How psychological growth powered Ali Ahmed's breakout season for Whitecaps, CanMNT: "The elite players win in their head"
When the Vancouver Whitecaps played their last game of the 2024 season, Ali Ahmed played a secondary role in that game, a 1-0 defeat to LAFC, as his team bowed out in the first round of last year’s MLS Cup Playoffs.
On the day, Ahmed, who started the game on the bench, came off and put in a solid 23-minute shift as a substitute, but he was unable to help his team beat LAFC in game #3 of that series, as they suffered a second straight round one elimination at the hands of the LA side.
Now, a year later, things couldn’t be any different for Ahmed and the Whitecaps.
This time, Ahmed promises to play a much bigger role in the Whitecaps' final game of the 2025 season, as he’ll be expected to start as the Whitecaps get set to play in their first-ever MLS Cup Final, which they’ll do against Inter Miami on Saturday.
After playing a massive role in helping the Whitecaps reach this stage, as Ahmed was arguably his team’s best player in their 3-1 win over San Diego FC in the Western Conference final this past weekend, this is a huge opportunity for the 25-year-old winger and his team.
Outstanding half from Ali Ahmed as he’s brought his #CanMNT form to the Caps.
— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) November 30, 2025
2 big chances creates
1 assists
2 successful dribbles
31 touches
He put Ian Pilcher in a blender on that third goal.
pic.twitter.com/FuUES1svfM
It’s been a dream year for him and the rest of this Whitecaps side, and they’ll now look to cap it with a major trophy.
These are the games that everyone dreams of playing in - because of that, it’s unsurprising to see that Ahmed has wasted no time in visualizing what he can bring to the table in this final.
“I have pictures in my head,” Ahmed told OneSoccer this week. “What a game. What a game this will be. It's a dream. It's an absolute dream to play in these types of games. I'm leaning towards not overthinking and focusing on the excitement and not the nervousness.”
“I’m just excited to play in a game like this. It’s two of the best teams in the league, and it's going to be a fun game. We’re going to be at our best, so I’m picturing some good vibes.”
Yet, when looking at the growth that Ahmed has taken this year, you can’t help but look at the work he’s done mentally more than anything.
For a few years now, Ahmed has been on the cusp of breaking out, but he has been unable to sustain his top levels for long periods. Moments of magic would occur periodically - many fans will remember the stunning goal he scored early in 2024 against the San Jose Earthquakes - but a lot of his performances would be equally as frustrating as they’d be rewarding, as he'd be guilty of overthinking things on the pitch.
There was no doubt that he could be an effective player in the right role, as he’s a creative dribbler, a relentless defender and a smart player, but he was unable to find a regular position in the Whitecaps starting XI, often finding himself shuttled between midfield, full back and winger.
Now, though, there’s no more doubting his best position - on the wing, where he’s been a revelation for the Whitecaps and the Canadian Men’s National Team, who he could start games for at next summer’s World Cup. Thanks to a refined approach in the final third, Ahmed has become a lot more instinctive and decisive around the box, which has powered him to a campaign where he’s generated three goals and 12 assists, including two assists in these playoffs.
Daniel Ríos with a BULLET header to put @WhitecapsFC in front!
— Major League Soccer 🏆 (@MLS) October 27, 2025
📺: https://t.co/6ILbwaQUds // Audi MLS Cup Playoffs pic.twitter.com/2qFODODwJ4
Given that he’d entered 2025 with just four goals and one assist from his previous 63 Whitecaps first team appearances, it’s been a remarkable year of development from Ahmed, one that he credits to the strides he’s taken on the mental side of his game - which is evident when seeing the way he bounced back from a recent red card with the CanMNT, for example.
RED CARD 🟥
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) November 14, 2025
Ali Ahmed is sent off in the opening minutes of the game after a high foot, and the CanMNT 🇨🇦 are down to 10 men
🔴 Watch the #CanMNT LIVE on OneSoccer, TSN & FuboTV pic.twitter.com/khaME1r2BG
“I think this year I took a big step,” he explained. “Shout out to the team and the coaching staff for believing in me. One big thing for me this year is having a defined role, and knowing where I'm gonna play week in and week out and knowing what I have to do. I knew I’d be a winger and would have to provide for the team, and to try and influence the game as much as possible, and that’s helped me a lot.”
“In previous years, I was playing multiple positions and running all over the place. This year, I’ve been using all the experiences I’ve had in the game from the past few years playing - and there’s nothing (better) than playing, so I'm not complaining that I was playing everywhere, because there's nothing better than (doing that) to learn and grow. When I look at my career, it’s been steady progress every year, but I think this year I took a big step in the assist category, and I believe that next year I’ve got to look at another step to grow in the goalscoring aspect.”
“But I still feel like I'm influencing the game. I’m trying to win mentally. The elite players win in their head, so I’m just trying to win the psychological game, and that’s helped me.”
In a sense, though, Ahmed’s growth helps explain the success of this Whitecaps team. While there was no doubt that this side could improve on back-to-back solid campaigns in 2023 and 2024, no one expected them to blossom from a middle-of-the-pack team and perennial playoff disappointment into a true juggernaut the way they did - especially considering the lack of transfers the team made this year. ![[fb Charts] Ali Ahmed (1)](https://storage.googleapis.com/canpl/assets/5103601b-cd6a-401a-b150-1d7eb328a77c.png)
Here's a look at Ahmed's statistics from this season, which shows how he's blossomed into one of the elite chance creators in MLS (and why he wants to score more goals going forward, too) (via FBRef)
Instead, the big keys to this team’s growth was to rely on the internal growth of players such as Ahmed, Sebastian Berhalter and others, who have all levelled up in a big way this year.
