Latest news with #JesperSorensen
CTV News
3 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Head coach Jesper Sorensen guiding Vancouver Whitecaps to new highs
Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sorensen acknowledges the crowd as he walks onto the field before an MLS soccer match against Minnesota United, in Vancouver, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck Jesper Sorensen believes in giving his players room to make mistakes. 'If you're afraid of making mistakes, you'll make nothing. That's the problem. Because you will end up making mistakes,' the Vancouver Whitecaps' head coach said in a recent interview. 'So making mistakes is a big part of a fluid game … where there's a lot of transition moments and a lot of moments where things are not going perfectly. And my job is to try to construct a safety net behind the mistakes.' Sorensen's first five months in charge haven't featured many missteps — just an astounding start to the season. A 0-0 draw against Minnesota United on Wednesday extended the club's unbeaten streak to 15 games (7-0-8) across all competitions. A third of the way through the Major League Soccer campaign, Vancouver sits atop the Western Conference standings with a 9-1-5 record. The 'Caps have also stunned giants in CONCACAF Champions Cup play this year, ousting five-time champions CF Monterrey from the round of 16 and besting Lionel Messi's Inter Miami twice in the semifinals. The team will look to write the final chapter in their fairy tale run when they face LIGA MX side Cruz Azul in the tournament final on Sunday. 'It's been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of work. And it's been a time that I couldn't have foreseen, becoming this successful,' Sorensen said. 'And it's been great. Everybody has been great.' The 51-year-old former midfielder from Aarhus, Denmark, was introduced as the MLS-era Whitecaps' sixth full-time head coach on Jan. 14, just hours before the team took off for training camp in Marbella, Spain. He replaced Vanni Sartini, the eccentric Italian whose three-and-a-half season tenure saw the 'Caps win three straight Canadian Championship titles, but fail to get past the first round of the MLS playoffs. Though he'd played more than 300 matches in Denmark's top league, Sorensen was a relative unknown for many North American soccer fans before taking the job in Vancouver. He joined the 'Caps following two years as head coach of Brondby IF in the Danish Superliga, and two and a half more as assistant. He also spent more than a year in charge of Denmark's under-21 national squad. Sorensen's track record of quickly guiding new teams to positive results and his passion for player development stood out to Whitecaps CEO and sporting director Axel Schuster, who also liked the coach's 'calmness and confidence in himself.' 'I would love to say that I had seen all of this coming and that I was exactly expecting this,' Schuster said. 'I have to say that he's over-delivering on the results. But in general, he is exactly what we hoped he would be.' Sorensen's first game with the 'Caps ended in a frustrating 2-1 loss to Costa Rica's Deportivo Saprissa in Champions Cup play on Feb. 20, but the team rebounded with three straight wins across all competitions before the squad dropped its first match of the MLS season on March 22, a 3-1 decision to the Chicago Fire. The Whitecaps have not lost since. 'I think we've played amazing football. I think we are playing entertaining football. Actually, I would be a little bit arrogant if I said that we had imagined it to be as good as it is,' said 'Caps assistant coach Jan Michaelsen, who's known Sorensen since the 1990s when they played together at Akademisk Boldklub in Denmark. 'But we have to continue. We have the quality in the team. I think we have shown the quality. Now we just have to continue. That is the hardest job.' Under Sorensen, the 'Caps have been relentless, a team that attacks in waves and isn't afraid to pick the ball off an opponent's feet. It's a style of play that suits the players, said striker Brian White, who leads the team with 15 goals across all competitions. 'I think he's allowed everyone to kind of flourish and play their kind of game, and in respect to the way we want to play as a team,' he said. 'So I think he's found a way to get the best out of everybody, and I think we're just playing really well as a team.' The new coach isn't convinced that he's found new strengths in his athletes. What he's done, Sorensen said, is find ways to play to their existing strengths by utilizing them in the right moments. 'Sometimes it's also maybe a player that hasn't had the chance often is given a chance a couple of times,' he said. 'And then he can grow with the challenge. And then you can set even higher demands on the player like that. 'And I think it's very important, because players want demands, because then they know that you have expectations for them.' Knowing they can grow makes players hungrier, said Sebastian Berhalter, who's become a stalwart presence for Vancouver this season. 