Whitecaps 3, Pacific FC 0: A victory that rings hollow in wake of Ali Ahmed injury

With a perfectly executed volley, Ali Ahmed’s story had added a fairytale chapter. The Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder, just six months after signing his first-team contract, had put the Major League Soccer team up 2-0 17 minutes into their Canadian Championship semifinal against Pacific FC on Wednesday night.

His celebration was a simple fist pump, even if the goal warranted so much more. It had energized an entire organization desperate for redemption after crashing out of the competition in the same stadium, against the same team, in 2021.

Then, his dream story became a nightmare.

Two minutes after scoring, Ahmed was scythed down by Pacific defender Cédric Toussaint in the Tridents box. He crashed down hard on Starlight’s artificial turf, his arm bending gruesomely underneath him before his head smashed into, then bounced, off the green.

It was a hard, tackle, verging on brutal, but veteran referee Drew Fischer adjudged it to be legal.