{"id":329887,"date":"2025-12-07T07:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T07:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/329887\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T07:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T07:47:07","slug":"vancouver-whitecaps-shed-proud-tears-as-mls-cup-dream-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/329887\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver Whitecaps shed ‘proud tears’ as MLS Cup dream ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Vancouver Whitecaps<\/a> coach Jesper S\u00f8rensen admitted that he shed “proud tears” after his underdog roster lost 3-1<\/a> to Lionel Messi<\/a>‘s Inter Miami<\/a> in Saturday’s MLS Cup final.<\/p>\n

The Canadian franchise, which had been boosted by the midseason arrival of Bayern Munich<\/a> legend Thomas M\u00fcller<\/a>, was seeking its first MLS Cup title<\/p>\n

– Miami’s maiden MLS Cup title caps off a long ambitious project<\/a>
– Messi bids ‘special’ farewell to Alba, Busquets with MLS Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

“We have grown together throughout the season, so now we are a very strong group,” said Sorensen, an MLS Coach of the Year finalist who revived Vancouver in 2025.<\/p>\n

“Today, obviously we cry, but I think what is important is that it is proud tears, and the tears have to be proud, because I know that we have excited a lot of people in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

“We have created something around us that people want to see and watch.”<\/p>\n

Thomas M\u00fcller and the Vancouver Whitecaps fell one win short of a first MLS Cup title.\u00a0Elsa\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Heading into the season, expectations were low for a team that has been traditionally viewed as mid-to-lower-tier club. MLS’ in-house experts predicted them to finish second-to-last in the Western Conference before the 2025 season kicked off.<\/p>\n

S\u00f8rensen and the Whitecaps exceeded those expectations as not only the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, but also as first-time MLS Cup finalists. Nonetheless, those proud tears are still painful for the first-year coach.<\/p>\n

“When you reach out for something, it hurts even more when you don’t get it,” said S\u00f8rensen. “These games, they’re decided in a few moments. And, of course, when you play Miami, they have players that can take advantage of these moments. They shook up our confidence a little bit, that’s what can happen.”<\/p>\n

Initially down 1-0 through an own goal, Vancouver later took charge as the game progressed and found an equalizer in the 60th minute through Ali Ahmed<\/a>. But after the 70th minute, Miami turned up their pressure and cemented a 3-1 win led by two assists from Messi.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, congratulations to Miami. This has been a season where we’ve seen a Miami team, and a Vancouver team, set their mark on the season,” said S\u00f8rensen.<\/p>\n

Miami’s title marks their first MLS Cup crown. As for Vancouver, their 2025 remains a positive one with a 2025 Canadian Championship, Western Conference trophy and appearances in the Concacaf Champions Cup final and MLS Cup final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Vancouver Whitecaps coach Jesper S\u00f8rensen admitted that he shed “proud tears” after his underdog…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-329887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}