Vancouver Whitecaps advance to the Semi-Finals of the 2025 Telus Canadian Championship on a late goal

MEGAN SWAIN/ GATG

July 9, 2025, the Vancouver Whitecaps took on Valour FC in leg 2 of their quarter-final matchup in the 2025 Telus Canadian Championship. With the first leg ending in a 2-2 draw, the aggregate score was tied. Whoever won leg 2 would move on.

The match against Valour marked Brian White and Sebastian Berhalter’s return from international duty for team USA. They played in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, making it to the finals where they lost 2-1 to Mexico.

The Whitecaps heavily dominated the first, doing a great job of moving the ball and keeping Valour in their end. 

Édier Ocampo got a pass to White, who got a shot, but put it just over the net. The Whitecaps heavily influenced the play in the first half, but could not find a way to make it onto the score sheet for a 0-0 tie at halftime.

Pressure was still heavily put on Valour by the Whitecaps at the beginning of the second. They were getting a lot of opportunities, but having no luck capitalizing on them.

Jayden Nelson had 2 great opportunities close together. The first was a result of him doing a spin move to get through the Valour defenders, but Nelson’s shot was just wide of the net. His second opportunity came a few minutes later from a pass by Berhalter, who passed the ball through the Valour players straight to a lone Nelson. Nelson got a clean shot off, but the Valour goalkeeper faced it head on to stop it.

The pressure from the Whitecaps was relentless, and they finally broke the deadlock in the 80’ by a pass from Ranko Veselinović to Emmanuel Sabbi, who put the ball into the corner of the net to take the 1-0 lead. Sabbi celebrated with his iconic backflip.

After the Whitecaps goal, the pressure was quickly shifted onto them by Valour, who soon after capitalized on it. In the 86’, Valour received a corner kick, and scored the equalizer with their first shot on target.

But, the Whitecaps swiftly struck back in the 90’ with Bjørn Inge Utvik’s first goal as a Whitecap. Utvik’s last-minute, tie-breaking goal was the game winner and propelled the team to a 2-1 victory.

The Whitecaps are the last Major League Soccer (MLS) team left in the 2025 Telus Canadian Championship as Forge FC eliminated CF Montréal in their quarter-final matchup.

The draw for the semi-final matchup pits the Whitecaps against Forge FC who will be seeking to eliminate the last MLS team and reigning champions. The matchups will take place on August 13, 2025 in Hamilton, Ontario and September 16, 2025 at BC Place.

The Whitecaps now have a 3 game MLS road trip against the Colorado Rapids, Houston Dynamo FC, and San Diego FC before they play again at BC Place on July 26 against Sporting Kansas City.