Could 3, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Whitecaps FC defender Tristan Blackmon (33) battles for the ball towards Actual Salt Lake foward William Agada (9) through the second half at BC Place. Necessary Credit score: Simon Fearn-Imagn Photographs
The Vancouver Whitecaps will look to strengthen their place atop the MLS standings on Sunday once they welcome a Los Angeles FC aspect that’s making an attempt to play its method again into rivalry following a gradual begin.
The Whitecaps (8-1-2, 26 factors) have been the story of MLS in 2025.
Vancouver earned its first-ever look within the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup remaining with its semifinal sequence win over Lionel Messi and Inter Miami late final month. And remarkably, the Whitecaps additionally performed to the most effective file within the league whereas balancing each competitions.
Supervisor Jesper Sorensen’s aspect has received back-to-back league matches and is unbeaten in its final six in MLS play.
The Whitecaps dispatched Actual Salt Lake 2-1 at house final Saturday on objectives from Jayden Nelson and Tristan Blackmon. That got here solely three days after finishing their CONCACAF semifinal triumph in South Florida.
Now Sorensen’s crew hits the sector following one thing uncommon: eight days between matches.
“You at all times welcome a bit of break,” Sorensen stated. “We’ve performed 19 video games already. So perhaps it is a good event to get one thing finished on the coaching floor as nicely. However however … yeah now we have momentum. And you do not need to break that up should you can keep away from it.”
LAFC (5-4-2, 17 factors) was thought of among the many early MLS Cup favorites when the season started, and supervisor Steve Cherundolo’s aspect might but attain that standing.
However their early league type was inconsistent as they performed by way of to the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals, the place they misplaced to Miami.
The response to that exit has been a four-match unbeaten run, with the latest efficiency — a 2-0 house win over the Houston Dynamo on objectives from Nathan Ordaz and Jeremy Ebobisse — arguably probably the most full Cherundolo has seen this season. It adopted attracts at Portland and residential to St. Louis.
“We began enjoying higher with the ball and creating extra probabilities in Portland. Made some defensive errors. St. Louis was extra of the identical,” Cherundolo stated after the Houston win. “After which tonight I noticed a extra full efficiency on each side of the ball and was very proud of the best way we performed tonight.”
–Subject Stage Media
