For the second straight year, the Vancouver Whitecaps will open their season with a trip to Costa Rica, as they open their CONCACAF Champions Cup campaign as Cartaginés on Wednesday.

This time, the expectations for the ‘Caps in this competition will be somewhat different, going from “happy to be here” to believing that they will be a genuine threat to win CCC after their trip to the final last season.

A repeat performance, however, will require navigating Cartaginés, which will be easier said than done. The Costa Rican side is certainly preferable to a Liga MX or MLS team in the first round, but Cartaginés is still a solid team. They qualified by virtue of winning the Central American Championship play-in game, so this is a side that knows its way around a knockout competition.

Cartaginés sit second in the table, seven matches into the Costa Rican first division clausura, and three points back of first-placed Herediano, whom they just lost to over the weekend. They have gotten there in an interesting way, however. Cartaginés has conceded the second-fewest goals of any side in the league — they’ve kept a clean sheet in four of their seven matches. They’ve also scored the joint-fewest goals of any side in the league, going goalless in three of their seven matches. This isn’t a new trend — Cartaginés conceded far and away the fewest goals in the apertura, but were also scoring fewer goals than their fellow playoff sides.

The ‘Caps, then, can expect a well-drilled side that will be happy to sit back, absorb pressure, and find opportunities off counterattacks and set pieces. Cartaginés roll with some variation of a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 that allows MLS veterans Johan Venegas and another forward to play off of each other. That is usually either Douglas Lopez or Christopher Nunez, both of whom usually seem to play as more of a shadow striker. Their centre back pairing usually features Diego Mesen alongside either Marcelo Pereira or Fernan Faerron, which has seemingly been a winning combination.

The Whitecaps will, presumably, stick to Jesper Sorensen’s playbook of trying to dominate possession and control the game. We don’t know for sure how they will line up — the preseason matches all were a hodgepodge of rotation that gives little clear idea of what Sorensen might be thinking heading into this one.

That being said, I would expect Ralph Priso to join Tristan Blackmon at centreback, with Edier Ocampo and Mathias Laborda at fullback. The midfield should largely look the same, unless Sorensen is seeking to rotate, and Brian White and Emmanuel Sabbi seem likely to be joined by Kenji Cabrera in the attack while the other new signings get integrated into the squad.

We have heard of no new injuries, beyond the known long-term absences (Ryan Gauld, Belal Halbouni, Ranko Veselinovic), so hopefully there won’t be too many surprises in store on Wednesday. Jesper Sorensen will have to decide how much rotation he can stomach, with the ‘Caps opening MLS play on Saturday against Real Salt Lake. Returning players like Jeevan Badwal and Tate Johnson could be sprinkled in as well to help ease the load on the starters.

Overall, this is one the ‘Caps don’t have to win. Indeed, they actually lost against Saprissa on the road last year and suffered no ill effects. You have to imagine that Sorensen doesn’t want too close of a shave, but given Cartaginés’ strength at choking off opposing attacks, Vancouver would probably be content with a draw, particularly if it comes with an away goal. If they can at least manage that result, you would have to like their odds at BC Place next week.