Whitecaps KO Messi’s Miami in semis

Lionel Messi’s dream of winning Inter Miami’s first CONCACAF Champions Cup title ended on Wednesday with the Vancouver Whitecaps reaching the final with a 3-1 win in south Florida earning them a 5-1 aggregate victory.

The Whitecaps will meet the winners of Thursday’s other semi-final between Mexican clubs Cruz Azul and Tigres UANL which stands at 1-1 ahead of the second leg.

Whoever their Liga MX opponent will be in the single game final, the Whitecaps will go into the game full of confident after outclassing the most hyped-up and expensive Major League Soccer team in history.

In contrast to Miami’s slow and ponderous play, Vancouver delivered crisp, positive attacking football allied with evident grit and determination with three second half goals earning them their first appearance in the regional final.

“I’m just so happy for everybody in the club,” said the Whitecaps Danish coach Jesper Sorensen. “I am relatively new here but I know a lot of people have worked for many years and not seen (a) moment (like this),” he added.

Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, Miami made the perfect start to their comeback attempt when former Spain international Jordi Alba put them ahead on the night in just the ninth minute.

Messi, from midfield, threaded the ball through to Luis Suarez who found Alba on the left and his low drive got through Japanese keeper Yohei Takaoka at his near post.

Rather than retreat into a defence of their one-goal advantage, Vancouver went on the attack, knowing that an away goal could prove decisive.

After good work from American striker Brian White, Emmanuel Sabbi struck the outside of the post with a low drive.

White and Pedro Vite both tested Miami keeper Oscar Ustari as Vancouver opened up the home defence with remarkable ease.

The Whitecaps were just too quick and too smart for Miami’s slow back-line and labouring midfield.

– ‘They outplayed us’ –

A half-chance for Messi, which he fired high and wide, was the most the Argentine produced in the opening 45 minutes while his compatriot Tadeo Allende was unable to make the most of his openings.

Vancouver retained their positive approach after the break and they were rewarded just six minutes after the restart when, after a well-worked attack, Sebastian Berhalter pulled the ball back from the byline to White who placed into the bottom corner.

Two minutes later, the Whitecaps delivered the killer blow when, after a break down the left, the impressive Berhalter set up the arriving Vite whose shot took a slight deflection off Albi and flew into the top corner to make it 2-1 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate.

It got even worse for Miami when Berhalter, the son of former USA national team coach Gregg, pounced on a loose ball after a blocked White shot and his deflected effort flew past Ustari into the net.

Messi had a couple of late efforts but by then it was all over – his ageing team exposed by a side that will now look to be the first Canadian team to win the competition.

The only negative on a memorable night for the Whitecaps was a yellow card for Berhalter which added to his previous cautions in the competition means he will miss the final.

For Miami, the focus will turn to their bid for a first MLS Cup and their FIFA Club World Cup campaign.

“Although it was the first time the club had advanced to the semi-finals, the defeat hurts us a lot because we imagined reaching the final; of seeing this team, which has a short history, for the first time in a final of the most important competition in CONCACAF,” said Mascherano.

“But we have to accept that our opponents… outplayed us. Now we have to focus on MLS. I’m not thinking about the Club World Cup. There’s a month and a half to go and it would be a mistake to focus on that,” added the Argentine.