The Vancouver Whitecaps were annihilated in the Concacaf Champions Cup Final as Cruz Azul lifted the trophy with a 5-0 victory.
The Mexican side led by four goals at half time after an early goal from Jose Rivero was followed up by strikes from Lorenzo Faravelli, Angel Sepulveda and Mateusz Bogusz.
Any chance of a miracle comeback was gone five minutes into the second half as Sepulveda got his second of Sunday’s final with a free header from close range as the MLS side looked all at sea.
Vancouver ended the game without a shot throughout the entire contest and will need to bounce back as they look to regain top spot in the MLS league phase.
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Both sides have had relatively successful starts to their league seasons and met in what was supposed to be a relatively close final.
Cruz Azul had advanced to this stage of the competition after being Tigres 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-final whilst Vancouver had overcome Inter Miami 5-1 on aggregate with a dominant 3-1 win away from home in the second leg.
It only took eight minutes for the Mexican side to hit the front as a mistake at the meant that Carlos Rotondi’s tackle fell into the path of Rivero and his sharp strike into the bottom right corner was unsavable for Yohei Takaoka.
That lead nearly became two when Rotondi’s cross was met by Carlos Rodriguez who looked destined to score until the ball whistled past the post.
In the 28th minute, Cruz Azul got their second of the game after a mistake from Andres Cubas meant his pocket was picked and Faravelli struck from the edge of the box and his shot hit the post and went into the net for two to put Vicente Sanchez’s side in complete control.
Rotondi was then involved again for the third as his low cross was met by Sepulveda who stabbed the ball into the back of the net by Takaoka.
A nightmare first half for Vancouver was completed just before the break as a poor clearance found former LAFC forward Bogusz and his shot deflected off Triston Blackmon and looped into the goal for four.
Any chance of the half time break changing the script was evaporated after five minutes as Jorge Sanchez’s chipped cross was headed home by Sepulveda for his second and the side’s fifth.
Takaoka had looked to have gifted Cruz Azul a sixth after a horror mistake at the back allowed Sepulveda to lay the ball off to Giorgos Giakoumakis, but his lobbed effort was cleared off the line by Vancouver captain Ranko Veselinovic.
With seven minutes left in the game, a long ball over the top released Giakoumakis as he looked for a goal for himself and he looked good money for it until the ball trickled by the post.
The game ended with a 5-0 demolition scoreline with the MLS side unable to register a single shot throughout the entire match as Cruz Azul picked up their first Champions Cup title since the 2013-14 season.
