I know it feels like a long time ago now, but cast your minds back to the start of the 2025 season.

Vancouver Whitecaps were, frankly, in turmoil. With the club up for sale, rumours were swirling of the team relocating, and after Vanni Sartini and Stuart Armstrong departed the club, there was an expectation throughout MLS circles that a promising team was on the verge of implosion.

It was in these circumstances that on the eve of the new campaign, The Third Sub team published our preseason predictions. Writers both new and old came together to share their opinions and offer predictions ahead of the new season, with the expectation that they might be terrible, but ultimately, it would be fun to look back on at the end of the year.

What happened next was the most amazing year of football Vancouver has seen in a long time. The Whitecaps stunned everyone by producing phenomenal display after phenomenal display, ultimately ending the season as runners-up in both the MLS Cup and the Concacaf Champions Cup. It was also the year that a superstar finally found his way to this team, as Thomas Müller signed for the club over the summer and then proved to be a talismanic figure throughout the run-in.

But how much of this did we predict? Join me (Kian, and I apologize for using the third person throughout the article) as I look back at our predictions to praise the good ones, and laugh at the bad ones.

2025 Vancouver Whitecaps Season Preview

Where will the Whitecaps finish in the Western Conference standings, and if they make the playoffs, how far will they go?

Good Shouts: Erm. No One.

Bad Shouts: MLS Analysts

Well, that was not a good start. Nobody called the Whitecaps to finish 2^nd in the Western Conference or to reach MLS Cup, with guesses on our site hovering around an upper-mid-table finish in the West and then a first or second round exit in the playoffs.

However, we can take pride in our predictions when comparing them to the dreadful ones that were done by the MLS Analysts. The “expert predictions” had Vancouver down in 14^th, with Michele Giannone even putting the Whitecaps to finish rock bottom, which couldn’t have been further out.

The Vancouver Whitecaps had a +3 goal differential in 2024, will they be better or worse than that in 2025, and why?

Good Shouts: Everyone (sort of)

This was a drastic improvement, as everybody predicted better and everyone was correct. However, whereas we mostly said it would be about the same or slightly better, the Whitecaps shattered their previous goal difference record this season with their +28, the highest across MLS.

What was Vancouver’s best off-season addition?

Good Shouts: Caleb, Andrew

Bad Shouts: Kian, Sam

Now is when this gets interesting, as we finally have different predictions and more interesting analysis.

Caleb’s shout of Tate Johnson was impressive as the Super Draft pick has been sensational in his debut year, while Andrew’s selection of Emmanuel Sabbi was vindicated as the winger offered an extra threat notched 8 MLS goals and picked up 6 assists.

Shouts of Jaden Nelson from Alex and Ian appeared to be genius after his opening day demolition of Portland, but the Canadian international appeared to fizzle out over the course of the season and could only double his total numbers across the remaining games.

However, Daniel Rios was definitely not the correct answer, as the forward looked largely ineffective and only bagged 4 goals across over 1500 league minutes. That was unfortunate for Kian and Sam, who said they thought that he was the best addition heading into the campaign.

What’s one glaring weakness you think could be exposed this year?

Good Shouts: Kian, Alex

Bad Shouts: Caleb, Sam, Ian, Andrew

We’ll get the bad ones out the way now shall we (sorry Caleb).

“It’s basically over if, for any significant period of time, Ryan Gauld isn’t 100% healthy.”

Enough said. To be fair to Caleb that opinion was widely heralded, with Sam, Andrew, and Ian also sharing that view. However, the Whitecaps were phenomenal even without their Scottish talisman, and the prospect of adding him to this team remains an exciting one ahead of the 2026 season.

There were some better predictions in this category. Alex said the Whitecaps would lack a killer edge in big games, and after squandering chances to win two key Cascadia Cup clashes before doing the same to blow top spot in the Western Conference on Decision Day and then again in MLS Cup, it is safe to say he was right. Meanwhile, Kian’s prediction of the Whitecaps struggling on international duty was a solid shout, especially as Vancouver’s only poor run of the season came during the Gold Cup.

Who will be the team’s unsung hero or surprise performer this year?

Good Shouts: Almost Everyone

Bad Shout: Alex

In a season full of unsung Whitecaps heroes, almost everyone managed to hit the mark. Shouts of Belal Halbouni, Ralph Priso, Ranko Veselinovic and Tate Johnson were all proven correct. Although I am biased, I don’t think Jeevan Badwal was a bad answer for the surprise performer box given his displays when deployed in various positions across the back end of the season.

Unfortunately for Alex he selected Daniel Rios, who was once again probably the only wrong answer across the team after the striker only bagged four goals across the season.

What is one bold prediction you would make that others might not see coming?

Good Shouts: Kian, Ian, Sam

Bad Shouts: Caleb

This round went remarkably well for The Third Sub commentators, as although no one predicted the arrival of Müller, collectively we made some brave shouts that were proved correct.

Ian saying someone other than Ryan Gauld would make the MLS All-Star roster was an inspired call as not one, but four Whitecaps players made the team, while Kian calling a deep Champions Cup run was also an outrageous shout at the time that turned out to be a correct prediction. Sam suggested that the Whitecaps would compete at the upper echelons of the West, which was also correct.

For half marks, Alex predicted that Jesper Sørensen would find over 500 minutes across all competitions for young Canadian players; a figure which was hit by Jeevan Badwal but not Liam McKenzie (although that isn’t really fair due to his long-term injury absence). Andrew is also part of this club as he expected that Sabbi and Rios would hit career highs for goals + assists.

However, Caleb predicted that Max Anchor would surpass Boehmer as the number 2 shot stopper and then in turn be number one ahead of this season with Takaoka’s contract expiring. This didn’t happen, as after an unfortunate loan spell at Pacific FC, Anchor was released, with the young goalkeeper departing to sign for Seattle Sounders.

Are there any players on the current roster you don’t think will be with Vancouver by season’s end?

Good Shouts: Alex, Ian

Bad Shouts: Andrew

There wasn’t much doing in the way of outgoings this season, as Damir Kreilach being bought out of his contract, Pedro Vite leaving for Pumas and Bjørn Inge Utvik departing back to Sarpsborg mid-season were the core departures from the roster.

This was great news for Ian and Alex, who went for Kreilach and Utvik to have left respectively, while half points can be awarded to Kian, Sam and Caleb for pairing some combination of these players with others, such as Vite and Ali Ahmed.

Andrew was the only person who went solely for Ahmed. After his performances this season – including scoring in MLS cup – there is surely interest in the Canadian international, meaning he may still end up departing before the 2026 season starts, and we end this round with a perfect score.

So there we have it. I don’t think that was a bad set of results at all, but hopefully we all do better at predicting next year!