Vancouver Whitecaps FC continued their unbeaten run to remain atop the Western Conference, beating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 at BC Place on Saturday.
The Whitecaps took the lead early, as Yordy Reyna's early cross was headed in by Fredy Montero. But the Rapids equalized just before halftime, as Dominique Badji pounced on an errant touch by Whitecaps defender Tim Parker in the Vancouver box.
Reyna then scored the go-ahead goal in the second half, as he latched onto Montero's ball on a breakaway and blasted it past Rapids goalkeeper Tim Howard.
Goals
Three Things
- ATOP THE SUMMIT: The Whitecaps win means they're guaranteed to remain atop the Western Conference standings through the weekend, regardless of Sunday's results. They're now seven games unbeaten in MLS play, level with Columbus for the longest current unbeaten run in the league. With five games left to go in the regular season, the Whitecaps haven't officially clinched a playoff spot yet, but their attention at this point should probably turn to how to keep the run going in the true business end of the campaign, when the Audi 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs roll around.
- ROYAL CONTRIBUTIONS: Not coincidentally, Vancouver's hot run lines up with Reyna rounding into form and getting the lay of MLS after being sidelined with a foot injury during the first half of the season. All but one of Reyna's goals and assists have come in this seven-game run, this was his second game with both a goal and an assist in the last three, and perhaps most impressively, all five of his league goals have been game-winners. With Montero also on a roll lately, the issues of producing goals consistently, a persistent issue for Vancouver in recent seasons, may finally be in the rear view mirror.
- MISTAKE LOOMS LARGE: The Rapids, who held a distinct edge in possession with Vancouver heartily taking a counterattacking approach, were given a lifeline just before the break with Badji pouncing on Parker's poor attempt to lay the ball back to David Ousted inside his own box. While Badji has been one of the highlights for Colorado in a difficult season, the Rapids made a couple big mistakes on Reyna's winner, as the Peruvian simply beat Axel Sjoberg in a footrace to the ball and surrounding defenders didn't offer direct support. Howard, meanwhile, came off his line and dived down as the ball approached, allowing Reyna to chip the ball over him with no resistance. On balance, the teams were even in mistakes, but in a 1-1 game on the road, the Rapids' breakdown was far more costly.
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