Pumas Overpower Whitecaps in Leagues Cup

Vancouver Whitecaps 0-2 UNAM Pumas

VANCOUVER, BC—UNAM Pumas punched their ticket to the Leagues Cup Round of 16 with a 2-0 win over Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place on Wednesday night. Pumas now await the winner between Seattle Sounders and LA Galaxy on August 12th. 

The Whitecaps came close to opening the scoring in the 24th minute was Levonte Johnson’s point-blank shot was stopped by Julio Gonzalez. Johnson would have another chance stopped by Gonzalez three minutes later. 

Pumas would take the lead in the 36th minute after Bjorn Inge Utvik was stripped of the ball and Piero Quispe fed Cesar Huerta for the finish from 12 yards out. The lead was doubled in the 57th minute after Ruben Duarte sent a low cross to an unmarked Jorge Ruvacaba from five years out. 

The Whitecaps weren’t able to get one past Gonzalez who made five saves en route to a clean sheet. 

While Pumas have four days before their next match, The Whitecaps will next play in 19 days as they take on Pacific FC in the Canadian Championship carrying a 1-0 advantage from the first leg in Langford. Kickoff is at 7:30pm PT on OneSoccer in Canada.  

For more of Gerrit te Hennepe’s photos from the night at BC Place, please click on the link to his gallery.