‘It would mean everything’ – How Brian White, Sebastian Berhalter and Thomas Muller are pushing the underdog Whitecaps to the brink of MLS Cup despite an uncertain future
Yet there’s an unavoidable truth behind this run: Vancouver’s future is uncertain. For all of Sorensen’s changes and Berhalter’s improvements, the club might not look anything like this in a few months. Ownership is actively exploring a sale. A new stadium lease remains unresolved. MLS has long pushed for a soccer-specific venue, and while nothing can be built by next season, commissioner Don Garber made it clear the clock is ticking.
“We’re in the business of delivering for the people that really, really want to have an MLS team,” Garber said in his State of the League address. “We need to wait and see if the cities and provinces want to do that. If they don’t, we’ll have to make some tough decisions.”
And yet, fan support has never been stronger. Winning helps, of course, but BC Place was sold out for the Western Conference semifinal against LAFC. Once a temporary stopgap while the Whitecaps waited to move out, the stadium now feels like a fortress.
Whether they stay there or not, Canadian soccer has wind at its back. The country will host the World Cup in just over six months. Under Jesse Marsch, the men’s national team finally looks revitalized. The momentum behind the sport across Canada is impossible to ignore.
“For Canadian soccer, it’s important that the teams here represent that part of Canada, that soccer culture. It’s a special, special city, and the way the whole city supported us throughout this year, it means a lot,” White said.
The evidence is visible in Miami alone. This is technically a home game for Inter Miami, yet Vancouver fans have travelled in force. There will be pink shirts in the stands, but white and blue won’t be hard to spot either.
“It’s not natural that we have this kind of support. It’s not natural that this kind of hype is around the Whitecaps in the city, and we really feel that everybody’s behind us, and, you know, that’s what you want to create,” he said.
There is, of course, a certain irony. The biggest names driving Canadian soccer in MLS are American. Marsch, once considered for the USMNT job, is arguably the highest-profile American coach on the continent. Berhalter, White, and Blackmon are all U.S. internationals. For a club flying the Canadian flag, there’s a lot of Americanness at the core.
White sees that as an asset, not a contradiction.
“Seeing three American guys thrive on a Canadian team is a little bit different, and I think it’s been special. We’ve been each other’s biggest cheerleaders,” he said.
