There was no fairy tale ending. No heroic resistance. No late drama. Just 90 minutes of ruthless, clinical dominance as Cruz Azul tore the Vancouver Whitecaps apart in a 5-0 demolition to lift the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup in Mexico City Sunday.
The result, brutal as it was, sealed a record-equaling seventh continental title for Cruz Azul—drawing them level with arch-rivals Club América and reminding everyone of Liga MX’s stranglehold on this competition.
For the Whitecaps, who had dared to dream of continental glory, the night served as a sobering reminder of the gap that still exists between the summit of North American football and its chasers.
“What to say after a game like this,” said Vancouver defender Ranko Veselinovic post-match. “They were the better team in every aspect. We were not ready for this game tonight… They just came out more aggressive, they scored fast goals, they finished all of their chances and we were just chasing them.”
An avalanche from the opening whistle
Vancouver arrived in Mexico City with history on their minds. They had already become the third Canadian club to reach the final of this competition, and they believed this magical run might just end in silverware. But within minutes of kickoff, those hopes began to unravel.
It started with a self-inflicted wound. In the 8th minute, right back Edier Ocampo lost the ball in a dangerous area under light pressure.
Cruz Azul captain Ignacio Rivero pounced, rifling home to open the floodgates. It was a microcosm of what was to come—Whitecaps errors ruthlessly punished, again and again.
By the 28th minute, it was 2-0.
Andres Cubas was the next to cough up possession and Lorenzo Faravelli made him pay with an outrageous long-range rocket that kissed the post before settling in the net.
Cruz Azul celebrate scoring against Vancouver Whitecaps in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup final Sunday. Photo courtesy Concacaf
As Vancouver staggered under the pressure, Cruz Azul smelled blood.
Angel Sepulveda, who would later walk off with the Golden Boot, scored the third in the 37th minute—tapping home a low cross from the left as the Whitecaps defence stood still.
The Whitecaps’ misery deepened before halftime when Mateusz Bogusz curled in a fourth with surgical precision after a limp clearance landed kindly at his feet.
As the team from Mexico scored four goals from four shots on target, a shell-shocked Vancouver side headed to the dressing room with no shots registered of their own.
Whitecaps make changes but Cruz hold strong
The Caps made a couple of changes to start the second half. But within five minutes, the same story played out: a midfield turnover, a swift Cruz Azul counter, and another clinical finish—this time Sepulveda rising to head home his second and Cruz’s fifth.
It was over long before full-time, yet Cruz Azul never stopped pushing.
They nearly added a sixth in the 69th minute when Vancouver goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka gifted the ball to substitute Giorgos Giakoumakis. Only a desperate diving header from Veselinovic kept the scoreline from becoming even more lopsided.
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At the final whistle, the Estadio Olimpico Universitario erupted. Cruz Azul had delivered one of the most dominant performances in modern Concacaf final history—an exclamation point on a campaign that was both relentless and ruthless.
It was extra emotional for Cruz manager Vicente Sanchez, who took over in January after Martin Anselmi’s departure to FC Porto, and now adds a continental crown to his resume.
For the Whitecaps coach Jesper Sorensen, it was a different story.
“We came with hope and aspiration and ambition, and we leave with devastation,” he said. “Today we couldn’t put up the performance to shake a good team and football at this level can be brutal.”
A brutal end to a magical run
For Vancouver, this wasn’t just a loss—it was an annihilation.
Missing suspended midfield linchpin Sebastian Berhalter, they looked disjointed from the opening whistle. Their defensive structure faltered under pressure, their buildup was error-prone, and their attack never truly materialized.
But despite the final scoreline, the Whitecaps’ run to the final deserves recognition as they became only the third ever Canadian team to qualify for the Concacaf Champions Cup final. The other two teams were CF Montreal and Toronto FC in 2015 and 2018 respectively.
The last time an MLS club won the tournament, however, was in 2022 when Seattle Sounders FC prevailed over Pumas UNAM.
So, while the upper crust of Liga MX still operate on another level, the Vancouver Whitecaps can take pride in knowing that they helped reinforce that MLS and Canadian clubs remain a rising force—and should never be counted out.
