Vancouver Whitecaps keep MLS Cup dream alive in "unbelievable" thriller | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

Jesper Sørensen is 52 years old. He’s spent his entire adult life either playing or coaching soccer. He logged more than 300 club matches during his days as a midfielder, managed nearly as many at this point, and witnessed hundreds more as an assistant.

None of them served up chaos like Saturday’s events at BC Place.

The Dane looked nearly as exhausted as his players after his Vancouver Whitecaps survived an instant classic against their familiar Audi MLS Cup Playoffs nemeses LAFC, advancing to the Western Conference Final via a penalty kick shootout after 120 breathless minutes before a club-record crowd (MLS era) of 53,957 – despite losing a 2-0 first-half lead on a stoppage-time free-kick golazo from Son Heung-Min and finishing the game with just nine men on the pitch.

“LAFC is the best team we faced in MLS this season, just to make that clear,” Sørensen told reporters afterwards. “It was two very good teams, and I think that it was a game at a high level, with a lot of good individual players. We also saw a great goal from Sonny. It was great individual efforts, two great teams, two teams that really work cohesively on the pitch.

“But the way it turned out and went back and forth? No, I don't think that I've witnessed that in my career.”

It felt like the Whitecaps lived and died several times over the course of this memorable evening, dominant in the early stages, desperate down the stretch, inches away from a brutal, season-ending defeat in extra time as LAFC hit the woodwork repeatedly but could not break their resistance. Vancouver goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka finished with five saves; his teammates blocked another five shots.

“Guys just stepping up left and right,” midfield linchpin Sebastian Berhalter told MLS Wrap-Up crew in a live interview.

“It's just the culture that we've created in this team, and it just shows how close this group of guys is. So proud.”

Those left standing at the end could only marvel at what had transpired and how their side had somehow endured to fight again next week, against the winner of Monday’s clash between San Diego FC and Minnesota United FC (10 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV).

“The brutal beauty of our game,” mused ‘Caps superstar Thomas Müller to MLS Season Pass sideline reporter Andrew Wiebe, describing himself as “empty and tired” with a big grin.

“I'm so proud, so proud of the group. We suffered. We played well in the first half; for sure, we have to talk about the second one. They changed their system a little bit. They put a little bit more pressure on, we lost way too many balls in the second half, also myself. So we brought them a little bit in, back in the game.

“We had luck in extra time, for sure. But this group is working so hard, and when you look in the crowd, it's unbelievable that we achieved it for us and also for them.”

Even Sørensen had to concede how little hope remained in the wake of substitute Belal Halbouni’s knee injury deep into extra time, with the ‘Caps already shorthanded due to Tristan Blackmon’s ejection, a moment made doubly painful by the set-piece opportunity the ex-LAFC defender’s foul handed the visitors, one finished impeccably by Son.

The first-year boss scrambled to adapt his squad tactically for an all-hands rearguard action. Leaders like Berhalter and Ryan Gauld urged both players and the crowd to dig deeper than ever. Making it to penalties felt like a victory in and of itself. And as they have so often in this remarkable season, Vancouver dug down to make the plays they had to.

“You have to believe that you can do it. You have to believe that you can put something up,” said Sørensen. “And you have to trust that we also have a structure that has to help you when things are difficult, not just when it's easy; then everybody can play. But when it's difficult – and it was difficult today – then you need a little bit of luck in the end. But we got that, and we will not complain about that.

“It's not about panicking or nothing, that doesn't help. Let's just see what we can do. Of course, the odds are bad.”

VWFC were already under constant pressure with 10 on the pitch, even with their supporters viscerally willing them onward. Surely going down to nine would be the final straw in a heartbreaking collapse, right?

Wrong.

LAFC somehow looked less sure of themselves at 11v9 than they had at 11v10. And when Son dialed the irony level up to 11 by rocketing his spot kick off the post before Mark Delgado lifted a Panenka attempt over the crossbar, all that suffering and surviving had suddenly paid off with Mathías Laborda’s victory-clinching PK sent past Hugo Lloris and into the top corner.

“We try to push,” said the Uruguayan defender, who scored in the first half alongside Emmanuel Sabbi. “We have really bad luck about the injuries. I hope all the best for the guys who are in that situation. But you know, we try to keep it together and train and take care of us.

“We believe in us, in the teammate who is next to you, that that guy will die on the pitch with you. So that's all.”

WATCH: Vancouver Whitecaps deny LAFC in instant classic