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Photo Courtesy: Canada Soccer
Three-Peat: Vancouver Whitecaps Bests TFC On Penalties To Lift Voyageurs Cup
By The Vancouver Whitecaps have won their third straight Canadian Championship, defeating Toronto FC 4-2 on penalties after regular time went scoreless at BC Place.
The match had silverware, Canadian bragging rights, and a spot in the 2025 CONCAF Champions Cup on the line,
Toronto would set the pace early on and get ball rolling quickly: thirty seconds into the clash, Federico Bernardeschi would strike a left-footed ball that looked very promising, yet young goalkeeper Isaac Boehmer would tip it away.
The Reds would get another grasp at opening the scoring in the 38th minute of the first half as some quick footwork in the box from Richie Laryea would see get taken down by Matias Laborda, with the referee signaling for a penalty.
Bernardeschi would step up from the spot, yet he would not be able to convert it as Boehmer came up big within the sticks, turning the crowd’s boos at the referee’s call into pure celebration after the stunning save.
Toronto FC would continue to dominate much of the play as the hosts struggled to connect passes in the first half. The first 45 would finish heavily in the Reds favour, with the visitors controlling 71% of possession and having had the biggest chance to score.
Herdman’s side would come out with the same level of intensity in the second half as they sought an opening goal. In the 53rd minute, a unmarked Laryea would get the ball inside the box and send it rolling towards the net – yet, as the story has been the whole first half, younger keeper Isaac Boehmer would get a hand on it to keep it away from harms way.
The remaining time in regulation would be a back and forth between both sides not being able to find the back of the net and, thus, the game went straight to penalties.
It’s here that the Whitecaps would showcase their confidence, highlighted by Boehmer providing the same heroics he displayed all ninety minutes. The keeper would come up big to block Kosi Thompson’s penalty, with Matty Longstaff hitting his spot-kick into the crossbar.
TFC keeper Sean Johnson would make one save as he would fend away Stuart Armstrong’s penalty effort, but at the end of the night the hosts would lift their third consecutive Voyageurs Cup as defender Bjorn Inge Utvik would step up and with calmness to seal the trophy for the Whitecaps, marking their fourth Canadian Championship win.
Toronto may have dominated the game, but an MVP performance from Boehmer and several missed chances proved to be costly for the Reds.
“Let’s be honest, TFC played better then us,” said VWFC head coach Vanni Sartini post-game. “Today we weren’t able to do the things we were supposed to do, and they were the better team, but just because we grinded, grinded.. and Isaac was fantastic.”
The aforementioned Isaac Boehmer only took the George Gross Trophy for MVP performance, but also took away the Best young Canadian player award as well.
The win cemented the Whitecaps’ three-peat, with Sartini’s side having won the Canadian Championship in 2022 and 2023 ahead of this year’s victorious finale. There’s little time to celebrate, however, with the club hosting Cascadia rivals Portland on Saturday.
For the Reds, stacking up another cup final loss on penalties will be frustrating and will certainly sting for a while, but eyes must shift forward with just three games remaining in the MLS regular season. Given that their post-season berth is not secured, the chase to lock that in will continue on Saturday through an away trip to Chicago. The reverse fixture earlier this season saw the Chicago Fire take a 4-1 win over Toronto at BMO Field.
Header Image Photo Courtesy: Canada Soccer
