Whitecaps get rare taste of life at the top

The Vancouver Whitecaps have traditionally been climbers, but now they hope to avoid a fall.
The Whitecaps (13-9-5) sit first in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference heading into Saturday’s home game against the Columbus Crew (13-12-4) at B.C. Stadium. The Caps usually find themselves battling for a playoff spot at this time of year, with the end of the regular season approaching, but they have avoided their seemingly annual summer swoon – and displayed more consistency than expected.
However, Vancouver coach Carl Robinson and his players are not making a big deal of their success.
 “We’ve just got to keep ticking along,” said Robinson.
The Whitecaps are coming off a 3-0 thrashing of expansion side Minnesota United on Wednesday at home, where they made amends for squandering a 2-0 lead earlier this season in the Twin Cities and settling for a tie.
They have climbed up the standings by going 7-2-2 in their past 11 games
“It feels good, but we want to be there at the end of the season,” said Caps rookie defender Jake Nerwinski. “It’s good to be in first now, but we’ve got seven games left.”  
Saturday’s tilt is likely to be much more difficult for the Whitecaps. The Crew is 3-0-2 in its last five games and arrived early to watch Wednesday’s game at B.C. Place. After the game, many Whitecaps renewed acquaintances with former popular teammate Kekuta Manneh. The popular Gambia native, who has played both striker and midfielder, was traded to Columbus early in the season for Tony Tchani, who has performed well albeit with less flair.
“I hope he does well against us, but I hope we get the win,” said Whitecaps striker Erik Hurtado.
On Wednesday, Hurtado scored in a starting role against Minnesota after rarely seeing the pitch for most of the season as Robinson elected to go with other players. Hurtado could finding himself watching again Saturday. The Caps will likely draw heavily again on Yordy Reyna, a player who has provided the consistency that was often lacking with Manneh, who struggled with injuries in Vancouver and never quite lived up to expectations after his play hinted that he could earn a large transfer fee from a European club.
Reyna, a Peurvian international who missed much of the season with a broken foot suffered in the preseason, has three goals and an assist in his past five games. He scored a brilliant goal against Minnesota on a long lead ball from Canadian midfielder Marcel de Jong and also provided a helper.
“He’s such an exciting player,” said Nerwinski. “He’s explosive, he’s quick, he’s skillful and he makes things happen.”
And, if he continue to make more things happen on a regular basis, the Whitecaps may just avoid a fall from first place.