Brian White guided home an 87th-minute header and the Vancouver Whitecaps continued their perfect start under new manager Jesper Sorensen in a 2-1 win over the visiting LA Galaxy on Sunday.
Samuel Adekugbe also scored in the home opener for the Whitecaps (2-0-0, 6 points), who parted with previous manager Vanni Sartini after he reached the playoffs in three of his four seasons, but failed to advance past the first round.
Sorensen has been aided in his early MLS tenure by facing a 10-man Portland Timbers side and a defending MLS Cup champion Galaxy team without key players Joseph Paintsill (quad strain) and Riqui Puig (ACL tear).
Gabriel Pec scored his first goal of the season for the Galaxy (0-2-0, 0 points), who remain without Paintsil for at least a few more weeks and Puig for most of the season.
Manager Greg Vanney’s defense looked better organized in the second half, but still fell victim to Pedro Vite’s exceptional play on the right flank that led to both goals.
The latter came from an innocent-looking sequence, when Vite curled in an inswinging cross from beyond the corner of the penalty area.
But the ball was perfectly measured for White’s run, and with center back Zanka caught between marking two men, White sent a glancing header into the left corner past Novak Micovic.
Vite had helped open the scoring 84 minutes earlier when he made an excellent run down the right, ran onto Mathias Laborda’s throughball and drove a low cross toward the near post.
Micovic deflected that cross with his leg, but Adekugbe cleaned up the rebound.
The Galaxy leveled from a similar attack down their left flank in the 39th minute.
Miguel Berry eventually cut into the penalty area, outmuscled a defender and then poked a cross toward Pec near the penalty area ahead of goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka.
Pec composed himself then sent an excellent shot through traffic into the bottom right corner.
–Field Level Media
