Report and Reaction: Whitecaps limply surrender Canadian Championship crown after disappointing defeat in Montreal

Vancouver Whitecaps’ hopes for a fifth straight Canadian Championship crown are over and, for the most part, they only have themselves to blame.

CF Montreal were heavily outshot and could only manage three shots on target for the entire game, but that was still good enough for them to come away with a 2-1 victory over Vancouver on Wednesday night at Stade Saputo, giving them a 3-2 win on aggregate in their semi-final match-up.

A Prince Owusu first half double, the first of which came from a contentious penalty, put Montreal firmly in the driver’s seat in the tie, and a superbly resolute defensive effort in the second half kept Vancouver at bay until stoppage time, when Emmanuel Sabbi was finally able to pull one back for the visitors.

While it would be easy, and accurate, to point fingers at referee Filip Dujic for some terrible first half decisions, the Whitecaps were masters of their own downfall. A lack of finishing over the two legs, some horrendous defending, and poor team selections cost Vancouver dearly, and once again they came up against a defensive-minded team that knew how to get the Whitecaps’ number.

To crash out of the tournament so feebly is disappointing, but more concerning is whether the Whitecaps are in a slump that they are simply not going to get out of heading into the MLS postseason.

Jesper Sorensen made seven changes to the team that lost to Austin last weekend, with leading scorer Brian White controversially starting this one on the bench and recent signing Yadaly Diaby getting his first start for the club on the wing.

The Whitecaps dominated possession, but as has been the story far too often since the return to action after the World Cup break, they offered very little penetration with it. They moved the ball around, they threatened to break through, but the end product and quality simply wasn’t there.

Montreal actually had the best of the early chances when Wikelman Carmona whizzed a low one just past the right post 11 minutes in. The best Vancouver could muster was a Ryan Gauld shot from outside of the box that also went wide.

Tristan Blackmon appeared to be tripped up in the penalty area by Montreal’s Brayan Ceballos in the 15th minute, sparking a video review request from Sorensen. Referee Dujic stuck to his original non-call on the pitch after the review, seemingly feeling that the ball had already been cleared by the time Blackmon had been caught.

But that was certainly far from being the end of the refereeing controversy in the first half.

Former Whitecap Daniel Rios went down in the box as the half hour mark approached, and stayed down after a tussle with Vancouver defender Sam Adekugbe. It felt innocuous on first viewing, and the second, and the third, but Montreal submitted their own FVS challenge and Dujic was called over to the monitor to review once more. After a very long review, Dujic decided that there was enough contact on Rios from Adekugbe’s arm to award a penalty and Owusu stepped up to send Isaac Boehmer the wrong way and Montreal led in the tie once again.

It’s hard not to have your blue and white tinted glasses on for this decision, but it felt the wrong one. After Montreal were robbed of what looked like a good goal in the first leg, maybe this was just decisions evening themselves out.

The Whitecaps had a chance to level things up in the 40th minute when Edier Ocampo was played in only to be denied by Sebastian Breza, but more controversy was to follow when Owusu caught Blackmon in the ankle with a studs up challenge that earned him a booking. The Whitecaps faithful waited for a FVS review from Sorensen for a red card, but it wasn’t to come.

Fear of then having no reviews left or whether they felt it wasn’t a red will be debated, but it proved to be costly minutes later when Montreal doubled their lead.

A hobbling Blackmon was out of position as a long ball forward sprung Owusu, with Mathias Laborda the last man back for the ‘Caps, the Uruguayan had a horrendous misplay, slipping as he tried to get a foot on the ball, allowing the Montreal striker to wrong foot Boehmer, leaving him on his ass, and easily tucking the ball away.

It was just poor all round defensively from the Whitecaps and they now had a mountain to climb, while giving the impression they were already out of oxygen.

Sorensen made a couple of changes at the half, bringing on White and Tate Johnson, but still with no spark or breakthrough, he made another two changes before the hour mark with Bruno Caicedo and Sabbi entering the fray.

The second half was now predominantly wave after wave of Whitecaps attacks, but with very little bite and danger to the home defence. Gauld and Sabbi had looks on goal that came to nothing, while Thomas Müller flicked an inviting ball across goal in the 76th minute but there were no takers for Vancouver.

Time was running out and full credit to Montreal, they were looking very comfortable in defending their lead and playing an excellent defensive game.

The Whitecaps finally found a way through a minute into second half stoppage time when Jeevan Badwal got the ball in space, playing it Sabbi, who tucked it away past Breza to reduced the deficit to one.

Way too little, way too late and Montreal didn’t allow Vancouver another sniff in the remaining three minutes to book their first berth in a Canadian Championship final since 2023. They’ll now host Forge FC in October, in what should be a very closely contested match-up. Could we see a Canadian Premier League side lift the Voyageurs Cup for the first time?

