Opening the MLS Cup playoffs with a win is always the goal. Dominating? A bonus. Having your marquee midseason signing score his first playoff goal in his first-ever postseason appearance? The cherry on top.
Few teams put in as commanding a performance as the Vancouver Whitecaps did in a 3–0 victory over FC Dallas in game one of their best-of-three series on Sunday night.
In front of 32,066 people, the largest playoff crowd in club history, the Whitecaps outshot FC Dallas 22–0, pushing past an outstanding goalkeeping performance from Michael Collodi with goals from Daniel Ríos, Thomas Müller and Kenji Cabrera.
The win puts the Whitecaps on the brink of advancing to the Western Conference semifinals for the first time since 2017. An added jolt of belief for a club that has consistently fallen short of their ultimate goals, even if the win is just the first of five needed to lift the MLS Cup.
“There’s a different feeling this year, and a different belief heading into these playoff matches,” Whitecaps winger Ali Ahmed said. “The last few years, we didn’t know what to expect, but this year, everybody is confident in every game, and I think it’s the same for game two in Dallas.”
The Whitecaps were coming off a 2–1 loss to the same Dallas side on Decision Day a week prior, but proved just how much playing with 10 men on that night mattered, following a 12th-minute red card to Mathiás Laborda.
On Sunday, the Whitecaps controlled possession and the pace of play, and didn’t let up through the night, even though it took until the 43rd minute for Ríos to find the breakthrough.
By the final whistle, the ‘Caps had posted 3.47 xG to Dallas’s 0.42, had not allowed a single shot and had 568 passes compared to Dallas’s 272. Meanwhile, Müller’s goal marked his ninth in nine games in all competitions.
“Decision day left a slight bitter taste. We wanted that first seed, but man, I still think we did a really good job of playing our style—pressing, keeping the ball, and creating chances,” Ahmed added. “We needed to get on the front foot in game one and set the standard for the rest of the playoffs.”
