3 KEY Canadian storylines to watch in the Round of 16 of the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup
After a short break, the Concacaf Champions Cup returns in earnest this week, with the Round of 16 kicking off on Tuesday.
Following a relatively straightforward first round, one filled with predictable results, things ramp up in a big way at this stage, especially with the introduction of five new teams, who all earned byes to this round.
Now, it feels like the tournament is about to get going, especially when considering some of the matches that are on display. Of the eight matchups, three feature MLS vs. Liga MX clashes, two MLS vs. MLS battles and one Liga MX vs. Liga MX meeting, which are all certainly worth watching.
All of a sudden, the field is going to narrow in a big way, with some big teams set to exit over the next two weeks.
Yet, this is why this stage is always so fascinating. Usually, the results in this round do a great job of serving as a barometer for which teams are contenders and which sides might struggle later on.
Just look at last year as an example. At this stage, the Vancouver Whitecaps, who only narrowly got past Costa Rican side Saprissa in the first round, managed to take care of business against Liga MX giants CF Monterrey, eliminating them on away goals after a 3-3 aggregate tie.
That result allowed the Whitecaps to dream, opening the door for them to make a surprise run to the final, as they followed up that Monterrey victory with another away goals win vs. Pumas UNAM in the quarter-finals and a dominant 5-1 win vs. Inter Miami in the semi-finals. Of course, they then fell short in the final, losing 5-0 to Cruz Azul, but that didn’t take away from the run they made, which really got going at this Round of 16 stage.
Because of that, it’ll be fascinating to see who emerges as a team to watch from this round this time around, especially given some of the matchups on display.
With that in mind, here are three KEY storylines to watch in this round, with a twist: these storylines are from a Canadian perspective, with there still being a strong Canadian presence in this tournament at this stage - as a reminder, Canadians can watch the Concacaf Champions Cup here on OneSoccer.
Can Stephen Eustáquio and LAFCanada keep rolling?
Led by Canadian head coach Marc Dos Santos, LAFC have quickly become a team to watch for Canadians this year, especially after the arrival of CanMNT vice-captain Stephen Eustáquio on loan from Porto.
Along with the inclusion of fellow Canadians Mathieu Choinière, Jacob Shaffelburg, Ryan Raposo, Thomas Hasal and Marius Aiyenero in the squad, this LAFC side doesn’t lack for Canadian content, with some joking that they’ve now become Canada’s fourth MLS team.
Certainly, with how they’ve played to start 2026, Canadians won’t have minded keeping a closer eye on them in recent weeks, either, as they’ve cruised to a 3W-0D-0L start in MLS play, and started this tournament with a dominant 7-1 aggregate win over Honduran side Real España in the first round.
Of the Canadian contingent, Eustáquio has been the key piece, no doubt - he’s featured in 377 minutes so far across five appearances in all competitions, which is fourth on LAFC, and he’s already chipped in with a goal and an assist (along with several pre-assists) across those minutes, too.
Another LAFC screamer 🚨
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 1, 2026
Stephen Eustáquio's first makes it 2-0! pic.twitter.com/XmH880Riyv
After staying mostly stapled to the bench with Porto in the first half of the 2025-2026 season, it hasn’t taken long for Eustáquio to flex his quality at his new club, giving them a true stalwart in midfield.
For a team that’s already so dangerous offensively with the presence of Heung-Min Son and Dénis Bouanga, who have already combined for 11 goal contributions this season (1G/5A for Son, 4G/1A for Bouanga), Eustáquio’s arrival has been transformative, allowing them to be dangerous on both sides of the ball.
In particular, it stands out that due to his skills on both sides of the ball, LAFC were able to quietly switch from a true 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 in recent games, allowing them to insert Timothy Tillman as a #10 to offer more support to LA’s lethal front three of Son, Bouanga and David Martínez (who also has three goals in five games), thanks to the presence of Eustáquio in their double-pivot.
DAVID MARTINEZ For LAFC! 🤯🚀
— Just Goals SV (@saulvazqezc) March 8, 2026
Goal of the week? 🔥
pic.twitter.com/Awab9my4Lf
Yet, that’s why Eustáquio has been such a good fit. Not only is he a tireless presence defensively, but he has the quality on the ball to offer even more support to LA’s attack, which was something LAFC struggled to do as a team last season.
That’s why they often played a 3-4-3 at the end of 2025, with the goal being for them to sit back and defend as a team, with the front three often attacking on their own. Now, they can attack with as many as five or even six players in their 4-2-3-1, knowing that they’re much better at defending in transition thanks to the presence of someone like Eustáquio in midfield.
