The Whitecaps have had success against Miami, so they’re hoping the MLS Cup is no different

Vancouver has already bested Inter Miami in a big competition this year, so the Whitecaps feel there’s really no reason they can’t do it again in the MLS Cup final.

Back in late April, the Whitecaps downed Lionel Messi & Co. 5-1 on aggregate in the two-legged CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals. The first game ended in a 2-0 Vancouver victory at BC Place, followed by a 3-1 win in Florida.

“We’ve just got to trust our game. We’ve gone down there before and played them here, too, this year and put on a great performance, got two really good results. So we’ve proved that we can do it when the stakes are already high in a semifinal. Now, it’s the final,” midfielder Ryan Gauld said. “So we have to go do it again.”

At that time, Vancouver was on a roll, sitting atop the league standings with just one loss through 10 games. Striker Brian White already had six of his team-leading 16 goals this season.

The Whitecaps would go on to finish 18-7-9, second in the Western Conference to FC San Diego — the team they beat 3-1 in the conference finals last weekend to reach Saturday’s championship match in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

It is the first time Vancouver will play for the MLS Cup. Gauld and his teammates already know the challenges posed by a team featuring Messi, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez.

“I think the threat they bring is obvious with the individuals that they’ve got that can make a piece of magic out of nothing. They’re the kind of players you can keep quiet for eight, nine minutes, and then they just spark into life,” Gauld said. “So it’s going to be about staying switched on and then doing our job for the 90, 120 minutes, whatever it is.”

Last season, the Whitecaps finished eighth in the standings and routed Portland in a wild-card game before falling to LAFC in the first round of the playoffs.

Vancouver has qualified for the playoffs in three of the past five years but hasn’t advanced out of the first round in that span. Since the Whitecaps joined the league in 2011, the furthest they’ve gone is the quarterfinals, in 2015 and 2017.

This is Vancouver’s first season under Danish coach Jesper Sørensen, who has kept the team focused amid the uncertainty of a possible sale and the addition of a German superstar.

Vancouver’s owners announced late last year that the club was for sale. Greg Kerfoot has been the owner since 2002, when it was part of the North American Soccer League. Steve Luczo, Jeff Mallett and former NBA star Steve Nash joined Kerfoot in 2008 before the Whitecaps became part of MLS in 2011. Mallett suggested in August that the group’s strategy may have shifted to adding a new partner.

There’s also the matter of the team’s stadium. The Whitecaps’ lease at BC Place expires at the end of the year and there’s not a lot of movement on a new soccer-specific stadium. MLS Commissioner Don Garber said during his annual State of the League address that the team is looking for a move favorable lease, or it might have to make “tough decisions.”

The Whitecaps also added World Cup winner Thomas Müller this summer after 17 seasons with Bayern Munich. But rather than upstaging his teammates, Müller has taken on the role of facilitator.

“We have not only one player, we have so many strong guys, so many qualities,” Müller said after the victory over San Diego. “We have to bring it together, and we are growing, we’re learning. I’m very happy to be part of this, to bring my experience to the group.”

Sørensen said he never really expected the Whitecaps to be playing for the MLS Cup.

“But as the season went by, you start seeing that you have the quality to maybe take it far,” he said. “And now here we are.”

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer