“We are a team that can beat everyone” – Whitecaps moment in the sun a long time coming in mesmerizing victory over Messi’s Miami

(Photo Credit: CONCACAF.com)

Vancouver Whitecaps’ mantra ahead of their CONCACAF Champions Cup semi-final second leg at Inter Miami was that the job was not done yet. The ‘Caps knew they had the advantage after their 2-0 result six days ago in Vancouver, they knew an away goal for them would drastically change the tie, and they also knew that Miami would throw everything at them in front of a vociferous crowd at Chase Stadium and if they could get an early breakthrough, the whole momentum in the tie could suddenly swing.

The fact that Vancouver were heading into this second leg as the favourites was testament to the force Jesper Sorensen and his swashbuckling Whitecaps side have become this season. However this tie ended up, the Whitecaps had done themselves proud, their fans proud, and the city proud. And after 90 minutes of football in Florida, the adventure continues.

Miami did indeed get that early breakthrough through Jordi Alba’s goal nine minutes in, but they couldn’t capitalise on it, as Vancouver’s defence proved resolute and impenetrable for the remaining 81 plus minutes. Two goals in just over a minute to start the second half from Brian White and Pedro Vite left Miami shellshocked and an ageing team looked old. Javier Mascherano had no answer to Vancouver’s vibrancy and made more baffling squad selections and substitutions. The 300 plus travelling Whitecaps supporters cared not a jot, bringing the noise and silencing the home crowd.

By the time man of the match Sebastian Berhalter rifled home a third for the ‘Caps with 20 minutes to go, the game was already dead and buried. That was just the cherry on top from one of the players of the tournament, who grabbed two assists to go with his goal on the night but will now heartbreakingly miss the final after picking up a second yellow card. A ridiculous rule that we’ll go into another time.

The final whistle sparked jubilant scenes as Whitecaps players ran over to celebrate in front of and among the blue and white hordes in section 127. Vancouver’s 3-1 victory on the night saw them demolish a star-studded and big-spending Miami side 5-1 on aggregate. Truly remarkable.

This was a true team succeeding over a bunch of ageing individuals put together on name and past reputation for top billing, but with a supporting cast not up to the job of stepping up and taking on the leading roles when the going got tough.

History was made. Celebrations were had. But the mantra is still the same – the job is not done yet.

“It was a big battle,” an emotional Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster said after the match. “I cannot tell you how proud I am of all of those guys and everyone who is working at this club and everyone who is longer at the club than me. I’ve talked to a few people on the pitch who were crying because they’ve had to suffer a lot at this club.

“It was also to get to a point that we go to such a game with confidence and belief in the Vancouver Whitecaps and that we get this into our DNA that we can win. It doesn’t matter who is the opponent, it doesn’t matter how difficult it is to us, we are a team that can beat everyone. This is the proof today. The way the team came back after we conceded the first goal and just at some point said it doesn’t matter if they score another one, we will score, and if we score, they will not win here.”

The Whitecaps did just that, and Miami didn’t, and now a CONCACAF Champions Cup final awaits.

There can be debate as to where this result stands in Vancouver Whitecaps’ proud history. In the MLS era, hands down it is the biggest and best one so far. It trumps the USL and CSL championships, although I’m not diminishing those triumphs in any way. In terms of a what the end result of the victory was, this has to rank second to the 1979 NASL Soccer Bowl win. Schuster agrees, but perhaps the best is still to come.

“This is probably the second best [result] in our history,” Schuster said. “So far. But we’re working on it.”

Photo Credit: CONCACAF.com

Sorensen made one change from the victorious team in the first leg, with Emmanuel Sabbi coming in for Daniel Rios. Javier Mascharano went with an unchanged line-up. Strange considering how flat they looked and how easily picked apart they were by Vancouver. Freshness, both in terms of personnel and ideas, should have been the order of the day.

It was a patient start for both teams, but in their first real chance of the game, Miami took the lead nine minutes in.

Messi played the ball to Luis Suarez on his left. His touch outside to Alba was clinically buried under Yohei Takaoka, and Miami had quickly reduced the deficit to one.

¡Jordi Alba abre el marcador para Inter Miami! 🦩 pic.twitter.com/ugnYwva4vv

— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) May 1, 2025

Takaoka needed to be better and stronger there. He knew that. You could see it written all over his face as he took a swig of water. He wasn’t to be beaten again, however, and easily handled what was then to be thrown at him.

Sensing blood in the water, Miami stepped it up and had a chance to level the tie immediately, but Tadeo Allende’s low shot was well held by Takaoka.

The ‘Caps responded with their best chance of the game so far. White stormed forward on a two-on-one transition play. He centred the ball to Sabbi, who bore down on goal, but forced a little wide and with angles diminishing, he agonisingly hit his shot past Oscar Ustari but off the outside of the right post. It needed to be buried and would likely have put the tie to bed there and then, but it showed this pacy Whitecaps attack could tear the home defence wide open.