'I think we always had those strengths and it's about how he just pulled them out of us,' said the midfielder, who recently earned his first call-up to the U.S. national team. 'He's been really good at talking to each individual player and making sure that we know we're all going on the same page.' While some of the team's young talent has shone under the new bench boss, a vast array of players have seen their game develop this season, said 'Caps captain Ryan Gauld. 'I'd say he's got a passion for it and he's very good at individuals and coaching the younger players,' said the attacking midfielder, who's been sidelined since early March with a knee injury. 'And us, the older boys, the more experienced boys, we're learning a lot in training sessions as well. But especially the young boys, the amount they're learning off him and picking up, little things that they can do to improve their games, is huge for them. And I think that's why everyone's been enjoying it so much.' Sorensen, too, has been learning since stepping into the job. Before joining the Whitecaps, he'd spent his entire career playing and then coaching in Denmark. The new gig has brought an abundance of travel and a chance to explore North America — if only in short bursts. On every 'Caps road trip, he tries to take a walk and see part of the city. The packed MLS schedule is a challenge, he admitted, especially when he's trying to stay in touch with his wife, Pernille, and three young adult sons back home in Denmark, scheduling calls across a nine-hour time difference. Sorensen is learning to navigate those challenges for the sport he fell in love with 'instantly' as a kid. 'I played football every day after school, and I played in school, and I played all the time. And it was great,' he said, adding that he also dabbled in badminton and handball. 'When I was a kid, we were fortunate that there was not much television. In Denmark, you only had one channel and there was no internet. So all the time you were moving. And sport was the most fun thing for me to do.' That love hasn't waned. Sorensen remains passionate about soccer and exploring all of its complexities. It's a passion that bubbles out of him as he talks about why he turned to coaching after his playing career. 'I love studying the game,' he said. 'Finding new things, seeing new trends, learning about the game because it's so complex. It's the most complex game I think there is. 'I love it. I love the game.' This report by Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press, was first published May 29, 2025.
Kuwait Times
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Kuwait Times
Whitecaps look to make history in CONCACAF final
MIAMI: The Vancouver Whitecaps are aiming to become the first Canadian club to win an international trophy when they face Mexican giants Cruz Azul in the final of the CONCACAF Champions Cup on Sunday. But if the team, which is enjoying an outstanding season under Danish coach Jesper Sorensen, is to make history they will have to defy the odds yet again. The two teams will clash at Cruz Azul's home venue, the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City but it is not only home advantage that favors 'La Maquina'. Cruz Azul have a rich pedigree and can equal Mexican rivals Club America's record of seven CONCACAF titles with a victory on Sunday. They are part of an elite group of Mexican clubs who have dominated the tournament -- in both the Champions Cup and Champions League formats -- with 39 titles. Costa Rican clubs have six titles while MLS clubs from the USA have just three. The Whitecaps are just the third Canadian team to reach the final, following Toronto in 2018 and Montreal in 2015 and are now hoping to go one better. But they have earned their place after an impressive run in the competition which saw them beat Costa Rica's top club Saprissa, upset Mexico's Monterrey and Pumas and then outclassed Lionel Messi's Inter Miami to earn a 5-1 aggregate win. Victory would be the first major trophy for the Whitecaps since they entered Major League Soccer in 2011 although the original Whitecaps won the old North American Soccer League in 1979. The club has gradually built a formidable squad however which Sorensen has been able to capitalize on this season. 'Step by Step' 'We had to build this step by step,' Whitecaps CEO and Sporting Director, Axel Schuster, told website onesoccer. 'It takes time to build, because in MLS, you cannot change things quickly because of the roster rules that you have,' he added. 'Building in MLS takes a little bit longer, but we are feeling good about where we are right now, and I can tell you already, we are already thinking about the next step,' he added. Striker Brian White is enjoying an excellent campaign and was called into the USA national team by coach Mauricio Pochettino having scored 15 goals in 21 games this season. But while MLS presents its challenges, it is rare for a team to face the kind of raucous atmosphere that Vancouver can expect to be up against in Mexico City. Canadian international defender Sam Adekugbe is confident the team can cope, however. 