In front of a record playoff crowd, the Vancouver Whitecaps dominated in a 3-0 win over FC Dallas.
Thomas Müller scored from the penalty spot, and Kenji Cabrera added a late goal. Daniel Ríos got the game-winning goal late in the first half.
Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sørensen said it was difficult to pick just one highlight.
“Generally, very, very pleased with the team,” he said. “We were very focused, and I think we got a lot of information from the game one week ago that we used well.”
The Whitecaps played Dallas on Decision Day in a 2-1 loss. Mathías Laborda received a red card in that match, 11 minutes in.
The first half showed many positives for the Whitecaps, but it took a while for anything to show for it.
The Whitecaps controlled the half with 74 per cent possession and all six of the total shots on target for either side. Dallas played compact with little space in between their lines, but Vancouver was undeterred in pushing the visitors with every chance they had.
And that tenacity paid off late in the half. Ahmed was given ample space on the left and delivered a cross deep into the six-yard box in front of Dallas goalkeeper Michael Collodi. Ríos, like a salmon jumping upstream, broke through the defence to head in the Whitecaps’ first goal of the playoffs and give them a deserved lead in the 43rd minute.
“Daniel is a good finisher. He has had some difficulties also missing out on a couple of chances…I think Daniel has played well for us,” Sørensen said.
Vancouver carried on in the second half from where they left off. An attacking onslaught was led by the likes of Müller , Ali Ahmed and Emmanuel Sabbi as they kept Dallas’s defence under pressure.
“I think we played with a very good attacking balance,” Sørensen said. “We talked a lot about last week. We played a little bit too fast when we wanted to attack. [Today], we played with a little bit more patience so we could set up defensively a bit better.”
Müller added a penalty marker in the 60th minute. Sabbi carried the ball from the Whitecaps’ half into the middle at the edge of the 18-yard box. As he moved in, four Dallas defenders worked in conjunction to bring him down.
It was an easy call for referee Victor Rivas to call the penalty. Müller stepped up and maintained his 100 per cent record at the spot.
Subs Rayan Elloumi and Cabrera connected for a third goal late in the game in the 83rd minute. Elloumi fought off Lalas Abubakar inside the 18-yard box to get the pass over to a streaking Cabrera.
Cabrera beat Shaq Moore to the ball, grabbing his second goal as a Whitecap.
BC Place packed with record MLS Playoff crowd
The upper bowl was opened, which had a Whitecaps playoff record crowd of 32,066.
Fans were given flags to wave, which they did throughout the entirety of the match.
“I think it was unbelievable,” Sørensen said of the crowd reaction. “I loved it. And I know the players did as well. Coming in and watching all the flags and the excitement and really, all the support and love of the team. [It] was such a great game and such a great atmosphere. And we want really to pay back, and I think we paid back well on the pitch today.”
Up next
It’s off to Dallas for the second match of the Best-of-Three series. The Whitecaps look to wrap Round One up on Saturday, Nov. 1, at 6:30 p.m.
