Below: how the tie unfolded across two legs, why the away-goals rule decided it, and where Vancouver’s run went from there.
Whitecaps Stun Ramos’ Monterrey
On paper, this was a mismatch. Monterrey had just signed former Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos, whom the club officially unveiled for the 2025 season. They also had Spanish playmaker Sergio Canales. Vancouver were only four games into Jesper Sørensen’s tenure as head coach. Ramos did not even play the first leg. He was rested rather than injured and stayed in Mexico. That match ended 1-1 at BC Place on March 5, 2025. Roberto de la Rosa scored an away goal for Monterrey in the 25th minute, and Belal Halbouni equalized in the 86th, according to MLSsoccer.com. Conceding that away goal at home left Vancouver needing to score in Mexico, where they had never scored in this competition. 
Ocampo’s Second-Half Equalizer
The second leg was played on March 12 at Estadio Corona in Torreón, not Monterrey’s Estadio BBVA. The usual home stadium was hosting a Shakira concert. It started badly for Vancouver: Canales scored in the 4th minute from a Luis Reyes cross. Then the Whitecaps changed shape at halftime and took control of the game. In the 56th minute, Pedro Vite found Colombian right-back Édier Ocampo running down the right, and Ocampo hit a first-time shot into the bottom corner. It was his first goal for the club. According to Concacaf’s match report, it was also Vancouver’s first goal on Mexican soil in Champions Cup play, in their third match there. 
Underdogs Advance on Away Goals
Substitute Brian White put Vancouver ahead in the 78th minute. Andrés Cubas won the ball at the top of the box and slipped White through, and he finished past goalkeeper Esteban Andrada for 2-1 on the night. Moments later, Germán Berterame hit the crossbar for Monterrey. Ramos scored a penalty in second-half stoppage time to make it 2-2, which also left the aggregate score at 3-3. It wasn’t enough. Under Concacaf’s tiebreaker, Vancouver’s two away goals beat Monterrey’s one, and the Whitecaps held on to advance. Concacaf noted that Vancouver became only the second MLS team in the modern era of the competition (since 2008) to knock out a Liga MX side after failing to win the first leg at home, joining the 2024 Columbus Crew. 
The Quarterfinal: Another Escape Against Pumas
The quarterfinal draw paired Vancouver with Pumas UNAM. The tie went almost exactly like the Monterrey one. Leg 1 finished 1-1 at BC Place. In Mexico City, Ignacio Pussetto scored in the 88th minute to give Pumas a 3-2 aggregate lead. Then, in the 93rd minute, center back Tristan Blackmon scored from an Ocampo cross. That goal sent Vancouver through on away goals again, 3-3 on aggregate. That result made Vancouver the first MLS team to twice knock out a Liga MX opponent in Mexico without taking a lead into the second leg. 
Defying the Odds All the Way to the Final
The run began in Round One against Costa Rica’s Deportivo Saprissa. Vancouver lost the first leg 2-1 away, then won 2-0 at home to go through 3-2 on aggregate. After Monterrey and Pumas, they beat Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami 5-1 on aggregate in the semifinals. That included a 2-0 first-leg win at BC Place in front of a record crowd of 53,837, according to Concacaf. The run ended in the June 1 final, a 5-0 loss away to Cruz Azul. It was the largest margin of victory in the modern era of the competition. Still, Vancouver were only the third Canadian club to reach the final, after CF Montréal and Toronto FC. It’s hard to imagine that run without the night in Torreón that put Ramos’s Monterrey out. 
