'Caps come out flying, earn preseason win

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MARBELLA, SPAIN – Vancouver Whitecaps FC put in a strong performance in their third preseason friendly of 2025 on Sunday, winning 2-0 against Ukrainian side FC LNZ Cherkasy.

Looking sharp in their Black History Month kits, Jesper Sørensen's squad came out flying right away and opened the scoring in the third minute. Ryan Gauld fed Ali Ahmed down the right wing, who then crossed to Sam Adekugbe at the top of the box. The Canadian laid it off for Pedro Vite to fire into the the far corner, taking a 1-0 lead.

Just over five minutes later, the captain got the 'Caps back on the board. Brian White won the ball up high and fed Gauld in the box, with the goalkeeper then taking him down. The Scotsman finished the penalty kick to make it 2-0.

On 17 minutes, a great corner kick from Gauld met Ranko Veselinović, but his header went over the bar. Then on 33 minutes, terrific pressure ended with a Gauld cross to White in the box, with his header saved off the line.

In the 71st minute, newcomer Jayden Nelson nearly made it 3-0 after opening up space for himself inside the box before his shot was deflected just wide of the net.

After a quiet day, Yohei Takaoka made a phenomenal reflex save in the 82nd minute off a header from a corner kick to preserve the clean sheet.

The team will wrap-up the camp against Swedish side IF Brommapojkarna on Thursday, February 6, with kickoff set for 6 a.m. PT / 3 p.m. local time, once again streamed live at whitecapsfc.com.

MATCH DETAILS

Scoring Summary
3’ – VAN – Pedro Vite (Sam Adekugbe, Ali Ahmed)
10’ – VAN – Ryan Gauld (penalty kick)

Vancouver Whitecaps FC
1.Yohei Takaoka; 2.Mathías Laborda (18.Édier Ocampo 62'), 4.Ranko Veselinović (12.Belal Halbouni 62'), 33.Tristan Blackmon (15.Bjørn Inge Utvik 62'), 3.Sam Adekugbe (28.Tate Johnson HT); 45.Pedro Vite (59.Jeevan Badwal 74'), 20.Andrés Cubas (26.J.C. Ngando 62'), 13.Ralph Priso (16.Sebastian Berhalter HT); 22.Ali Ahmed (27.Giuseppe Bovalina 74'), 24.Brian White (55.Cyprian Kachwele 74'), 25.Ryan Gauld © (7.Jayden Nelson 62')