When Vancouver FC qualified for the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup, captain Callum Irving knew they would face a tough opponent.
However, when they drew perhaps the toughest possible foe, defending champions Cruz Azul, he laughed.
"Honestly, it was one of those reactions where it's like, 'Cruz Azul and Vancouver FC,' and I just laughed," the VFC goalkeeper told CPLsoccer.com recently.
"You know who the best teams in the draw are, and then when you hear that name it's almost a little bit funny. But also, what better opportunity is there if you're going to be getting into a competition like this? You're not ever going to have an easy run, so you might as well have a little bit of trial by fire and go against the best."
Cruz Azul are a familiar side to many in the Vancouver soccer community, after the Mexican side routed the Vancouver Whitecaps 5-0 in last year's Champions Cup final.
Now, the Lower Mainland's Canadian Premier League team will begin the 2026 campaign with their own crack at La Máquina at home, before heading to Mexico for the second leg next week.
VFC kicked off training camp earlier than ever at the beginning of January to prepare for Wednesday night's opening clash at Willoughby Stadium. It's been a whirlwind month for the club, particularly as head coach Martin Nash tries to instill a new identity within the team — this being his first pre-season, after taking over the reins midway through 2025.
The Eagles' intensive pre-season camp has included a brief trip to Arizona, where they were able to train in the sunshine and play some challenging friendlies, including against USL Championship side Phoenix Rising FC
"It feels a bit surreal that actually on Wednesday it'll begin," said Irving. "I haven't started a pre-season this early in a long time."
That said, he and his teammates are happy to have started so early; the CPL off-season, which is upwards of five months between matches for teams that miss the playoffs. Instead, Vancouver will host the most challenging game in club history just over three months after their 2025 season ended.
Going up against a Mexican giant is a tall order at any time of year for a CPL side, but especially so in this situation where the Eagles are not in mid-season form.
Vancouver are a young side — indeed, that's always been part of their identity as a club — but it doesn't mean they don't have experience to lean on in this situation.
Most of the roster's core were part of the team that went on a magical TELUS Canadian Championship run last year, which earned them this Concacaf fixture. They proved to be a tough out in knockout competitions, playing resiliently and battling through two penalty shootouts. In the final, against a red-hot Whitecaps team, VFC did ultimately fall, but not without dignity. Star attackers Thierno Bah and Nicolas Mezquida, in particular, impressed against a star-studded rival featuring the likes of Thomas Müller, Ali Ahmed and Ryan Gauld.
Plus, this won't be the first step on an international stage for many of Vancouver FC's players.
Mezquida, as Irving pointed out, had been playing professionally in Uruguay as a 16-year-old — no easy feat. He played in the Concacaf Champions Cup in his time with the Whitecaps and Colorado Rapids, going all the way to the semifinals of the 2016-17 tournament.
Meanwhile, Irving himself has played in A Concacaf competition before; he and Pacific FC competed in the now-defunct Concacaf League in 2022, eliminating Jamaican side Waterhouse before losing a scrappy round of 16 tie on penalties to Herediano of Costa Rica.
"The main takeaway for me was just how enjoyable an experience it was, and how disappointing it was to be eliminated from it," Irving recalled. "You feel the level you're playing at and the importance of it. When you're playing in the CPL, we're quite familiar with the teams, and there's a different challenge in that. But when you're playing against a team that you're not seeing every few weeks, it can definitely bring a little bit of freshness.
He added: "The experience of going down to Jamaica, then going down to Costa Rica to play, you're getting police escorts on the buses to and from the stadium, the fans are a different type of fan than we experience in Canada. You go anywhere in the world and there's going to be different fan cultures, so I think it's definitely interesting to experience that. ... Even in dealing with referees, it's a different game. There's different languages being spoken, different things that they're used to. It's just coming to terms with all that and then being able to focus on your game amongst all this new stuff that's kind of standing in your way."
This matchup with Cruz Azul will, however, be unlike anything most of the VFC players have ever encountered.
According to Irving, the priorities on Vancouver's side will involve limiting mistakes or giving easy opportunities to a Mexican opponent who don't need a lot of chances to put the game out of reach.
Above all, though, it's crucial that they operate as a team unit; they can't afford to have anyone a little too eager for the spotlight.
"We know that they're going to have quality on the ball. We know that they're in their season right now, so fitness-wise they're going to be sharp," Irving said. "They're going to be able to push for that full 90, so we have to be very disciplined in what we do, and anything that we do, we have to do together. We can't have 11 guys going out there trying to put on a show, trying to prove a point about themselves. We need to be focused on what we can do as a team to combat what Cruz Azul does."
The 2025 campaign, CanChamp run aside, was a difficult one for the VFC squad, who finished at the bottom of the CPL table.
So, Irving is eager to begin 2026 on a more positive note.
The club has recently reported that a bumper crowd is expected at Willoughby Stadium in Langley on Wednesday, with more than 90 per cent of tickets sold as of Tuesday.
Now, the job will be Vancouver's to make it a night to remember.
"What an opportunity for us to connect with our fans, bringing a team like Cruz Azul to Langley," Irving said.
"Part of the reason we wanted this league to even exist in the first place is to bring continental football to our local communities. What a great opportunity it is for people to see a team like that, who might not get a chance to regularly. For us, it's a chance to prove to our fans that we are taking steps forward, we are progressing as a club, we are trying to do things the right way. We're trying to get better, and repay the faith they've shown us through the first three years, which have been difficult for us as a club and a fanbase.
"We ended last year on a high with the CanChamp run. Coming into this year, we want to start off on the right foot and build that good faith with the fanbase, and show them what a great night at Willoughby can be."
Vancouver FC and Cruz Azul will play the first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup round one tie on Wednesday, Feb. 4 (7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET). Tickets are available here, and the match will be broadcast in Canada on OneSoccer.
