Whitecaps' triumphant, spirit-filled season comes up short in MLS Cup final

Even after losing in heartbreaking fashion in the MLS Cup final — 3-1 to Inter Miami at Chase Stadium in Florida — we must not lose sight of what a truly remarkable season this has been for the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The year began full of doubt: A coach only hired on the eve of the season; ownership openly looking to sell; talk about a new stadium.

And, yet, they persevered. They believed.

Jesper Sorensen, who wasn’t even the original choice to be Vanni Sartini’s successor as head coach, proved to be the perfect one for a team that needed a bigger tactical and technical push that the personable Sartini could off.

Sorensen gave his team a heightened focus. He pushed a team that was already quick, that already played with a relentless mentality, to be even more relentless, to play even faster. To take an already strong, positive, outgoing team culture to the next level. The players are treated right, the staff are treated right, the fans are treated right.

They nearly won the CONCACAF Champions Cup through their own self-belief. The talent was essential, of course, but the club’s spirit, even as they lost their leader in Ryan Gauld to injury, shone through.

It carried them to the top of the league in the first half and put them in a position where a player as fabulous as Thomas Müller took an interest.

Adding Müller, of course, was truly the stuff of dreams. Never the quickest of foot, its always a risk to add a player entering his late 30s. But Müller proved to be the player the Whitecaps needed — and perhaps even then some.

He was a brilliant influence on a squad that already extended itself over and above an already strong self-belief.

They were a little lucky to best LAFC, especially once they went down to nine men but, then again, this is why you play the game. They’d beaten Miami in April, knocking out the eventual league champions from the Champions Cup in truly impressive fashion. Miami did have Lionel Messi but they weren’t firing on all cylinders.

Still, no one back then thought the Whitecaps would beat Miami. But they did — and they did so in impressive fashion.

They only got better from there. Their defeat of San Diego in the Western Conference final last week was perhaps their best game of the season, and even in there, the team wasn’t at full strength. It was that spirit, that focus, that understanding of what made them great, that took them through.

In Saturday’s final, they were undeserving losers. They were, truly, the better team for the bulk of the match.

But elite sport is about winning the moments and, at two crucial times on defence, the Whitecaps failed. Edier Ocampo was brutally unlucky to concede an own goal in the first half, having hustled back defensively to cut off a cross-goal pass attempt. Instead of blocking the ball or knocking it to safety, the ball screwed on him, sailing into his own goal.

A weaker team — a team not worthy of playing their third final of the season, as the Whitecaps were — might have crumbled. But they didn’t. Instead, they took their game up a notch. They neutralized Messi and his star teammates.

But they couldn’t find a moment of glory for themselves. They had plenty of possession and got plenty of balls into dangerous areas but never quite the bounce or spin or placement they needed.

After a dominant 25 minutes to close the first half, you worried they’d lose momentum in the second. But, again, this team’s spirit showed why they were worthy finalists.

They kept pressing, they kept overrunning the Miami midfield. Ali Ahmed started breaking down the outside of the Miami backline. So did Emmanuel Sabbi. Müller wasn’t as present as you’d like, he’d come into the game carrying a calf injury, but he made beautiful touches when he could.

When Ahmed did score shortly after the hour mark, the win started to feel inevitable.

But the other moment happened. After repulsing a sudden Miami attack in a typically calm, steady fashion, Andres Cubas — who has been so sensational in defensive midfield this season and who, along with partner Sebastian Berhalter, had made the likes of Sergio Busquets and Rodrigo De Paul look so ineffective — dithered on the ball too long and lost possession to Messi. And Messi took advantage, sliding a perfect pass ahead for De Paul — and we all saw why this duo was so important to Argentina’s 2022 World Cup win.

It was 2-1 Miami and the Caps, whose spirit had been so strong, all of a sudden wasn’t.

Messi had barely made an appearance but here he was, making a difference when it mattered. He set up the final goal, too, but that was just details by the end of the game. Miami were worthy winners, even if the Whitecaps deserved better.

This Whitecaps squad will go down as the second-best in Vancouver soccer history, behind the 1979 Soccer Bowl winners. Next year’s squad will surely look different.

But the team’s spirit will live on: They showed Vancouver what a fun, winning team looks like, no matter the sport. They connected with their fans. They brought 2,000 fans with them to South Florida.

They didn’t win it all, but no one will care. Fans just wanted to have fun again and the Whitecaps’ spirit delivered.

pjohnston@postmedia.com