"Why Not Us?". That was the question Carl Robinson posited earlier this week when asked about their matchup with the LA Galaxy. As was chronicled by Rituro yesterday, in his match preview, The Vancouver Whitecaps have not had the best of experiences at StubHub Center, having never won (or even tie) their against the LA Galaxy; their only win coming against Chivas. Coupled with the Galaxy’s 24 MLS home games without a loss, the chances of the Whitecaps coming away Saturday night with a win seemed unlikely. In fact, many fans would probably have been happy with a tie. However, that was not the case. The Whitecaps came to play, and they were successful in their game plan, defeating the Galaxy 1-0 on a Kekuta Manneh goal in the 32nd minute.

Wow, what a difference scoring first does for the Whitecaps. It has long been discussed that how the Whitecaps play necessitates that they score early and force the opposition to drive forward. If the Whitecaps failed to do so, the opposition could sit back and negate Vancouver’s speed. This game exemplified the need for the Whitecaps to score first. The first 30 minutes of the game were heavily dominated by the LA Galaxy with several solid, if unspectacular, scoring chances. However, the game appeared to change once Manneh put the Whitecaps on the scoresheet. It forced the Galaxy to push forward and left gaps for Manneh to continue exploiting throughout the rest of the game. If not for a post by Pedro Morales and a VERY poor pass from Octavio Rivero to Darren Mattocks, this game could have been a lot more lopsided.

The Whitecaps appeared to have a solid game plan going into the Galaxy match, absorbing the Galaxy initial advance and then smothering them when they entered the Whitecaps' half. Although one could argue that it was not the prettiest at times, the Whitecaps were effective in frustrating and disrupting the Galaxy attack as they never appeared to get into much of a rhythm. It was a great team effort with the veteran defense flexing their muscles throughout the entire game, making life miserable for Keane and the rest of the Galaxy offense.

The Whitecaps were able to redeem themselves after their tough loss in Montreal on Wednesday night and now go into their two-week break on a high and tied for 1st place in West with the Seattle Sounders, although they are 3rd in points per game.This was an important win and should probably result in a more relaxing break, and fewer rumblings from the fan-base looking for something to occupy their time during this break.

What were your thoughts on the game? Let us know in the comments.