'Mexico is a very difficult place to play, I've experienced that with the national team, but it'll be an intense game with a lot of quality, and obviously, the altitude is a big factor, as well, but all we can do is just focus on what got us there and take control of that,' he said. That task is made harder by the absence of influential midfielder Sebastian Berhalter who is suspended after picking up a yellow card against Miami, although the exciting Ecuadorian international Pedro Vite provides quality in midfield. Cruz Azul will be putting their faith in striker Angel Sepulveda who is the tournament's top scorer with seven goals and is ably supported by Poland's Mateusz Bogusz, who joined from Los Angeles FC in January. 'We're up against very experienced players with a lot of quality, they're the best team we've faced so far, there's a reason why they're in the final,' said Sorensen. — AFP
France 24
2 days ago
- Sport
- France 24
Whitecaps look to make history in CONCACAF final
But if the team, which is enjoying an outstanding season under Danish coach Jesper Sorensen, is to make history they will have to defy the odds yet again. The two teams will clash at Cruz Azul's home venue, the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City but it is not only home advantage that favours 'La Maquina'. Cruz Azul have a rich pedigree and can equal Mexican rivals Club America's record of seven CONCACAF titles with a victory on Sunday. They are part of an elite group of Mexican clubs who have dominated the tournament -- in both the Champions Cup and Champions League formats -- with 39 titles. Costa Rican clubs have six titles while MLS clubs from the USA have just three. The Whitecaps are just the third Canadian team to reach the final, following Toronto in 2018 and Montreal in 2015 and are now hoping to go one better. But they have earned their place after an impressive run in the competition which saw them beat Costa Rica's top club Saprissa, upset Mexico's Monterrey and Pumas and then outclassed Lionel Messi's Inter Miami to earn a 5-1 aggregate win. Victory would be the first major trophy for the Whitecaps since they entered Major League Soccer in 2011 although the original Whitecaps won the old North American Soccer League in 1979. The club has gradually built a formidable squad however which Sorensen has been able to capitalise on this season. Step by Step "We had to build this step by step," Whitecaps CEO and Sporting Director, Axel Schuster, told website onesoccer. "It takes time to build, because in MLS, you cannot change things quickly because of the roster rules that you have," he added. "Building in MLS takes a little bit longer, but we are feeling good about where we are right now, and I can tell you already, we are already thinking about the next step," he added. Striker Brian White is enjoying an excellent campaign and was called into the USA national team by coach Mauricio Pochettino having scored 15 goals in 21 games this season. But while MLS presents its challenges, it is rare for a team to face the kind of raucous atmosphere that Vancouver can expect to be up against in Mexico City. Canadian international defender Sam Adekugbe is confident the team can cope, however. "Mexico is a very difficult place to play, I've experienced that with the national team, but it'll be an intense game with a lot of quality, and obviously, the altitude is a big factor, as well, but all we can do is just focus on what got us there and take control of that," he said. That task is made harder by the absence of influential midfielder Sebastian Berhalter who is suspended after picking up a yellow card against Miami, although the exciting Ecuadorian international Pedro Vite provides quality in midfield. Cruz Azul will be putting their faith in striker Angel Sepulveda who is the tournament's top scorer with seven goals and is ably supported by Poland's Mateusz Bogusz, who joined from Los Angeles FC in January. "We're up against very experienced players with a lot of quality, they're the best team we've faced so far, there's a reason why they're in the final," said Sorensen.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Whitecaps look to make history in CONCACAF final
