Concacaf Champions Cup ultimate: What you wish to have to grasp 

The Vancouver Whitecaps have slayed some lovely giant dragons to achieve Sunday’s Concacaf Champions Cup ultimate (9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT), together with Inter Miami and Lionel Messi. 

But they face an excellent larger activity in an effort to win the match, which is the Concacaf identical of the UEFA Champions League. Not most effective do the Whitecaps have to overcome Cruz Azul, however they have got to do it on the Mexican membership’s house stadium, Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City. 

The rewards are nice for Vancouver if it pulls it off, as it will develop into most effective the 3rd MLS crew to win this pageant, becoming a member of D.C. United (1998) and the Seattle Sounders (2022). They’d additionally move one higher than Canadian competitors CF Montreal (finalists in 2015) and Toronto FC (finalists in 2018). 

Here’s what you wish to have to learn about this 12 months’s ultimate. 

Sunday’s recreation is a directly knockout ultimate. If the ranking is tied after 90 mins of law time, it is going to move to time beyond regulation and penalty kicks (if vital) to decide the winner. 

Setting the level for Sunday     

Vancouver enters this tournament on a tidal wave of momentum, using a seven-game unbeaten run within the pageant, which contains back-to-back wins over Inter Miami. In MLS, the Whitecaps most sensible the Western Conference and sit down 2nd within the general league desk with a 9-1-5 file. Vancouver is unbeaten in its closing 10 MLS suits with its lone lack of the marketing campaign coming again on March 22. 

Prior to the beginning of the 2025 MLS season, a number of notable league pundits (together with former Canadian girls’s crew famous person Kaylyn Kyle) predicted that Vancouver would end within the backside part of the Western Conference and fail to make the playoffs. That’s been a motivating issue for the Whitecaps and has ended in them taking part in 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 advised Sportsnet.   

Cruz Azul is recently in its low season after completing 3rd within the desk in Liga MX (Mexican first department) and achieving the semifinals of the 2024-25 Clausura marketing campaign. The membership’s closing tournament used to be a 2-1 loss to Club América in the second one leg of the semifinals on May 18. 

How the groups arrived on the ultimate 

Vancouver overcame a 2-1 first leg defeat at the street to Costa Rica’s Deportivo Saprissa by way of posting a 2-0 victory within the go back tournament to win their opening spherical collection. The Whitecaps then controlled to get previous Mexican golf equipment C.F. Monterrey and Club Universidad Nacional by the use of the away targets rule in next rounds. The crew’s very best appearing got here within the semifinals when it posted consecutive wins over MLS competitors Inter Miami and Lionel Messi to guide its spot within the ultimate. 

“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 mentioned. 

Cruz Azul posted a complete 7-0 mixture win over Haitian facet Real Hope FA within the first spherical. They dispatched the Seattle Sounders within the spherical of 16 after which bested fellow Mexican outfits Club América and Tigres within the quarterfinals and semifinals. 

Vancouver Whitecaps on a undertaking 

What the Vancouver Whitecaps have already accomplished this season, each in MLS and the Concacaf Champions Cup, has been actually fantastic 

And it’s the entire extra wonderful whilst you imagine that Danish trainer Jesper Sørensen has been in rate for lower than six months. Or that the membership’s possession staff, which contains former NBA famous person Steve Nash, declared simply ahead of Christmas it used to be going to place the crew up on the market. 

Sørensen has tuned out the entire noise and controlled to get the very maximum out of a massively proficient, however steadily lost sight of, Whitecaps facet this is proving all the doubters unsuitable. Vancouver has quietly however optimistically long gone about its trade, getting the easier of one of the crucial most sensible golf equipment in each MLS and Concacaf whilst competing on more than one fronts.  

Jayden Nelson has performed a key position within the Whitecaps’ run to the general with a couple of assists in six appearances within the Champions Cup match. The younger Canadian’s very best appearing got here in Vancouver’s 2-0 house win over Inter Miami within the first leg of the semifinals. Nelson’s lend a hand on teammate Sebastian Berhalter’s 85th-minute objective sealed the victory and set the level for the crew’s 3-1 street win within the go back leg. Nelson, 22, known as the win in Miami an enormous second for the membership. 

“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 mentioned. 

Berhalter installed a man-of-the-match appearing in Vancouver’s 2nd leg win over Inter Miami when he scored one objective and added two assists. But the American is suspended for the general because of yellow card accumulation, robbing the Whitecaps of a key participant for probably the most largest suits within the membership’s historical past. 

Founded in 1927, Cruz Azul is without doubt one of the maximum prestigious and a hit groups in Mexico. The Mexico City-based membership has received 9 home league championships and has gave the impression in 8 Concacaf Champions Cup finals because the inaugural match in 1962. 

Cruz Azul has received the Concacaf match on six events (1969, 1970, 1971, 1996, 1997 and 2014). Only fellow Mexican outfit Club América has received it extra steadily (seven instances). 

Coached by way of former Uruguay world Vicente Sánchez, Cruz Azul boasts a number of Mexican nationwide crew avid gamers, together with defender Jesús Orozco and midfielder Carlos Rodríguez. Greek world striker and previous MLS famous person Giorgos Giakoumakis additionally options for Los Celestes (The Sky-Blues). 

Brian White, Vancouver Whitecaps — The American ahead has been lighting fixtures out for Vancouver this season with 15 targets in 21 video games in all competitions, together with 5 within the Concacaf Champions Cup (tied for Lionel Messi for 2nd general). His very best outings got here when he bagged a brace in Vancouver’s 2nd leg win over Deportivo Saprissa within the first spherical and when he netted the winner as opposed to Inter Miami within the first leg of the semifinals. 

Ángel Sepúlveda, Cruz Azul — The veteran Mexican ahead leads the scoring race on this season’s Champions Cup with seven targets, which incorporates a penalty shot conversion in the second one leg of the semifinals towards Tigres to ship his facet thru to Sunday’s ultimate. He additionally scored a brace in Cruz Azul’s 2-1 win over Club América in the second one leg of the quarter-finals.