San Diego loses against Vancouver and misses MLS Cup opportunity

The Whitecaps continued their remarkable campaign under first-year head coach Jesper Sørensen, defeating San Diego FC 3–1

San Diego.— Inter Miami CF has reached the MLS Cup for the first time in club history and will host the league’s championship match on Saturday, December 6 at 2:30 p.m. ET (MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, FOX, FOX Deportes, TSN, RDS). The Eastern Conference champions will face the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, who advanced from the West to book their own first-ever MLS Cup appearance.

Inter Miami punched their ticket with a commanding 5–1 victory over New York City FC in the Eastern Conference Final. The match capped a dominant year at Chase Stadium, where Miami posted an 11-3-3 record during the 2025 regular season.

Tadeo Allende delivered a standout performance, recording a hat trick to bring his postseason total to eight goals—tying the MLS single-postseason record set by Carlos Ruiz in 2002. Mateo Silvetti and Telasco Segovia added goals of their own, pushing Miami to 98 goals across the regular season and playoffs, the most by any team in a single MLS season. Lionel Messi has been central to Miami’s postseason run, contributing to 13 of the club’s 17 playoff goals (six goals, seven assists).

On the Western side, the Whitecaps continued their remarkable campaign under first-year head coach Jesper Sørensen, defeating San Diego FC 3–1 on the road in the Conference Final. Vancouver stunned the home crowd early, with Brian White scoring the opener before a Pablo Sisniega own goal made it 2–0 inside 11 minutes. White added another in first-half stoppage time, securing Vancouver’s first road playoff win in regulation.

Vancouver’s postseason path included a Round One Best-of-3 Series victory over FC Dallas and a dramatic penalty shootout win against LAFC in the Conference Semifinals. With their advancement, the Whitecaps become the first Canadian team to reach MLS Cup since Toronto FC in 2019.

Vancouver opened the scoring eight minutes into the match through forward Brian White. Three minutes later, the visitors doubled their lead when a shot by Ali Ahmed deflected off a defender and then off goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega before crossing the goal line. White added his second of the night late in the first half, redirecting an Ahmed pass off his chest from close range to extend the lead to 3-0.

SDFC responded in the 60th minute when Hirving “Chucky” Lozano converted a right-footed strike to narrow the deficit to 3-1. SDFC continued to apply pressure throughout the second half in search of additional goals but was reduced to 10 men following a straight red card issued to Sisniega in the 79th minute.

San Diego concludes its inaugural MLS campaign as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, registering 19 regular-season victories and setting a new league record for most points (63) by an expansion club. With the achievement, SDFC also secured qualification for the 2025-26 Concacaf Champions Cup and became only the second expansion team in MLS history to advance to a Conference Final, joining the 1998 Chicago Fire.