By Janina Nuno Rios
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican club Cruz Azul clinched a record-equalling seventh CONCACAF Champions Cup title with a crushing 5-0 victory over Canada’s Vancouver Whitecaps in the final at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday.
A dominant performance in front of an ecstatic home crowd saw Cruz Azul join Mexican rivals America as the most successful clubs in the 60-year history of the competition and also secured them a spot in the 2029 Club World Cup.
Vicente Sanchez was only appointed Cruz Azul’s coach in January and while there have been reports suggesting he may leave the club he said his only focus was on repaying the faith shown in him.
“Giving back to the people who trusted in me is the best thing that can happen, today we are giving an international title to Cruz Azul,” the Uruguayan told reporters.
“The truth is that I live in today, I’m happy, I don’t think about the future.”
The hosts struck early, taking the lead in the eighth minute as Carlos Rotondi slid in to square the ball for captain Ignacio Rivero, who calmly finished in a one-on-one.
Lorenzo Faravelli doubled the lead 20 minutes later, winning back the ball and unleashing a superb strike that curled in off the far post, before Angel Sepulveda added another from close range in the 37th minute.
Mateusz Bogusz made it 4-0 seconds before the break and Sepulveda scored his second goal with a powerful header five minutes into the second half as he became the tournament’s top scorer with nine goals.
Major League Soccer side Vancouver failed to record a single shot in the entire match and were left frustrated in their bid to become the first Canadian team to win the continental title.
“We came with hope and aspiration and ambition, of course now there’s devastation,” Vancouver coach Jesper Sorensen told reporters.
“We made a great tournament, we’ve beaten great teams on our way but today we couldn’t put on a performance to beat a really good team like Cruz Azul, that’s how sometimes it is with sports.
“I feel sorry for the players… to win we needed our best performance and today it was quite the opposite. Cruz Azul was just better in every aspect.”
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios, editing by Peter Rutherford)
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