With three games in eight days, Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson was wanting to fully utilise his squad, but the important nature of this one somewhat dictated the strength of his starting line-up and there was only two changes from Saturday's 0-0 draw with DC United.
Steven Beitashour shook off his injury to return to the right back role, with Erik Hurtado coming in to partner Sebastian Fernandez up front at the expense of the wasteful Darren Mattocks.
Vancouver carried the vast majority of the early play but only had a 13th minute Kendall Waston header and a string of wayward shots to show for it.
Hurtado forced a low save out of Jon Busch as the half hour mark approached but just when it looked like it was going to be a case of same old, same old the Whitecaps did the unthinkable - they scored a goal!
Waston went up for a free kick and was bundled over in the box by Victor Bernardez. Pedro Morales stepped up to drill the ball home low past Busch and end the Whitecaps 449 minute goal drought.
Vancouver took the lead into half time, with San Jose offering nothing in return apart from a long list of zeros on the stats sheet.
San Jose came out more lively at the start of the second half but Vancouver got the crucial next goal and doubled their advantage in the 56th minute when Waston got the better of his marker to bullet home a Morales corner through the legs of Cordell Cato on the Earthquakes goalline.
Morales nearly made it three for Vancouver in the 73rd minute when Fernandez played a delicious backheel into his path and Busch was forced to make an acrobatic save to turn the Chilean's fierce shot around the post.
Vancouver had chances to add to their lead, but couldn't convert.
Pedro Morales had a goal chalked off for offside late on, but it was a comfortable 2-0 win for Vancouver in the end and almost removes San Jose from the playoff mix in the West with just weeks of the season remaining.
FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 – 0 San Jose Earthquakes
ATT: 17,183
VANCOUVER: David Ousted; Steven Beitashour, Andy O’Brien, Kendall Waston, Jordan Harvey; Matias Laba, Mauro Rosales (Mehdi Ballouchy 62), Pedro Morales (Nicolas Mezquida 86), Russell Teibert; Sebastian Fernandez, Erik Hurtado (Darren Mattocks 90+3) [subs Not Used: Paolo Tornaghi, Sam Adekugbe, Omar Salgado, Kekuta Manneh]
SAN JOSE: Jon Busch; Shaun Francis, Victor Bernardez, Jason Hernandez, Jordan Stewart; Cordell Cato, J.J. Kovall (Khari Stephenson 66), Sam Cronin, Shea Salinas (Atiba Harris 60); Tommy Thompson (Michael Fucito 84), Chris Wondolowski [subs Not Used: Bryan Meredith, Ty Harden, Adam Jahn, Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi]
REACTION:
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
CARL ROBINSON
Thoughts on the game:
"My young boys are very, very good. I’ve got a hundred percent faith in them. As I say to you every week, we won the game today, whether they scored or not. It’s not about any individual. What pleased me the most was a team performance today. Capped off with guys filling in for each other like Sebastian (Fernandez). Sebastian set the tone from the first minute of the game, he was absolutely fantastic in everything he did. And he was infectious to all the other players. And Russell stepped up a level, and Matias Laba was good as well. It was pleasing because it’s not easy when you’re in a tricky patch to perform, but we did that tonight."
Thoughts on Kendall Waston:
"I still think he can get even better. I think there are areas of his games that he needs to work on, and we’ll work on those with him. When he scored the difficult header, he ran off to celebrate and you see a big smile on the big guy’s face but you have the rest of the team hanging off him and he doesn’t even know they’re on his back, which is how big he is and how strong he is and it was an excellent performance by him."
On dominating in the second half:
"Going in at 1-0 is never easy. Pedro getting the penalty was good for his confidence. I think he was very good in the second half. We haven’t scored in four games but if those four games were littered throughout the season when we were scoring three or four goals and going away to Columbus and winning 1-0 then no one asks the question. But we need to get better. That’s a beginning but we still have a lot of hard work to do. And the hard work starts now."
Thoughts on Steven Beitashour and prospects heading down to Dallas:
"He held up. There was constant communication between me and him. It was a risk playing him but it was a very big game for us as we had to get points on the board and I think he managed the game very, very well. He’s a veteran player, so he was excellent in his decision making and a big influence. It was hard leaving Ethen (Sampson) out as he did very, very well for 55 minutes. I’ll speak to Steven now as I’ll speak to all my players and I’m sure there will be one or two that are feeling a little bit fatigued. But I have some more young guys ready for the challenge if need be."
Thoughts on giving Morales more rest for Saturday’s match:
"There was a little bit of worry that he should be taken off. I wanted a third goal. Because at 2-0 you are never comfortable. The third goal unfortunately didn’t come. He wanted to play as long as he wanted to. But I wanted to get Nicolas Mezquida in the game as well because he’s been very, very sharp in training and it was a reward for him because I didn’t want San Jose to get into a little rhythm in the last ten minutes."
Thoughts on Russell Teibert and ground coverage:
"Does anyone cover as much ground as Russell? He’s like a little battery machine. By the way, he’s still got a lot more to give. I think sometimes he plays within his comfort zone, as a few of my young players do, and I don’t want them to do that. I want them to play with an expression and personality, and I think he was one of a number of players that epitomized that today because he ran, he covered, he tackled, he harassed, and there was one time he beat Khari Stephenson to a header and that’s what you have to do if you’re going to play in central midfield. I don’t care how big you are or how small you are but it’s important you compete and today was an all-around performance from Russell."