Of course, a big reason for that growth? Head coach Jesper Sørensen, who was tasked with taking this group to new heights after they parted ways with the popular Vanni Sartini last year.
Safe to say, Sørensen has aced this assignment so far, and while the work he’s done tactically to make this side a lot more organized, disciplined and entertaining has paid off massively, don’t discount the work he’s done to change this side’s mentality, either.
Certainly, you can see his influence when you hear him speak about the mental side of the game - just as he did in San Diego shortly after reaching the MLS Cup final, as he reflected on his team’s resilience to bounce back from losing 5-0 in the Concacaf Champions Cup final to now reaching this stage, which in it’s own is a massive feat that has been forgotten in all of the noise of this MLS Cup final.
“When you qualify for a big moment, you have the opportunity to succeed, but you also have the possibility that you can fail,” Sørensen mused. “But that just makes it even better when you prevail the next time. We have to learn something from the last time, and then bring something different to this one.”
For example, one big area of improvement this team has made psychologically in 2025? They’ve started to really thrive in the sort of big games they used to shrink in, relishing the opportunity to play in these sorts of matches, such as an MLS Cup final.
Come for the Ahmed speed and skill. ⚡
— Major League Soccer 🏆 (@MLS) September 14, 2025
Stay for the Sabbi flip. 🤸♂️
Vancouver out to a 2-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/4TwOdapC7w
Before this year, it was almost a running gag among Whitecaps supporters that the team would be flat whenever they played an important game in front of a big crowd - these Whitecaps have since turned around that narrative in a big way with how they’ve stepped up in some of their most important matches this year.
“I think that you can see the experience and the cohesion of this group,” Ahmed offered. “The buy-in, the confidence, the belief and the swagger from everybody, it was different this year. I remember the times when we had a big BC Place crowd, where we were never our best, and we’d have bad games.”
“I was there for that, and now, no matter if we’re playing in front of 54,000 or 23,000, we're going to be at our best. We actually enjoy the big games now. We went through a period where we weren't used to playing these big games, and I think we used to get nervous, but now, we embrace it.”
ABSOLUTE CINEMA FROM THE RAUMDEUTER 🎥😮💨#VWFC 2-0 #SJE pic.twitter.com/t0toCJpXEc
— X - Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) October 5, 2025
Because of that, look for them to tap into some of that big game experience as they get set to take on Inter Miami and their star-studded lineup led by the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and many others.
If there’s a player you’d like to avoid coming up against in a final, especially in the last half-decade, it’s Messi, so the Whitecaps know they face an uphill battle if they’re to stop an Inter Miami side also playing in their first MLS Cup final, at home.
At the same time, among the teams in MLS, the Whitecaps can feel pretty confident of their ability to win a game like this. It was just this year that they took on Miami in the Concacaf Champions Cup semi-finals, and picked up a massive upset in the form of a 5-1 aggregate win, one that cemented this team as a top side capable of contending for trophies.
While both teams have changed a lot since that game, that win has given the Whitecaps a big psychological edge, as they won’t be scared of the bells and whistles that comes with such a final, which has so far been dominated by talk of Messi facing the Whitecaps' new star, Thomas Müller, for the first time since both moved to North America.
Of course, having a player like Müller, who is a star of a calibre that these Whitecaps haven’t had in their MLS history, will help them massively heading into this game, but even without him, this team can say that they’ll be able to tune out the noise of what this final will entail.
Certainly, Ahmed will feel comfortable doing so, as this will now be his fourth time sharing the field with Messi, having also played in the 2024 Copa América semi-final against Messi’s Argentina with Canada last summer.
“With the storylines and the narratives, when you think about it, this might be the biggest MLS Cup final ever, “Ahmed said. “I think people are happy that they got it this way. Messi vs. Müller in Miami, this is the best case for MLS, but at the same time, we’ve played Messi already, and I’ve played him a lot.”
“I won’t lie, that’s relevant because (since) we’ve played them already, we’re more focused on ourselves. We feel that as long as we complete our game plan, we're at our best and we're ourselves, I think we can beat any team in the league. Thomas (Müller) mentioned it, we’re excited for this, we wanted Miami in Miami, so it’ll be fun.”
Now, Ahmed will look to use those experiences to his benefit in this final.
While a game like this will be special for all of the players involved, on both sides, from a Whitecaps perspective, it can’t be ignored how special it is that they’ve got players like Ahmed who have been with this team for a while now, and have helped push this team from MLS afterthought to juggernaut - this turnaround has been brewing for a while now, after all.
Among the group expected to feature in this final, there are a few who have also helped them on this arduous journey, such as Ahmed, Brian White, Sebastian Berhalter, Andrés Cubas, Tristan Blackmon and Ryan Gauld, and they will all understand how special it is for the Whitecaps to have reached this stage.
Now, with Sørensen leading from the bench and Müller in tow, this group will be expected to play in games like this regularly, but that doesn’t mean that the Whitecaps shouldn’t enjoy this first MLS Cup final, as they look to cap a special year with a victory.
“We've been talking about this for the last three years,” Ahmed said. “This core group of guys have been together for the last three years, and when you think about all the work we put in with Vanni Sartini, and everything that we've been through, it’s really special to get to the MLS Cup final with this group of guys, staff and team.”
“I think we deserve it, with the work we've been putting in. It's extra rewarding when you’ve fallen a few years in a row, but then now, with the same group, you get a chance to go all the way to the CCC final, and now the MLS Cup final.”
“This one is going to feel different for me, watching (MLS Cup) growing up, but it’s going to be fun, man, I haven't had time yet to sit back and take everything in and realize that yeah, we're here, but we'll do that after the final.”
