The Vancouver Whitecaps played their first game at a renovated BC Place on October 2, 2011, and it was the Portland Timbers who happened to be their opponents on this day. The Timbers would take the win that day 1-0 on a goal by Kenny Cooper, and though the Whitecaps did manage to sneak in a single win vs. the Timbers at BC Place earlier this year on a stoppage time goal, the Timbers and their fans seem to consider BC Place a home game on the road, and it came true again in the second round of the MLS Western Conference playoffs with a 2-0 win that sends the Timbers through on aggregate goals by the same 2-0 margin after a 0-0 draw in Portland last weekend.
Kekuta Manneh had put pressure on the Timbers defense early, but then got his foot caught in the BC Place turf and twisted his ankle and would have to leave shortly afterwards.
In the 31st minute, the Timbers put a crucial away goal on the board when Diego Valeri‘s soft pass found Fanendo Adi open and his one-timer blasted into the top of the net to put the Timbers up 1-0, and the away goal meant Vancouver would now need to score twice to advance.
The Whitecaps never really found their offense and the Timbers would put it away in stoppage time when Diego Chara got around his defender on a breakaway after getting the pass from Adi, and slipped a low shot just inside the right post to erase all doubt in a 2-0 win that puts the Timbers through to the next round, their second appearance in the Western Conference Finals in two years.
The Timbers now have 4 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss in seven trips to BC Place.
