Vancouver’s Whitecaps will try to strengthen their place at the top of the MLS ranking on Sunday when they welcome an FC side in Los Angeles which tries to resume its path after a slow start.
The Whitecaps (8-1-2, 26 points) were the history of the MLS in 2025.
Vancouver won his very first appearance in the final of the CONCACAF 2025 Champions Cup with his victory in the semi-final over Lionel Messi and Inter Miami at the end of last month. And remarkably, the Whitecaps also played the best record in the League while balancing the two competitions.
Manager Jesper Sorensen’s team has won consecutive games in the League and is undefeated in its last six MLS games.
The Whitecaps sent Real Salt Lake 2-1 to home last Saturday on the goals of Jayden Nelson and Tristan Blackmon. This only comes three days after having finished their triumph of the Concacaf semi-final in southern Florida.
Now, Sorensen’s team hits the field after something rare: eight days between matches.
“You are still welcoming a short break,” said Sorensen. “We have already played 19 games. So it may be a good opportunity to do something on the training field. But on the other hand … Yes, we have momentum. And you don’t want to break up if you can avoid it.”
Lafc (5-4-2, 17 points) was considered among the first favorites of the MLS Cup at the start of the season, and the team of manager Steve Cherundolo could still reach this status.
But their league form at the start of the league was incoherent because they played the quarter -finals of the Concacaf Champions Cup, where they lost Miami.
The answer to this outing was an undefeated race for four games, with the most recent performance – a 2-0 home victory against Houston’s Dynamo on the goals of Nathan Ordaz and Jeremy Ebobisse – undoubtedly the most complete Cherundolo has seen this season. He followed prints in Portland and at home in Saint-Louis.
“We started playing better with the ball and creating more chances in Portland. He made defensive mistakes. Saint-Louis was more the same,” said Cherundolo after Houston’s victory. “And then tonight, I saw a more complete performance on both sides of the ball and I was very satisfied with the way we played tonight.”
– field level media
