ANALYSIS + HIGHLIGHTS: Whitecaps book Concacaf Champions Cup QF berth after defeating Monterrey over two legs
The Vancouver Whitecaps have advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup, as they defeated five-time champions CF Monterrey on away goals (3-3 on aggregate) after a 2-2 draw in the second leg of their Round of 16 tie on Wednesday.
While it ended memorably for the Whitecaps, it didn’t take long for Monterrey to grab an opener in this one, as they found the net just four minutes into the game. After a dangerous ball towards the back post, Sergio Canales did well to control the ball and fire it into the bottom corner, putting his team further ahead on the aggregate score.
Despite that early blow, however, the Whitecaps didn’t let themselves get too down. Knowing that they had a goal to give away and needed to score to have any chance of advancing anyway, they kept consistent in their approach. That eventually paid off for them in the 56th minute, as Pedro Vite found Édier Ocampo after he made a bursting run into the box, and the Whitecaps full back showed impressive shooting ability on a powerful finish into the bottom left corner to make it 1-1 in this game and 2-2 on aggregate.
Then, having done well to push for a second goal, they finally found it in the 78th minute - after Andrés Cubas did well to win the ball high up the field, the ball fell to Brian White, and the Whitecaps striker, fresh off a call to the USMNT earlier this week, coolly slotted home to put his team up 2-1 in this game and 3-2 on aggregate.
Now needing two goals to advance, Monterrey pushed late for a goal, and found one in the 96th minute - after a cross into the box, Ranko Veselinovic was deemed to have handled the ball, giving Monterrey a penalty. There, Sergio Ramos stepped up, and the former World Cup and five-time Champions League winner wasn’t going to miss his spot kick, slotting home into the bottom right corner.
From there, however, the Whitecaps showed great composure to see this one out, allowing them to secure a massive result, one they fully deserved on the balance of both ties. Now, Pumas UNAM or LD Alajuelense awaits in the next round, as the Whitecaps look to reach the semi-finals of this tournament for the first time since 2017.
Here are three KEY takeaways from this one.
Whitecaps show more growth in historic result:
This has been brewing for these Whitecaps.
Over the past few seasons, they’ve become accustomed to reaching this stage, as they’ve often been among the best teams in the region, but have often fallen short in the biggest moments.
In this competition, they fell 6-0 to LAFC in the 2023 quarter-finals and lost 4-1 to Tigres in the 2024 first round, and have faced a similar feat in Leagues Cup, where they lost to Tigres in the 2023 Round of 32 on penalties, and 2-0 in the 2024 Leagues Cup Round of 32 to Pumas. Along with their heartbreak in the MLS Cup playoffs, where they’ve fallen in back-to-back years to LAFC in the first round, they’ve felt that they’ve missed several opportunities to cement themselves among the top teams in MLS and Concacaf over the past few years.
Now, however, having long searched for that statement win, they’ve finally found it and have done so in the most unlikely of ways.
Despite being just weeks into their first season under a new head coach, Jesper Sørensen, and being without three key players in Ryan Gauld, Jayden Nelson, and Sam Adekugbe, that didn’t bother them when facing an impossible task.
Having had a bad history of losses in Mexico and a poor record against Liga MX sides as a whole, they found a way to do what they needed to to advance, doing so in style.
Yet, this is a sign of the growth they’ve shown under their new coach. Despite having been on the job for less than six months, Sørensen has quickly established an identity, and it’s been one his team has done well to embrace.
There’s no better sign of that than seeing how they coped in this game without Gauld, whose absence usually would’ve been fatal to the attack. Instead, new names stepped up and shone without him.
That’s why they were able to get this result, which continues an excellent start to the season for this team, who is also off to a 3W-0D-0L start in MLS for the first time. Now, after this win, they’ve added some further legitimacy to that start, especially given that they’ve found those wins despite juggling with this CCC run, which is never easy for MLS teams to do this early in the season.
Things won’t get easier for these Whitecaps from here, in both competitions - although they will get some time to breathe before this competition resumes in April - but with this win now secured, they’ll believe they can be a contender to win it all, a far cry from what they’ve shown in the past few years, showing what a difference a few months can make for a team. 
Monterrey’s press causes early problems for Whitecaps:
Looking to take advantage of the conditions, which saw the temperature pushing above 30 degrees Celsius, Monterrey tried to make the game uncomfortable for the Whitecaps early on.
As a result, they began the match by pressing high up the pitch, with the goal being to disrupt the Whitecaps' build-up play. Having seen the Whitecaps dominate possession in leg one, holding 66% of the ball, Monterrey tried to change that in leg one.
