Tag: Alex Bono

Vancouver Whitecaps win Canadian Championship, Vanni Sartini loses shirt

If you win a trophy, you get to pop your shirt off

The Vancouver Whitecaps are the champions of Canada, lifting the Voyageurs Cup after defeating Toronto FC on penalties at BC Place late on Tuesday.

Brian White put the Whitecaps ahead in the 19th minute, nodding in a Ryan Gauld cross after Vancouver had two chances to recycle a corner kick. TFC—featuring Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi—had a set piece answer of their own, equalizing in the 75th minute. Bernardeschi’s outside-foot service on a short corner picked out Lukas MacNaughton for a point-blank header to level the scores.

Neither side found a late winner, setting the stage for penalty kicks. Vancouver converted all of their first four opportunities, while Jonathan Osorio struck the post in the third round for TFC. Tristan Blackmon went down the middle as Alex Bono leapt left on the Whitecaps’ fifth, setting off wild celebrations at BC Place.

None were wilder than Vanni Sartini, though. The Whitecaps head coach appeared to very quickly go left as Blackmon’s penalty hit the back of the net, in what turned out to be a sort of barrel roll on the BC Place turf.

Sartini got in several fist-pumps from his knees before hopping up to to acknowledge Toronto’s Bob Bradley before taking off towards the rest of the Vancouver bench, popping his shirt off and windmilling it, and then adding in a couple of jumps and a particularly strong fist-pump for good measure.

Sartini then found himself shirtless for a bit longer than planned, as his “Home Is Vancouver” shirt was inside-out, and Whitecaps staffers kept coming over for hugs while he tried to get things sorted out. The shirtlessness lasted for a solid 30 seconds before Sartini could get back into all of his clothing.

The victory means Vancouver are the sixth team to qualify for the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League, joining Haiti’s Violette AC (who won the Caribbean Club Championship) and four Liga MX representatives (Atlas, Tigres, Léon, and Pachuca).

Celebrate Sartini’s celebrations

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