The Vancouver Whitecaps made club history on Saturday, defeating LAFC in penalty kicks after falling to nine men, advancing to their first Western Conference Final in front of 53,397 fans.
Since joining MLS in 2011, the Canadian side had not made it past the Conference Semifinals. The last two seasons, LAFC dashed their playoff dreams in the first round—but another loss to the Black and Gold wasn’t acceptable this year.
With that in mind, perennial winner Thomas Müller sent a text.
“He’s calm,” USMNT midfielder Sebastian Berhalter said of Müller’s prematch message. “He sent a text and told everyone just to take deep breaths, if anyone’s feeling anything, do some box breathing and be ready. When you get a text like that at 11 p.m., you’re like ‘here we go.’”
It took 120 minutes, penalties, a red card, a blown 2–0 lead, some world-class goals and a few crossbars, but the Whitecaps finally saw off their demons. They finally slayed their dragon.
That text may have gone through the minds of the Whitecaps, who stepped up to the penalty spot as well, and especially Mathías Laborda, whose kick ended the match after Son Heung-min and Mark Delgado missed their attempts.
“That was the brutal beauty of our game. I am so proud of the group. We suffered,” Müller said postmatch, despite subbing out before extra time and penalties. “It’s unbelievable that we achieved it.”
