Vancouver Whitecaps honor Filipino community amid festival tragedy | OneFootball

Just hours after an SUV plowed into a crowd at a Vancouver Filipino community street festival on Saturday night, killing at least 11 and injuring dozens more, the Vancouver Whitecaps were on the pitch Sunday afternoon for their game at Minnesota United.

While trying to bring some joy after what the city's interim police chief called the darkest day in Vancouver's history, the 'Caps did their best to also pay respect to those most significantly impacted by the events.

Before the match, the Whitecaps starting XI included the national flag of the Philippines in their ritual pre-match photograph, and the players and coaching staff each held a Philippines flag during a pregame moment of silence at Allianz Field.

After the match, Whitecaps manager Jesper Sorensen offered his thoughts on the incident.

"It just makes me so sad, to be honest," he said. "Just speaking out of heart here ... you try to celebrate something, you have a community where you want to find joy, where you want to celebrate, have a festival, and everybody in the community wants to live with each other and celebrate with each other. And then all of a sudden, something happens that changes your life, from one moment to the other. And I think it’s just so sad."

The Whitecaps are the only currently active major Vancouver pro sports franchise in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. The NHL's Vancouver Canucks fell short of the Stanley Cup playoffs this season, while the CFL's BC Lions don't begin their season until June.

The Whitecaps' next game is arguably the biggest in club history, Leg 2 of their Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal at Inter Miami on Wednesday night. Vancouver enters with a 2-0 aggregate lead in its bid to reach its first continental final.

Somber despite victory

It was sort of a heavy day all around, even though the Whitecaps earned a 3-1 victory despite making eight changes from the starting group that defeated Miami on Thursday in Leg 1.

The afternoon concluded with the commencement of MLS anti-discrimination protocols by referee Drew Fischer, based on allegations that Minnesota's Joseph Rosales had directed a slur of some sort toward Vancouver's Emmanuel Sabbi.