VANCOUVER, BC – It was another hot Friday evening in Vancouver, British Columbia, as Vancouver Whitecaps FC would fall to defeat in a shootout to Tigres UANL after an initial 1-1 draw, giving the Mexican side the berth to the Round of 16 in Leagues Cup.

Whitecaps FC would start the game in now typical strong fashion, breaking the deadlock inside the first 10 minutes through the man who loves an early goal, Pedro Vite. A deflected cross from Ryan Gauld would sit nicely for Vite on the edge of the box, and after one touch off his chest to set him up, he would lash it past Guzman into the top right corner, rooting the Argentinian keeper to his spot.

Tigres would come close to tying it up in the 18th minute, with a simple tap-in goal from Fernando Gorriarán denied on the line by a diving Ryan Raposo. Tigres would continue to put the pressure on in the first part of the half, forcing some smart saves and big blocks from Yohei Takaoka and Ranko Veselinović.

After going toe-to-toe with Tigres, the ‘Caps would go into halftime up by a goal.

Tigres would come out of the gates flying in the second half, immediately pressing for an equalizer. Their strong start would be rewarded in the 52nd minute through an acrobatic goal from André Pierre-Gignac. Javier Aquino crossed a beautiful ball into the path of Gignac, who opted to go for an audacious bicycle kick effort past Takaoka to make it 1-1.

Whitecaps FC would fight back after the leveller, with some great chances from Ryan Raposo and Alessandro Schöpf just missing the mark. Brian White would have the best chance of both sides to find a winner in the final stages of the game. A driven cross from Raposo right across goal would deflect to White, whose snap shot would get blocked before he could strike it into the back of the net.

Despite plenty of chances from both teams across the 90 minutes, the affair could not be broken and was to be determined by a shootout. With some stellar penalties from both sets of players, it would be Veselinovic’s saved penalty that would sent Tigres through to the Round of 16 of the Leagues Cup.

Whitecaps FC are back in MLS action on Sunday, August 20 against San Jose Earthquakes at BC Place. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. PT, with the match expected to mark the debut of Canadian national team wingback Richie Laryea, and the return of fellow national team wingback and Whitecaps FC Homegrown Sam Adekugbe. For tickets, visit whitecapsfc.com/tickets.

MATCH DETAILS

Attendance: 13,703
Referee: Lukasz Szpala

Scoring Summary
9’ – VAN – Pedro Vite
53’ – TIG – André Pierre-Gignac (Javier Aquino)

Statistics
Possession: TIG 59.8% – VAN 40.2%
Shots: TIG 7 – VAN 8
Shots on Goal: TIG 3 – VAN 2
Saves: TIG 1 – VAN 1
Fouls: TIG 10 – VAN 13
Offsides: TIG 1 – VAN 1
Corners: TIG 2 – VAN 2

Cautions
38’ – VAN – Javain Brown
52’ – VAN – Ryan Gauld
65’ – TIG – Diego Lainez

TIGRES UANL
1.Nahuel Guzmán; 20.Javier Aquino (14.Jesús Garza 82’), 19.Guido Pizzaro, 3.Samir De Souza, 27.Jesús Angulo; 6.Juan Vigón (17.Francisco Córdova HT’), 5.Rafael Carioca (21.Eugenio Pizzuto 82’); 16.Diego Lainez (28.Fernando Ordóñez 71’), 8.Fernando Gorriarán, 23.Luis Quiñones (9.Nicolás Ibáñez 71’); 10.André-Pierre Gignac

Substitutes not used
11.Nicolás López, 15.Eduardo Tercero, 22.Raymundo Fulgencio, 25.Carlos Rodríguez, 29.Jonathan Herrera, 32.Vladimir Loroña, 182.Arturo Delgado

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
18.Yohei Takaoka; 23.Javain Brown (2.Mathías Laborda 55’), 4.Ranko Veselinović, 6.Tristan Blackmon; 20.Andrés Cubas; 16.Sebastian Berhalter,( 9.Sergio Córdova 67’) 8.Alessandro Schöpf (31.Russell Teibert 80’), 45.Pedro Vite, 27.Ryan Raposo; 24.Brian White, 25.Ryan Gauld (22.Ali Ahmed 80’)

Substitutes not used
32.Isaac Boehmer, 12.Karifa Yao, 26.J.C. Ngando, 28.Levonte Johnson, 29.Simon Becher, 61.Matteo Campagna