Whitecaps take two steps towards Concacaf Final

Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0 Inter Miami

VANCOUVER, BC–Before the largest crowd in their MLS-era (53,837), Vancouver Whitecaps took a 2-0 advantage in the first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal against Inter Miami. As far as Whitecaps all-time history goes, only one crowd was bigger, and that was in BC Place’s inaugural match on June 20th, 1983, against Seattle that drew 60,342.

Photo by Gerrit te Hennepe

The Whitecaps took the lead in the 24th minute as Pedro Vite’s chip towards the box found #24 Brian White who headed the ball in past Oscar Ustari. The Whitecaps went looking for more goals while at the same time, kept Lionel Messi and company at bay holding them to just ten shots–two on target.

Photo: Gerrit te Hennepe

Vancouver would double their advantage five minutes from time after Jayden Nelson sent a low cross across goal that went behind both White and Emmanuel Sabbi, but not Sebastian Berhalter who put the ball in.

“It was great, great support,” said head coach Jesper Sørensen after the match. “I think it was everybody [who]put all the energy in that they had. And of course, I’m very proud of every player who stepped on the pitch because we also knew that this was a special occasion and we had to put everything on the pitch, and every player put everything on the pitch.”

The job is not done yet as the second leg is next Wednesday at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale (4:30pm PT, FS1/ONE Soccer).

“Got one more game,” said Berhalter. “We can’t get ahead of ourselves. Thank the fans for coming out here and making an incredible atmosphere, but we’ve got one more game so we gotta take care of business.”

Before that, both teams return to league play on Sunday. The Whitecaps travel to Minnesota United (noon PT, Apple TV) while Inter Miami host FC Dallas in Fort Lauderdale(5pm ET, Apple TV).

For more of Gerrit te Hennepe’s photos from the night at BC Place, please click on the link to his gallery.