The MLS leaders came to BC Place tonight and left showing not just Vancouver, but the rest of Major League Soccer just why they are sitting in that position.
Although Vancouver Whitecaps put them under some pressure towards the end of the game, they ran out worthy 3-1 winners, as slack defending proved to be the downfall of the home side once again.
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Facing two games in four days, Martin Rennie deployed a little squad rotation, with Jun Marques Davidson dropping to the bench and Atiba Harris coming back in to the midfield.
The inspirational Camilo Sanvezzo was also kept on the bench, as he continues to recover from his earlier injury.
Whenever you see Baldomero Toledo down as the referee, Whitecaps supporters immediately worry and the pantomime villain made his mark early, booking Eric Hassli with 5 minutes and 11 seconds on the clock, following a tackle on Kei Kamara that seemed to have nothing in it.
The opening period of the game was fairly even, with neither side carving out any clear cut chances. Vancouver had a few forays forward, with Sebastien Le Toux looking to be the most menacing.
Kansas City looked the more dangerous team and they took the lead in the 24th minute.
The visitors forced a couple of corners that had the Caps defence looking all at sea, and following a game of penalty box pinball, the ball deflected to Aurelien Collin four yards and the defender just had to stick out his leg to divert the ball past Joe Cannon for the opening goal.
It was the kind of defending that we expected from the Whitecaps last season, not from this year’s more esteemed back line.
Vancouver had a chance to equalise four minutes later, when a break on the right ended with Young-Pyo Lee sending a perfect ball on to the head of Le Toux and his strong header forced Jimmy Neilsen into his first real save of the game.
As Whitecaps passes started to go astray, Kansas City’s nippy forward line looked like they could get past the Caps last line of defence at any moment, but DeMerit and co held firm.
It was Vancouver in fact that finished the half stronger, with Le Toux firing over from a good position and Jordan Harvey unable to get on the end of a dangerous Hassli cross.
As the first half came to a close, Hassli was lucky not to see another yellow when he caught Collin with a late kick to the back of his leg. For once, Toldeo showed a little leniency.
Hassli became the Caps playmaker at the start of the second half, just failing to set up first Gershon Koffie and then David Chiumiento with through balls in the opening minutes, that were just a little heavy.
Despite Vancouver taking the game to the League leaders, Kansas City showed just why they’re at the top and doubled their lead in the 52nd minute.
Matt Besler sent in a long throw-in from the right and with the Caps defenders ball-watching, Collin clumsily jumped to avoid the ball hitting his arm, only for it to hit off Martin Bonjour and past Joe Cannon at his near post.
It was a blow to Vancouver but they nearly found themselves back in the game moments later when Seth Sinovic squaffed a clearance and forced Jimmy Nielsen into a scrambling save for a Caps corner.
It was a fantastic stop and begged the question, can you win save of the week from keeping out your team-mate?
As the Caps huffed and puffed for a way back in, the visitors hit a killer blow in the 65th minute.
Kamara collected the ball on the edge of the Caps box, played it out wide to Chance Myers, then ran in to collect the pass and slip it low past Cannon for 3-0.
To their credit, Vancouver still tried to take the game to Kansas City, with Hassli having the best chance in the 72nd minute, with an excellent turn, but he shot wildly over.
The Caps had brought on Camilo and Omar Salgado to try and provide the vital spark and the two substitutes combined to pull one back for the home side in the 80th minute.
Salgado whipped a cross in from the left, which Camilo met brilliantly. His header crashed off the bar but Le Toux was on hand to hit home from close range. Jimmy Nielsen went crazy as he felt that Le Toux was offside and earned a booking for his protestations to the linesman.
Nielsen was then forced into a superb finger tip save two minutes later from a 25 yard Camilo rocket, as all thoughts turned to last season’s epic 3-3 draw between the two sides.
Kansas City weathered the storm, but the Caps had a penalty claim with two minutes remaining when Camilo was felled in the box by Besler, but the linesman had his flag up for offside.
The game headed into stoppage time but the drama wasn’t over. Long Tan, who had just come on, forced Nielsen to parry his shot from just inside the box, and in the resultant scramble, the Caps appealed for a penalty for handball as KC cleared the danger.
Despite the late pressure, there was no stoppage time comeback this year and the Caps were left to rue some defensive lapses that need to be tightened up or the team aren’t going to be doing very much this season.
ATT: 15,382
FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 1 - 3 Sporting Kansas City
VANCOUVER : Joe Cannon; Young-Pyo Lee, Martin Bonjour (Long Tan 87), Jay DeMerit, Jordan Harvey; Atiba Harris, John Thorrington (Camilo Sanvezzo 58), Gershon Koffie, Davide Chiumiento; Eric Hassli (Omar Salgado 79), Sebastien Le Toux [subs Not Used: Brad Knighton, Jun Marques Davidson, Carlyle Mitchell, Matt Watson]
KANSAS CITY : Jimmy Nielsen; Chance Myers, Aurelien Collin, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic; Paulo Nagamura (Lawrence Olum 77), Graham Zusi, Roger Espinoza; Kai Kamara, C.J. Sapong (Teal Bunbury 62), Bobby Convey (Jacob Peterson 52) [subs Not Used: Jon Kempin, Michael Harrington, Soony Saad, Luke Sassano]
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