Vancouver were looking dangerous in transition and they had another good chance in the 17th minute when White dummied the ball for Vite, but he couldn’t hit a first time shot and had to take a touch inside, only to see some power taken off it and his shot held by Ustari.

Miami responded with a diving header from Telasco Segovia that Takaoka got down well to hold.

The goalmouth action subsided and the minutes started to tick down, with the game getting a bit chippy and some tackles flying in.

Messi saw a fierce diagonal free kick tipped over for a corner in the 41st minute, then Allende was played in by a nice ball over the top but Takaoka stood tall.

After his heroics in the last two Champions Cup matches, there was heartbreak for Berhalter, who picked up a yellow card for a mistimed tackle just before half time, meaning he would miss the final if the ‘Caps got there and as the first half came to an end, Vancouver were 45 nervy minutes away achieving that goal.

Sam Adekugbe came on for Tate Johnson at half time, adding some experience to the backline and with some caution in mind as the rookie had picked up a yellow card in the first half.

Ali Ahmed had the first chance after the restart, forcing a low save out of Ustari. The Canadian international hadn’t had the best first half, but he was to explode into form in the second.

Then came the goal that the travelling Whitecaps fans came to see in the 51st minute.

Ahmed played the ball forward to Berhalter and his neat cutback was deftly finished by White and the ‘Caps had that away goal they were looking for.

Brian White sends it to the back of the net! ⚽💥 pic.twitter.com/84L5Ek2bhs

— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) May 1, 2025

The goal sparked jubilant scenes amongst the Whitecaps fans in the stand, and with Miami now needing three goals, Vancouver weren’t finished yet and they scored a quick second to go ahead on the night and surely put the tie to bed.

The ‘Caps won the ball back straight from the kick off and Vite played a perfectly weighted long ball forward from the middle of his own half to spring Ahmed up the left wing. Ahmed’s low cross was deflected to Berhalter, who touched it back to Vite, who had made the run to the edge of the box, and his deflected shot looped high and past Ustari to put Vancouver into dreamland.

PEDRO VITE! The Whitecaps take the lead! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Xc6WR2jR6a

— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) May 1, 2025

Miami looked broken and if Vancouver’s first goal had sucked the life out of the home crowd, this one deflated them fully. The ‘Caps now led on the night and by three on aggregate, leaving Miami needing to score four. It was never on the cards, no matter what star power they had out there.

Miami tried to rally, but the closest they came to pulling one back was Suarez getting onto a through ball in 63rd minute with one of the slowest sprints you’ll see, but the Uruguayan, who had lacked any bite in either leg, pulled his shot past the far post.

Then came the absolute killer third for Vancouver in the 71st minute.

White had gone off after the second goal feeling a little hamstring tightness, although before ‘Caps fans get too worried he said postgame that is was merely precautionary as they had a lead, he was on a yellow card, and he felt fine. Daniel Rios was his replacement and had given away a free kick on Noah Allen that led to a little bit of off the ball afters from Miami.

That had kept Rios high up the field, so when Benjamin Cremaschi’s poor clearance cannoned off Ahmed’s face straight to him, he turned, backheeled the ball back to Ahmed who had made an overlapping run, before running into the box and getting the return pass. His shot was blocked but the rebound fell to Sabbi, who nudged it down perfectly for Berhalter to blast the ball home past Ustari and give Vancouver a 3-1 lead on the night, capping off a brilliant individual performance on a superb team effort.

Sebastian Berhalter extends Vancouver's lead! 🎯 pic.twitter.com/3h4uMmAw1l

— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) May 1, 2025

Berhalter’s performance in this game was one for the ages. It would have been understandable if his disappointment from his suspension from the final had played on his mind and affected his game a little bit, think Gazza at Italia ’90. Instead he made the second half HIS cup final.

Miami tried to get something going in the last 20 minutes. Allende hit the left post with a low shot in the 74th minute, Messi whizzed one inches past the same post five minutes later, and also crashed one off the bar, but that was it. No way through and a comprehensive Vancouver victory was secured.

Writing this immediately after the final whistle, it would have been too easy to be caught up in the moment, filling this with hyperbole. Waiting basically 24 hours, it’s still hard not to be. This was an amazing performance by the Whitecaps over the two legs. They were the better team and fully deserved to win and advance.

While the Miami post-mortem has all been focused on Mascherano’s future, Vancouver’s one is just how good is this team. What can they achieve this year? The supporters in the first leg held up a tifo that read “you allowed us to dream again”. Those dreams are now not only a reality, but getting taken to a whole other level.

