3 KEY Takeaways: Clinical Whitecaps rise to the occasion in 2-0 victory vs. Inter Miami in leg 1 of CCC SFs
In front of a boisterous crowd at BC Place, the Vancouver Whitecaps picked up a potentially massive result, as they defeated Inter Miami CF 2-0 in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup on Thursday.
After drawing in the first leg of both the Round of 16 and quarter-finals, which were also both at home, this was a much-needed result for the Whitecaps, who played well in both of those games, but weren’t able to turn either of them into victories. Granted, that didn't matter much in the end, as they got the job done in the second leg each time, and they'll hope to do the same this time around.
In this match, they may not have played the way they're used to, as they had to spend a large chunk of the game defending, but their execution in both boxes ended up being the difference.
Speaking of execution, the Whitecaps opened the scoring early in this game, as Brian White, who has been in red-hot form in both MLS and Champions Cup play, found his 10th goal of the season in all competitions. After a great cross by Pedro Vite, White did a great job of sneaking behind Miami’s defence, heading home from close range to give his team the lead.
From there, the game naturally settled into a bit of a different rhythm, as Miami pushed for an away goal, while the Whitecaps tried to pick their moments to find a second goal, one that would seal a massive result.
In the end, however, it’d be the Whitecaps who’d find what they were after - following a great run into the box from Jayden Nelson, he’d roll a dangerous ball across the box, one that Sebastian Berhalter managed to get on the end of and slam a shot into the top corner of the net to put his team up 2-0.
They were made to work to keep that result intact in the dying moments, as Miami had a couple of dangerous set-piece deliveries in the last few minutes, but the Whitecaps held onto the result from there.
Now, a tough task awaits in leg two, as Miami will be expected to throw everything at the Whitecaps in the chase of a memorable comeback, but they’ll certainly have to fancy their chances after this leg one victory.
One of the greatest nights in Vancouver Whitecaps history ✨#VWFC | #ConcaChampions pic.twitter.com/3eWDWhGbNR
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) April 25, 2025
Given that they’ve continued to hardly set a foot wrong in this competition and in MLS play, they’ll feel prepared for that challenge - certainly, their performance in this game gives an idea of how ready they are for moments of this magnitude.
Here are three KEY takeaways from this one.
Whitecaps carve out crucial advantage in front of big crowd:
It’s become a common theme for the Whitecaps over the past few years - whenever they reached big matches, they’d often rise to the occasion, but couldn’t execute in key moments.
Because of that, other than three Canadian Championships victories from 2022 to 2024, the Whitecaps didn’t have a marquee result to show for the work they’ve put in over the past few years, as they often fell short earlier than hoped in this competition, the MLS Cup playoffs and in the Leagues Cup.
Now, however, in just a few months, they’ve amassed a boatload of memorable results in 2025, and this one might be the best one yet, for a multitude of reasons.
To begin, there was the crowd, which was a huge talking point heading into the match. Officially tallied at 53 837, an MLS-era record for the Whitecaps, there were worries that the crowd would be mostly there to see the litany of stars on Miami, instead of the home team, even despite getting spurned by most of those stars when Miami was slated to visit in MLS play in 2024.
Those worries were quickly quelled, however, as a large chunk of the stadium cheered every Whitecaps chance, while many booed Lionel Messi whenever he got on the ball. Plus, to the Whitecaps' credit, they gave them plenty to cheer about with their goals and victory - something they haven’t always done in games where the stadium is filled more than usual.
The crowd in Vancouver are BOOING MESSI 💀
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) April 25, 2025
(Well done, Southsiders 👏)#VWFC pic.twitter.com/tqSX4kTuKa
Otherwise, another big reason why this victory is so important is the nature of the occasion. At the end of the day, for all of the hoopla surrounding the external factors heading into this game, this was a continental semi-final, a stage the Whitecaps only reached one time before, losing 4-1 on aggregate when they did, showing why this victory is so special for them.
