The Vancouver Whitecaps have slayed some pretty big dragons to reach Sunday’s Concacaf Champions Cup final (9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT), including Inter Miami and Lionel Messi.
But they face an even bigger task in order to win the tournament, which is the Concacaf equivalent of the UEFA Champions League. Not only do the Whitecaps have to beat Cruz Azul, but they have to do it at the Mexican club’s home stadium, Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City.
The rewards are great for Vancouver if it pulls it off, as it would become only the third MLS team to win this competition, joining D.C. United (1998) and the Seattle Sounders (2022). They’d also go one better than Canadian rivals CF Montreal (finalists in 2015) and Toronto FC (finalists in 2018).
Here’s what you need to know about this year’s final.
Sunday’s game is a straight knockout final. If the score is tied after 90 minutes of regulation time, it will go to extra time and penalty kicks (if necessary) to determine the winner.
Setting the stage for Sunday
Vancouver enters this match on a tidal wave of momentum, riding a seven-game unbeaten run in the competition, which includes back-to-back wins over Inter Miami. In MLS, the Whitecaps top the Western Conference and sit second in the overall league table with a 9-1-5 record. Vancouver is unbeaten in its last 10 MLS matches with its lone loss of the campaign coming back on March 22.
Prior to the start of the 2025 MLS season, several notable league pundits (including former Canadian women’s team star Kaylyn Kyle) predicted that Vancouver would finish in the bottom half of the Western Conference and fail to make the playoffs. That’s been a motivating factor for the Whitecaps and has led to them playing with a chip on their shoulder.
“Why are we counted out every time? Why are Canadian teams always counted out? Even now, other teams are still getting more praise than us. And it’s like, why? What can we do to really get the respect we deserve? So, we just have a chip on our shoulder. It’s been a bit of a battle to gain respect in a lot of ways,” Whitecaps winger Jayden Nelson told Sportsnet.
Cruz Azul is currently in its off-season after finishing third in the table in Liga MX (Mexican first division) and reaching the semifinals of the 2024-25 Clausura campaign. The club’s last match was a 2-1 loss to Club América in the second leg of the semifinals on May 18.
How the teams arrived at the final
Vancouver overcame a 2-1 first leg defeat on the road to Costa Rica’s Deportivo Saprissa by posting a 2-0 victory in the return match to win their opening round series. The Whitecaps then managed to get past Mexican clubs C.F. Monterrey and Club Universidad Nacional via the away goals rule in subsequent rounds. The team’s best showing came in the semifinals when it posted consecutive wins over MLS rivals Inter Miami and Lionel Messi to book its spot in the final.
“I think you could see that we have this resilience. We’re a group that fights for each other. And you can see in the away game in Monterrey; we didn’t give up. It was a difficult game versus a good team and a hostile crowd, and we were able to get a result. We’re just a strong group, and I think that’s our biggest team attribute,” Jayden Nelson said.
Cruz Azul posted a comprehensive 7-0 aggregate win over Haitian side Real Hope FA in the first round. They dispatched the Seattle Sounders in the round of 16 and then bested fellow Mexican outfits Club América and Tigres in the quarterfinals and semifinals.
Vancouver Whitecaps on a mission
What the Vancouver Whitecaps have already achieved this season, both in MLS and the Concacaf Champions Cup, has been truly incredible
And it’s all the more amazing when you consider that Danish coach Jesper Sørensen has been in charge for less than six months. Or that the club’s ownership group, which includes former NBA star Steve Nash, declared just before Christmas it was going to put the team up for sale.
Sørensen has tuned out all the noise and managed to get the very most out of a hugely talented, but often overlooked, Whitecaps side that is proving all of the doubters wrong. Vancouver has quietly but confidently gone about its business, getting the better of some of the top clubs in both MLS and Concacaf while competing on multiple fronts.
Jayden Nelson has played a key role in the Whitecaps’ run to the final with a pair of assists in six appearances in the Champions Cup tournament. The young Canadian’s best showing came in Vancouver’s 2-0 home win over Inter Miami in the first leg of the semifinals. Nelson’s assist on teammate Sebastian Berhalter’s 85th-minute goal sealed the victory and set the stage for the team’s 3-1 road win in the return leg. Nelson, 22, called the win in Miami a huge moment for the club.
“How we just fought in the last 30 minutes and were able to get some crucial goals to really kill the game. Then we realized, ‘Yeah, we’re actually a good team.’ But our mentality hasn’t shifted just because we won that Miami game. It’s still that killer mentality,” Nelson said.
Berhalter put in a man-of-the-match showing in Vancouver’s second leg win over Inter Miami when he scored one goal and added two assists. But the American is suspended for the final due to yellow card accumulation, robbing the Whitecaps of a key player for one of the biggest matches in the club’s history.
Founded in 1927, Cruz Azul is one of the most prestigious and successful teams in Mexico. The Mexico City-based club has won nine domestic league championships and has appeared in eight Concacaf Champions Cup finals since the inaugural tournament in 1962.
Cruz Azul has won the Concacaf tournament on six occasions (1969, 1970, 1971, 1996, 1997 and 2014). Only fellow Mexican outfit Club América has won it more often (seven times).
Coached by former Uruguay international Vicente Sánchez, Cruz Azul boasts several Mexican national team players, including defender Jesús Orozco and midfielder Carlos Rodríguez. Greek international striker and former MLS star Giorgos Giakoumakis also features for Los Celestes (The Sky-Blues).
Brian White, Vancouver Whitecaps — The American forward has been lights out for Vancouver this season with 15 goals in 21 games in all competitions, including five in the Concacaf Champions Cup (tied for Lionel Messi for second overall). His best outings came when he bagged a brace in Vancouver’s second leg win over Deportivo Saprissa in the first round and when he netted the winner versus Inter Miami in the first leg of the semifinals.
Ángel Sepúlveda, Cruz Azul — The veteran Mexican forward leads the scoring race in this season’s Champions Cup with seven goals, which includes a penalty shot conversion in the second leg of the semifinals against Tigres to send his side through to Sunday’s final. He also scored a brace in Cruz Azul’s 2-1 win over Club América in the second leg of the quarter-finals.
Editor’s note
John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 25 years for several media outlets, including Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer.
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