MATCH PREVIEW: Whitecaps 'sticking to habits' ahead of crucial MLS playoff showdown vs. San Diego FC
While it’s business as usual for the Vancouver Whitecaps, there are telltale signs that this team is enjoying the ride as they get set for their first MLS Cup Playoffs Conference final.
Before they travelled down to California to take on San Diego FC for a spot in the 2025 MLS Cup, they enjoyed a week of sessions at their UBC training field, which, as expected, has taken a beating lately with the arrival of fall weather in Vancouver.
There was no better example of that than their session on Thursday, as they trained in rainy and muddy conditions, doing their best to prepare for the task ahead.
Certainly, the weather didn’t bother the group, who grinded through an intense session, showing laser-sharp focus when needed, while also showing joy when someone scored a nice goal or made a key tackle.
#VWFC training on a wet and very rainy November day in Vancouver.
— Har Journalist (@HarJournalist) November 27, 2025
Daniel Rios is working in the gym.
Presser with Jesper, Berhalter, Takaoka, Müller coming up later this afternoon. #SDvVAN pic.twitter.com/0l3UlrJFCW
While they would’ve loved to be training in 25-degree Celsius weather, they know that 26 other MLS teams would trade anything for the opportunity to still be training, period, so you weren’t going to catch them complaining about anything.
Ultimately, one thing that ties all professional players together is a desire to win, and that remains true for these tight-knit Whitecaps, who would train on the moon right now if it were going to help their chances of winning silverware.
After surviving the wild ride that was their Conference semi-final against LAFC, which they won on penalties, they now realize that they sit just two games away from winning an MLS Cup, and that’s reflected in the atmosphere of the group.
Now, things won’t get any easier for them from here, as they continue to attract more and more attention both domestically and nationally off the back of their exploits, but much like training in the cold at this time of year, embracing pressure is also a privilege, so the Whitecaps are also happy to have some extra eyes on them.
“That fires me up, to be honest, to get the job done when everybody's watching and asking if we can do it. And I want to be with my group, sustain this pressure and get to the next round,” Whitecaps attacking midfielder, Thomas Müller, said this week.
“It was so positive for the Whitecaps, for the city,” he said of the LAFC game. “To be in that stadium, in that moment, everyone from Vancouver will remember this game; it was amazing.”
Carrying the city with us. Three sleeps to go 👀#VWFC | #OwnTheSummit pic.twitter.com/cirDwYVvhj
— X - Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) November 26, 2025
In a sense, though, Müller’s comments help explain the Whitecaps' success in these playoffs, showing why they cruised through FC Dallas in the first round before grinding past LAFC in the Conference semifinals.
Even for someone who has won as much as Müller, who became the most decorated German footballer of all time shortly after joining the Whitecaps, his hunger to win remains strong - his team’s win vs. LAFC won’t stick with him unless his team goes all the way and lifts a trophy.
“We went through, and everyone will remember that, but other than that, it was just a quarter-final,” Müller mused. “Nobody remembers quarter-finals normally, a quarter-final is played just to get to the semi-final or to your holidays. The goal is always to get to the final, and that's our next step, and that's what I'm focusing on now.”
If the Whitecaps are to reach a final, however, a tough test awaits them in San Diego, as they take on the Western Conference's first-place team.
To be fair, it’s not as if the second-place Whitecaps finished that far behind them in the regular season - both teams were tied on points with 63, with the Whitecaps only dropping to second by virtue of the tiebreaker of wins - but it’s worth remembering that the Whitecaps missed an opportunity to secure first place on the final day, too.
In the end, that’s the reason they’re playing this game on the road instead of at home, which gives a bit of an edge to San Diego.
Of course, in a game of this magnitude, it remains to be seen how much of an advantage that actually provides, as these are the top two teams in the Western Conference for a reason.
Because of that, the big thing to watch will be the different battles that will be on display in this game, including the tactical and individual ones.
For example, one battle worth watching will be to see how the Whitecaps handle defending San Diego’s talisman, Anders Dreyer, who has had a 2025 season for the ages. In 40 appearances across all competitions, San Diego’s #10 sits with a whopping 23 goals and 18 assists, including four goals in four playoff games, which is very impressive.
To add a bit of context to those figures, only one player had more combined goals and assists than him in MLS play this season, and that was none other than Lionel Messi, who seems on track to become the league’s first-ever back-to-back MVP winner. 
Here's Dreyer's stats from the 2025 MLS season, compared to his peers. As seen above, there weren't many better in MLS at generating and scoring opportunities (FBRef)
The Whitecaps have seen first-hand how dangerous Dreyer can be - he had three assists in a 5-3 win when they met back in June - so they’ll understand how important it is for them to keep him quiet, the way they did in a 1-1 draw in San Diego back in July.
Helping their cause, however, is that their head coach is quite familiar with Dreyer - fellow Danish export Jesper Sørensen was an assistant coach in Denmark back when Dreyer was playing in their home country - so he’s looking to use that first-hand knowledge to keep a lid on San Diego’s star.
“We know him very well,” Sørensen said of Dreyer. “He’s been setting a high standard for himself in this league, I would say - it was an amazing first season for him. He's their go-to guy when things need to be decided, but he's a really technically skilled player with a good shot from within 25 yards. He's very dangerous, not only in his finishing, but also in setting other players up. He's a very tricky player who can play in lots of spaces, so we need to have an extra eye on him because he's such a decisive player for them.”
