HONULULU, HAWAII – Vancouver Whitecaps FC will conclude the Hawaii leg of their preseason on Sunday, when they face Japanese side Iwaki FC in the third-place match of the Pacific Rim Cup. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. PT (2:30 p.m. local) at Aloha Stadium. A live stream will be available on the Whitecaps FC YouTube channel and embedded at the top of this page.
The ‘Caps played their first match of the preseason on Friday, falling 3-1 to Japanese club V-Varen Nagasaki. David Norman Jr. scored the lone goal for the ‘Caps, heading in a late corner kick from fellow Whitecaps FC Academy product Simon Colyn.
“In the first half we saw a lot of principles that we want to start seeing more and more of in the team,” said Whitecaps FC head coach Marc Dos Santos. “Of course, we still have a lot of things to work on. But there were a lot of principles we want to see in the build up, in the moments where we lost possession, and on a turf that is very unique and difficult to play on, we still felt the guys wanted to keep the ball on the ground and play from there.”
“In the second half, we wanted to look at the young players we brought from the development group, from the Academy,” Dos Santos continued. “Some of the players on the field were 15, 16 years old. So it’s a great experience for them … This is the period you’re able to do this while we’re still waiting for a lot of players to join the roster.”
Dos Santos said a number of the young players will get an opportunity again on Sunday; however, the more experienced group will likely get closer to 55-60 minutes.
The ‘Caps will return to Vancouver following Sunday’s match for a week of training before heading to Los Angeles for the final leg of their preseason. Dos Santos is hoping to have most of the group together in LA, including Young Designated Players Hwang in-Beom and Joaquin Ardaiz.
