Saturday night at BC Place, the Vancouver Whitecaps maintained their perfect league record with a 2-0 win over visiting CF Montreal.
The Whitecaps have thoroughly deserved their start to the 2025 season, and this match was no exception, as Vancouver continued their ball dominant style, while the visitors offered very little for the majority of proceedings.
Perhaps the biggest story line from the match, however, had absolutely nothing to do with the final result, as Ryan Gauld was forced out of the match with a knee injury. It was certainly concerning to watch Vancouver’s captain helped to the locker room, although Jesper Sørensen confirmed Gauld was more optimistic after the match about the injury than he was at halftime.
While losing Gauld for any period of time is a huge blow for Vancouver, Sørensen’s Whitecaps have proven early this season that they can succeed with a variety of players in the Starting XI.
In this match in particular, Vancouver responded to the Gauld injury with a strong phase of play in the first half, which eventually led to a breakthrough. Mathias Laborda made two great challenges in the Montreal box after a deflected cross, eventually slotting the ball home past Jonathan Sirois, as the Whitecaps took a 1-0 lead.
The Whitecaps doubled the lead early in the second half on a transition play, as MLS rookie Tate Johnson, making his first MLS start, sprinted the length of the field to find himself on the end of an Ali Ahmed cross. It was a dream start for the newcomer, and interestingly, the young American mirrored what Ahmed did a couple of seasons ago: scoring in his first MLS match against CF Montreal.
From there, the Whitecaps did everything they could to see out the match without issue, as well as manage minutes within the squad, especially with a tie at Monterrey looming this upcoming Wednesday.
The visitors did make things a bit interesting late, with several good looks from set plays and crosses. Ultimately though, one well-timed Yohei Takaoka save and a Price Owusu header denied by the crossbar was enough for the Whitecaps to preserve a clean sheet.
Overall, Montreal was the better team for 10 to 15 minutes at the end of both halves, but they did not capitalize on those moments enough to gain any traction in the match. Laurent Courtois’ team had very little identity in possession, and it is difficult to see how they are going to win many matches this season other than exceptional individual performances or by winning every match 1-0.
For Vancouver, it is all about keeping this momentum going in spite of the injuries stacking up against them. Sørensen appears to be developing a real formula for success, and the jump forward that players like Vite, Ahmed, and Ngando have been able to make under the Danish manager are impressive.
The next test comes midweek in Mexico, hopefully we will know more about the long-term prognosis for Gauld by then. In the meantime, it is worth revelling in a 3 for 3 start to the MLS season.
Johnson is mature for his years, that and other bright spots can hopefully make up for Gauld’s absence – however long it is. Wish we had another CM by now for depth, though.
I really don’t want to be the buzzkill but, these were 3 poor teams that we beat. At least they were poor on the day, a red card early for Portland, LA who are nowhere near the championship winning team of yesteryear and have injury issues, and lastly, Montreal who are, what, worst in the league. And didn’t Monterrey even make 10 changes from their regular starting lineup?
Of course there are good reasons to be optimistic. We look and feel different so far this year. There’s a toughness now that I didn’t detect in previous seasons. And maybe I’m just too used to being let down and so want to protect myself from getting my hopes up and that’s why I’m being a little gloomier than are others. But it is still early in the season and let’s see how high we rate this team when they’ve faced stiffer opposition.
at this point, i would only sign a player the quality of Fitz- any team could use his pedigree- the earliest- if ever- we see him in a Caps jersey will be July
Sam, Jayden and now Ryan. Ouch. They all were doing great.
Ali seems to be getting assists so that’s good. Hope he can bag a few himself just to get his confidence back if nothing else but at least he’s contributing.
I predict that the ‘Caps will go undefeated through the first half of the season, win CCC and peak around number 5 on the mlssoccer.com power rankings.
Hello
darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Because a vision softly creeping
whether its by luck or good signings by Axel to add impressive depth, a savy new head coach and the maturing of players, what a start it has been
its more than winning– its how they are mastering the field and the opposition as a UNIT- and in the long run of a season where loosing Gauld- their leader- for probably 3-4 games would have been devastating, you sense that this Team wont shrivel, unlike in past years- the Caps as a whole have a SWAGGER … and thats a good look
tough times will come in the season, but i like what i am seeing in the committment to play hard, create chances and play well defensively
A couple thoughts:
I bloody love Tate Johnson. He stepped up and did exactly what was asked of him and more.
J.C Ngando had a pretty good game too. He had big shoes to fill when coming in for Gauld and I thought he did pretty well at it. I wonder if we’ll see him start against Monterrey…
Lastly, to be the optimist here we’re not the only team struggling with injuries and yet we still look quite good. Here’s to some continued success!
PS: Looking at the tables, looks like we’re 1st in the West and tied with Philadelphia for 1st overall. Love to see it. Here’s hoping we can keep it that way.
totally agree with you- the Caps have never had a group of players that fit together so well and can be interchanged with starters and subs – its early in the season, but i like what i am seeing- i think Jesper allows more expression from the players and we see the results in Vite, Laborda and Halbouni and the new players- Ngando, Johnson, Ocampo- have been impressive and have added a strength throughout the Team
i doubt Axel will add any player at this point – he will wait until July and see how the Team is going
Salty
Agreed. Maybe he’ll save the Dominik Fitz deal, maybe not. Either way, I doubt we’re getting another player before the end of the transfer window.