps defender Javain Brown fought his way through a series of Espana defenders and dished the ball to White at the top of the penalty area.

The American striker 鈥 who came off the bench in the 61st minute 鈥 fired a shot in past Espana鈥檚 goalkeeper Luis Lopez to break the goalless deadlock with his second of the tournament.

A minute later, the Honduran club tied things up after a rebound dropped in traffic and Montes popped it in past Vancouver 鈥榢eeper Thomas Hasal.

Rocca gave Espana its first lead in the 75th minute, sending a shot into the corner of the net off a cross.

Becher knotted the score at 2-2 in the 83rd minute, working his way around an Espana defender before finding room between Lopez and the post for his first goal in CONCACAF Champions League play.

Montes put away his second goal of the game in the 86th minute, heading a shot in past Hasal off a corner.

The Whitecaps need to work on defending headers, especially off of set plays, Sartini said.

鈥淲e need to do much better in terms of positioning, in terms of being aggressive,鈥 he said. 鈥淭here are some players that they don鈥檛 get the fact that if you are zonal, it doesn鈥檛 mean you are a stick. We need to attack the ball.鈥

Six Whitecaps players were shown yellow cards across the match, something the coach said he was concerned about heading into the quarterfinals.

鈥淚 think we took too much yellow today. I think a couple of them were avoidable, a couple of them were maybe 50/50 yellow, but unfortunately we got them,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l have everyone for at least the first leg against LAFC and then we鈥檒l see.鈥

Sartini made ample changes to his lineup heading into Wednesday鈥檚 game, swapping out eight players who started in a 1-1 draw against FC Dallas in MLS play on Saturday.

The changes included giving Canadian 鈥榢eeper Hasal his first start of the season and replacing White with Sergio Cordova in the starting 11.

Wednesday鈥檚 game marked Vancouver鈥檚 fourth of five matches in 14 days. The Whitecaps will return to MLS play Saturday when they visit the L.A. Galaxy.





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