(Photo: @whitecapsfc, x.com)
An MLS-era record crowd of 53,837 fans were in attendance at BC Place on Thursday April 24, witnessing Vancouver Whitecaps FC defeat Inter Miami CF 2-0 at the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals. Whitecaps FC have been flying to start the 2025 season, as of the time of writing, currently sitting first overall in the MLS standings after nine matches with a record of 6W-1L-2D.
“It was a great and amazing evening and amazing atmosphere, playing in an amazing stadium for great fans and everybody coming out,” Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sørensen said post-match. “It was exciting, obviously. If you can’t be excited about a night like tonight, then it’s difficult.”
Brian White scored the first goal with a stunning header, assisted by Pedro Vite with a beautiful cross into the box. Sebastain Berhalter secured the win with another goal, assisted by Jayden Nelson in the 85th minute. Yohei Takaoka kept his seventh clean sheet of the season (MLS 5, CCC 2), the Whitecaps FC now take a 2-0 advantage into the decisive second leg.
Brian White has now tied Carl Valentine for fourth on the club’s all time scoring list with 65th goal for the Whitecaps.
“I think it’s fair to say that a lot of people who have seen us play have been happy with the attack… but we’ve been a good defensive team,” said Sørensen. “We also showed that today – that even when the way we would like to play doesn’t really work, and we make too many bad passes, and we lose the ball way too easy, then we can still rely on our structure and rely on our defense side.”
Added Berhalter: “Just the resilience, the character, the fight to keep going. We talked about this all week; we know we can do this. This is not a surprise to us.”
It’s not the first time Inter Miami has found themselves in a similar position during the Concacaf Champions Cup. Back in April 10th, Lionel Messi scored two goals and assisted on another to see Inter Miami’s impressive 3-1 comeback victory (3-2 aggregate) over LAFC at Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal.
“We have nothing to lose. We have to win the game, we have to score two goals. The pressure is on Vancouver now to keep the result,” Former Argentina National Team captain/ Miami coach Javier Mascherano said ahead of the second semifinal.
“I still believe in this team and I know that we are going to find a way to play a good game in Miami and try to come back,” Mascherano added.
The semifinal series now shifts to Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the second leg on Wednesday, April 30 at 5 p.m. PT.
Prior to the second leg of the semifinal, Whitecaps are back in the MLS on Sunday, April27 playing away at Minnesota United FC and hosting Real Salt Lake on Saturday, May 3 at BC Place.