ANALYSIS + HIGHLIGHTS: Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Forge FC | 2025 TELUS Canadian Championship (Sept. 16, 2025)
The Vancouver Whitecaps' quest to win a fourth straight TELUS Canadian Championship is alive and well after a dominant 4-0 victory (6-2 on aggregate) against Forge FC at BC Place in the semi-final second leg on Tuesday.
Tristan Blackmon opened the scoring in the seventh minute, with J.C. Ngando adding a goal in the 28th, Sebastian Berhalter a penalty early in the second half, and Canadian international Jayden Nelson rounding out the scoring for a comprehensive victory.
They will now host the 2025 Canadian Championship final on October 1 at BC Place against the winner of Thursday night's semi-final between the Canadian Premier League's Atlético Ottawa and Vancouver FC.
For Forge, it was another painful loss at the semi-final stage of this competition. They have reached the final four in four of the past five competitions, but have still yet to advance to the final.
"It's tough, especially when you kind of know we're better than this," said Forge FC attacker Tristan Borges. "We've been putting on good performances all year...and really it's those fine margins, when you play a team with a lot of quality, you've gotta be 100 per cent into the game when it comes to set pieces, when it's balls in the box."
The two sides came into Tuesday's second leg deadlocked at 2-2 on aggregate after a thrilling draw at Hamilton Stadium back on August 13. With no away goals rule in this year's competition, it made the task pretty straightforward for both sides.
The host Whitecaps chose to roll out a slightly rotated side on Tuesday night, featuring five Canadians: goalkeeper Isaac Boehmer, defender Belal Halbouni, midfielder Jeevan Badwal and wingers Jayden Nelson and Ali Ahmed. Star man Thomas Müller began the match on the bench.
Forge, meanwhile, deployed a starting eleven which was full of players who have played many big matches in their colours. This included captain Kyle Bekker, Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson and Tristan Borges, who started the club, and league's first-ever match back on April 27, 2019.
Less than two minutes into Tuesday's contest, two of those players combined and came close to creating the opener. On the second phase of a corner kick, Borges beat his man and crossed the ball back into the box. Achiniotini-Jönsson got his foot to it, but couldn't beat Boehmer in the Whitecaps' net.
In the seventh minute, on a corner of their own, the Whitecaps struck first. Berhalter's delivery looped over a flailing Jassem Koleilat and was headed home by Blackmon at the back post to give the Caps a 1-0 lead in the match, and 3-2 on aggregate. It was the American central defender who had also scored the Whitecaps' first goal in the opening leg.
Koleilat had a measure of redemption just a few moments later, staying strong to deny Ngando from close range after the Whitecaps' midfielder connected with Édier Ocampo's cross. The Whitecaps quickly found joy in transition, particularly down the right flank, where they attacked with speed and purpose.
The Whitecaps continued to pour on the pressure, and after a few more close calls, including another good save from Koleilat on Jayden Nelson, extended their advantage in the 29th minute. Ahmed picked out Ngando in the middle just outside the box, who put a perfectly placed low shot off the far post and into the net to make it 2-0.
Ngando's goal only seemed to embolden the hosts further, who had scored seven in their most recent league match against MLS league leaders Philadelphia Union. They finished the first half with 10 shots, five of which were on target, as they demonstrated the quality that had them in a continental final earlier this year, and near the top of the MLS table.
Forge's chances in the first half all seemed to come through Nana Ampomah, their standout performer from the first leg. The Ghanaian attacker got the best of Tate Johnson on multiple occasions down the right flank, but couldn't make the final act count. Still, Forge consistently sought him out whenever they got possession.
The Hamilton club went into the half down 2-0, with a mountain to climb if they wanted to get back into the match and the tie.
If there was any notion that the Whitecaps might take their foot off the gas, that was quickly dispelled by the introduction of key midfielder Andrés Cubas to begin the second half. Forge, meanwhile, brought off Brian Wright in favour of Hoce Massunda.
Vancouver instantly went back on the attack, and within two minutes to start the half, Nelson had already sent a teasing ball across Koleilat's six-yard box and Daniel Rios forced a big block from Achinioti-Jönsson.
The Whitecaps earned a corner off of the latter action, and before it had even reached the box, Forge's Marko Jevremović conceded a penalty as he wrestled his man to the ground off the ball. Berhalter stepped up and comfortably converted to make it 3-0. For a Forge side that knew they were going to have to be near perfect on Tuesday night, it was far too many preventable mistakes that allowed an already heavily favoured Whitecaps side some all-too-easy opportunities to hurt them.
"You can't let those details dictate the game," said Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis. "One goal off a corner, another one off a penalty, makes it very difficult against a very good football-playing team and a confident team."
Knowing that they needed to throw caution to the wind in order to get back into the match, Forge started to push forward to abandon, as the match became wide open with plenty of opportunities in transition.
In the 60th minute, likely with an eye toward a key league fixture on Sunday against Atlético Ottawa, Forge chose to remove Bekker, Borges and Dan Nimick from the match.
The Whitecaps, meanwhile, elected to bring on 18-year-old striker Rayan Elloumi, fresh off scoring his first professional goal this past weekend. The St. Albert, Alberta native was quickly dangerous, coming close on an audacious volley attempt in the 71st minute.
If there was one moment that cast a cloud on what was an otherwise outstanding performance for the Whitecaps, it came in the 80th minute. Fighting for a ball, Blackmon went down awkwardly -- having to be helped off the pitch without putting weight on his leg.
In the 85th minute, though, the Whitecaps were back to celebrating. Elloumi found himself alone down the right flank, and played a perfect cross into the path of Nelson, who tapped home the Whitecaps' fourth.
Forge now need to quickly lick their wounds, because they have a huge fixture coming up on Sunday in the CPL against second-place Atlético Ottawa.
For the Whitecaps, they will now get a chance at history on October 1, when they look to become just the second team in TELUS Canadian Championship history to win the competition four consecutive times.
On Tuesday, the Whitecaps once again left no doubt that they are the kings of Canadian club football right now.
BOX SCORE
Lineups
Vancouver Whitecaps: Boehmer; Ocampo, Halbouni, Blackmon (Laborda 82'), Johnson; Badwal (Cubas 46'), Berhalter (Priso 76'), Ngando; Nelson, Ahmed (Cabrera 63'), Rios (Elloumi 63')
Forge FC: Koleilat; Rama, Nimick (Paton 60'), Achinioti-Jönsson, Jevremović; Hojabrpour, Bekker (Cissé 60'), Borges (Klonaridis 60'); Ampomah (Choinière 72'), Babouli, Wright (Massunda 46')
Goals
7' — Tristan Blackmon (Vancouver Whitecaps)
28' -- J.C. Ngando (Vancouver Whitecaps)
49' -- Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps) (Penalty)
85' -- Jayden Nelson (Vancouver Whitecaps)
Discipline
18' — Yellow: Jeevan Badwal (Vancouver Whitecaps)
26' -- Yellow: Rezart Rama (Forge FC)
35' -- Yellow: Alessandro Hojabrpour (Forge FC)
48' -- Yellow: Marko Jevremović (Forge FC)
80' -- Yellow: Kenji Cabrera (Vancouver Whitecaps)
