Thomas Muller and Brian White scored two minutes apart in the second half to turn the tides as the Vancouver Whitecaps kicked off their quest for a fifth straight Canadian Championship with a 4-1 win over Cavalry FC in the first leg of their quarterfinal on Wednesday.
Muller broke a 1-1 tie with a goal in the 62nd minute, with White adding another in the 64th. Rayan Elloumi sealed the game with another goal in the 74th minute at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, B.C.
Major League Soccer’s Whitecaps were done a favour in the second minute with an Adam Pearlman own goal. However, the Canadian Premier League side made it a 1-1 game with a 45th-minute equalizer from Daan Klomp.
The second leg of the quarterfinal will go on July 13 at ATCO Field in Calgary.
The Whitecaps were not the only MLS side to be victorious in quarterfinal action.
CF Montréal defeated CPL side Vancouver FC 2-1 at Willoughby Stadium in Langley, B.C., in the first leg of their quarterfinal.
Vancouver FC opened the scoring in the 55th minute, with Damiano Pecile’s low shot deflecting in off Nicolás Mezquida. Montréal evened the score nine minutes later, with a Dagur Dan Thórhallsson cross caroming off the head of Vancouver FC defender Matteo Campagna.
Prince Owusu buried a 92nd-minute penalty kick to seal the come-from-behind win for Montréal.
The second leg will be played at Stade Saputo on July 12, with the winner to face the Whitecaps or Cavalry in the semifinals.
In an all-CPL matchup, Supra du Québec jumped out to a 3-0 lead before eventually defeating Atlético Ottawa 3-1 in their opening leg in quarterfinal action.
David Choinière (29th minute), Sean Rea (50th minute) and Ibrahim Condé (83rd minute) led the way for Supra at Stade Boréale in Laval, Que. Wesley Timóteo finally put Ottawa on the board in the 86th minute.
The second leg of their quarterfinal will be Aug. 11 at TD Place in Ottawa.
To start the day, Zakaria Bahous scored the tying goal in the 55th minute as semi-professional Ligue1 Québec club CS Saint-Laurent earned a 1-1 draw with CPL’s Forge FC in the first leg of their quarterfinal.
Nana Ampomah opened the scoring in the 15th minute for Forge, which entered the match held in Laval, Que., top of the table in the CPL.
Forge, runner-up to Toronto FC in the 2020 Canadian Championship, advanced to the semifinals last year before the Hamilton side lost to the eventual champion Whitecaps.
The second leg of this quarterfinal will be July 12 in Hamilton.