The Vancouver Whitecaps made club history on Saturday, defeating LAFC in penalty kicks after falling to nine men, advancing to their first Western Conference Final in front of 53,397 fans.
Since joining MLS in 2011, the Canadian side had not made it past the Conference Semifinals. The last two seasons, LAFC dashed their playoff dreams in the first round—but another loss to the Black and Gold wasn’t acceptable this year.
With that in mind, perennial winner Thomas Müller sent a text.
“He’s calm,” USMNT midfielder Sebastian Berhalter said of Müller’s prematch message. “He sent a text and told everyone just to take deep breaths, if anyone’s feeling anything, do some box breathing and be ready. When you get a text like that at 11 p.m., you’re like ‘here we go.’”
It took 120 minutes, penalties, a red card, a blown 2–0 lead, some world-class goals and a few crossbars, but the Whitecaps finally saw off their demons. They finally slayed their dragon.
WE SLAYED THE DRAGON 🤩🔥#VWFC | #OwnTheSummit pic.twitter.com/IWf3P0XWmZ
— X - Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) November 23, 2025
That text may have gone through the minds of the Whitecaps, who stepped up to the penalty spot as well, and especially Mathías Laborda, whose kick ended the match after Son Heung-min and Mark Delgado missed their attempts.
“That was the brutal beauty of our game. I am so proud of the group. We suffered,” Müller said postmatch, despite subbing out before extra time and penalties. “It’s unbelievable that we achieved it.”
Digging Deep
While Müller was on the bench, the Whitecaps dug deep. Berhalter put in another outstanding performance, DP midfielder Ryan Gauld, who recently came back from a seven-month injury, showed well, and 17-year-old Rayan Elloumi held his own.
It was a whole team effort, and by the end, it may have been a bit of luck. But this is no longer a Vancouver Whitecaps team that can’t win the big game, even against Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-min.
“That was a funny game, over the course of two hours, you can go through everything,” manager Jesper Sørensen told reporters postmatch, having continued his stellar debut season with the club. “You have to believe that you can do it... and yeah, you need a little bit of luck in the end, but we got that, and we will not complain about it.”
Beating LAFC is Just One Step
The Whitecaps are closer to an MLS Cup final than they have ever been before.
Technically, they’re just 180 minutes away from lifting the trophy, and could even host two more games if Minnesota United defeats San Diego FC, and New York City FC emerges from the Eastern Conference.
Yet, just getting past LAFC was a critical goal, and one that had evaded the Whitecaps for years. If they weren’t able to push through, the record-breaking regular season and run to the Concacaf Champions Cup final could drift into distant thought.
Relive the best moments from an all-time Audi MLS Cup Playoffs game. 🍿@WhitecapsFC vs. @LAFC | Western Conference Semifinals pic.twitter.com/FDUM4y4k5r
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) November 23, 2025
But that’s the thing here: there are still two games to go. Beating LAFC is a milestone, but they’re only halfway there, and they’re certainly dreaming of brighter lights ahead and a run to their first MLS Cup, potentially at home.
“Everybody chipped in. It’s not just me, but also the players. They have a good belief and we believed in ourselves,” Sørensen added. “We have faced so much adversity this year with injuries and with players away ... we just talked about how we could who to focus on, and how we could try to survive a little bit maybe, and it worked out.”
Vancouver Fans Show Out
With Müller, Son and a rivalry on display, the Whitecaps not only made history on the pitch, but in the stands as well, breaking the club’s MLS-era record for highest attendance with 53,397 packing into BC Place Stadium, which will host 2026 World Cup matches in seven months.
The sold-out building surpassed the Whitecaps’ previous MLS-era attendance record set in April when they defeated Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in front of 53,837 in the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal.
“I couldn’t hear my teammates on the pitch,” Laborda said. “I was looking around, like, where is everybody? But that was really nice, and hopefully we can repeat that.”
These two. 🫶 @WhitecapsFC // Audi MLS Cup Playoffs pic.twitter.com/TAPaJsRDMi
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) November 23, 2025
Every fan was given a rally towel as well, a tradition that has exploded across North American sports but has seldom come to stadiums or soccer matches, often reserved for the smaller venues of the NHL and NBA.
But, in the city that helped invent the trend through an NHL coach’s protest between the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks in 1982, it seemed fitting that the crowd should be covered in the waving towels.
Now, the Whitecaps hope to go a few steps further. They’ve captured the imagination of the city once again in 2025, and with LAFC out of the way, anything feels possible.
“I’m so happy for everybody creating these moments together with the almost 54,000 people and getting this kind of game,” Sørensen added. “I just think that the joy you can have with sports together is amazing, and it’s an amazing feeling for everybody. It was unbelievable.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Brutal Beauty’—How Müller’s Whitecaps Vanquished MLS Cup Playoff Demons, LAFC.