Lastly, the big thing that stood out was that the Whitecaps did this without playing their best, which might not seem like a big factor, but given that they’ve often fallen short in big games where they’ve played well, it’s a sign of their growth that they were able to get a key result while not looking like themselves.
Most good teams find a way to win when they play well - the elite sides find a way to win when they’re not.
It’s not often that you’re going to play perfectly in every game, especially not in a tournament like this, so credit to the Whitecaps for finding a way to get the job done.
Now, of course, they’ll know that this tie is far from over. While a two-goal deficit seems tough to overcome, as it’ll require a lot of Miami magic to get it done, they have that magic in their team, especially in the boots of Lionel Messi.
Yet, given what the Whitecaps have shown this tournament, where they’ve had to claw out of multiple deficits even to get to this stage, they won’t be unfazed by the occasion that awaits - certainly, they weren’t in leg one.
“It’s nice to have those kind of moments," White said after the game, when speaking of the occasion. "Obviously these kind of numbers don’t always come around. Hopefully they enjoyed what they saw on the field, enjoyed the performance and continue to come to games.” 
Pre-game adjustments from Miami force Whitecaps to adapt:
Given both teams' styles and how similar they are to each other, it was always going to be fascinating to see how both teams would come out of the gates to start this one, especially in terms of the possession battle.
As a result, both teams made slight tweaks to their usual set-ups, perhaps knowing that.
On their end, the Whitecaps went with Daniel Ríos as a winger in their 4-3-3, a sign that they wanted to overwhelm the box on crosses, knowing that Miami lacked size at the back and has a goalkeeper in Oscar Ustari who isn’t the most commanding aerially.
Meanwhile, Miami beefed up their midfield, deploying Federico Redondo and Telasco Segovia in front of Sergio Busquets, with their job being to play aggressively defensively, knowing that they needed to be solid centrally, given that they weren’t able to press very well. Surprisingly, they didn’t put a lot of pace on the field - in particular, it was curious that Fafà Picault was left out against his old team, given his proficiency in that area.
Both tweaks manifested themselves early, in very different ways. For the Whitecaps, their beefed-up frontline helped create their opening goal, as Brian White was able to find a soft spot behind Miami’s defenders, who were preoccupied with all of the movement from the Whitecaps' frontline, allowing White to nod home from close range.
GOAL 🏔️
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) April 25, 2025
BRIAN WHITE OPENS THE SCORING FOR THE VANCOUVER WHITECAPS 💥
🔴 Watch #VWFC vs. Inter Miami in #ConcaChampions SF LEG 1 on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/8weXjpOeKm
As for Miami, they ended up dominating the ball, as one would expect given all of the quality on the field, but that lack of pace meant that they weren’t able to threaten the Whitecaps backline as much as they would’ve liked.
Their midfield tweaks did pay off, however, as they were able to neutralize some very dangerous Whitecaps attacks before they really got going, as anytime the Whitecaps would get past the passive Miami front two, they would be welcomed by a swarm of black and pink shirts. 
Here are all of the defensive actions commited by Miami's four midfielders from their 4-4-2 in this game (OPTA)
Because of that, the Whitecaps only held 31% of possession and completed just 79% of their passes, two numbers that Jesper Sørensen was not pleased about after.
That led to some interesting Whitecaps tweaks in the second half - first, they tried to play more directly by going with Emmanuel Sabbi and Ali Ahmed as wingers, and then they tried to control the ball more by pushing Pedro Vite up to play as a wide player himself.
Eventually, after both of those tweaks failed to deliver the desired effect, the Whitecaps seemed to concede the fact that this was just going to be a game where they had to settle for being good on the counter-attack, as Jayden Nelson joined Sabbi to give the team two wingers, so that’s something to watch out for next week.
A big reason for the Whitecaps success this year is that they’ve done a great job of forcing other teams to adapt to their style - this was only the third time they’ve held less than 50% of possession in a game, and the first time they’ve held less than 40% this year.
It’s not something that they’ll want to get used to, but after there has been so much talk of how both teams wanted to hold onto the ball, it was a surprise to the Whitecaps to lose that battle the way that they did.
