After sharing Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah for months, Vancouver Whitecaps FC were finally able to host Real Salt Lake at BC Place for their third meeting of the season.
The Saturday evening match saw the ‘Caps win 4-1, with goals coming from Brian White, Ryan Gauld, and Florian Jungwirth after an own goal from RSL in the first half.
The victory extended the team's MLS winning streak to three matches, and the club record unbeaten run in MLS play to nine matches.
In his first game as acting head coach, Vanni Sartini started the team in a 4-3-2-1 formation and made four alterations to the starting XI from Thursday’s cup match.
Gauld made his first MLS start, Jungwirth started his first match for the 'Caps, and Bruno Gaspar had his first start since May 22.
The 'Caps controlled the flow of the opening half, but there were no goals scored in the first 32 minutes of play. The ‘Caps had several solid chances, most notably from Gauld and Cristian Dájome.
On the 33rd minute, the 'Caps took a 1-0 lead following a corner kick from Gauld that deflected into the net on an own goal by Real Salt Lake’s Marcelo Silva.
Just minutes leading into halftime Real Salt Lake came close to tying up the game, but thanks to a heroic save from Maxime Crépeau the 'Caps went into the break with their 1-0 lead intact. Â
Coming into the second half it didn’t take long for the ‘Caps to widen their lead to 2-0 as Brian White netted on a rebound from close range at the 53rd minute.
A header from Gauld then lifted the team to a 3-0 lead. The goal marked Gauld’s second in his early MLS career. Javain Brown assisted with a cross.
Only five minutes later, Jungwirth scored his first as a Vancouver Whitecaps FC player to make it 4-0. It was yet another header, this time from very close range, with Gauld setting it up from a corner.
With a flurry of subs for the ‘Caps in the final minutes, Marcus Godinho was able to get on the pitch to make his MLS debut.
Crépeau came close to getting a well-deserved clean sheet for the night but at the 90-minute mark, Anderson Julio scored to make it a 4-1 final score.
Catch the 'Caps back in action again next Saturday, September 4 as they continue their stay at home at BC Place. Kickoff will be at 4 p.m. PT, with tickets available on Ticketmaster.
MATCH DETAILS
GE Appliances VWFC Player of Quality: Ryan Gauld
Referee: Ramy Touchan
Scoring Summary
33' – VAN – Marcelo Silva (own goal)
53' – VAN – Brian White
64' – VAN – Ryan Gauld (Javain Brown)
69' – VAN – Florian Jungwirth (Ryan Gauld)
90' – RSL – Anderson Julio
Statistics
Possession: VAN 48% – RSL 52%
Shots: VAN 11 – RSL 8
Shots on Goal: VAN 5 – RSL 2
Saves: VAN 1 – RSL 3
Fouls: VAN 10 – RSL 13
Offsides: VAN 2 – RSL 0
Corners: VAN 10 – RSL 1
Caution
34' – RSL – Noah Powder
40' – VAN – Javain Brown
53' – RSL – Albert Rusnak
55' – RSL – Marcelo Silva
Vancouver Whitecaps FC16.Maxime Crépeau; 23.Javain Brown (32.Patrick Metcalfe 72'), 4.Ranko Veselinović (2.Marcus Godinho 85'), 26.Florian Jungwirth, 6.Bruno Gaspar; 17.Leonard Owusu (27.Ryan Raposo 85'), 19.Janio Bikel,31.Russell Teibert ©; 11.Cristian Dájome, 25.Ryan Gauld ( 7.Déiber Caicedo 75'); 24.Brian White (87.Tosaint Ricketts 75')
Substitutes not used
1.Thomas Hasal, 15.Andy Rose, 22.Érik Godoy, 55.Michael Baldisimo
Real Salt Lake
51.Andrew Putna; 26.Noah Powder, 15.Justen Glad, 30.Marcelo Silva, 3.Ashtone Morgan; 13.Nick Besler (29.Anderson Julio 67'), 6.Pablo Ruiz (25.Everton Luiz 79'); 10.Jonathan Menendez, 11.Albert Rusnak (c), 9.Justin Meram (16.Maikel Chang 61'); 14.Rubio Rubin
Substitutes not used
24.Jeffrey Dewsnup, 4.Donny Toia, 20.Erik Holt, 43.Justin Portillo, 44.Toni Datkovic
