Vancouver vs Miami | 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup | Semifinal

The Champions Cup Final Four comes to Canada tonight for the first leg of the semi-final between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Inner Miami. As they take to the pitch, to the roar of over 50,000, they hosted the New York Cosmos in the 1979 NASL. And we are in motion, in Vancouver, in the CONCACAF Champions Cup semi-final first leg. Pinned forward toward Brian White, and White's on the run, White into the box, checks back onto his left, pulls it back, first-time strike, blocked off the line by Wiggins. What a good build-up overall, ball over the top, a little bit too easy there, that's not the best defending by Inner Miami, but the ball gets played back to Rios, he must have thought that's going in. Clapping it inside, and Messi bending it toward the backside, it's flicked out. He's getting back and doing his defensive duties, I think he sees the run of Alba, joins him, gets into the middle, it comes, touch to the edge of the area, then Brian White! Maine's red-hot for Vancouver! And the Whitecaps, two little chances, and decent ones, but they play their little one-two here, and he gets off the back there of Max Falcone, the Uruguayan who should have taken a little bit closer. Alba delivers the corner, top of the area for Messi, takes it down, Lionel Messi, straight at Yohei Takaoka. The Paraguayan has some history against Argentina, edge of the box, left footed, straight at Oscar Ustari, Berhalter whipping it in, back stick, and again straight at Ustari, good The marking side of things, they've had a few headers there, but whoever has more hammering teams next to them in the table, 5-1, they're some outfit, and what a job that Jesper Sorensen has done as a new coach here, he's saying 2-3-4 times, accumulation, after he chops down Lionel Messi. I know that even when he's surrounded by players, Messi can get shots on target, so there you go, one up at halftime for the home side! First half whistle for Mari, they've made a change coming out of halftime, as we're back underway for the second half, Vancouver double, so getting a goal for Inter Miami absolutely crucial, ooh, is that over the top? No, referee goes to the pocket, it's yellow that he's producing for now, and a yellow coming as well, for Oscar Ustari, he's going to keep on flying there, ooh, Ritondo absolutely steaming into that against Ocampo, and then Blackman over to defend his team, and arriving is Berhalter, and there's Ustari, and Messi, toward the 6-yard box, it's flicked backwards by a defender, it will be a corner for Inter Miami, it was Emmanuel Sabi fading back toward his own goal, that's always... It's in by Messi, isn't it, it's just falling in an area where, as a defender, you have to get a touch, and Sabi doesn't... So here he comes, with three in the wall for Vancouver, Lionel Messi took a deflection! Tucked it up there like he wasn't bothered, maybe it was going towards the corner... It's really getting chippy now, referee blows the whistle and pulls it back for a foul, free kick Vancouver, they want more than that. One touch to the outside, it's Nelson into the middle, it's behind White, and arriving and roofing it into the net, they score, it's Berhalter, it's 2, the Caps in command, and Inter Miami in big, big trouble. Pull one back, it was a good run as well, down that right-hand side, initially it was Sabi, then you can see that Jadon Nelson gets into position, Berhalter there has made the run from midfield, and you can see Brian White nearly on his knees celebrating that he was at the near post, couldn't get it, Berhalter foul post, 2-0 for the home side! But in front of 50,000 plus at BC Place tonight, it was Vancouver's night, they've defeated Inter Miami in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal...