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Whitecaps score epic playoff blowout win in Portland

Noah Strang
Noah Strang
|
Oct 24 2024, 4:30 am
Whitecaps score epic playoff blowout win in Portland
Soobum Im/Imagn Images

The Vancouver Whitecaps put on a show in their MLS playoff game against the Portland Timbers tonight.

The goals came early and often for the Whitecaps who won by a final score of 5-0. The positive score differential matched the largest across the team’s entire MLS history.

This was a do-or-die wild card match where the winner advanced and the loser saw their season over. The Whitecaps played like their backs were against the wall while Portland lacked that same intensity.

This game was slated to be played at BC Place but a scheduling conflict made Portland the home side despite being the lower seed. Playing on the road didn’t seem to phase the Whitecaps at all as they got out to a quick start and stayed ahead.

Whitecaps captain Ryan Gauld got the scoring started in the 20th minute. When that ball crossed the line, no one knew it was just the start of an incredible offensive performance that was to come. The team then scored two more times, including one from Brian White and another from Gauld, in the next 11 minutes.

The flurry of goals gave the visiting team a quick 3-0 lead just 30 minutes into the match. They were not satisfied with that.

The second half brought more Whitecaps goals. To start, Stuart Armstrong put one in the back of the net after picking up an assist in the first half.

That was followed up by Ryan Gauld completing his hat-trick with a nice run into the box.

“It just feels good to come here and win in the way we did,” said Gauld about his play.

“I think everyone was really confident coming into the game but to say that we were confident that we would have a result like that, it was a really good performance and gives us a lot of confidence for the playoffs.”

The Whitecaps will now play against the top-seed LAFC in a best-of-three series in Round One of the MLS postseason.

The first game will be hosted in Los Angeles on Sunday, October 27 before the series flips back to Vancouver for the second game on November 3. The potential do-or-die third game would take place on Friday, November 8 back in Los Angeles.

The Whitecaps were knocked out of last year’s postseason by LAFC in a dramatic finish. They’ll be looking for revenge in this rematch taking place one year later.

“They’re a really good team, they’re going to be tough to beat over three games but if we play the way we did tonight, we’re a really good team as well so we’ll be hard to beat too,” said Gauld.

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