“It’s something that every team says, and many have had difficulties with, but last time, we succeeded pretty well. He’s a quality player, and he can do something all of a sudden in a game, but we know what he's about and what he's good at, and we’ll try to see if we can limit it.”
Plus, it’s not as if the Whitecaps are without stars of their own to rely on in this game, either, such as Müller, Sebastian Berhalter, Brian White, Ali Ahmed and countless others.
In fact, that’s arguably the biggest difference between these two teams - while there’s no doubt that San Diego’s success has been driven by Dreyer, the Whitecaps are where they are due to the play of a multitude of names.
Just look at the way the Conference semi-finals went for both sides. In San Diego’s case, they beat Minnesota United 1-0 thanks to a goal from Dreyer, who powered a strike past MLS Goalkeeper of the Year (and prospective CanMNT World Cup starter), Dayne St. Clair, to give his team a huge win.
🇩🇰 Anders Dreyer with a ROCKET and @sandiegofc are 20 minutes away from the Western Conference Finals! 🔥
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) November 25, 2025
Audi MLS Cup Playoffs pic.twitter.com/mMILy8bMXg
As for the Whitecaps, though, they won on penalties vs. LAFC after earning goals from winger Emmanuel Sabbi and centre back Mathías Laborda, once again flexing their ability to find goals from different sources in different ways.
In particular, their first goal was quite impressive, as Sabbi was set up by an exquisite through ball from Whitecaps’ goalkeeper, Yohei Takaoka, who showcased his impressive ball-playing ability on the pass, destabilizing an LAFC side that thought they could’ve pressed the Whitecaps into a turnover on the play.
“I like to play short, but sometimes I like to put the ball in behind the line, as it can be effective,” Takaoka said. “I've always tried to see how they place their (defensive) structure and what they want us to do, and I always try to do the opposite of what they want.”
WHAT A BALL! 👀
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) November 23, 2025
WHAT A RUN! 🌬️
WHAT A CHIP! 😱
Filthy pass from Yohei Takaoka to Emmanuel Sabbi to open the scoring for the @WhitecapsFC // Audi MLS Cup Playoffs pic.twitter.com/VlWEzLK0Ii
Because of that, look for the Whitecaps to use that sort of variance in their attacking play as they get set for this match.
While San Diego were quite strong offensively this year, fuelled by the play of Dreyer and a strong possession-based approach, their young defence isn’t as big a forte - they overperformed their Expected Goals against metrics by 5.4 goals, sitting fifth in the West by xG against with 46.4.
What that means for the Whitecaps, though, is that there will be space for them to attack in certain moments, so look for them to try and exploit San Diego’s defence in key moments.
Ideally, that’ll be in possession, given their strength as a team that controls games on the ball, but against a San Diego side that led the league in possession this season, the Whitecaps understand that they might need to vary their approach to find chances - they might have to settle for another direct ball over the top, or a ruthless counter-attack.
“You want to be able to attack different places on the pitch at the same time, so it's difficult for the opponents to close you down,” Sørensen said. “That's something that we've developed throughout the season. We have a lot of options to attack opponents, and one of them is that we can go to the backspace if it’s open and we have the right connection.”
“That's also something that San Diego is very good at. When things are closed in one place, then you have to look for other places to open it up, you have to be a threat in different spaces at the same time, and then it's up to the players on the pitch to find the solutions that match what they see.”
Here's a look at some of the key defensive metrics from this San Diego FC team - as seen there, they were middling in a lot of key defensive categories, suggesting that their best way to defend is by attacking and keeping possession (American Soccer Analysis)
For example, this could be a game where the Whitecaps' press plays a big role, as they’ll have to work extra hard off the ball to try and disrupt San Diego’s rhythm in possession, while creating the sort of dangerous transition chances that they can be so dangerous with thanks to speedsters such as Sabbi, Ahmed and Jayden Nelson.
“We've been doing it almost all year now,” Berhalter said. “You’ve got to counterpress and be organized with your pressure. They're a good team, they like to have the ball, so once we win the ball back, keeping it is also another big thing, to not force it into areas we don't need to force it into.”
“That’s been emphasized all year, but in these tight games, especially, we can try to create turnovers up the field to try and create goal-scoring opportunities for ourselves. They're a good team, but we can put them under pressure.”
Make no mistake, however - while the Whitecaps are happy to adapt their game to frustrate San Diego, they’ll also look to stick to their gameplan, too, given the success they’ve had all season long.
While there might be some extra emphasis on things such as Dreyer’s work on the ball, San Diego’s possession game, the midfield battle and the Whitecaps counter-press, ultimately, this Whitecaps team wants to play this game on their terms.
Against LAFC, they did that for 45 minutes to start the game, and that was enough for them to survive and pick up a victory - now, they’re focused on bringing their best for 90 minutes, as they feel it’ll be hard for any team to beat them if they do that.
“We’ll stick to our strengths, too,” Müller finished. “We stick to our habits, and we want to play our game. We know San Diego is a strong team; they have different strengths and weaknesses than LAFC, they have a different system, but we are prepared.”
“We have to play a Vancouver Whitecaps game.”