The Vancouver Whitecaps are aiming to become the first Canadian club to win an international trophy when they face Mexican giants Cruz Azul in the final of the CONCACAF Champions Cup on Sunday. But if the team, which is enjoying an outstanding season under Danish coach Jesper Sorensen, is to make history they will have to defy the odds yet again. The two teams will clash at Cruz Azul's home venue, the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City but it is not only home advantage that favours 'La Maquina'. Cruz Azul have a rich pedigree and can equal Mexican rivals Club America's record of seven CONCACAF titles with a victory on Sunday. They are part of an elite group of Mexican clubs who have dominated the tournament in both the Champions Cup and Champions League formats with 39 titles. Costa Rican clubs have six titles while MLS clubs from the USA have just three. The Whitecaps are just the third Canadian team to reach the final, following Toronto in 2018 and Montreal in 2015 and are now hoping to go one better. But they have earned their place after an impressive run in the competition which saw them beat Costa Rica's top club Saprissa, upset Mexico's Monterrey and Pumas and then outclassed Lionel Messi's Inter Miami to earn a 5-1 aggregate win. Victory would be the first major trophy for the Whitecaps since they entered Major League Soccer in 2011 although the original Whitecaps won the old North American Soccer League in 1979. The club has gradually built a formidable squad however which Sorensen has been able to capitalise on this season. "We had to build this step by step," Whitecaps CEO and Sporting Director, Axel Schuster, told website onesoccer. "It takes time to build, because in MLS, you cannot change things quickly because of the roster rules that you have," he added. "Building in MLS takes a little bit longer, but we are feeling good about where we are right now, and I can tell you already, we are already thinking about the next step," he added. Striker Brian White is enjoying an excellent campaign and was called into the USA national team by coach Mauricio Pochettino having scored 15 goals in 21 games this season. But while MLS presents its challenges, it is rare for a team to face the kind of raucous atmosphere that Vancouver can expect to be up against in Mexico City. Canadian international defender Sam Adekugbe is confident the team can cope, however. "Mexico is a very difficult place to play, I've experienced that with the national team, but it'll be an intense game with a lot of quality, and obviously, the altitude is a big factor, as well, but all we can do is just focus on what got us there and take control of that," he said. That task is made harder by the absence of influential midfielder Sebastian Berhalter who is suspended after picking up a yellow card against Miami, although the exciting Ecuadorian international Pedro Vite provides quality in midfield. Cruz Azul will be putting their faith in striker Angel Sepulveda who is the tournament's top scorer with seven goals and is ably supported by Poland's Mateusz Bogusz, who joined from Los Angeles FC in January. "We're up against very experienced players with a lot of quality, they're the best team we've faced so far, there's a reason why they're in the final," said Sorensen. sev/rcw
Globe and Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Head coach Jesper Sorensen guiding Vancouver Whitecaps to new highs
Jesper Sorensen believes in giving his players room to make mistakes. 'If you're afraid of making mistakes, you'll make nothing. That's the problem. Because you will end up making mistakes,' the Vancouver Whitecaps' head coach said in a recent interview. 'So making mistakes is a big part of a fluid game … where there's a lot of transition moments and a lot of moments where things are not going perfectly. And my job is to try to construct a safety net behind the mistakes.' Sorensen's first five months in charge haven't featured many missteps – just an astounding start to the season. A 0-0 draw against Minnesota United on Wednesday extended the club's unbeaten streak to 15 games (7-0-8) across all competitions. A third of the way through the Major League Soccer campaign, Vancouver sits atop the Western Conference standings with a 9-1-5 record. The 'Caps have also stunned giants in CONCACAF Champions Cup play this year, ousting five-time champions CF Monterrey from the round of 16 and besting Lionel Messi's Inter Miami twice in the semi-finals. The team will look to write the final chapter in their fairy-tale run when they face LIGA MX side Cruz Azul in the tournament final on Sunday. 'It's been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of work. And it's been a time that I couldn't have foreseen, becoming this successful,' Sorensen said. 'And it's been great. Everybody has been great.' The 51-year-old former midfielder from Aarhus, Denmark, was introduced as the MLS-era Whitecaps' sixth full-time head coach on Jan. 14, just hours before the team took off for training camp in Marbella, Spain. He replaced Vanni Sartini, the eccentric Italian whose three-and-a-half season tenure saw the 'Caps win three straight Canadian Championship titles, but fail to get past the first round of the MLS playoffs. Though he'd played more than 300 matches in Denmark's top league, Sorensen was a relative unknown for many North American soccer fans before taking the job in Vancouver. He joined the 'Caps after two years as head coach of Brondby IF in the Danish Superliga, and two and a half more as assistant. He also spent more than a year in charge of Denmark's under-21 national squad. Sorensen's track record of quickly guiding new teams to positive results and his passion for player development stood out to Whitecaps CEO and sporting director Axel Schuster, who also liked the coach's 'calmness and confidence in himself.' 