After falling to Pacific and Cavalry in the first two Voyageurs Cup tournaments featuring CPL clubs, the Whitecaps finally exercised their demons and beat a CPL team for the first time in team history.

The Caps confidently beat Valour FC on Wednesday to advance to the second round of the tournament and play Cavalry FC.

https://twitter.com/WhitecapsFC/status/1524601494493827072

It was a moment of redemption for the Caps, who had been eliminated in the Canadian Championships the past two years at the hands of much inferior CPL opponents.

Heading into the match, head coach Vanni Sartini spoke on the importance of it, citing it as the most important game of the year. “We can be very clear, Wednesday is the most important game of the year. Why? Because if we lose we are out of the Canadian Championship.”

Sartini knew the stakes that were on the line heading into this game, with the last Whitecaps gaffer being sacked after 2021’s Canadian Championship elimination loss to Pacific FC. “We enter the competition and have to be honest in a way that we are the big guy, we’re not the underdog because the CPL, of course the budget and everything, we need to have extreme respect for Valour because the last two years, the last two Canadian Championship campaigns have been very disappointing for the club.”

The win against Valour was on the back of a huge victory against Toronto FC over the weekend. The win marked the end of a 3 game losing streak for the ‘Caps, who still remain at the bottom of the Western Conference.

The Whitecaps will face Cavalry FC in the Championship League in Calgary on May 28th, with regular season action resuming on Saturday, against the San Jose Eartquakes.

https://twitter.com/WhitecapsFC/status/1524889802176221184

Be sure to catch the game with the ‘Caps looking to make it 3 wins in a row for the first time this season!