Vancouver FC beats Ottawa on aggregate to reach Canadian Championship final

Vancouver FC players celebrate with goalkeeper/captain Callum Irving, second left, after defeating Atletico Ottawa 3-2 on aggregate in their Canadian Championship semifinal at TD Place in Ottawa in this Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025 handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Canadian Premier League, Thiago Szwarc

OTTAWA — Vancouver FC has completed an unlikely run to the Telus Canadian Championship final to meet the defending champion Whitecaps.

Vancouver FC hung on to complete a semifinal upset of Atletico Ottawa on Thursday, losing 1-0 on the night but advancing 3-2 on aggregate to set up the all-Vancouver showdown Oct. 1 at B.C. Place Stadium.

Vancouver FC is mired in the Canadian Premier League basement at 2-15-6. The high-flying Whitecaps stand sixth overall in Major League Soccer and are the best Canadian MLS team by a country mile this season.

Vancouver FC came into Thursday’s game 35 points below second-place Ottawa (13-2-8). But it held a 3-1 lead after the Aug. 13 first leg in Langley, B.C.

Ottawa needed to win by three goals to advance — or force a penalty shootout with a two-goal victory. The 15-team tournament has dispensed with the away goals rule.

Ottawa turned up the heat as the game wore on but could only manage a 45th-minute goal by David Rodriguez as Vancouver bent but only broke once.

That despite Ottawa boasting the CPL’s most potent attack with 46 goals this season, averaging two per game. Vancouver has scored 27 goals while conceding a league-worst 52 goals.

“We lost this game in the first leg … I thought today we did well. We just couldn’t find that second (goal) and create a few more chances,” said Ottawa midfielder Manny Aparicio, who had a fine game.

“We paid for our bad decisions in the first leg,” added Ottawa’s Mexican coach Diego Mejia.

Ottawa had 76 per cent possession and outshot Vancouver 15-4 but only had a 3-0 edge in shots on target.

“I thought we defended extremely well today … I don’t think we gave them a ton of chances,” said interim Vancouver coach Martin Nash, who played for the Whitecaps prior to the franchise entering MLS. “They got into some good areas as they’re going to. They’re a fantastic team but we got timely blocks when we needed guys in the right position, guys covering for players when they get stretched.

“Just a great team performance in the defensive end.”

Matteo Campagna and Aidan O’Connor stood tall at the heart of that Vancouver defence.

The Whitecaps booked their ticket to the Oct. 1 final at B.C. Place Stadium on Tuesday with a 4-0 win over visiting Forge FC, completing a 6-2 aggregate victory.

The final pits Martin Nash against older brother Steve Nash, part of the Whitecaps’ ownership group. Many of the Vancouver FC players came up through the Whitecaps academy, so there will be plenty of connections in the final.

Vancouver looked to have escaped the first half at TD Place with the game scoreless, with Ottawa having 70 per cent possession but managing just one shot on target. Ottawa striker Sam Salter, who has a CPL-record 17 goals this season, had a quiet half.

That changed in the 45th minute when Aparicio intercepted a pass in his own end with a sliding tackle. One pass later, Ballou Tabla headed up field, dribbling through Vancouver players before poking the ball through to Rodriguez, who rounded goalkeeper Callum Irving and tucked the ball into the goal to cut the aggregate to 3-2 just before halftime.

Ottawa turned up the pressure in the second half, probing the Vancouver defence again and again. Vancouver’s defending was desperate at times but did the job with a diving Irving denying Rodriguez in the 70th minute.

Vancouver survived a tense six minutes of stoppage time.

Vancouver made it to the semifinals the hard way, defeating Pacific FC and Cavalry FC in penalty shootouts before winning the first leg of the semifinal on Aug. 13. The Eagles have gone 0-4-1 in league play since, including a 3-1 loss Aug. 20 at Ottawa.

Ottawa dispatched League1 Ontario champion Scrosoppi FC and York United in the first two rounds.

The cup run adds some shine to Vancouver’s dismal league campaign.

Its last win was Aug. 4, a 2-1 decision at Halifax. It was winless in 11 league outings (0-8-3) prior to that victory, with its only other victory coming May 3 at Valour FC.

Afshin Ghotbi, the team’s inaugural coach, was fired July 23 with Martin Nash taking over on an interim basis.

Ottawa, meanwhile, is unbeaten in its last four league outings (2-0-2) and has lost just once in its last 15 games (8-1-6) since a 2-0 setback May 24 at Halifax. The lone blemish during that run was a 2-0 defeat Aug. 17 at Forge.

The only other time a CPL team has made the Canadian Championship final was in the 2020 pandemic-delayed tournament which eventually turned in a one-off final played in 2022 when Toronto FC, the winner of the head-to-head series between Canadian teams from Major League Soccer during the 2020 season, defeated CPL champion Forge.

The Whitecaps have hoisted the Voyageurs Cup the last three years and are looking for their fifth Canadian Championship. They have finished runner-up seven times.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2025.