VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Whitecaps were facing a winner-take-all midweek playoff game on the road at halftime of Sunday's regular-season finale.
Locked in a 0-0 tie with the visiting Houston Dynamo thanks to a number of missed chances early, results elsewhere weren't going their way either on a final day of the regular season that could have seen the Whitecaps finish anywhere from second to sixth in the Western Conference.
A lot changed in just 45 minutes.
Kekuta Manneh, Kendall Waston and Robert Earnshaw scored in the second half as Vancouver clinched second place in Major League Soccer's Western Conference with a 3-0 victory over Houston.
The result, coupled with the Los Angeles Galaxy's 2-1 loss to Sporting Kansas City, means that the Whitecaps (16-13-5) will get a first-round bye before hosting a two-legged conference semifinal.
"I think we got what we deserved," said Vancouver head coach Carl Robinson. "I'm a big believer in this game that if you put the hard work in and do things right you get your rewards, and I thought we got our rewards today."
The Whitecaps are dealing with a number of injuries, including one to captain Pedro Morales, and will get a bit of a break before playing the first leg of their semifinal on the road Nov. 1. The rematch goes at B.C. Place Stadium seven days later in what will be the franchise's first home playoff game since joining MLS in 2011.
"Hopefully I can get a couple of guys fit and healthy," said Robinson. "We've never used the injuries as an excuse, and I never will."
Winless in five and just 2-5-2 since the middle of August, the Whitecaps finally got the goal the desperately needed in the 59th minute when Manneh fired a low strike from 25 yards out that snuck inside the post past Dynamo goalkeeper Joe Willis.
"We came out flying in the second half, finally took our chances," said Manneh. "It was great for me to score that goal and lift the team up."
Waston then put the game out of reach by heading a corner kick home in the 72nd minute, and Earnshaw added another in stoppage time on header of his own.
"There were a few words said at halftime," said Robinson. "I thought we needed to be a little bit more clinical and play with a higher tempo because after the first 15, 20 minutes Houston managed to get a foot in the game."
Vancouver, which made the playoffs in 2012 and again last year only to lose single elimination first-round matches on the road both times, could have made life a lot easier against Houston (11-14-9), which had already been eliminated from post-season contention.
Willis made a diving stop on a header from Whitecaps striker Octavio Rivero inside three minutes before stretching to stop Matias Laba's shot from distance moments later.
Vancouver's Cristian Techera then rattled Willis' crossbar with a thunderous strike that bounced down and stayed out in the 13th minute.
Despite not having anything to play for other than pride and jobs next season, the Dynamo looked confident moving forward and got their first opportunity on a free kick in the 21st off the boot of Giles Barnes that Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted stopped comfortably.
Vancouver, which had to play a meaningless CONCACAF Champions League game in Honduras on Thursday, had another chance in the 29th minute, but Waston's header off a corner hit the turf and bounced into Willis' arms.
Houston then put a scare into the Whitecaps in the 37th when Barnes blasted a shot from 25 yards out that was stopped by a diving Ousted.
"We knew it would be difficult," said Robinson. "They've got good players on their team, but from the first whistle we went at them. I did think at halftime maybe we weren't going to score when their 'keeper made a couple of good saves, but if you keep working hard eventually it comes."
