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Vancouver Whitecaps: Three Key Takeaways vs. LA Galaxy

By Gareth Wolff

Apr 1, 2017; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Matias Laba (15) celebrates his goal with forward Fredy Montero (12) against the Los Angeles Galaxy during the second half at BC Place. The Vancouver Whitecaps won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 1, 2017; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Matias Laba (15) celebrates his goal with forward Fredy Montero (12) against the Los Angeles Galaxy during the second half at BC Place. The Vancouver Whitecaps won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 1, 2017; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Matias Laba (15) celebrates his goal with forward Fredy Montero (12) against the Los Angeles Galaxy during the second half at BC Place. The Vancouver Whitecaps won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 1, 2017; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Matias Laba (15) celebrates his goal with forward Fredy Montero (12) against the Los Angeles Galaxy during the second half at BC Place. The Vancouver Whitecaps won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports /

Vancouver Whitecaps picked up their first win of the 2017 season in a seesawing match at BC Place. The Whitecaps turned around a 2-1 halftime deficit to defeat the LA Galaxy 4-2.

Life after Kekuta Manneh got off to a good start for the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night. In a match full of both excitement and mistakes, both the Whitecaps and the LA Galaxy surrendered leads. Eventually, Vancouver took home their first three points of the season with a 4-2 win.

The Whitecaps took an early lead after Diop completely mistimed his wild rush out as Cristian Techera raced onto a long ball from Sheanon Williams. Techera beat Diop to the ball and opened the scoring for Vancouver.

It was Vancouver’s first league goal at BC Place in 2017. After waiting through almost three and a half hours of soccer, the newly installed pyrotechnics behind the BC Place goal got their first run out.

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A few minutes later, Alphonso Davies was fouled in the penalty area with nothing given. As seems to happen to the Whitecaps with worrying frequency, the no-call became a turning point. The team seemed to lose focus, and the Galaxy turned the game on its head as Romain Alessandrini punished some lax defending with two quick goals. Alessandrini was outstanding for the Galaxy, giving Jordan Harvey a very difficult night.

Vancouver missed a couple of great opportunities to equalize as the half came to a close. First Erik Hurtado made the baffling decision to try shooting from the halfway line when he could have put Techera one-on-one with Diop.

Then, Diop made another ill-advised rush out of his goal, colliding with Hurtado. With the goalkeeper out of his goal, first Davies and then Techera couldn’t find the abandoned net.

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