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The Vancouver Whitecaps will look to strengthen their place atop the MLS standings on Sunday when they welcome a Los Angeles FC side that is trying to play its way back into contention following a slow start.

The Whitecaps (8-1-2, 26 points) have been the story of MLS in 2025.

Vancouver earned its first-ever appearance in the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup final with its semifinal series win over Lionel Messi and Inter Miami late last month. And remarkably, the Whitecaps also played to the best record in the league while balancing both competitions.

Manager Jesper Sorensen’s side has won back-to-back league matches and is unbeaten in its last six in MLS play.

The Whitecaps dispatched Real Salt Lake 2-1 at home last Saturday on goals from Jayden Nelson and Tristan Blackmon. That came only three days after completing their CONCACAF semifinal triumph in South Florida.

Now Sorensen’s team hits the field following something rare: eight days between matches.

“You always welcome a little break,” Sorensen said. “We have played 19 games already. So maybe it’s a good occasion to get something done on the training ground as well. But on the other hand … yeah we have momentum. And you don’t want to break that up if you can avoid it.”

LAFC (5-4-2, 17 points) was considered among the early MLS Cup favorites when the season began, and manager Steve Cherundolo’s side may yet reach that status.

But their early league form was inconsistent as they played through to the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals, where they lost to Miami.

The response to that exit has been a four-match unbeaten run, with the most recent performance — a 2-0 home win over the Houston Dynamo on goals from Nathan Ordaz and Jeremy Ebobisse — arguably the most complete Cherundolo has seen this season. It followed draws at Portland and home to St. Louis.

“We started playing better with the ball and creating more chances in Portland. Made some defensive errors. St. Louis was more of the same,” Cherundolo said after the Houston win. “And then tonight I saw a more complete performance on both sides of the ball and was very happy with the way we played tonight.”

–Field Level Media