Whitecaps, Pacific FC to kick off B.C. derby
VANCOUVER — Winning a Canadian Championship has become a fixation for head coach Marc Dos Santos and his Vancouver Whitecaps.
It’s been seven years since the club hoisted the Voyagers Cup, and the lack of silverware hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“In our locker room, it’s kind of an obsession to win a Canadian Championship,” Dos Santos said. “It’s a dream that we have, it’s something that we talk a lot about.”
The ‘Caps latest quest for the elusive title will begin Thursday as they head to Langford, B.C., to face Canadian Premier League side Pacific FC for the first time.
It’s been more than two years since the Whitecaps played in the Canadian Championship and dropped a two-game firstround set to Calgary’s Cavalry FC, also of the CPL. The 2020 tournament was condensed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The club hasn’t let the 2019 upset linger, said ‘keeper Maxime Crepeau.
“To be honest, this group is really focused on this year, that’s it,” he said. “We’ve been having some rhythm in the past few games and we want to keep doing that in the Cup.”
Vancouver comes into Thursday’s match undefeated in its last eight outings and with back-to-back wins after beating Los Angeles FC 2-1 in MLS play on Saturday.
“It’s just good on the morale,” said Crepeau, who was named to the MLS team of the week for his six-save performance. “The emotions now are just really condensed because we’re playing every three days-ish, the games are coming fast. So it’s about taking care of ourselves, taking care of our game.”
There’ll be a number of familiar faces on the other side of the pitch on Thursday.
A dozen players on Pacific’s roster have ‘Caps connections, including goalkeeper Calum Irving, striker Marco Bustos and right back Kadin Chung, who all came up through the Whitecaps academy. Coach Pa-Modou Kah also played two seasons for the Whitecaps before heading into coaching.