Whitecaps supporters treated to duel for the ages as club advances in MLS playoffs

Vancouver Whitecaps fans react to the penalty shoot out victory of Saturday’s game against Los Angeles Football Club.

At BC Place on Saturday night, Vancouver Whitecaps fans went on a rollercoaster of emotions – at times amazed, perplexed, and then finally euphoric.

“I didn’t really know what to expect, so we definitely got our money’s worth,” said Kirsty Armstrong, who attended the western conference semi-final game against LAFC with her mother and some friends.

“It went to extra time and penalties, so it was a good show,”

The Whitecaps took the lead in the first half, with keeper Yohei Takaoka delivering a long ball over the top to a streaking Emmanuel Sabi in behind the defence.

Sabbi chipped it past LAFC keeper Hugo Lloris to put Vancouver up 1-0.

A few minutes later, in first half added time, Lloris blocked a header from Thomas Müller, but Whitecaps defender Mathías Laborda was lurking in the area and pounced on the rebound.

He knocked it through Llori’s legs and Vancouver led 2-0 at the half.

When play resumed, a sense of optimism rippled through the sellout crowd of 53,957 – but at the 60-minute mark it turned to dread.

Son Heung-min scored to bring LA within one and set up an improbable finish.

“It’s not to be believed. I think if you had submitted it to a Hollywood producer, they’d be like, ‘no, not believable. Sorry, we can’t go with that’,” Sekeres and Price podcast host Blake Price told CTV News.

In added time, Vancouver defender Triston Blackmon, already on a yellow card, stepped in front of an LA attacker, bumping him away from the ball.

The referee handed Blackmon his second yellow and sent him off, reducing the Whitecaps to ten players against LA’s 11.

On the ensuing free kick from just outside the area, Son curled a strike over the defensive wall and into the top corner — deflating BC Place with a moment of sheer brilliance.

An injury in overtime, when the team had exhausted its allowed substitutions, meant Vancouver had to finish the game with just nine players as LA attacked in waves.

In one wild sequence, the visitors hit both posts and the crossbar, on three consecutive shots in a span of mere seconds.

With their supporters on the edge of their seats, the Whitecaps held firm and did not concede.

Knotted at two after extra time, the game came down to penalty kicks.

Son stepped up first for LA, but drilled his attempt off the woodwork, cracking open a window of opportunity for the Whitecaps.

When Marco Delgado, LA’s third shooter, sailed his shot over the bar and into the seats, the Whitecaps needed just one more goal for the win.

Colombian Édier Ocampo could not convert as Vancouver’s fourth shooter, and LA’s Andrew Moran did on his attempt.

Laborda, who scored the Whitecaps second goal of the first half, stepped up to the spot with a chance to play the hero.

He calmly struck the ball into the right side of the goal and BC Place erupted as the home team punched its ticket to the Western Conference Finals.

“It was a glorious night, and it was also, I would say, an exclamation mark about what this club means for the city, and for the people in the city,” said CEO and Sporting Director Axel Schuster, who told CTV News he experienced the same stress, anxiety and jubilation as the fans during the match.

After two days off, the Whitecaps resume training Tuesday in preparation for Saturday’s conference final.

San Diego and Minnesota play Monday night in the other conference semi-final.

If San Diego wins, the Whitecaps will travel to California for Saturday’s game.

If Minnesota should prevail, the game will be held at BC Place — which is already sold out in the event of this scenario.