“We had some good moments, we had some good chances, created some good chances. But overall, the play we had… lacked something, to be honest," Sørensen bluntly said afterwards. "But the result was amazing, the collective effort, and everybody hanging in there for each other."
"We had to defend more than we had anticipated beforehand. I think that everybody leaned on each other, and helped each other out in a very difficult game.”
The xG plot from this game, with the Whitecaps in black and Miami in gold, showing how well the Whitecaps defended (OPTA)
Miami’s defence holds strong, but Whitecaps make the most of moments:
For a Miami team that spends so much of the game on the ball, it can be easy to ignore their defenders, who often face a thankless task - facing a swarm of opponent counter-attacks.
That’s something that Miami have struggled with at times this year, as they can bleed chances in games (they conceded 2.94 xG on 16 shots in their last match vs. the Columbus Crew), but they did a good job of not giving up chances at the same rate in this game.
Given that they held the Whitecaps to 1.19 xG on nine shots, with just two of those shots clocking in at more than 0.15 xG (unfortunately, those were both of the goals), they can certainly feel they did a good job of keeping the Whitecaps quiet.
Seeing that they also dominated the tackles (16-9) and the duels (48-37), despite holding 69% of the possession, shows that they did a good job in those areas, even if head coach Javier Mascherano disagreed with that notion.
For the Whitecaps, that’ll leave them with plenty to think about in leg two - on one hand, they’ll feel pleased to have gotten two goals after scoring just one goal in each of their three previous leg one ties, but on the other, they’ll know that they can be far better offensively than they were on the day.
As good as Miami were defensively, especially in midfield and at full back, there were a few moments where spaces opened up for the Whitecaps to attack, and they just couldn’t execute the way they usually do.
Interestingly, however, both goals showed areas where the Whitecaps can be successful in leg two, provided they execute better.
On the first goal, they did a good job of capitalizing on a big weakness of Miami, which is crosses, something they will absolutely look to be better at in leg two. Given that they attempted just nine crosses, only connecting on two of them, that’ll be something they look at in leg two.
Then, on the second goal, they showed that Jayden Nelson could be a player to watch in the second leg. Having made his return from an injury, he was a bright spot off the bench, helping stretch the field in a way that the Whitecaps weren’t able to do consistently enough earlier in the game.
GOAL 🏔️🏔️
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) April 25, 2025
SEBASTIAN BERHALTER MAKES IT 2-0 FOR THE WHITECAPS OVER INTER MIAMI 🥶
🔴 Watch #VWFC vs. Inter Miami in #ConcaChampions SF LEG 1 on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/0Wek9JN16t
For a Miami team that constantly wants to play on the front foot, the last thing they want to do is have their defenders get into matches where they have to expend energy running towards their own goal, as that can take away from what they want to do on the ball.
If the Whitecaps can be more dangerous on those crosses and in transitions, while returning to their usual standard in possession, they’ll have to fancy their chances in leg two. 
Player of the Match:
Sebastian Berhalter, Vancouver Whitecaps
Berhalter built off an excellent performance from leg two of the CCC QFs, as he was great on both sides of the ball in this game. As a result, he finished with a goal, one chance created, three shots, nine passes into the final third and two long balls offensively, and had one tackle, one interception, five recoveries defensively. 
All of Berhalter's actions from this game (OPTA)
What’s Next:
Leg two of this tie goes at Miami’s Chase Stadium on Wednesday, April 30th (5:00 p.m. PT/8:00 p.m. ET). Meanwhile, both teams will have MLS matches to deal with in the interim - the Whitecaps are away to Minnesota United on Sunday, April 27th (12:00 p.m. PT/3:00 p.m. ET), while Miami will host FC Dallas later that day (2:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. ET).
Watch the Concacaf Champions Cup live on OneSoccer. For a full list of what games will be available in round one, click here. In addition to its website and app, OneSoccer is now available on TELUS channel 980 and on Fubo TV. Call your local cable provider to ask for OneSoccer today.
