"We're dreamers, so why not?": Whitecaps sit on the verge of continental glory after unforgettable CCC SF win vs. Inter Miami
You wouldn’t have blamed them if they tried to sneak in through the back door, or perhaps tried to quietly slide under the fence.
With 45 minutes standing between the Vancouver Whitecaps and a historic qualification to the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup final, a stage they’d never reached before, the Vancouver side faced a conundrum at half-time of the second leg of their semi-final. Up 2-1 on aggregate vs. Inter Miami, they remained fully in control of their destiny, but knew that they faced an uphill battle to get a result over the line.
Having entered the second leg up 2-0 after a magical leg one victory at BC Place, the Whitecaps knew that a stiff challenge awaited them down in Florida at Chase Stadium. It’s not often you beat a team led by Lionel Messi once - doing so twice is usually quite rare, something reserved for the most elite of teams.
The Vancouver Whitecaps are the first club to win their first two matches against Lionel Messi.
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 1, 2025
EVER. 😶#ConcaChampions | #VWFC pic.twitter.com/uHAcH1rhnD
Because of that, when they went down 1-0 just nine minutes into the game, as Jordi Alba squeaked a shot into the Whitecaps' goal, giving the hosts new life, the complexion of the tie changed completely. It immediately thrust the Whitecaps onto the back foot, leaving them powerless as Miami did what most expected them to do heading into this series, and completely blow away the Whitecaps.
GOAL 🌴
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 1, 2025
Jordi Alba cuts the aggregate deficit to 1 and Inter Miami are just a goal away from tying the series 😬
🔴 Watch Inter Miami vs. #VWFC in #ConcaChampions SF LEG 2 on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/0LFoP2QR9S
That left the Whitecaps with a tough decision to make. Do you just try to hang on and find a side entrance to the final? Or do you take the risk of going for it, knowing that just one away goal could completely flip this series on its head?
Past iterations of the Whitecaps might’ve selected the former, usually without hesitation. No matter if this Vancouver side has been good or bad over the past 14 years, their teams have never been ones to take big risks on the ball - they’ve usually been known as stingy counter-attacking teams that absorbed pressure and hit on the break.
Not these Whitecaps, however. As has been the M.O. since head coach Jesper Sørensen was hired at the beginning of this year, they want to play on the front foot, score goals, and most importantly, they want to entertain. No more hiding in the backyard - they want to burst through the front door and announce themselves to the rest of MLS and Concacaf.
Having been on a tough journey just to get to this semi-final, which saw them get past CD Saprissa, CF Monterrey and Pumas UNAM in the earlier rounds, overturning first leg deficits in each series, that had erased all of the fear factor that might’ve existed against a team like Miami, and they knew that.
“Yeah, definitely,” red-hot Whitecaps striker, Brian White, said after the game when asked if those earlier results pushed them forward against Miami. “We've been through it a couple of times now in Costa Rica, and in Mexico twice.”
“We conceded early tonight, that wasn't the way we wanted to start the game, as it put us on the back foot a little bit, but I think through those past experiences, we were able to calm ourselves down and we knew that there was still a long way to go, and that if we got the one goal, that it was going to be tough for them to come back.”
That’s where the new-look Whitecaps showed what they’re all about. Once they reached half time, they were able to regroup and noted that while they trailed on the night, they had squandered three good chances that could’ve changed the game, and were finding all sorts of joy in wide areas.
Where they let themselves down was with their execution, as they rushed things in the final third, instead of taking an extra second to breathe and make the right final pass or shot.
Because of that, they came out of the locker room fired up and quickly went to work. All of a sudden, a White goal in the 51st minute burst the dam, and they cruised to a dominant victory to there, with 53rd minute and 71st minute goals from Pedro Vite and Sebastian Berhalter, respectively, putting a bow on one of the best 45 minutes of play from the Whitecaps in their modern history.
“We rushed too much in the first half,” Sørensen said. “In the second half, we played that extra pass, because some of their players were not running back.”
“The one thing is that we knew our front three had to run, but then it was very important that our second line had to come support them, because we overran them in the second line, and that was very good, and then from there, especially after the first goal, players got confident.”
GOAL 🏔️
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 1, 2025
BRIAN WHITE IS HIM.@WhitecapsFC tie the game and Inter Miami need 3 goals 🤯
🔴 Watch Inter Miami vs. #VWFC in #ConcaChampions SF LEG 2 on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/DnjNXmaxmo
As a result, they didn’t just secure qualification to the final in comfortable fashion, but thoroughly dominated Miami on their own pitch while doing so, with their 5-1 aggregate win telling the whole story.
After reaching the semi-finals on away goals after drawing both Monterrey and Pumas, this was a big statement win from the Whitecaps, who showed their earlier success in this competition wasn’t a fluke.
“It's always nice when you go through winning,” White offered. “In the last couple of rounds, we got through with ties, which is nice because they're tough ties to come out with in those tough environments, but it's nice to come in here and go through with a win.”
GOAL 🏔️🏔️
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 1, 2025
ANOTHER GOAL FOR THE WHITECAPS 😱
Pedro Vite catches the 'keeper with the 2nd in this 1-2 punch and #VWFC have one foot in the #ConcaChampions final 🏆
INTER MIAMI NEED 4 in 36 minutes or they are OUT 🥶 pic.twitter.com/8ACOEo47Su
Yet, if anyone is still suggesting that this Whitecaps team is riding luck to get to where they are, they haven’t been watching them closely enough.
