Soccer

Back in June, the Vancouver Whitecaps paid a hefty price to acquire Brian White, but he is proving to be a steal of a deal.

White scored his 12th goal of the season and a played a prominent role in another one as the Whitecaps doubled Minnesota FC 2-1 on Wednesday night to move into a playoff sport in Major League Soccer's tight Western Conference.

Th(e Caps (12-9-1) overtook three teams while moving above the playoff bar and into fifth place with two regular-season games remaining against teams with whom they are contending.

Playoff fate in own hands

“You don’t want to leave anything up to anybody else to depend on,” said the 25-year-old White. “To have our fate in our own hands is great.”

The Whitecaps were not close to being in control of their own destiny when White arrived via trade from the New York Red Bulls. The Caps were in the midst of a five-game losing streak and using Sandy, Utah as their home base due to the pandemic-induced Canadian border closure. 

CEO and ex-coach prophetic

Vancouver sent the Red Bulls $400,000 in targeted allocation money, and the Red Bulls could receive another $100,000 in conditional general allocation money. Whitecaps sporting director and CEO Axel Schuster's comments at the time are proving to be prophetic.

“(White) is a player with good finishing qualities, as he has proven over the past two MLS seasons,” said Schuster in a news release.

Former Vancouver coach Marc Dos Santos was even more bang-on.

“(White) will be an important option for the team," Dos Santos said in the same news release. "He’s comfortable playing alone or with another forward. It is a good opportunity for us and for him."

White has been especially good in tandem with midfielder Ryan Gauld. The dynamic duo has factored into most of Vancouver's goals since the losing skid ended.

White and Gauld were at it again Wednesday as they combined on what proved to be the winning goal. Culminating a three-way passing play, Gauld set up White as the striker gave the Caps a 2-0 lead in the 64th minute. Forward Cristian Dajome drew the second assist as he started the play from the left edge of the Minnesota box.

The goal looked like it would be an insurance marker, but Fanendo Adi tallied for Minnesota in added time.

Moments before half-time, White essentially earned Vancouver's opening tally, an own-goal by Minnesota defender Michael Boxall, a former Whitecap. Midfielder Russell Teibert lofted a long lead pass from  Vancouver  territory and White chested the ball down. But he miskicked on his attempt to lob the ball over Minnesota goalkeeper Tyler Miller. The goalkeeper then inadvertently swatted the ball into Boxall and it bounded off him into the net.

Minnesota (12-11-9) will likely have a hard time qualifying for the post-season after dropping out of playoff contention, making Vancouver's task a bit easier. But the Caps have become adept at helping themselves.

The Whitecaps improved to 7-1-0 at B.C. Place Stadium since relocating from Utah in August. The Caps are 10-2-8 in their past 20 games overall.

Striker revising his fortunes

While the Caps have turned their season around, the New Jersey native has also reversed his own slow start. He was saddled on the bench for much of his time with the Red Bulls, starting just three of five games and registering only one assist after earning the club's offensive player of the year award last season and producing 16 goals and four assists over the past two campaigns.

“It’s great to contribute to the team and help win games,” said White. “Hopefully I can continue to score goals and we can continue to win games.”

The Whitecaps will play a road game against Los Angeles FC on Tuesday and then conclude the regular-season at home on Nov. 7.