ANALYSIS | Until the End: The Whitecaps Playoff Run
Photo Credit: The Provinc
On Sept. 13, the Vancouver Whitecaps’ (Caps) hard work in the 2025 Major League Soccer (MLS) regular season paid off. They were guaranteed a spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs, set to face the formidable FC Dallas squad in the first round.
Anticipation built up among the Vancouver community for the upcoming MLS Cup Playoffs in the eight days without MLS games. For the first time since 2017, the Whitecaps placed in the top three of the Western Conference, making them a serious contender to win the MLS Cup.
On Oct. 26, the Whitecaps kicked off the best-of-three series first round against FC Dallas at a jam-packed BC Place. They took a commanding lead within the first half, playing with an energetic one-two playstyle. They seized an opportunity in the 43rd minute with a cross over the top and finished with a header by Daniel Ríos. Once the second half commenced, the Whitecaps attacked with the same bold energy. They quickly gained a penalty in the 59th minute, and newly-acquired Thomas Müller capitalized. To put salt in the wound for Dallas, Kenji Cabrera scored a tap-in in the 83rd minute, to end with a 3-0 Vancouver victory.
Emmanuel Sabbi put on a standout show for supporters, shifting and dancing through the opposing defenders like a Neymar prototype. He was the heart of the Whitecaps' attack and won the penalty for Müller. Vancouver dominated ball possession at 59 per cent, and the final shots were 22-1 for Vancouver, with the number of shots on target being 10-0.
For game two on Nov. 1, the Caps carried the momentum to Dallas for a road match, with a 1-0 series lead. However, Dallas emerged from their home stadium with newfound hope. They quickly began attacking the Whitecaps’ backline with dynamic runs and perfectly placed passes. Their strategy eventually paid off. Petar Musa shuffled between Tate Johnson and Ralph Priso during a counterattack and slotted it past Yohei Takaoka for a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute. Dallas maintained their offensive threat in the last 20 minutes of the first half but couldn’t get a two-goal insurance marker before halftime. The Whitecaps underperformed in the first half, according to head coach Jesper Sørensen. “We were on the back heel of things in the first half,” he said.
Then, Vancouver started the second half playing with an urgency to score. They remained optimistic throughout the 45 minutes, and in the 93rd minute, Sebastian Berhalter hit an inswinger into the Dallas penalty box. The ball bounced off Müller’s head and gained a lucky bounce for Priso to tap the ball in to equalize the score. This led the game into extra time and penalty kicks. The Caps won 1-1 (4-2) after pens and won the series 2-0, demonstrating their composure under pressure.
However, the Whitecaps did not take their victory too easily. In the latter game, they were almost out-fought by a mediocre team in comparison to their squad and the upcoming opponents. This was a concerning point for the team heading into the next round.
The Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) was set to face the Whitecaps once again in the West Conference Semifinal, coming into the series having eliminated Vancouver in the 2023 and 2024 MLS playoffs. On Nov. 22, LAFC came to the Pacific Northwest and drew in a record-breaking 54,000-person crowd, making it the largest ever audience for an MLS game at BC Place. The stakes were high, as this semifinal game was a knockout single-game elimination.
LAFC kicked off, and the match began. The Whitecaps played their best during the first half, scoring two goals in the 39th minute and the first minute of extra time in the first half, going into the second half with a two-goal lead. Then, in the 59th minute, LAFC striker Son Heung-min scored off a rebound to make the score 2-1 for Vancouver. Still, as time passed with no other goals, things looked better and better for the Whitecaps.
However, Whitecaps centre-back Triston Blackmon gained a second yellow card in the 92nd minute, giving Son an offensive free kick from shooting range. He curled it over the wall, nestling the ball into the top left corner for the equalizer, forcing extra time. As a result of the Whitecaps’ one-man disadvantage, they were forced to “park the bus,” which is when a team plays with all the players defending the net and usually one cherry picking at half, during the 30 minutes of extra-time.
Vancouver’s situation got even worse when Whitecaps defender Belal Halbouni suffered a lower-body injury, forcing the Whitecaps to play with a two-man deficit, since they had already used up all five of their substitutions. Even so, the Whitecaps persevered. After both teams were unable to make a goal in the extra 30 minutes, even with the overtime shot-attempt counter at 25-9 for Los Angeles, the game was forced into a penalty shootout to act as the final tiebreaker.
Unfortunately for LAFC, Son’s goal spree ended; his penalty shot bounced off the right post, reverberating off the woodwork. The stadium erupted in celebration, and the opportunity presented itself for the Whitecaps to take the lead. Sebastian Berhalter scored to give the Whitecaps a 1-0 lead in penalty kicks. Then LAFC’s Denis Bouanga and Whitecaps’ Jayden Nelson scored, making it 2-1 for Vancouver. However, LAFC player Mark Delgado skied the ball over the crossbar, giving the Whitecaps a two-penalty advantage. Whitecaps’ Ryan Gauld made no mistake, making LAFC pay for their missed opportunity, bringing the score 3-1 for Vancouver. However, LAFC’s Andrew Moran scored, and Édier Ocampo missed the next Whitecaps shot. Then LAFC’s Frankie Amaya tied it at three apiece, but Whitecaps’ Mathías Laborda finished it off with the winning penalty shot. Vancouver ultimately came out on top to eliminate LAFC from the MLS playoffs by a score of 4-3 in the penalties.
“If you’re two men down, normally, it’s not possible to get through 25 minutes. But the players did it. They’re extremely disciplined. They’re extremely unselfish. Everybody put everything out on the pitch. And then a little bit of luck in the end,” Sørensen said.
On Nov. 29, the Whitecaps arrived at Snapdragon Stadium to face Western Conference league winners San Diego Football Club (SDFC). The starting lineup emerged from the tunnel with a commanding energy, and when the match started, Vancouver quickly exploited the San Diego backline with a press in the attacking third, gaining possession and with a rapid four-pass combination, ending with striker Brian White’s tap-in at the 8th minute for an early 1-0 lead. Just three minutes later, Sabbi found himself on a counterattack on the wing. He danced past three helpless defenders in style and shot straight to the keeper. The ball ricocheted off Pablo Sisniega, the SDFC goalkeeper, and out to Ali Ahmed right in front of the goal. Ahmed shot it straight at the goal, but the ball bounced off the defender’s shin, into Sisniega and into the back of the net, resulting in an own goal. The night got even worse for San Diego as the Whitecaps kept their momentum for the entire first half, and White completed his brace with another tap-in from a cross from Ahmed to make it 3-0 for Vancouver.
The Whitecaps displayed utter brilliance in the first half with their three-goal start. The second half began with a lifeline for San Diego, as they scored a deflected shot from outside the 18 in the 60th minute. However, the Whitecaps quickly bounced back, and Sabbi nearly scored a fourth for the Whitecaps, but a defender blocked the shot on the goal line with their head.
As if the night couldn’t get worse for Sisniega, in the 79th minute, he was penalized with a red card for a sliding tackle on Gauld on a breakaway. Gauld nearly scored twice in the following three minutes, firing a weak-foot shot into the top shelf only for it to be kept out by the substitute keeper and hitting the right post from a mere six yards out. The Whitecaps ended up taking home the title “Best of the West” after six minutes of extra time.
Though the Whitecaps fell short 3-1 in the MLS Cup Final against Inter Miami CF on Dec. 6, this season will likely go down as one of the best in Whitecaps history.