Vancouver Whitecaps find new level under Jesper Sørensen | OneFootball

By MLSsoccer staff

Vancouver Whitecaps: What's key to their early success?

Vancouver Whitecaps FC sporting director Axel Schuster raised plenty of eyebrows last November by parting ways with head coach Vanni Sartini.

Citing the need to “take the next step and build a championship contender,” Schuster decided to move on from the popular Italian manager, who’d guided the ‘Caps to three straight Canadian Championship titles and two straight Audi MLS Cup Playoffs appearances, replacing him with Jesper Sørensen two months later.

A month into the 2025 season, Schuster appears to have made the right call.

Heading into Matchday 5’s home clash vs. Chicago Fire FC (10:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+), Vancouver are MLS’s only remaining perfect team with a 4W-0L-0D record (12 points), topping both the Western Conference and Supporters’ Shield standings.

Additionally, they’re arguably the biggest surprise of the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup, eliminating two regional powerhouses (Costa Rica’s Deportivo Saprissa and LIGA MX’s CF Monterrey) to reach the tournament quarterfinals.

They've done it recently without star attacker Ryan Gauld, sidelined since early March with a knee injury, and several other key players.

How Vancouver Whitecaps have leveled up in 2025

“When they went down to Monterrey, without Ryan Gauld, without Jayden Nelson, without Sam Adekugbe,” noted This is MLS analyst Maurice Edu of Vancouver’s 2-2 Round-of-16 Leg 2 draw (3-3 away goals aggregate) at Estadio Corona that booked their CCC quarterfinal berth.

“… To me, this was a highlight of Jesper Sørensen’s level of managerial skills."

Despite conceding early to Monterrey in the series decider, the 'Caps kept their composure and earned qualification in hostile territory thanks to goals from Édier Ocampo and Brian White.

"This team has a mentality that they don't waver," said Edu. "[To give up a goal] in the fourth minute at Monterrey and you somehow find a way to grow back into that game? To me, there's personality in this team, there's some more established leadership, young players are taking a step in the right direction."

A Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal date with LIGA MX's Pumas UNAM awaits in early April. Before that, the Whitecaps will host Chicago and visit Canadian rivals Toronto FC.

Based on what he's observed so far, Edu expects to see more of the same from Sørensen's side.

"So far, Jesper Sørensen – in a small sample size – has really, really impressed me with the direction he's taking this Vancouver team," he said.