VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Whitecaps suffered their second Leagues Cup upset of the week on Friday, falling 3-1 to FC Juarez.
Jeevan Badwal opened the scoring for Vancouver in the 12th minute, but the club couldn’t hang on to the lead despite outshooting the visitors 27-6 across the game, including a 9-4 edge in on-target shots.
Ettson Ayon equalized for Juarez in the 34th minute and Oscar Estupinan put the visitors ahead with a breakaway in the 74th.
Ricardo Oliveira sealed the score with a long-range blast into an empty net in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
The Whitecaps came into the tournament between Major League Soccer and LIGA MX clubs seeded ninth, but fell 1-0 to the Mexican league’s 10th-ranked Atlante FC on Tuesday before dropping Friday’s decision to last-place Juarez.
Vancouver will wrap up the tournament’s group stage against Tigres UNAL in San Nicolas, Mexico on Aug. 11.
After the group stage, the top four MLS clubs in the tournament will face the top four LIGA MX sides in the quarterfinals, running from Aug. 25 through 27.
Vancouver skipped Leagues Cup last season after reaching the round of 32 in both the 2023 and 2024 iterations.
Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sorensen made sweeping changes to his starting lineup for Friday’s game, keeping just four of the players who started in Tuesday’s contest in the initial 11.
The revamped lineup quickly took over, controlling the ball and creating ample scoring chances.
Johnny Selemani — making his first start for the Whitecaps — put a ball in the back of the Juarez net nine minutes in, only to see referee Karen Hernandez Andrade wave the goal off, saying the rookie forward fouled an opponent on the play.
Three minutes later, the ‘Caps got a goal to stand.
Edier Ocampo ticked a ball to Badwal as he darted into the penalty area and the Canadian midfielder quickly sent a left-footed shot in past keeper Sebastian Jurado to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead.
Twenty minutes into the matchup, the Whitecaps had six shots, including three on target, and a one-goal advantage.
Juarez made good on its best opportunity of the first half.
Jario Torres slipped a ball past Vancouver defender Tristan Blackmon, and his teammate Ayon was there to pick it up and hammer a shot past goalkeeper Isaac Boehmer. The 34th-minute tally levelled the score at 1-1.
The Whitecaps’ offence took a major hit in the 43rd minute when striker Brian White crumbled to the turf with an apparent lower-body injury. Trainers came out to take a look and signalled for a stretcher, but White eventually walked off the field on his own.
He was replaced by Rayan Elloumi, who came within inches of restoring Vancouver’s lead in the third minute of first-half injury time. His header from in tight was sent just wide of the post off the fingertips of a diving Jurado.
The home side held 56.1 per cent possession across the first half, outshot Juarez 12-2 and held a 4-1 advantage in on-target shots.
The club continued its push in the second half and Elloumi came close yet again in the 64th minute, sliding into the six-yard box in an attempt to send in a cross from J.C. Ngando that landed just beyond his foot.
It was Juarez that struck again in the 74th minute after Estupinan — who came off the bench for an injured Ayon in the 49th minute — picked up a loose ball in the midfield. He beat the Vancouver defenders up the pitch and popped a shot into the Whitecaps’ net to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.
The Whitecaps continued to dominate possession and peppered the Juarez net with shots, but couldn’t finish on a bevy of chances.
Boehmer came off his goal line to join the attack in the game’s final moments and the LIGA MX side once again took advantage, with Oliveira sending a blast into the yawning goal from the midfield to give Juarez a 3-1 victory.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2026.
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
