‘There’s no appeal. It’s do or die’: Whitecaps know the stakes of semifinals clash with York

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In more than a decade of their Major League Soccer existence, the Vancouver Whitecaps trophy returns have been exiguous. They have lacked the X-factor to put them over the top, save for their 2015 Canadian Championship win, their only silverware in six trips to the final.

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Sure, there have been three Cascadia Cups, but that’s a regional fan-created trophy.

A Voyageurs Cup would bring recognition, validation and a spot in the Concacaf Champions League. It would mean, in short, nearly everything.

“For me, it would be fantastic. It would be the first trophy that I won as a head coach. It would be like winning the (UEFA) Champions League,” said coach Vanni Sartini. “It’s time for us to celebrate again. It’s time for us to put another banner in our locker room and to have a little bit of glory, and also give us the ignition to finish the season well and make the playoff.”

Sartini isn’t looking past Wednesday’s Canadian Championship semifinal with York United, but the thought of losing isn’t really an option, either. It cost the last Caps coach his job from him, and even though Sartini had the “interim” tag removed from his title, he has long maintained any head coaching job is temporary if the results do n’t come.

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“It’s a huge opportunity for the team, for the club,” he said. “It’s been four years that we didn’t make the final, the last two years we were eliminated in the first round. So already, reaching the semifinal and winning two rounds is an improvement. But we know that in this kind of competition, they don’t give you an award if you lose in the semifinals.

“So we need to win tomorrow. There’s no appeal. It’s do or die.”

And as is always the case in the insular world of Canadian soccer, there are some familiar faces down the touch line from the Caps bench. Goalkeeper Nikos Giantsopoulos, the Canadian Premier League leader in shutouts (5), will start for York. I have joined the Caps earlier this year as an emergency loan.

And patrolling the sideline is Vancouver club legend Martin Nash, in his first head coaching gig. He got his coaching start, ironically, as an assistant to Marc Dos Santos with the Ottawa Fury. In 2016, Nash and Dos Santos lost 3-2 on aggregate to Vancouver in the Canadian Championship semifinals, winning 2-0 in Ottawa but losing 3-0 in Vancouver.

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Nash did get some revenge as an assistant with Cavalry FC, knocking the Caps off in 2019’s tournament, and moved on to take over as York’s head coach in December.

“It’s always great to come back here and see some somewhat friendly faces — until the kickoff starts, that is,” he said.

And there may not be many friendly faces after. York is an aggressive, physical team — they lead the CPL with four red cards and are second in yellows — and are an incredibly difficult squad to break down. They have conceded just seven goals, a league low, during the entire season. But they sit sixth in the standings for the opposite reason — they’ve scored a CPL-low six goals, and haven’t hit the back of the net in league play since May 10.

The Whitecaps aren’t exactly known for breaking down opposing teams’ defensive blocks or imposing their will offensively. It took penalty kicks to get past Calgary in the quarter-finals — the same way York advanced in their two previous Voyageurs Cup games.

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“If we have to take something that we need to improve compared to the last game in Calgary, for example, we need to capitalize on the chances that we’re going to have,” said Sartini. “The most important thing is to create those chances, be dominating in the game, but also to be clinical and cynical in the box.

“We’ve been good sometimes in bringing the ball into the final third, but not (creating) a million chances a game or scoring a lot of goals. We’ve worked on it, and even the choice on the lineup will … put our more offensive players on the field … to try to put their defense very much under pressure.”

“It’s going to be a tough game,” said Nash. “I expect them to have a lot of the ball and we’re gonna have to work hard and stay organized and pick and choose our moments. It’s not going to be an easy task, but I got a bunch of players in this group that just give you everything. And when a team works as hard as we do, and the players give you everything, you’ve always got a chance.

“It’s gonna be a difficult task, but it’s not an impossible task. So we’ll give it everything we have.”

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As will the Caps. This won’t be the B-team, as has been the case in the tournament for past editions of the Caps. Ryan Gauld, Brian White and Lucas Cavallini are all likely to start. Even with Thomas Hasal, Cristian Gutierrez and Michael Baldisimo out with injuries, Ryan Raposo and Marcus Godinho will fill out the Canadian quota without a drop-off in talent.

The Caps have stated two goals this year: make the playoffs, and win the Voyageurs Cup. With the MLS regular season lasting until October, there’s plenty of time to worry about the former. But the Caps are laser-focussed on earning the title of Canadian Champions.

“We need to focus on what we need to do, for sure,” said Sartini. “But I want to remind everyone, including you guys, Vancouver-based journalists, that we are the only Canadian team that made the playoffs last year.

“This season, we are in line with the playoffs and we are in the semifinals. If tomorrow we win, we’re in the finals.

“It’s good to have high standards, and not to be always satisfied by what we do. But we also need to recognize that post-pandemic, we’ve been the best Canadian team in MLS.”

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NEXT GAME

York United at Vancouver Whitecaps

Canadian Championship semi-finals

Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Stadium: BC Place. TV: OneSoccer. Radio: AM730