FINAL SCORE: Inter Miami 1 -3 Vancouver Whitecaps [Whitecaps win 5-1 on aggregate]

ATT: 21,225

SCORING SUMMARY:
9’ – MIA – Jordi Alba (Luis Suárez)
51’ – VAN – Brian White (Sebastian Berhalter)
53’ – VAN – Pedro Vite (Sebastian Berhalter)
71’ – VAN – Sebastian Berhalter (Emmanuel Sabbi)

STATS:
Possession: MIA 58% – VAN 42%
Shots: MIA 16 – VAN 10
Shots on Goal: MIA 8 – VAN 6
Saves: MIA 3 – VAN 7
Fouls: MIA 16 – VAN 16
Offsides: MIA 2 – VAN 0
Corners: MIA 6 – VAN 2

CARDS (ALL YELLOW):
24’ – MIA – Maximiliano Falcón
33’ – VAN – Tate Johnson
45+1′ – VAN – Sebastian Berhalter
45+1′ – MIA – Federico Redondo
62’ – MIA – Telasco Segovia
65’ – VAN – Andrés Cubas

MIAMI: 19.Oscar Ustari; 57.Marcelo Weigandt, 37. Maximiliano Falcón (2.Gonzalo Luján 56’), 32.Noah Allen (14.David Martínez 77’), 18.Jordi Alba; 5.Sergio Busquets, 55.Federico Redondo (30.Benjamin Cremaschi 56’); 10.Lionel Messi, 8.Telasco Segovia (29.Allen Obando 63’), 21.Tadeo Allende (42.Yannick Bright 77’); 9.Luis Suárez [Substitutes not used: 34.Rocco Ríos Novo, 6.Tomás Avilés, 7.Fafa Picault, 15.Ryan Sailor, 17.Ian Fray, 22.Leonardo Afonso, 81.Santiago Morales]

VANCOUVER: 1.Yohei Takaoka; 18.Édier Ocampo, 33.Tristan Blackmon (12.Belal Halbouni 83’), 4.Ranko Veselinović ©, 28.Tate Johnson (3.Sam Adekugbe HT); 45.Pedro Vite, 20.Andrés Cubas (26.J.C. Ngando 76’), 16.Sebastian Berhalter; 11.Emmanuel Sabbi (7.Jayden Nelson 76’), 24.Brian White (14.Daniel Ríos 56’), 22.Ali Ahmed [Substitutes not used: 30.Adrían Zendejas, 32.Isaac Boehmer, 13.Ralph Priso, 19.Damir Kreilach, 27.Giuseppe Bovalina, 59.Jeevan Badwal]

Photo Credit: CONCACAF.com

REACTION:

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

JESPER SORENSEN

On the emotions of the result and what it means for the club:

“I’m just so happy for everyone in the club. For me, I’m relatively new and I’ve not had the struggle to come this far with the club but I know that a lot of people have. A lot of people who have been working for many, many years at this club have not seen this moment [before] and I think it’s great for everybody in the club, for the fans. Maybe we can also rally in the city of Vancouver behind this team even more and hopefully excite people. Also, I need to say here that I would like to thank Miami for two great games because they have a great team and it’s not always easy for them because they have these players that come in with all the pressure up on them. But I think that tt was a great two games, and we came out on top. It could have gone a little bit different, especially with the goal in the first half. But I’m very happy for the players, very happy for everybody working in the club, and I think its great also for our fans that we get this moment and I hope we can enjoy it.”

On the team’s ability to never give up:

“There are some things that you can work on in daily practice. There’s some things you can train that you can try and simulate in daily work, but there are also things that you can’t. You need experience for. You need to go down to Monterrey and perform a result to get that confidence that you can do it again. You need to score in the last minute against Pumas, not to go and panic when they score early here in this game. It comes from the opportunities we have to be in those moments, to get that kind of confidence out of having been there and having prevailed in moments that are very, very tough for the team so I think we are still a relatively inexperienced team in that regard. We were up against a team with players that [have] played all the games there is to play in this sport and of course, they have better knowledge of what it takes in these moments but we have to learn it, and right now we are happily learning it in a very, very pleasing way.”

INTER MIAMI

HEAD COACH JAVIER MASCHERANO

(selected quotes – thanks to Michelle Kaufman and the Miami Herald for having these in English)

“The first half, we started how we wanted to, went ahead early, and were within one goal from tying and still had a chance, but what we didn’t expect is that in a span of three or four minutes at the start of the second half, we would be knocked out of the tournament.”

“The opponent was much better than us. That is why they are in the final and we aren’t. I still feel we competed, but to be honest, it’s hard to say this after losing 5-1. But we had a few chances, Tadeo [Allende] had an open chance that could have tied it. We were facing a very good opponent, and if you make a mistake they are are going to punish you. We made errors, and they scored two goals in three minutes. That’s unacceptable in a semifinal, especially right after half time. It happened to us against Dallas a few days ago, and again in this game. We need to learn from the last week because obviously, the feeling we have is very, very bad. We have conceded more goals than we had in the past. But we cannot just cry, we need to push another step and improve. I think this team can do much better.”

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