When the Vancouver Whitecaps scored late in the first half of Saturday’s western conference final in the MLS Cup playoffs, taking a commanding 3-0 lead, their fans could sense something bigger was afoot. “That 100 per cent clinched it. My God, that went in. And I think right at that moment everyone knew we were through,” said Kevin Kerr, a member of the Southsiders, the team’s main supporters club. The Whitecaps eventual 3-1 victory set up a dream MLS Cup Final against global superstar Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami. In Thomas Müller, the Whitecaps have their own highly decorated legend—a man whose German side got the best of Messi and Argentina in the 2014 World Cup Final. “I know about my games against Messi, but I also lost against him,” Muller said. “It’s not about Messi against Müller. It’s Miami against the Whitecaps.” In 1979, a previous version of the ‘Caps won the North American Soccer League championship and returned to a hero’s welcome in Vancouver. According to news reports from the time, as many as 100,000 people packed downtown streets for the victory parade. Sports fans in the city haven’t experienced another North American championship since. “If we do clinch that title, we have that parade, the city’s electric, and I really hope we can keep building it as a soccer community here in Vancouver,” Kerr said. It will take a sublime performance on Saturday for the Whitecaps to beat a heavily favoured Miami squad stacked with superstars beyond just Messi. The Canadian side will also be up against a hostile crowd on the road at Chase Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale. The Whitecaps will once again turn to Müller’s big-match experience to lead them in the most consequential fixture of the team’s MLS era. “It’s our biggest achievement. But the boys are calm. The boys are calm,” said Müller after Saturday’s victory. “We know that there is one more step to go and it’s a really good feeling.” If they win just one more match, this version of the Whitecaps will surely deserve a hero’s welcome of their own when they return to Vancouver.