As for Vancouver, this was two toothless ties from the Whitecaps against the last placed team in the MLS Eastern Conference and the second worst team in all of the league. The defeat was bad enough, the nature of it even worse, with some serious questions about squad rotation and usage these past few weeks.

With just five wins since their return to action after the World Cup break, there’s real concern that all the good work in the first half of the season is set to get undone. This isn’t simply a case of losing a good player like Sebastian Berhalter or having some injuries to key players, this is a variety of issues and ones that they need to find solutions to pronto before the season fizzles out.

FINAL SCORE: CF Montreal 2 – 1 Vancouver Whitecaps [Montreal win 3-2 on aggregate]

ATT: 10,333

MONTREAL: 1.Sébastian Breza; 3.Brayan Ceballos, 2.Jalen Neal, 5.Brandan Craig, 13.Luca Petrasso; 8.Matty Longstaff (6.Samuel Piette 86’), 22.Victor Loturi; 17.Dante Sealy (23.Noah Streit 71’), 16.Wikelman Carmona (21.Fabian Herbers 86’), 14.Daniel Ríos (10.Alexis Sánchez 71’); 9.Prince Owusu (27.Dawid Bugaj 90+3’) [Substitutes not used: 33.Emil Gazdoz, 41.Samsy Keita, 24.Efraín Morales, 35.Owen Graham-Roache]

VANCOUVER: 32.Isaac Boehmer, 18.Édier Ocampo, 2.Mathías Laborda (6.Ralph Priso 77’), 33.Tristan Blackmon, 3.Sam Adekugbe (28.Tate Johnson HT); 59.Jeevan Badwal, 20.Andrés Cubas (24.Brian White HT); 25.Ryan Gauld ©, 13.Thomas Müller, 77.Yadaly Diaby (14.Bruno Caicedo 58’); 19.Rayan Elloumi (11.Emmanuel Sabbi 58’) [Substitutes not used: 1.Yohei Takaoka, 8.Oliver Larraz, 29.Mihail Gherasimencov, 70.Rui Modesto]

SCORING SUMMARY:
30’ – MTL – Prince Owusu (penalty kick)
45’ – MTL – Prince Owusu
90+1’ – VAN – Emmanuel Sabbi (Jeevan Badwal)

STATS:
Possession: MTL 37% – VAN 63%
Shots: MTL 5 – VAN 17
Shots on Goal: MTL 3 – VAN 5
Saves: MTL 4 – VAN 1
Fouls: MTL 20 – VAN 15
Offsides: MTL 1 – VAN 1
Corners: MTL 1 – VAN 5

CAUTIONS:
10’ – VAN – Jeevan Badwal
21’ – VAN – Tristan Blackmon
21’ – MTL – Brayan Ceballos
30’ – VAN – Sam Adekugbe
41’ – MTL – Prince Owusu
87’ – MTL – Jalen Neal

REACTION:

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

HEAD COACH JESPER SØRENSEN

On the match:

“It was tight, it was close, and we have to say congratulations to Montréal with getting to the final, of course. Obviously, it’s tight things. They utilized the mistake in the first leg. We had a lot of opportunities that we didn’t [finish]. We came here with a draw, but we had a good idea that we could win this game. And this game was tight, and it was also decided in some tight situations. We made it very, very difficult for ourselves. Conceding the 2-0 goal just before halftime, that was a little bit stupid. But at the moment we have difficulties converting the opportunities we give ourselves, and you have to be able to do that.”

On the penalty kick awarded to Montreal:

“I’m sad. Honestly, I think it’s against the spirit of the game. I don’t think Daniel [Ríos] has any chance for going at the ball. I think Sam [Adekugbe] is going up, jumping backwards. Everybody that jumps backwards tries to stretch their head, they take their arm up – I just saw it before I came in here. And I just think that it’s sad that it’s rewarded to a penalty. I think, if anything, I think honestly it’s a free kick on Sam. Of course, Daniel is nowhere near the ball and it’s not a football move. He’s jumping into the arm and he gets rewarded. And that’s what it is. I don’t think there’s anything in the game that should consider this to be converted into the biggest chance in the game.”

CAPTAIN RYAN GAULD

On the match:

“For me, the difference is that they took their chances, the few chances they had, and we didn’t. I think that’s the bottom line. We created over the two games, we created enough chances to put the tie to bed and just never put the ball in the back of the net.”

On the two-leg series overall:

“I think we created a few little half-chances. We struggled to get some clear openings. I think we didn’t really get in behind too much, which when we can get in behind and get in the space in behind the defensive line, it’s normally a good outcome for us. But, saying that, we still did have those chances to do better. And I think, we just need to – us on the pitch – we need to kind of take it on our shoulders, and take more responsibility in putting the ball in the back of the net when we do get those chances. Because you see tonight, over the two games, Montreal haven’t created a huge amount of chances, but they scored three in the two games. We’ve made a good number of chances and not put them away. So I think it just comes down to being better with the last pass or the last decision, and that’s all there is to it.”