Vancouver's Cinderella run to MLS Cup falls short but brings hope - ESPN

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — It literally wasn't easy to reach this point.

In what will be a 5,564 mile round-trip, the Vancouver Whitecaps crossed three time zones, an international border, and essentially the continent of North America itself to face global superstar Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates at Saturday's MLS Cup match.

Considering the additional travel they've done this year in separate competitions like the Canadian Championship, and the international Concacaf Champions Cup, there may be no team in CONCACAF — or perhaps world soccer — that has covered the same amount of miles as the Whitecaps.

At the end of that road, Vancouver was halted by a heart-breaking 3-1 loss to Miami at Chase Stadium. Stats and underlying numbers will point to a commendable performance for the Whitecaps, but when you have Messi dishing out late assists, it's near-impossible to stop the demigod of the sport.

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Vancouver closed out 2025 with no MLS Cup title, and yet, that doesn't take away its status as this year's Cinderella story in MLS. In fact, all the miles that the Whitecaps have covered, they pale in comparison to the on-the-field growth they've made in 2025.

Months before qualifying for Saturday's final, winning the Western Conference trophy, and lifting the Canadian Championship, new manager Jesper Sørensen was almost at a loss for words when recognizing that he had already qualified for a (Concacaf Champions Cup) final by May.

«I did not expect this,» the former Danish midfielder, hired in January, admitted to