'I would love to say that I had seen all of this coming and that I was exactly expecting this,' Schuster said. 'I have to say that he's overdelivering on the results. But in general, he is exactly what we hoped he would be.' Sorensen's first game with the 'Caps ended in a frustrating 2-1 loss to Costa Rica's Deportivo Saprissa in Champions Cup play on Feb. 20, but the team rebounded with three straight wins across all competitions before the squad dropped its first match of the MLS season on March 22, a 3-1 decision to the Chicago Fire. The Whitecaps have not lost since. 'I think we've played amazing football. I think we are playing entertaining football. Actually, I would be a little bit arrogant if I said that we had imagined it to be as good as it is,' said 'Caps assistant coach Jan Michaelsen, who's known Sorensen since the 1990s when they played together at Akademisk Boldklub in Denmark. 'But we have to continue. We have the quality in the team. I think we have shown the quality. Now we just have to continue. That is the hardest job.' Under Sorensen, the 'Caps have been relentless, a team that attacks in waves and isn't afraid to pick the ball off an opponent's feet. It's a style of play that suits the players, said striker Brian White, who leads the team with 15 goals across all competitions. 'I think he's allowed everyone to kind of flourish and play their kind of game, and in respect to the way we want to play as a team,' he said. 'So I think he's found a way to get the best out of everybody, and I think we're just playing really well as a team.' The new coach isn't convinced that he's found new strengths in his athletes. What he's done, Sorensen said, is find ways to play to their existing strengths by utilizing them in the right moments. 'Sometimes it's also maybe a player that hasn't had the chance often is given a chance a couple of times,' he said. 'And then he can grow with the challenge. And then you can set even higher demands on the player like that. 'And I think it's very important, because players want demands, because then they know that you have expectations for them.' Knowing they can grow makes players hungrier, said Sebastian Berhalter, who's become a stalwart presence for Vancouver this season. 'I think we always had those strengths and it's about how he just pulled them out of us,' said the midfielder, who recently earned his first call-up to the U.S. national team. 'He's been really good at talking to each individual player and making sure that we know we're all going on the same page.' While some of the team's young talent has shone under the new bench boss, a vast array of players have seen their game develop this season, said 'Caps captain Ryan Gauld. 'I'd say he's got a passion for it and he's very good at individuals and coaching the younger players,' said the attacking midfielder, who's been sidelined since early March with a knee injury. 'And us, the older boys, the more experienced boys, we're learning a lot in training sessions as well. But especially the young boys, the amount they're learning off him and picking up, little things that they can do to improve their games, is huge for them. And I think that's why everyone's been enjoying it so much.' Sorensen, too, has been learning since stepping into the job. Before joining the Whitecaps, he'd spent his entire career playing and then coaching in Denmark. The new gig has brought an abundance of travel and a chance to explore North America – if only in short bursts. On every 'Caps road trip, he tries to take a walk and see part of the city. The packed MLS schedule is a challenge, he admitted, especially when he's trying to stay in touch with his wife, Pernille, and three young adult sons back home in Denmark, scheduling calls across a nine-hour time difference. Sorensen is learning to navigate those challenges for the sport he fell in love with 'instantly' as a kid. 'I played football every day after school, and I played in school, and I played all the time. And it was great,' he said, adding that he also dabbled in badminton and handball. 'When I was a kid, we were fortunate that there was not much television. In Denmark, you only had one channel and there was no internet. So all the time you were moving. And sport was the most fun thing for me to do.' That love hasn't waned. Sorensen remains passionate about soccer and exploring all of its complexities. It's a passion that bubbles out of him as he talks about why he turned to coaching after his playing career. 'I love studying the game,' he said. 'Finding new things, seeing new trends, learning about the game because it's so complex. It's the most complex game I think there is. 'I love it. I love the game.'