Stephen Eustaquio ➡️ Son Heung-min ➡️ Denis Bouanga ➡️ 💥
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) February 18, 2026
The CanMNT 🇨🇦 midfielder starts his LAFC tenure off with this absolute dime to Sonny, who sets up Bouanga for the finish 😎#ConcaChampions pic.twitter.com/5464qDpXZW
Now, it’ll be hoped that some of the other Canadians can play a bigger role going forward. In particular, it can be wondered if Mathieu Choinière could earn more of an opportunity to pair alongside Eustáquio in midfield, as he’s only featured in 150 minutes in 2026, with Mark Delgado so far preferred in that position.
With Choinière’s work rate and quality on the ball, he’d be a natural fit in Delgado’s position, but he’s found it hard to pip the two-time MLS Cup winner. Such is the difficulty of playing on a deep team like LAFC, unfortunately.
Elsewhere, Ryan Raposo will hope to find more minutes in his depth role, having so far only played 80 minutes across just one appearance (coming against Real España in the second leg of their first round matchup), and the same goes for Thomas Hasal, who has also played 90 minutes across one appearance (also against Real España).
Otherwise, Jacob Shaffelburg will hope to return from an injury soon, as he’ll add another option for LA to turn to up front, while Aiyenero will continue to battle for a chance to make his debut in the coming months - although there is less of a rush for him to see the field given that he’s still only 17.
Overall, though, it shows that while Eustáquio has been the big story to watch from a Canadian perspective, there are a few other Canadians looking to join him on the field more often in the games to come.
Perhaps, their Round of 16 Champions Cup tie can offer a bit of an opportunity in that regard - while Costa Rican side Alajuelense are a good opponent, they’re not at the same level of some of the other sides in this round, so maybe that’ll open the door for some of the other Canadians to earn minutes as LA looks to navigate a busy schedule by rotating their squad where they see fit.
LAFC hosts Alajuense at BMO Stadium on March 10th (8:00 p.m. PT), before visiting Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto on March 17th (6:00 p.m. PT).
Dayne St. Clair makes competition debut behind motivated Inter Miami side:
After earning a bye through the first round by virtue of being the 2025 MLS Cup champions, Inter Miami now enters the competition at this stage, which will add some extra noise to proceedings - such is the Lionel Messi effect, after all.
There, they’ll face Nashville SC in a matchup between two teams who know each other well, having met in the 2023 Leagues Cup final, 2024 Champions Cup Round of 16 and 2025 MLS Cup playoffs first round.
So far, Miami has gotten the better of Nashville in each matchup, but that could very well change this time around. Having done well to bolster their already strong squad this offseason, with the arrival of Cristian Espinoza to pair with Sam Surridge and Hany Mukhtar in the attack standing out as a big headline move, Nashville looks like one of the best teams in MLS to start 2026.
Given that Nashville pushed Miami to a third game in their best-of-three playoff series last year, that shows that this could be a wide-open tie, one that will be decided on key moments.
Because of that, keep an eye on Miami goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair, who is still finding his feet at his new club after arriving from Minnesota United in the offseason.
Having arrived as the reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, St. Clair has taken some time to adjust to life behind this Miami team, conceding six goals in three games in MLS play to start the year.
Ultimately, though, given that Miami has picked up six points from those three games, they can live with St. Clair’s slower adaptation process, as they’re not too preoccupied with MLS play quite yet. After earlier than hoped exits in the 2024 and 2025 Champions Cup, as they were eliminated by CF Monterrey in the 2024 quarter-finals, and by the Whitecaps in the 2025 semi-finals, they want to win it all this year.
After winning the Leagues Cup in 2023, the Supporters’ Shield in 2024, and now MLS Cup last year, lifting the Champions Cup is the next frontier in their evolution as a team. Not only would it further establish their brand as one of the best teams in North America, but it’d help them return to the 2029 Club World Cup and open the door for them to play at FIFA’s Intercontinental Cup, which would further help their global brand, too.
What that shows, though, is why this tournament is ‘win or bust’ for Miami, and why the pressure will be on St. Clair to help them do that. Last year, goalkeeping was seen as a big reason why Miami struggled against the Whitecaps, so it’s expected that St. Clair can come up with some big stops in this tournament.
Plus, it’s worth noting that while he’s conceded six goals, his advanced metrics aren’t that bad, as he’s faced 6.47 post-shot xG per WyScout, meaning that he’s actually overperforming his shot-stopping numbers despite his less-than-ideal start - showing that Miami’s bigger issue at the back has been the sheer volume of chances they conceded.