Instead of sitting deeper in a 4-4-2 block, they pressed with their front four, doing so to great effect - the Whitecaps ended up turning over the ball shortly before Monterrey’s early goal while making a few other mistakes in possession, which allowed Monterrey to control the game early.
With the Whitecaps seeming to lack answers for that pressure, it seemed like a matter of time before Monterrey would find a crucial second goal, one that could buy them a bit of a buffer in the aggregate score.
Unfortunately for Monterrey, their early pressure came at a cost. Despite being a lot more used to these hotter conditions, it’s never easy to sustain that sort of pressure over a long period, and that started to show as the first half wore on.
Then, as the second half arrived, Monterrey seemed to be dead on their feet, which gave a big advantage to the Whitecaps, who started to look a lot more comfortable in their build-up play and started to dominate as a result.
Yet, while it’s easy to look at Monterrey and suggest their naivety was a reason for those second-half struggles, it’s worth noting that the Whitecaps handled this situation expertly.
In fact, they were on the other side of that equation just a few weeks ago, as they played Deportivo Saprissa away in leg one of their first-round Champions Cup tie. There, they lost 2-1 after completely running out of gas in the first half, having tried to push too eagerly for a first-half rout in conditions they weren’t used to.
This time, having learned from that, they looked to ease into the conditions, and that paid off for them, as they only seemed to grow as the game went along, giving them a better chance at finding a win.
Whitecaps' offence continues to tick no matter the personnel:
Whenever you lose a player like Ryan Gauld, it’s hard not to feel a dip, given that the Whitecaps captain is usually involved in nearly everything this team does offensively. Coming off a 17-goal and 16-assist season, already with two goals and one assist early on, it was going to be interesting to see how this team would cope without him after he picked up a small knee injury this past weekend, one that has ruled him out for the next few weeks.
Given that the Whitecaps have often struggled without him - a large part of their end-of-season slump in 2024 coincided with Gauld missing a few games through injury and international duty - it made it hard to imagine them getting a result in this game without him.
Needing a goal to even have a chance at reaching penalties, much less advancing, it put lots of pressure on a Whitecaps team that hadn’t scored on the road in their past two visits to Mexico in this competition, coming against Tigres in 2017 and 2024.
As they’ve done all season, however, the Whitecaps found a way despite that pressure, doing so thanks to some unheralded names.
First, on the opening goal, it was Ocampo, who opened his Whitecaps account with his finish, doing so after a fine bit of play from Ali Ahmed and Pedro Vite, who have both been excellent to start this season.
Then, on the second goal, it was a familiar name in Brian White, who has sometimes struggled to score without Gauld’s service in past seasons, something that hasn’t been the case in 2025, slotting home his 4th goal in all competitions after a great defensive play from Andrés Cubas, who will be happy to have been a bit more involved offensively than usual.
Now, this means that the Whitecaps already have nine different goal-scorers in all competitions in 2025, which is remarkable for a team that has struggled to find goals from players not named Gauld or White in past seasons.
Yet, that’s a credit to Sørensen’s system, which has continued to pay dividends for this team. Having asked them to control the ball a lot more, they’ve done an excellent job of doing so, finding ways to put teams on the back foot more.
From there, they’re sending more numbers forward, and that’s opening up opportunities for new players to shine, such as a full back like Ocampo. Given that full backs Ocampo, Adekugbe, Tate Johnson, and Mathías Laborda all have goals to their name already this season, one can start to say that’s a design flaw instead of a random coincidence, for example.
Of course, the Whitecaps will have to find a way to keep this up going forward, which won’t be easy as teams start to get used to their new style of play, but there’s no reason why they can’t keep finding goals if they continue to employ this fluid and dynamic attacking play in the matches to come.
Player of the Match:
Édier Ocampo, Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Ocampo overcame a slow start to this game to put in a top shift, even beyond his goal. In particular, his defensive play stood out - he had five tackles, one block, two clearances, two interceptions, three recoveries and also won 10 of his 15 duels in a strong showing at right back.
What’s Next:
The Whitecaps will find out who they play in the quarter-finals on Thursday, when Pumas UNAM and LD Alajuelense meet in leg two of their Round of 16 tie, which Pumas currently leads 2-0 on aggregate.
Before then, a tough away match awaits them in MLS play, as they’ll travel to Texas to take on FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium on Saturday, March 15th (5:30 p.m. PT). Meanwhile, Monterrey will look to shake off this result with a game away to Pumas in Liga MX action on Sunday, March 16th (5:00 p.m. PT) at Estadio Olímpico Universitário.
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.
