Led by Robinson, Whitecaps climb to top of MLS table with win over Galaxy

Five matches into a 34-game schedule, the Vancouver Whitecaps, in their fifth season, and second led by manager Carl Robinson, finally have the makings of a team that could be one of the best.

At B.C. Place on Saturday night, the surging Whitecaps defeated the MLS Cup defending champions, their long-time nemesis the L.A. Galaxy. The final tally was 2-0 and the win propelled the Whitecaps to the top of the Western Conference with the best record in Major League Soccer.

Robinson, a 38-year-old Welshman, has crafted a physical, fast, attacking squad. His team leads the league in shots on goal, fouls and yellow cards. Robinson has been especially savvy finding talent in Latin America, and on Saturday seven of the 11 starters were players he has brought to Vancouver.

Robbie Keane saw it. Keane, the Galaxys star striker, was last years league MVP and has been essential to the dynasty manager Bruce Arena has built in L.A. In a league structured to produce parity, L.A. has won three of the past four MLS Cups, the first in 2011 when Keane arrived in August. Last year, he scored the championship-winning goal in extra time.

Keane is also one of Robinsons closest friends. The two first met as teenagers in the late 1990s when they began their lives in professional football with Wolverhampton Wanderers in Englands Midlands. On Saturday against the Whitecaps, Keane was checked tightly, unable to get any open looks. He didnt register a shot after scoring twice on eight shots in four previous games.

This is 100 per cent Carls team, said Keane of his friends remake of the Whitecaps. Last year, when Robinson was a rookie manager, the Whitecaps were a hybrid, a roster crafted in part by previous administrations. I knew it was only a matter of time before he had a good, good team that wants to try and play football, very attack-minded, and weve seen that tonight.

This seasons key additions are two 23-year-olds from Uruguay. Striker Octavio Rivero was the MLS player of the month in March and scored the second goal Saturday, his fourth of the season to lead all MLS scorers. Nicolas Mezquida, an attacking midfielder, helped set up Riveros goal and was Saturdays player of the game.

This is the finishing punch the Whitecaps sorely lacked last year, when they scored only 42 goals, barely one a game. This year, the team aims for at least 60 goals. The sellout crowd of 21,000 at B.C. Place bellowed Riveros name over and over after he scored, in a call-and-response with the stadium announcer.

There are several asterisks on this story, beyond the fact it is early April. The Whitecaps, while wire-to-wire impressive against the Galaxy, have often been outplayed this year, even as they managed to snatch wins in the final moments of games. And the Galaxy have been known as slow starters, falling to 1-2-2, and this year are without the retired Landon Donovan. The Galaxy on Saturday night werent exactly their champion selves. Reinforcements will arrive: Steven Gerrard, captain of Liverpool and England, joins the team in the summer.

Robinson, after the game, sat cross-legged, his hands folded in his lap, at a table facing upward of 20 reporters. He repeated a its one game mantra. He did allow a small bit of savouring.

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Led by Robinson, Whitecaps climb to top of MLS table with win over Galaxy