Saturday night at BC Place, the Vancouver Whitecaps came out on top with a 2-0 victory against the visiting San Jose Earthquakes.

It was a match that Vancouver dominated, and after failing to maximize last weekend at home, it was great to see the Whitecaps take care of business against what was without a doubt an inferior opponent. San Jose’s Brazilian goalkeeper, Daniel, did everything he could to keep his team in the match, making 9 saves and preventing 2.26 goals against by the advanced metrics, yet despite his efforts, the home side still managed to come away with a multi-goal win. Goals from Fafa Picault and Stuart Armstrong, each assisted by Ryan Gauld, were more than enough to send the Whitecaps off comfortably at the end of the night with three points.

Now, questions can certainly be asked if Vancouver could have done more to put the match away sooner, as for the second weekend in a row, they allowed the visitors to hang around in the match longer than necessary. San Jose’s lone opportunity in front of target came midway through the second half, as the Whitecaps over-committed following an attacking corner and left themselves exposed on the break. Quakes attacker Ousseni Bouda slotted his shot home past Yohei Takaoka after a good far post run, but luckily for the home side, Bouda was offside by the narrowest of margins.

Overall, there’s no doubt that Vancouver deserved to win this match. However, not every opponent the Whitecaps face will allow Vancouver to dictate as much as these last few matches. If Vancouver is going to be a dominant home team come playoff time, they will need to show more killer instinct when they get their chances.

Alright, with that said, here are three thoughts as it happened from inside BC Place:

The Luxury of Depth

On a night where the Whitecaps missed Andres Cubas and Brian White, it was impressive the way Vancouver controlled the match, even if San Jose is undoubtedly one of the weakest teams in MLS.

As much as Vancouver showed good moments in possession, credit should be given to those on the defensive side of the ball as well, Ralph Priso and Tristan Blackmon in particular, who were both strong for the second outing in a row.

With another match in the league this Wednesday down in Houston, the ability to rotate and rest players while maintaining the team’s play style is not always a luxury Vanni Sartini has been able to afford, at least until recently, but now Vancouver looks like they have the players to do it. This was Vancouver’s third clean sheet in a row, and that doesn’t happen unless you have commitment from the whole squad.

Obviously, it was very exciting to see Stuart Armstrong come off the bench and connect with Ryan Gauld almost immediately as well. It has been the White and Gauld show for the last couple seasons here in Vancouver, so if Vancouver can give Gauld another dangerous attacking piece to connect with on a consistent basis, it will really keep teams off balance.

Finally, a bit lost in all of this is the wonderful year Fafa Picault is having. The Haitian-American attacker is now up to double-digit goals on the season, something that would have been a wild prediction to make if you’d spoken to anyone in Vancouver back in February or March. Needless to say, Vancouver has options, so it will be a big job for the manager to make sure they all mix together in the right way these next couple of months.

Canadian Content

With Jesse Marsch in the building on Saturday night, we might as well talk about the couple of Canadian Internationals that started the match.

We haven’t seen Sam Adekugbe and Ali Ahmed start together too often this season, though it is probably Vancouver’s ideal first choice in terms of wide players if everything is going according to plan. With this in mind, it was interesting to see them start together, especially after Ahmed played some heavy minutes for Canada during the latest international window, his start was a bit of a surprise for me.

To be honest, I don’t think that either Adekugbe or Ahmed had a fantastic match against San Jose. Ahmed showed his trademark positivity but lacked the final product that Whitecaps supporters have been waiting for, while Adekugbe was surprisingly off-colour at times given his usual standard, especially in the first half. The travel and fitness of the players no doubt played a role, but it’s also certainly an area of the squad Vanni Sartini will want to see more from in the final stages of the season.

Adekugbe has proven quality, and Ahmed, as Jesse Marsch mentioned this week, no doubt has the potential to be a very impactful player. Yet, Vancouver has not really been able to get the most out of them for one reason or another this year. With the likes of Ocampo, Raposo, Berhalter, Schopf, and Caicedo all nipping at their heels, we’ll have to see if Ahmed and Adekugbe remain first choice come playoff time.

Eyes on the Prize

Every matchweek for Vancouver at this stage possesses the potential for a big swing in the Western Conference standings. Following the result, the Whitecaps are now up to fifth in the West, just three points away from third place outright with a match in hand. Their midweek opponents, the Houston Dynamo, did the Whitecaps a favour this weekend, taking down Real Salt Lake by a score of 4-1, keeping RSL within Vancouver’s touching distance. At this point, it’s only really the LA Galaxy who are clear and free at the top of the table – especially following their impressive and chaotic comeback in El Traffico Saturday night.

The Whitecaps’ Cascadian rivals in the Portland Timbers were less helpful this weekend, as they couldn’t hold off the Colorado Rapids on the road, falling by a final score of 2-1 and allowing the Rapids to leapfrog Salt Lake on tiebreaker. Vancouver will no doubt be keeping an eye on the Seattle Sounders this Sunday night as well. Though the Sounders will have played two more games than Vancouver, they could jump ahead of the Whitecaps on points if they beat Sporting KC at home.

With midweek matches on the horizon and only Western Conference opponents left on the schedule, it’s time to start watching the standings like a hawk. If Vancouver wants a top four spot, they will have to survive all of the momentum swings that are sure to unfold between now and decision day.

(Image Credit: Mark Zhuang)