Just look at what they’re doing in MLS, where despite juggling the responsibilities of this competition, they sit first in the entire league in points with 23 after 10 games (7W-2D-1L), also sitting first in the league in goals for (20), goals against (7), goal difference (+13), expected goals against (9.0) and expected goals difference (+9.5).
That start would be remarkable for any team, but much less one dealing with this competition - it’s universally regarded among MLS teams that those who start the season with CCC play, which can start weeks before the MLS season even kicks off, tends to impact their success in league play.
For the Whitecaps to be doing what they’re doing in MLS, while juggling the CCC with a new coach, just shows how remarkable this journey has been - it’s one no one saw coming.
Now, however, they’ve rightfully started to grab the headlines, and this second leg victory might have been just the breakout performance they needed to show what they’re all about on the pitch, on both sides of the ball.
“Yeah, it’s fun, and we're having fun,” Whitecaps midfielder, Sebastian Berhalter, said of his team’s style of play. “I think you can tell that out there, even when we were down a goal, we can still create, be expressive and do our own thing, and I think everyone’s stepped up in a huge way.”
“Yeah, it's a balance,” defender Tristan Blackmon added. “That was a huge talking point in preseason for us, our attacking balance, and figuring out how we get our attackers into the best positions possible, but also we use the term ‘close the door behind us’, and we make sure that not a lot of chances come our way. I think we've done a good job of that.”
GOAL 🗻🗻🗻
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 1, 2025
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE'LL HAVE A CANADIAN TEAM IN THE CHAMPIONS CUP FINAL FOR JUST THE 3RD TIME EVER!
Sebastian Berhalter finishes things up with a great finish to put the @WhitecapsFC ahead 5-1 on aggregate and 3-1 on the night.
🔴 Watch Inter Miami vs. #VWFC in… pic.twitter.com/zvKtCCpZag
Of course, for as fun as this start has been for the Whitecaps, they know that it’s still early and that they’ve still got a long road ahead. There have been a lot of fun teams who steal the headlines in February, March and April - it’s the elite teams that find a way to lift major trophies in the months that follow.
For a long time, the Whitecaps have desperately craved the feeling of lifting those big honours, as other than four Canadian Championship victories, they haven’t gotten much of a chance to celebrate the trophies that define success for many teams around MLS, such as the Supporters Shield, MLS Cup, and of course, the Champions Cup.
Now, they’ve got a realistic chance at winning all of those honours, provided they can build off this strong start. For a side that has never really come close to MLS Cup, and slightly flirted with the Shield in 2015 (finishing seven points behind the New York Red Bulls) and with the Champions Cup in 2017 (they lost 4-1 on aggregate to Tigres UNAL in the semi-finals), it’s quite wild to fathom.
In a sense, however, that’s why Sørensen has been a perfect hire for this group. Often, it has felt like this team has been burdened by past struggles in big games, which has stopped them from making a run like this.
Since Sørensen has arrived, however, he’s quickly instilled a new mindset in this group, one that has seen his players play without fear, rising to the occasion instead of shrinking in front of it.
“For me, I'm relatively new here and I've not had the struggle to come this far with the club,” he explained. “But I know that a lot of people who have been working for many years at the club have not seen this moment, and that’s great for everybody in the club, for our fans, and maybe we can rally the city of Vancouver behind this team even more.”
Thanks to that, it’s put the Whitecaps on the verge of history.
When they take the field on June 1st against fellow finalists Cruz Azul in Mexico City, the Whitecaps know they’ll sit 90 minutes away from a remarkable achievement for the club, one that wouldn’t just be one of the biggest in their recent history, but be up there with or maybe even surpass their historic 1979 Soccer Bowl triumph, long said to be the club’s highest peak.
It won’t be easy, as there’s a reason why just three MLS teams have ever won this competition in the LA Galaxy, DC United and the Seattle Sounders, with the Sounders the lone team to win in the tournament’s post-2008 modern era, as this competition has been dominated by Mexican teams over the past few decades.
Saprissa ✅ Monterrey ✅ Pumas ✅ Miami ✅ Cruz Azul 🔜
— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) May 2, 2025
🏆 @TheChampions Final
🗓️ Sunday, June 1 @ TBD
🏟️ Estadio Olímpico Universitario
📍 Mexico City
📺 @OneSoccer, FuboTV & @TELUS ch.980
📰: https://t.co/p9HNGJo1e3#VWFC | #ConcaChampions pic.twitter.com/EXHSuWM9To
Not only that, but several MLS teams have fallen short in the final in the past 15 years, too, including LAFC (x2), Toronto FC, Real Salt Lake, Columbus Crew and CF Montréal, showing that the hardest frontier isn’t reaching the final, but winning it all.
That won’t bother the Whitecaps, however. While they know history isn’t on their side, past struggles haven’t stopped them from making this run, so why should they let what teams before them have done affect them in a final?
At the end of the day, winning is all about believing, and that’s arguably been the biggest factor behind this Whitecaps run, even beyond their improved play - they believe in themselves and each other, and sometimes that’s what’s needed to fuel winning teams.
“Yeah, we're dreamers, right? So why not?” Berhalter said. “We're a small market club, but why not win the whole thing? We’ve been saying since day one, we're about trophies, this club wants to win trophies, and that’s why we’re here, and why we’re in the final.”
