Vancouver Whitecaps advance over Pumas to face Messi's Inter Miami in the Champions Cup semifinals

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Tristan Blackmon scored a stoppage-time equalizer to help Vancouver Whitecaps earn a 2-2 draw with Pumas on Wednesday and book a spot in the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals against Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.

Sebastian Berhalter put Vancouver ahead in the 33rd minute but the Mexican club responded with goals from Guillermo Martinez in the 37th and Ignacio Pussetto in the 88th to take a 2-1 lead. Blackmon sealed the semifinal spot three minutes into stoppage time as the Whitecaps advanced on away goals.

“The team worked hard tonight, and we put ourselves in position to score late,” Blackmon said. “It was always not pretty, but we showed grit and at the end of the day we got the result that we wanted.”

The first leg of the series ended in a 1-1 draw. Vancouver has not played in the Champions Cup semifinals since 2017 and is trying to win the tournament for the first time.

To do that, it must beat Inter Miami, which advanced 3-1 over LA FC to qualify for the semifinals for the first time.

“First of all, we need to recover from this and then we will be ready for that,” Blackmon said.

On the way to the semifinals, the Whitecaps, the team with the best record in the MLS this season, defeated three Mexican teams — Santos Torreon, Monterrey Rayados and Pumas.

On the other side of the tournament’s bracket, six-time CONCACAF champion Cruz Azul will face off in the semifinals against 2020 champion Tigres.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Sebastian Berhalter of Canada's Vancouver Whitecaps, left, celebrates scoring his side's opening goal with teammate Ranko Veselinovic against Mexico's Pumas during a CONCACAF Champions Cup second leg quarterfinal soccer match in Mexico City, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Piero Quispe of Mexico's Pumas, left, and Andres Cubas of Canada's Vancouver Whitecaps vie for the ball during a CONCACAF Champions Cup second leg quarterfinal soccer match in Mexico City, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Jose Caicedo of Mexico's Pumas, back, challenges Ali Ahmed of Canada's Vancouver Whitecaps during a CONCACAF Champions Cup second leg quarterfinal soccer match in Mexico City, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Guillermo Martinez of Mexico's Pumas celebrates scoring his side's first goal against Canada's Vancouver Whitecaps during a CONCACAF Champions Cup second leg quarterfinal soccer match in Mexico City, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Guillermo Martinez of Mexico's Pumas celebrates scoring his side's first goal against Canada's Vancouver Whitecaps during a CONCACAF Champions Cup second leg quarterfinal soccer match in Mexico City, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Rogelio Funes Mori of Mexico's Pumas reacts at the end of a CONCACAF Champions Cup second leg quarterfinal soccer match against Canada's Vancouver Whitecaps in Mexico City, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Tristan Blackmon of Canada's Vancouver Whitecaps (33) is congratulated after scoring his side's 2nd goal against Mexico's Pumas during a CONCACAF Champions Cup second leg quarterfinal soccer match in Mexico City, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.

Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.

U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.

"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”

Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”

Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.

"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.

The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.

“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.

“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”

The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)