{"id":41212,"date":"2026-05-12T00:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T00:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/41212\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T00:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T00:06:09","slug":"whitecaps-vie-to-become-road-warriors-as-vancouver-prepares-for-fifa-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/41212\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitecaps vie to become road warriors as Vancouver prepares for FIFA World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

San Jose Earthquakes forward Ousseni Bouda, middle, looks toward the ball between Vancouver Whitecaps defender Tristan Blackmon, left, and midfielder Sebastian Berhalter during their MLS match on Saturday in San Jose.Jeff Chiu\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

In a season marked by FIFA World Cup-induced schedule quirks, the Vancouver Whitecaps are embracing the strange. <\/p>\n

The Major League Soccer club spent more than a month at home this spring, playing five straight games at B.C. Place between March 21 and April 25. <\/p>\n

Now, as the stadium readies to host soccer\u2019s biggest showcase, the \u2019Caps are becoming road warriors with eight straight away matchups. <\/p>\n

Life on the road has its perks, said defender Tristan Blackmon. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can just have bonding time together,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, we have a really close group anyway, but it\u2019s fun to go on trips, and especially when you\u2019re doing well. It\u2019s fun to go into other stadiums and try to take points away from the home team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going from a heavy dose of sleeping in your own bed to airplanes and hotel rooms can be jarring, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving that long stretch at home and going on the road is a little bit weird,\u201d said striker Brian White. \u201cBecause everyone has their own routine, so you get stuck in your home game routine, so then you have to figure out what your away routine is again. And so it gets a little weird going back on the road, but it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Whitecaps sit second in the MLS standings with an 8-1-2 record and, with 1-1 draws away at the L.A. Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes over the past two weeks, the club is 1-0-2 away from home.<\/p>\n

A grass playing surface is being installed at B.C. Place before it hosts seven World Cup games, starting with a matchup between Australia and Turkey on June 12. The construction meant the \u2019Caps had to clear out well before FIFA takes over the stadium this week. <\/p>\n

While he prefers home games, head coach Jesper Sorensen likes road trips for how he and his staff can work with players away from the field. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes it easier for us as a coaching staff, if we want to show something, we have a lot of time around the training sessions,\u201d he explained. \u201cPlayers don\u2019t have to go home or anything. We can call them in for small meetings and show them stuff and videos.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of travel, but there\u2019s also time in the schedule to relax a little bit. And, yeah, maybe me do some little bit of fun stuff as well.\u201d <\/p>\n

There are many more road games to come, starting Wednesday when the squad visits FC Dallas in Frisco, Texas. The Whitecaps will then take on the Houston Dynamo on Saturday before heading back to Vancouver for recovery and training. <\/p>\n

The team will finish off the first stretch of the season with a visit to San Diego FC on May 23. <\/p>\n

When MLS play resumes in mid-July, the \u2019Caps will resume their road swing with visits to the Chicago Fire, Cincinnati FC and Minnesota United before finally returning to B.C. Place on Aug. 1 to host Los Angeles FC. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of time on the road with the guys and it\u2019s always fun to have a lot of meals together, hang out, a lot of downtime together,\u201d White said. \u201cSo it\u2019s like another little preseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

For several years, the Whitecaps have held their pre-season camp in Marbella, Spain. There, players and staff alike spend several weeks together, focused on soccer without any of the distractions of home. <\/p>\n

That camp is a \u201cvery important part of the year,\u201d White said. <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone goes away for the off-season, so you get to see each other again, catch up, new guys get into the fold, so you get to learn about them on and off the field,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to build that chemistry in preseason, and then that leads into the regular season as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, the Whitecaps went 8-4-5 on the road in regular-season play, and added ample extra miles en route to the CONCACAF Champions Cup final and their fourth straight Canadian Championship title. <\/p>\n

Those experiences have helped make the group stronger, Blackmon said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve just been through a lot of moments together, and I think that builds just a belief among everybody, even with the additions of new players. I think they can feel that kind of culture when they get here,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd obviously it helps when everything\u2019s going in the right way, and you\u2019re winning games and getting points every week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: San Jose Earthquakes forward Ousseni Bouda, middle, looks toward the ball between Vancouver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,95,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-41212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-pei","42":"tag-photos","43":"tag-political-news","44":"tag-political-opinion","45":"tag-politics","46":"tag-politics-news","47":"tag-quebec","48":"tag-sports-news","49":"tag-technology","50":"tag-travel","51":"tag-trudeau","52":"tag-us-news","53":"tag-vancouver","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}