San Diego FC will try to become the first expansion team to reach an MLS Cup final since 1998 when they host the Vancouver Whitecaps in Sunday’s Western Conference final.
No. 1 seed San Diego already has spent the majority of the season surpassing expectations, winning the conference regular season title and earning an expansion-team record 63 points.
But the playoffs have been challenging, with No. 8 seed Portland pushing SDFC to three games in the first round, and No. 4 seed Minnesota missing two excellent chances to take a second-half lead before falling 1-0 to Anders Dreyer’s late goal.
Now San Diego FC faces the No. 2 Whitecaps, who tied them on points in the regular season while also reaching the CONCACAF Champions Cup final and winning a fourth consecutive Canadian Championship title.
“We know it’s a different type of game picture. Vancouver will come to go toe-to-toe a little bit more” San Diego manager Mikey Varas said. “But the most important thing is that the guys trust all the work that’s been done up until now, we take care of the two to three most important details that we think will give us an advantage, and then to go out there and leave it all out on the field.”
Dreyer has four goals and two assists in the playoffs following a masterful 19-goal, 19-assist campaign in his first MLS regular season.
Yet Vancouver might be the deeper side, reconstructed around the summer signing of German star and 2014 World Cup winner Thomas Muller.
Attackers Brian White and Ryan Gauld have returned to full fitness after both missed extended stretches, with White having previously ranked among the MLS scoring leaders prior to his injury.
Midfielders Jayden Nelson and Sebastian Berhalter have emerged as important pieces for the Canada and U.S. national teams, respectively.
Manager Jesper Sorensen’s side also has the edge in big-game experience, and has already survived a wild West semifinal, in which they won on penalties after giving back a two-goal lead and going down to nine men in a 2-2 draw against LAFC.
“We’re prepared for most of it. You can’t prepare for everything,” Sorensen said. “But I think we showed that we have the mentality to go through a lot. And we will have to go through a lot to go on to the MLS Cup final, and we are ready to suffer on the pitch.”
–Field Level Media
