Vancouver Whitecaps beat Inter Miami 3-1 to eliminate Lionel Messi's squad

Alanis Thames · The Associated Press

· Posted: Apr 30, 2025 10:56 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

Brian White and Pedro Vite scored 2 minutes apart, and the Vancouver Whitecaps stunned Inter Miami 3-1 successful the 2nd limb of their CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal connected Wednesday night, spoiling Lionel Messi's squad's hopes of making the tournament's final. 

Sebastian Berhalter besides scored for Vancouver, which precocious with a 5-1 aggregate scoreline to look either Cruz Azul oregon Tigres UNAL successful the Champions Cup last connected June 1.

For Vancouver, the last volition correspond 1 of the biggest matches successful the club's history, with the victor of the last acceptable to play successful the expanded Club World Cup. They had antecedently lone made it arsenic acold arsenic the semifinal in 2017.

Miami entered Wednesday's lucifer trailing 0-2 successful aggregate aft being shut retired successful the archetypal leg last Thursday. That meant they needed to triumph by astatine slightest 3 goals successful regularisation connected Wednesday to advance.

WATCH | Whitecaps unopen retired Messi and Miami in 1st leg: 

Messi was held without a extremity for the 4th consecutive match.

In the tournament's history, 4 MLS clubs, including Inter Miami past week, person mislaid the archetypal limb of a semifinal by a 2-0 scoreline connected the road. No squad has travel backmost to beforehand to the final.

Those chances were dashed rapidly successful the 2nd fractional Wednesday, erstwhile Vancouver erased a one-goal shortage minutes into the frame.  

Berhalter recovered White for the equalizer successful the 51st minute, and Vite sent a deflection past Oscar Ustari successful the 53rd. Berhalter, who had an assistance connected the archetypal 2 goals, enactment the crippled distant with a changeable from the halfway of the container into the bottommost near country successful the 71st. 

Berhalter has accounted for each 5 of the Whitecaps' goals successful the semis aft scoring 1 successful the opener, but helium volition miss the title due to the fact that of yellowish paper accumulation. He was shown 1 successful the archetypal fractional aft a foul connected Miami's Tadeo Allende. 

Jordi Alba got Miami connected the committee with his archetypal extremity of the season, 9 minutes into the game, connected a provender from Luis Suarez. Miami couldn't capitalize connected a bid of chances aft that.

The CONCACAF Champions Cup features the champion teams from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean to crown a determination champion.

The Whitecaps presently person the champion grounds successful Major League Soccer astatine 7-2-1. The ascendant nine is exploring the accidental of gathering its ain stadium even arsenic its existent ownership radical prepares to merchantability the club.

Miami besides dropped its 3rd consecutive match, the archetypal clip the squad has mislaid that galore successful a enactment successful the Messi era.

A grounds assemblage of implicit 53,000 watched striker Brian White and midfielder Sebastian Berhalter people successful Vancouver's opening-game triumph against Messi and Miami astatine B.C. Place Stadium past Thursday.