'Looked like the MLS of 10 years ago' – Herculez Gomez criticizes Vancouver Whitecaps' tactics in 'humiliating' 5-0 loss to Cruz Azul in CONCACAF Champions Cup final

The former USMNT striker said the Whitecaps wasted an opportunity, and didn't make necessary in-match adjustments

Gomez critical of Whitecaps' tactical approachHighlights costly turnovers from building from the backCalls' performance "humiliating" given historic opportunityGetty Images SportWHAT HAPPENED

Former MLS star Herculez Gomez delivered harsh criticism of the Vancouver Whitecaps following their 5-0 loss to Cruz Azul in the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup final. The MLS side were thoroughly beaten by the Liga MX team last weekend, with Cruz Azul taking a 4-0 half-time lead. It eventually finished 5-0 with Angel Sepulveda doubling his tally five minutes.

"It’s a final, usually finals are tight, they’re tense and cagey affairs," Gomez said on Futbol Americas, "and this Vancouver team, if anything, has been very steady, very composed. They’re the best defensive team in MLS – before this matchup they’d only lost two games but this was a different type of team.

“But when you play so naively, when you gift opponents opportunities by naively trying to play out of the back, when you lose the ball in your own defensive third, when you lose it facing your own goal – against a team that is so potent in the way they press you, how they attack and that takes their chances – and you don’t learn from the first, or the second or the third? It’s going to get out of hand."

Gomez also noted a lack of composure from key stars over the course of the 90 minutes, including Andrés Cubas.

“The lack of composure by Jesper Sorensen’s team here by big players?" Gomez said. "Cubas played against Inter Miami going toe to toe against Messi. This Cubas? looked like the worst player on the field – no, he was the worst player on the field. A team that has a player that is so hot right now in Brian White, a team that knows you had to take your chances, couldn’t muster up a single shot? It wasn’t that it was a shot on goal but a single shot?

“I thought it looked like the MLS of 10 years ago where it wasn’t that deep of a roster and players looked out of sorts, deer-in-headlights sort of look. I thought it was humiliating for a team like Vancouver, who may not ever get this chance. And I think that there was only one team and one team in the game and that was Cruz Azul. That’s how bad it looked.”

AdvertisementWHAT HERCULEZ GOMEZ SAIDTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Mexican clubs have won 17 of the 19 editions in the Champions League-Cup era. While recent years have shown increasing competitiveness from MLS sides, culminating in Seattle's 2022 triumph and LAFC's near-miss in 2020, Vancouver's performance suggests significant gaps remain.

Getty Images SportWHAT’S NEXT?

The Vancouver Whitecaps will need to quickly regroup as they return to MLS action against the Seattle Sounders at home on June 8. Following that, the Whitecaps go on the road to face Columbus Crew on June 14.