Cruz Azul beats the Vancouver Whitecaps 5-0 for the CONCACAF Champions Cup title

MEXICO CITY AP ngel Sep lveda scored twice and Cruz Azul routed the Vancouver Whitecaps - on Sunday to win its seventh CONCACAF Champions Cup Sep lveda finished with a tournament-best nine goals Ignacio Rivero Lorenzo Faravelli and Mateusz Bogusz also scored for Cruz Azul which built a - lead by halftime The Liga MX club tied crosstown rival Club America for greater part titles in the tournament It was Cruz Azul s first title since - when La M quina beat Tijuana The Whitecaps were looking to make history as the first Canadian crew to win the tournament and the first winner from Major League Soccer since the Seattle Sounders in Cruz Azul is a club that demands a lot Cruz Azul coach Vicente S nchez announced through a translator We prepared ourselves for this final We had two weeks to prepare ourselves for this match so we had a couple of friendly matches Specific players went to the national association We knew this organization this rival Cruz Azul had four shots on goal in the first half and scored on all of them La M quina took advantage of a defensive lapse by the Whitecaps and Ignacio Rivero coolly finished with his left foot in the seventh minute in front of cheering home fans at Estadio Ol mpico Universitario Faravelli s goal came after a similar defensive lapse struck from distance and went into the net after hitting the post After Sep lveda s sliding goal in the th Bogusz added a goal in the th just before the teams went into the break Sep lveda added another goal on a header in the th It was Cruz Azul goalkeeper Kevin Mier s fourth clean sheet of the tournament The Whitecaps had no shots on goal during the match I think that the main thing was that we were not able to come out with the calmness and confidence and we were up against a crew that came out very confident playing at their home turf and and also in front of a great home crowd So that was I think the main decider Whitecaps coach Jesper Sorensen revealed Vancouver was without Sebastian Berhalter because of yellow card accumulation He scored in both legs of the semifinal against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami The Whitecaps had hoped that captain Ryan Gauld would return from a knee injury in time for the competition but he was not available Cruz Azul advanced with a two-legged domination over UANL Tigres Sanchez who took over as interim coach of La M quina in January was peppered with questions after the match about his future with the unit He fell to his knees and sobbed on the field after the final whistle I don t know about the future It s one day at a time Sanchez commented I don t know what is going to happen the following day We have to enjoy in the present day with the people that supported us with fans And the next morning we ll see the decision does not depend on me It was the first meeting between the Whitecaps and Cruz Azul AP soccer https apnews com hub soccer Source