Brian White scored a brace to lead the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 3-1 victory over the visiting Colorado Rapids on Saturday night.
Cheikh Sabaly also scored a goal for Vancouver (8-1-0, 24 points), which won its fourth straight match, all at home. Yohei Takaoka made two saves for the Whitecaps, who remained three points behind the first-place San Jose Earthquakes, a 3-2 winner over St. Louis City earlier Saturday, in the Western Conference standings.
Rafael Navarro scored a goal and Zack Steffen finished with five saves for Colorado (4-5-1, 13 points).
Vancouver took a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute when Sabaly drilled a right-footed shot from the middle of the box into the right corner. Thomas Muller notched an assist on the play with a one-touch pass from the left wing.
White made it 2-0 midway through the period, taking a long through pass from Andres Cubas outside the left side of the penalty box and then curling a right-footed shot around Steffen and into the far right corner of the net.
Colorado was coming in off a 0-0 draw at Los Angeles FC on Wednesday that saw the Rapids finish with 72.5% possession. They cut the lead to 2-1 in the 32nd minute when Navarro put in a left-footed rebound of his own shot from inside the 6-yard box.
Vancouver appeared to regain a two-goal lead in the 77th minute when Bruno Caicedo knocked in a rebound of his own shot near the middle edge of the 6-yard box. However, the goal was overturned after a lengthy VAR review for a handball when it was determined the ball hit Caicedo in the arm after his original shot was blocked by Lucas Herrington.
The Whitecaps then made it 3-1 eight minutes later when Caicedo fielded a long through pass from Sebastian Berhalter on the left wing and crossed a pass to White in the center of the box. White then smashed a left-footed shot into the left corner of the net for his eighth goal of the season.
–Field Level Media
