Vancouver Whitecaps moved top of the MLS Western Conference with a 3-0 win over struggling 10-man Philadelphia Union in Canada this morning.
It was the visitors who started the better of the sides and Maurice Edu came close on 23 minutes, but the USA international was denied by a fine save from David Ousted.
Ousted was living up to his name as the American kept out Andrew Wenger shortly after with further heroics that laid the foundations for what followed.
First, Pedro Morales latched on to a through ball from Cristian Techera - who replaced the injured Mauro Rosales after 12 minutes - to slot past Brian Sylvestre shortly after the half-hour mark.
Then, moments before the interval, Octavio Rivero capitalised on a mix-up in the Union defence to add a second as Carl Robinson's side looked to be cruising.
Union went into the second period knowing that a big effort was needed in order to avoid a third successive defeat, with their one and only win this season coming five games ago.
However, there was little sign of improvement for Jim Curtin's side early on, as Techera came close on two occasions within six minutes of the restart.
Rivero missed a good chance to wrap up the points on 64 minutes by failing to guide Matias Laba's headed pass beyond Sylvestre.
Philly suffered a double blow in the final quarter when Richie Marquez was sent off for a foul on Techera, before Darren Mattocks added a third to seal a comfortable win for Vancouver.
Shane Callaghan
