It wasn’t easy and they were not the better team but the Vancouver Whitecaps have won the Telus Canadian Championship for the third time in a row.
Toronto FC controlled most of the play and were more dangerous. If not for the heroics of Isaac Boehmer, the Whitecaps hearts would have been broken at BC Place. But the Whitecaps prevailed and Bjorn Inge Utvik converted the winning penalty kick. The grip was slipping on their title, but the Whitecaps held on. Heavy is the crown for Vancouver.
Vancouver will be back in the CONCACAF Champions Cup next season as well. Winning the Canadian Championship was a big objective for the club heading into the season.
But the biggest objective is a deep run in the MLS Cup Playoffs. The Whitecaps celebrated their Voyageurs Cup win but they knew that they couldn’t party too hard because even bigger games are coming up.
After the match, Brian White was asked if he was going to Disneyland.
“Nah, there is no time,” he said.
Crunch time for the Whitecaps
“Unfortunately, we cannot really get crazy because we are in crunch time,” said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini on how he and his team would celebrate the Canadian Championship victory “It’s not like last year. It was in the middle of the season and you could quote unquote throw away the next game. And by the way, we tied against Cincinnati, the best team in the league.”
The Whitecaps are still in a playoff race. Up next are the Portland Timbers as they come to town on Saturday. A win would be massive in the ultra-tight Western Conference.
“I hope it brings us the push and the awareness that we have a good team,” said Sartini. “We’re going to push and go to the playoffs and go into the second round. The other thing is that now we qualified for the Champions Cup. If we get out of the first round of the playoffs, we have to start very early again like we did last year…We’re going to do a really good job because if we do…and we make the second round, we play in the Champions Cup in the second slot. We can start in the middle of January instead of the beginning of January.”
After Portland, it’s home against the Seattle Sounders, Minnesota United and LAFC. Then they play away to Real Salt Lake on Decision Day.
Sartini’s Whitecaps legacy
It is fair to say that Sartini is the most successful coach of the Whitecaps MLS era. Not only for the three Canadian Championships but he has the highest points per game rate of their MLS era.
“If I can be tied to the name of this club forever because we won three championships in a row, I’m so honoured and I’m so happy because I really love this club,” said Sartini on his Whitecaps legacy. “I really love this city. I really love the people that I work with and I am so happy to be a Whitecap. I’m really, really proud to be the coach of this team.”
There is a lot of pride from Sartini and the club in the Canadian Championship win. The fans are proud too.
Unfortunately, one another negative of the game was the crowd. Only 12,516 showed up at BC Place to watch the Whitecaps lift the Voyageurs Cup.
As great as the win was, the Whitecaps have the opportunity to draw bigger crowds and have more nights like Wednesday at BC Place. Sartini has the chance to add to his legacy and the players have the chance to captivate the city. That starts with getting into the playoffs and going on a deep playoff run.