The 2016 season was ultimately a disappointing one for the Vancouver Whitecaps. In 2015, the Whitecaps won the Canadian Championship, finished second in the West, and played their first ever MLS home playoff game. The goal for 2016 was to build on the previous year’s successes. Instead, the Whitecaps defense turned from one of the most solid to one of the worst in the league, while at the other end of the field they struggled to find consistent goalscoring.
Winning the Cascadia Cup and ending the CONCACAF Champions League group stage as the top seed is small comfort in a season when the Whitecaps missed the playoffs for the first time in three years and lost out on the Canadian Championship after being seconds away from retaining it.