Cruz Azul will host Vancouver Whitecaps in Concacaf Champions Cup final | OneFootball

Cruz Azul will host the Vancouver Whitecaps in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup final after a 1-0 win in Leg 2 of their semifinal at home over Tigres UANL on Thursday night.

Tournament scoring leader Angel Sepulveda scored from the spot for his seventh goal of the competition for the Mexico City side in the 82nd minute. The penalty came after Canadian referee Drew Fischer was summoned to the video monitor to review a play, ultimately concluding that Tigres' Marcelo Flores was guilty of a handball offense inside the area.

While Cruz Azul would have advanced even with a 0-0 draw based on the away goals tiebreaker, Sepulveda's goal means his side finishes the past three rounds of tournament competition with a record of 3W-3D-0L and 12 points, against the 2W-4D-0L record and 10 points of Vancouver. That gives Cruz Azul hosting rights in the final, currently set for Sunday, June 1.

Vancouver booked its place in the final with a 3-1 victory at Inter Miami in its Leg 2 on Wednesday night, completing a 5-1 aggregate win.

Home field has mattered

This is the second consecutive year the final has been a single-match affair, following the decision to expand the tournament to 27 teams and add an additional knockout round for all but five competitors.

CF Pachuca defeated the Columbus Crew 3-0 at home in 2024. Afterward, reports emerged that the Crew had experienced food poisoning during their trip.

That was only the second Concacaf Champions Cup final not held on a neutral site or over two legs since the rest of the knockout phase switched to the two-leg, total-goals format in 2002. The other came in 2021 when CF Monterrey earned a 1-0 home victory over Club America.

Vancouver has already earned a pair of draws on Mexican soil, playing to 2-2 scores at both CF Monterrey and Pumas UNAM. The latter came at the same Estadio Olimpico Universitario where the final will be contested since Pumas and Cruz Azul are currently in a ground share.