OMG WHAT A SAVE! 😱
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 2, 2026
Dayne St. Clair keeps us level on Apple TV: https://t.co/6ail2kipsg pic.twitter.com/LPTV56hx1Y
Yet, that’s the challenge that St. Clair faces - until Miami tightens up at the back, they’ll expect him to paper over some of those cracks they’ve had defensively, with his play. So far, he hasn’t been able to do that as much as he’s adapted to their system, one that was much different from the one he had in front of him with old club Minnesota United, but as he gets more and more comfortable, it’s hoped that he can step up big.
Perhaps, though, this Nashville matchup can be what St. Clair needs to find his feet. Some of his best games with Minnesota came in bigger matchups like this, so the chance for him to make his Champions Cup debut could hopefully spur him on in a big way.
Inter Miami visits Nasvhille SC at Geodis Park on March 11th (7:30 p.m. ET), before welcoming them to Chase Stadium on March 18th (7:00 p.m. ET).
Do the Whitecaps have more magic in them?
The Vancouver Whitecaps' quest to return to another Champions Cup final remains alive, as they narrowly managed to beat Costa Rican side C.S. Cartaginés 2-0 on aggregate in a surprisingly cagey first-round matchup.
Now, they’ll look to build off that in what has to be one of the tastiest matchups of the first round, one that pits two Cascadian rivals against each other.
For the Whitecaps, in particular, this is a huge opportunity, as they’ll get the chance to finally get one against their wildly successful neighbours, who became the first MLS team to win the modern iteration of this competition back in 2022, and of course have won two MLS Cups, one Supporters’ Shield, and one Leagues Cup to go along with that CCC triumph in this MLS era (and you can’t forget their four US Open Cups, for good measure). By comparison, success has been much harder to come by for the Whitecaps, who have just five Canadian Championships to their name in the MLS era, and none of the other major trophies the Sounders picked up.
Given the lack of meaningful matches like this between the two teams in the MLS era, with a forgettable early-round MLS Cup playoffs meeting in 2017 and a pair of group stage meetings in this competition in 2015-2016 standing out as the high watermark in terms of matches between these two teams since the 2010s, it could be argued that this is the biggest meeting between these two teams since the start of the last decade, too.
Because of that, this represents a huge opportunity for the Whitecaps. Coming off the best season of their MLS era, one where they came within touching distance of the Supporters’ Shield, Champions Cup and MLS Cup, they finally showed that they could be an elite heavyweight like the Sounders, and they've so far done well to build off that to start 2026.
Double delight for Brian White ‼️✌️
— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) March 8, 2026
Cabrera puts one up for Brian's brace 🔥#PORvVAN | 🌲 1 - 4 🏔️ pic.twitter.com/amlyalWbT2
Of course, though, to affirm that status, the Whitecaps need to win some of those bigger trophies, so it’s not as if winning this tie will change much in that regard, but it’d certainly be a good way for them to show how far they’ve come.
Now, from a Canadian perspective, it’ll be fascinating to see who earns an opportunity to shine in these games for the Whitecaps. Ralph Priso seems a lock to do so at centre back, as he’s been excellent to start the year, while Jeevan Badwal is another one to watch, having put in some strong performances against Cartaginés and in MLS play, elevating him from a depth role to key starting player.
— Juni🇨🇦🇸🇦 (@WizsNan) March 1, 2026
Otherwise, Rayan Elloumi could earn some minutes off the bench in both games, as he looks to open his account in this competition, while Liam MacKenzie could also be leaned upon as a late-game sub if needed.
Unfortunately, these games look to come too soon for Sam Adekugbe, who’d love to feature in a matchup like this, but perhaps he can feature at some point in the tournament if the Whitecaps remain alive long enough.
For the Sounders, meanwhile, keep an eye on Osaze De Rosario - while the son of Canadian legend Dwayne De Rosario won’t be suiting up for Canada, as he’s become a full-fledged Guyanese international, his journey from the Canadian Premier League to MLS has been a great success Canadian soccer success story, one that’s been more than worth following (even if Whitecaps fans won’t be cheering him on in this round).
The Whitecaps host the Sounders at BC Place on March 12th (7:00 p.m. PT), before visiting Spokane's One Spokane Stadium (due to renovations at Seattle's Lumen Field) on March 18th (8:00 p.m. PT).
You can watch the Concacaf Champions Cup LIVE on OneSoccer!
