Despite dominating large stretches of the match, the Vancouver Whitecaps were held to a scoreless draw by Costa Rican side C.S. Cartaginés on Wednesday night in the first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup first round matchup.

The ‘Caps named a strong starting eleven, with Jesper Sørensen making just three changes to the side that started the MLS Cup Final last year. Thomas Müller and Ralph Priso did not start the game, but were available off the bench, replaced in the starting lineup by Jeevan Badwal and Tate Johnson respectively.

Ali Ahmed left the club this winter and was replaced on the left wing by Kenji Cabrera.

Related Reading: 2026 Season Preview: Can Vancouver Whitecaps build on best-ever season?

The first shooting attempt of the match came from the foot of Vancouver’s Sebastian Berhalter, whose right-footed effort from well outside the box swerved to the right and forced a big stop from Kevin Briceno. The visitors were throwing everything at a side that just couldn’t keep up with them, having around 90 per cent possession of the ball after 15 minutes.

Emmanuel Sabbi tried a bicycle kick from inside the six-yard box following a corner kick in the 17th minute, but it was cleared off the line by a defender and headed away for another corner that did not lead to anything. The Whitecaps attacker had another shot from the right side of the box eight minutes later, but again Briceno was equal to it.

The two sides traded headed chances as well in the first half, but Ricardo Márquez and Diego González were unable to hit the target for the hosts, and neither were Tristan Blackmon or Jeevan Badwal for the Whitecaps. Briceno made another big stop in the 34th minute, getting up to push a shot from Andrés Cubas around the post.

Vancouver came closest to scoring in the 44th minute, when a free kick whipped into the box hit Mathias Laborda in the thigh and went over the crossbar from a couple of yards out. He seemed surprised when the ball fell to him when he was left alone at the back post, and any clean contact on target would have seen the ball hit the back of the net in an unfortunate moment for the Uruguayan centre-back.

The Whitecaps outshot Cartaginés 8-3 in the first half with 75 per cent possession, and 4-0 in terms of shots on target, but despite their dominance the two sides went into the break scoreless.

A few more chances were traded at the start of the second half, before Sørensen decided to go to his bench and bring on Müller for Cubas in the 66th minute.

Badwal tried to catch everyone sleeping with a volley from distance in the 78th minute following a corner, but his effort went wide of the mark. That was his last action of the match, as Sørensen went to the bench again to bring on new recruit Oliver Larraz, as well as striker Rayan Elloumi for Brian White. Aziel Jackson, also known as AZ, came on at halftime for Sabbi and looked lively on the right flank.

The Whitecaps continued to knock on the door and create chances, but a lot of them were coming from outside the box as the Costa Rican side stayed compact. Replacing Cabrera with J.C. Ngando was the final roll of the dice for the Whitecaps boss, but that also did not lead to the breakthrough his side was looking for.

Time ticked into three minutes of stoppage time and eventually the final whistle from referee Bryan López. The Whitecaps dominated nearly every aspect of the match, but were left frustrated in a scoreless draw.

Leg two is next Wednesday night at BC Place in Vancouver. Before that, the Whitecaps open their 2026 Major League Soccer campaign at that same venue, hosting Real Salt Lake.