Five Questions on Vancouver Whitecaps With Felipe Vallejo, AFTN Canada

PREVIEW – Colorado Rapids play at Vancouver Whitecaps tomorrow. I reached out to my old Last Word on Sports colleague Felipe Vallejo. He covers the Caps for AFTN Canada. Here’s five questions and answers to help Pids fans get more familiar with the 2025 Whitecaps.

Postgame comments on refereeing aside, I was surprised that the Whitecaps parted ways with Vanni Sartini. Jesper Sørensen has come in and the Caps are off to a good start. What’s he changed? What’s going well?

Jesper has brought in a fresh sense of pragmatism with a side of tactical creativity and a sprinkle of high-intensity soccer. In all seriousness though, the Dane has seemingly just gotten the best out of his players. Players that struggled to hit their peaks under Vanni like Mathías Laborda, Pedro Vite, J.C. Ngando and Sebastian Berhalter have now a new lease on life.

They are less constrained to a highly-restrictive and idealistic system, and are now a part of a more sustainable and practical structure that tries to fit around the players instead of the other way around. The quality of the team was always there, but Jesper has been able to just make the good players better collectively. 

Whitecaps played in the Conca Champions midweek. Tough end to the game. It seemed like most of the starters played. How much squad rotation should we expect for Saturday?

Well, most of the fit starters played. Sam Adekugbe, Ryan Gauld, Andres Cubas, Mathías Laborda and Bjørn Inge Utvik all had injuries. I think Cubas and maybe Utvik will make the bench tomorrow, but I suspect we’ll see a similar side to Wednesday, with just a handful of changes thinking about next Wednesday. I expect Emmanuel Sabbi, Ralph Priso and maybe Daniel Rios to get significant game time on Saturday too. 

Ryan Gauld has been out. Brian White continues to score goals and be underrated in the greater MLS discourse. What’s the offense looking like given the status of those two?

The attack looks good, but not as great as it could be. Jayden Nelson has been a revelation so far this season, which has helped massively. White is still the best non-DP striker in the league (Matt agrees), but is struggling slightly without his bestie Ryan on the pitch to give him that telepathic service. Sabbi looks to be getting sharper and sharper, and could be a useful asset, while Rios has yet to show me much to think he’ll come good – but that could change. Ali Ahmed is still dangerous on the 1-v-1s but is – and has always – just lacked that final product to take him to that next level. Should these depth pieces chip in more goals and become more in form, I think the ‘Caps will continue to be in those top spots.

I’m always curious about how former Burgundy Boys are doing. Ralph Priso‘s gotten minutes last year and this year. How’s he doing?

He’s actually been pretty decent. He was suspect last season, hence why he was used more sparingly, but seems to be one of those players that is benefitting from Jesper’s influence. He had one bad game vs Chicago Fire, in which he essentially lost the ‘Caps the game, but recovered well and had a good performance vs Pumas on Wednesday. I still think he’s a good player, but clearly is confidence-based and needs to branch out his abilities to be more versatile. 

Lastly, got a prediction for us? Remember, Whitecaps goals only count for 3/4 of a goal because of the tarifs. (Sorry for what America’s become BTW)

Haha, very funny! Realistically, given the form the Rapids are in, it’ll be a tight one. With the injuries to Cubas, Adekugbe and Gauld, Caps won’t be firing on all cylinders so I think a 1-1 tie is likely, maybe the ‘Caps sneaking in a narrow 2-1 win. 

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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