Soccer
MEXICO CITY – Brian White and Vancouver Whitecaps FC have been asked some variant of the same question over and over again on their inspiring journey to the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup final, where they will battle Cruz Azul for the continent’s highest honor at historic Estadio Olímpico Universitario on Sunday evening (9 pm ET | FS1, OneSoccer; TUDN, ViX).
No one feels the need to pose it this time.
“I think every round we’ve gone through, everyone says it’s the biggest game in club history,” the US international told reporters with a slight smile during Saturday’s matchday-1 press conference.
“So we just continue to build off of those good moments, those memories, and hopefully we can make another one tomorrow.”
Dream run
Their head coach, Jesper Sørensen, arrived in January with zero prior North American experience. He leads a roster with few widely-recognized names – and their highest-paid, most-accomplished star, Scottish international Ryan Gauld, has been injured since early March and remains unavailable for Sunday.
Vancouver themselves readily admit how unlikely this whole situation is.
“It’s brilliant to be here. So I will, of course, see if I can take joy at the moment as well,” said Sørensen. “This is a special game, this is a special tournament. Coming into Vancouver not a long time ago, I did not expect to be here today, but now I’m here, and we want to take advantage of it.
“We know Cruz Azul’s great, great history; a huge club in Mexico, also won this tournament six times, I believe. So we’re up against a giant. But we would like to create our own history, so we’ll focus more on ourselves and what we can do and what we can achieve.”
Road travels
The ‘Caps touched down in this sprawling, vibrant city late Friday night, and in contrast to the experiences many US and Canadian clubs and national teams have endured in CDMX over the decades, it’s a place with positive connotations for them.
Vancouver knocked off Pumas UNAM in the CCC quarterfinals with some dramatic last-gasp heroics in the second leg at this very same stadium, Tristan Blackmon’s injury-time equalizer sending the Whitecaps through on away goals just five minutes after an Ignacio Pussetto strike seemed to have sunk their hopes.
That dogged resilience, one of several examples on their path to this point, fuels their belief in yet another upset of a favored LIGA MX heavyweight, which is shared by the 800-plus supporters expected to make the trip south to cheer them on in person.
“It’s amazing. This is a historic stadium with a lot of history, not only in football matches,” Whitecaps captain Ranko Veselinović said of the 73-year-old venue, the primary site of the 1968 Summer Olympics and a stage for the likes of Diego Maradona, Michel Platini and Giuseppe Baresi at the 1986 FIFA World Cup. “So we already have good memories in this stadium and they’re going to stay with us for the rest of our careers.
“But tomorrow it can change: tomorrow it’s either going to be one of the nicest stadiums in our lives, or it’s going to be one of the stadiums we’re going to be sad. But I hope we can do it, because we did last time. It was an amazing feeling; we all remember the celebrations after the game here against Pumas. So I hope it can be the same tomorrow and that we can go home with that feeling that we made something special.”
Brian White with a historic goal-scoring run! ⭐️
⚽️ vs Monterrey
⚽️⚽️ vs Saprissa
⚽️⚽️ vs Inter Miami
???? 2 POTM pic.twitter.com/3GjIKTlELx— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) May 31, 2025
Underdog role
The squad from “Rain City” will certainly be familiar with the weather conditions. Rainy season is in full swing in Mexico’s capital, with storms dropping ample precipitation almost every afternoon or evening in recent days, and more of the same is expected on Sunday.
Cruz Azul will undoubtedly enjoy the advantages that come from being at home in the city and its lung-burning high altitude, as well as a preponderance of their fans on matchday; notably, Vancouver goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka said how the ball flies differently in the thin mountain air is just as challenging to adapt to as the shortness of breath.
Still, this isn’t exactly their house. Los Cementeros have only been playing home games here since the start of the year, due to issues around both of their previously preferred venues, Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes and Estadio Azteca, in particular the latter’s major renovations ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
With a talent-laden squad and one of Mexico’s biggest fanbases, “La Máquina” are expected to win on Sunday. Yet they’re wary of the Whitecaps, keenly aware of the big names they’ve already taken down to reach this point: Deportivo Saprissa, CF Monterrey, Pumas and Inter Miami CF. One more win and they join Seattle Sounders FC (2022 winners) as the only MLS clubs to win the modern iteration of this prestigious tournament.
“They’re a very dynamic team,” star striker Ángel Sepúlveda told Concacaf.com. “They’ve earned respect by eliminating some very important teams. They weren’t considered the favorite in each round, and well, they eliminated everyone.”
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) May 30, 2025
One more?
Cruz Azul haven’t played a match since Club América eliminated them from the LIGA MX Clausura playoffs at the semifinal stage on May 18. VWFC, conversely, have waded through four games since that weekend, including a 0-0 draw with Minnesota United on Wednesday. Yet their technical staff actually sees that as a positive, with both results and sports-science data indicating their squad has thus far performed better during multi-game weeks.
These ‘Caps, who carry a 15-match unbeaten streak across all competitions, are gamers.
“Of course, there’s a risk when you play games, that you get injuries, and you don’t want to end up with not being able to put out the players that you’d like to,” said Sørensen, who has to replace suspended midfielder Sebastian Berhalter in his starting XI (yellow card accumulation).
“On the other hand, you keep yourself sharp and you have to keep yourself focused and maybe distracted a little bit – you can also overthink sometimes. What the best lead-in for the game is, I don’t have a formula for that. But we will not have excuses come tomorrow.”
Read MoreAugustine Haslett