Drilling down on: at Vancouver 2, Real Salt Lake 1

Man of the Match: The chances weren’t abundant over the first hour for Vancouver, but possession through the midfield wasn’t an issue. A lot of that was about Gershon Koffie (pictured), the young holding midfielder who keeps getting better and better for the Whitecaps. All the calm ball movement needed a punctuation mark, however, and Koffie supplied it with a terrific entry pass that turned into the Caps’ first goal.

Packaged for take-away:

• Brad Knighton appeared in his 16th MLS match, filling in for suspended Whitecaps’ goalkeeper Joe Cannon.
• Referee Paul Ward missed a pretty clear penalty appeal 10 minutes in, when Barry Robson was absolutely wiped out while hunting for a ball served into the penalty area.
• Two teams that like to keep the ball on the ground made this one a fairly easy game to watch. The difference in the match for the first 45 minutes: The Whitecaps’ center midfield triangle, Gershon Koffie, Jun Davidson and Robson, with greater assistance from the outside backs in adding numbers to the attack, were able to move balls through the midfield rather than just getting stalled in there.
• From there, however, the home team’s offense hit the wall. Striker Darren Mattocks is better in the open field, when his speed and athletic ability can be an enhanced factor. Facing something more compact, he hasn’t learned the problem solving, or how to probe for the soft spots, the way Fabian Espindola likes to do for RSL.
• Result of all that: Vancouver had more possession and enjoyed more of the ball in the areas that could have turned into something dangerous, but they missed some inventiveness in the final third. So they never really threatened Nick Rimando before the break. RSL, at the other end, only manufactured a couple of half chances. But playing on the road, focused maintaining defensive shape, that’s about what they needed to do.
• Scary stuff in the 30th minute at BC Place: Jay DeMerit, having collided with Knighton and Alvaro Saborio a few minutes earlier, sat on the turf in obvious distress. That one needs to be watched, head injuries being what they are. His leaving meant an earlier-than-expected Vancouver introduction for new defender Andy O’Brien.
• O’Brien’s night? No trouble at all. He looked immediately at home.
• Camilo seized the moment when, just before the hour mark, he sprang in quickly to collect a loose ball and finished accurately from a quickly declining angle. But it was Koffie’s precision entry pass aimed for Mattocks that made it all happen. Mattocks couldn’t make much of it, but RSL’s failure to clear created the chance for Camilo.
• Not that it was anybody’s fault in particular, but RSL centerbacks Nat Borchers and (especially) Kwame Watson-Sirboe were enjoying good matches before the breakthrough goal.
• Dane Richards’ goal in the 65th? It was a shot that, in all candor, you don’t expect Dane Richards to attempt. He’s usually looking to use his speed there, to create off the dribble. Clearly, Rimando didn’t expect it either — although it might not have mattered if he knew it was coming. Truly, it was something special.
• Having leaned so heavily on playing defensive, relying on Saborio and Espindola to manufacture something on their own, and without Javier Morales for the second half, RSL never really threatened to turn over the result. Nat Borchers’ goal came two minutes into stoppage time.