Thoughts on this being a big mental win:
"It will be nice for them to get three points on the board and keep ticking along. I tried to take the pressure off the group in there because we haven’t won as many games as we would have liked. I’m sure the players do feel it, I don’t want them to feel it, but it’s natural if they do. But today they didn’t show as if they were playing with any pressure. And that was a pleasing thing because on Saturday, we didn’t play as if we were feeling any pressure but we couldn’t score. I continued to stick to my beliefs in the way that the game should be played and they continued to stick to their beliefs within a system and it paid today."
On criticism during the recent goalscoring slump:
"There's teams that go through stages where they don't win in five or six games. so you can feel sorry for yourselves or you can roll your sleeves up, meet the challenge head on and I think that's what we've done all along. We haven't scored in four games but if those four games. If those four games were littered throughout the season where we were scoring threes and fours and going away to Columbus and winning 1-0 then no-one asks the question. We need to get better. I said to them, that's the beginning but we still have a lot of hard work to do and the hard work starts now."
What Whitecaps need wins or pointswise to make the playoffs:
"Every week it seems to change, every result it seems to change," Robinson said. "All I've said all along is take care of your business, that's all we can control. We can't control what San Jose, what Colorado, what Chivas, what Portland do unless we're playing them. We've got to control ourselves and today we did that. I just want to be above that red line. That's what we've got to aim for. If I knew a points total I'd be able to tell you. It could be high, it could be low. It could be two wins, it could be five wins, it could be seven wins. I don't care how many it is, as long as we try and get above that line."
KENDALL WASTON
On his first goal:
"I had the first chance in the first half, and I missed it, so I’ve got to keep on working hard because I know anytime there can be another chance. I thought I could score on the second chance."
On receiving corners from Morales and Rosales:
"Yeah, we know that they have athletic qualities, kicking the ball in the box so we just have to reach the great spots, and find a way to score."
On pressure to end the goal scoring drought:
"Pressure, we have it every day because you need pressure for success every day. This game is about enjoyment, but having some good stuff – we knew today was the game that could help us to gain in the playoff spot. Tonight you could see everybody from the beginning was focused on what we were going to do, and that’s why we won today."
What happened on the penalty?
"Maybe he [bernardez] just pushed me a little bit but he took me out of balance and the referee saw it and for our team he blew a penalty."
On his movement for the goal:
"They were trying to hold me so I stuck to Jordan [Harvey] so I could separate from Bernardez because he is strong. So I see the ball going back and thank god I could go back and have a good header."
Thoughts when the goal went in:
"I just thought, oh finally because I was looking for it a long time ago. The game before v DC I missed some goals so today was the day."
How he feels after his first victory at BC Place:
"Nice, not just for the goal but because I know how hard our players are working during the week to win and today we could win and it was a great feeling."
How does this result help going in to Dallas?
"A lot, because we knew we had the opportunity to win and be closer to the first places. So now we have a great chance in Dallas. We know that they are a great team and a hot city, so now we are just preparing ourselves, having a good recovery, so hopefully we can make good stuff."
DAVID OUSTED
On frustration from missed early chances:
"No I don’t think so, I don’t believe that we can score on every chance that we create but tonight was good, tonight we created chances and got our goals. Kendall did fantastic to get that goal in, and you see how aggressive he is, and how hard it is for a defence all the way."
On whether the game was a relief, or just another game:
"A little bit of both. It was nice to get the goals, and you saw how happy the guys were and the fans as well, but it’s still back to work now. It’s still one game out of the last push for the playoffs so we need to go to Dallas and still have a strong performance, and get goals and points."
On the defence’s performance:
"Fantastic. They made my life easy today. I think they had one or two shots, that was it, and we were really sound, not just the back four but the midfield. A lot of guys did tremendously in pressing, and keeping them away from chances."
On getting the win after so many draws:
"Yeah, I love getting three points. I love winning so let’s continue doing that and it’ll be a lot more fun."
ANDY O’BRIEN
Thoughts on the game:
"Yeah it was very important. You know we’ve been waiting for solid goals to come, and we were pleased first and foremost that we got the three points, and to get two goals was very pleasing."
On the win helping the team going forward:
"When you’re winning games you want games to come thick and fast, and when things aren’t going so well you’re anticipating the next game, but it’s nice to go into the next game with a good result at home."
Thoughts on Kendall Waston’s scoring ability:
"It was well documented before signing him that he’s got a scoring record, and he probably could’ve had more goals, not just tonight but in previous games. He’s a big threat, and we’re delighted for him today to get his first goal, and the second goal for us."
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
MARK WATSON
Thoughts on the match:
"It was a disappointing game. We knew it was going to be a tough game – they’re a good team. I think as much as they were the better team on the night, we gave them two goals off of set pieces, which is something you can’t do, especially on the road, and expect a result."
On whether the second goal (the ball going right through Cato’s legs) is representative of how little things keep going wrong:
"I think, in a way, we’re just finding ways every game to concede goals. I thought Vancouver was a better team on the night. But we gave them two, what I think were, soft goals off of set pieces and, especially on the road, you can’t do that and expect to get a result."
On whether he still has hope, in terms of San Jose making the playoffs:
"I will say it’s a disappointing result for us. That’s all I’ll say."
JON BUSCH
Thoughts on the match:
"We knew it was going to be a tough game, as usual. They’re fighting for points just like we’re fighting for points. The difference in the game was two plays – the penalty kick and the header on the corner kick."
On whether the loss worsens their shot at the playoffs:
"Of course. We know how important the last two games were – in Portland and here. Our goal was to come out with six points and right now, we’ve got one out of six. It’s not good enough."
On how they plan to rebound moving forward:
"Pick ourselves up, look at the tape and get on with it. At this point in the season, you’ve got to get on with it, and you’ve got to find a way to get points and results. Period."