Vancouver Whitecaps won a huge six-pointer against Real Salt Lake at BC Place this afternoon.
Second half goals from Camilo Sanvezzo and Dane Richards secured the points as the Whitecaps ran out comfortable 2-1 winners.
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It was pretty much a case of same again for Vancouver, as they named an unchanged starting eleven apart from the forced change of Brad Knighton in goal in place of the suspended Joe Cannon.
There were a few lively forays forward by both sides in the opening stages but it was Camilo who came closest to opening the scoring in the 14th minute when his long range rocket forced Nick Rimando into a spectacular save.
Real hadn’t really posed much of a threat to the Whitecaps goal, but that all changed in the 25th minute when Alvaro Saborio rattled the left hand post with a powerful header from a Javier Morales cross.
Brad Knighton and Jay DeMerit collided trying to clear the danger and both required treatment before being able to continue.
The Caps captain was only able to last a few more minutes before going back down, still suffering the after effects of the head knock. This meant a Whitecaps and MLS debut for new signing Andy O’Brien.
The match had turned a little cagey, with neither side wanting to make a mistake and neither goalkeeper being troubled.
As the game moved into the third minute of stoppage time at the end of the half, Vancouver won a corner on the right.
Robson’s inswinger was right on Rimando, forcing him to punch clear but only back as far as Robson. The Scot’s second effort into the box was met by the head of Camilo but Rimando got down well to stop the ball on his goal-line.
The start of the second half belonged to Vancouver, as the Caps tried to make their pace tell. Darren Mattocks and Camilo had half chances, as the home side got ever closer to breaking the deadlock.
And that deadlock was broken in the 58th minute.
Camilo played a short pass into the box to Mattocks but the Real defence closed him down quickly. Their attempted clearance took a ricochet and as the visitors defence hesitated Camilo nipped in, took a touch and buried a beautifully placed shot into the bottom of the net.
It was two for Vancouver six minutes later and again Camilo had an important part to play.
Mattocks cut the ball back to the Brazilian outside the box and instead of going for goal, he played a short pass to Dane Richards to his right. The Jamaican calmly picked his spot before curling a delightful 20 yarder past Rimando.
Real looked for the quick response and Saborio nearly got it when he ran into the box and shot on goal. Knighton fumbled the first attempt but quickly recovered the rebound.
Vancouver looked to kill the game off in the closing minutes and Real Salt Lake looked like a team that just didn’t have it this particular afternoon.
Substitute Paulo Junior brought a save out of Knighton with a minute of normal time remaining to show the visitors still couldn’t be counted out.
From nowhere they pulled a goal back in the 92nd minute, when Nat Borchers rose to head home a Paulo cross.
It was too little too late and the referee soon blew for full time.
The win got Vancouver right back in the race for the top of the West and the nature of the performance gives indication that it’s only going to get better from here on in.
FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 2 - 0 Real Salt Lake
ATT: 20,083
VANCOUVER: Brad Knighton; Young-Pyo Lee, Martin Bonjour, Jay DeMerit (Andy O’Brien 31), Alain Rochat; Jun Marques Davidson, Gershon Koffie, Barry Robson; Camilo Sanvezzo (Russell Teibert 86), Darren Mattocks (Kenny Miller 72), Dane Richards [subs Not Used: Brian Sylvestre, Jordan Harvey, Andy O’Brien, John Thorrington, Atiba Harris]
REAL SALT LAKE: Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Nat Borchers, Chris Wingert; Ned Grabavoy, Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales (Luis Gil 46), Will Johnson (Jonny Steele 75); Alvaro Saborio, Fabian Espindola (Paulo Junior 68) [subs Not Used: Kyle Reynish, Yordany Alvarez, Justin Braun, Kenny Mansally]
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