P osted by

Harjeet Johal ,

October 26, 2015 Twitter

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VANCOUVER, B.C - It was decision day in Major League Soccer as all twenty clubs were in action. The Whitecaps looked to secure a playoff bye, while the visiting Houston Dynamo looked to play playoff position spoiler. Carl Robinson and his team went into the match knowing that they could finish anywhere from 2nd - 6th. The Whitecaps took care of business thanks to a trio of second half goals. Kekuta Manneh, Kendall Waston, and Robert Earnshaw made sure the Whitecaps picked up a playoff bye as they defeated the Houston Dynamo 3-0 in front of a roaring crowd of 21,000 spectators at BC Place. Carl Robinson so was happy his team was rewarded with a victory after having a trying time scoring goals of late. "Obviously I'm happy, we got what we deserved. I really believe that if you work hard and do things right, then you get rewarded, and we got our reward today. We won the game versus a very good team with a very good coach and good players. I thought we could score in the first half, but their goalkeeper made really good saves, but we kept working hard and we eventually won the game." Vancouver has a first round MLS bye and will enter the playoffs in the second round on Sunday, November 1st with an away leg. The Whitecaps will host their first ever home playoff match on Sunday, November 8 at BC Place. Vancouver will play Portland, Seattle or Los Angeles Galaxy in the playoffs. Vancouver has a 66% percent of playing a Cascadian rival. Carl Robinson talked about how big it was for the club to earn a playoff spot. "It’s a great achievement, I'm really proud of the guys and of the club. I firmly believe we recruited a good group of players and we could do something big. We are in the playoffs for the second year in a row, and for the third time in the club’s history. We will try to win it. There will be eight teams that will try to win, we just want to see how far we can go." The Opening 45

Vancouver had plenty of opportunity to pounce on Owen Coyle's Houston Dynamo. Octavio Rivero had a header turned aside by the diving hand of Joe Willis. Cristian Techera struck with a thunderous shot off the under-side of the crossbar in the 12' minute. The ball then stayed out of the net as it came back down on the pitch. Houston was back peddling in the early going, but did well not to break. The Dynamo had their own chances to find a first half goal on a pair of free kicks from Giles Barnes. The English striker had his first attempt sail over the Vancouver wall and stopped by a diving David Ousted. The second attempted free kick hit the head of a Vancouver defender and was cleared out of danger. Both sides had their chances, but scoring remained difficult. Giles Barnes was the most dangerous player on the pitch in the first-forty five and let go a cracker from 25 yards out that David Ousted had to be sharp to stop. The London, England born Barnes was the lone bright spot for Houston's offense. The Whitecaps early opportunities to score dried up and both teams went into the interval scoreless. We saw it at the start of the season, #VWFC is for real. Each year Robinson has been in charge, there has been marked improvement. — Asif Hossain (@asifintoronto) October 26, 2015 What? An @MLS game in #Vancouver at @BCPlace in november??? Yesss!!! It's reality! #1stTime #playoff #VWFC #BringItHome — Paolo Tornaghi (@PaulTornaghi) October 26, 2015

The Second Half

Neither side elected to make any changes before the second half kicked off. Vancouver were desperate to score a goal since they did not want to travel on the road for an all important mid-week playoff clash with an unknown opponent The Vancouver pressure mounted and out of nowhere Kekuta Manneh brought the supporters to their feet with a well-timed shot from distance in the 59' minute. Manneh scored his 7th goal of the season as he found the inside of the far post and buried his shot past Joe Willis. The crowed exhaled as Vancouver climbed back into the driver's seat in the western conference. "It’s great, it was great for me to score that goal. It lifted the team up and opened up the game. We were fortunate to have two more goals. It was great for my confidence as well going into the playoffs. I told the media earlier, it would be great if we can have at least two different people score." In an effort to try to jump-start his teams beleaguered offense, Manager Owen Coyle brought on Boniek Garcia and Mauro Manotas in the 61' and 63' minute respectively. The substitutions did not work as David Ousted was in the zone and Houston had nothing to show in the final attacking third of the pitch. Vancouver had the orange clad Dynamo down on the pitch and they capitalized and doubled their lead in the 72' minute. Costa Rican centre-back Kendall Waston scored his second goal of the season. Waston headed a ball off the pitch and off and Houston defender and behind goalkeeper Joe Willis. The gentle giant celebrated with a unique dance and helped the Whitecaps shake off any thoughts of a comeback from the Houston Dynamo. Agent 88, Robert Earnshaw added a late tally after coming off the bench in the 90+2 minute. Earnshaw has seen limited time off the bench this season for the Whitecaps, but his leadership in the dressing room has had a huge benefit. Earnshaw was on the pitch for no more than thirty seconds before he sent Mauro Rosales's pass behind the Houston goalkeeper. The Whitecaps came up clutch and out played the Houston Dynamo in the second half. The Caps have struggled immensely to score goals down the stretch. That was not the case today as Vancouver knew what they had to do to secure a playoff bye and they did exactly that. Kekuta Manneh used his 20 year-old legs and his smarts to put the Whitecaps in the good and they never looked back. If Vancouver can start to get healthy, they could become a playoff team no opponent wants to play in November Man of the Match



Kendall Waston

Waston is a quiet leader among the Vancouver Whitecaps. The six-foot and four-inch central defender came up big and delivered a clutch insurance goal to help secure a Whitecaps win. Waston finished the season with two goals and has a knack for scoring in the final Whitecaps match of the season. Waston has been outstanding on the back-end for the Whitecaps and was rewarded with an all important goal. The Caps defender is an anchor on the Whitecaps back-line and a massive reason why the Whitecaps obtained a first round MLS playoff bye. "This one feels great because we knew that today we needed to win and just wait for the other results. The most important thing was only to believe in us. We thought that it didn’t matter if we scored in the first minute or the last-minute, we just needed to win it today." Who was your Whitecaps Man of the Match?

Vancouver Whitecaps Starting XI: David Ousted(C); Steven Beitashour, Kendall Waston, Tim Parker, Jordan Harvey; Matias Laba, Russell Teibert; Cristian Techera (Mauro Rosales 74), Gershon Koffie, Kekuta Manneh (Jordan Smith 85); Octavio Rivero (Robert Earnshaw 90+2). 4-2-3-1 Houston Dynamo XI: Joe Willis; Sheanon Williams, David Horst, Raul Rodriguez, DeMarcus Beasley; Leoniel Miranda (Boniek Garcia 63), Luis Garrido, Ricardo Clark, Giles Barnes(C) (Rob Lovejoy 89), Will Bruin, Erick Torres (Mauro Manotas 61). 4-4-2 Notes: Whitecaps left-back Jordan Harvey started in his 200th MLS match.