Goals from Camilo and Miller allow Whitecapes to shake the Quakes

Camilo PHOTO: TONY LEWIS/CANADA SOCCER

The Vancouver Whitecaps took down the San Jose Earthquakes 2-0 at BC Place Saturday evening thanks to goals from Camilo and Kenny Miller.

Vancouver’s wee Brazilian got the scoring started with a 60th minute effort, his 14th MLS goal of the campaign, which he poked past Jon Busch in the Earthquakes’ goal. Nigel Reo-Coker, who eventually earned the sponsor’s man of the match award for his play, played a crucial part in the goal, bursting past several opponents before passing the ball into the path of Camilo.

“For me, it was just being positive,” Reo-Coker said of his run forward on the game’s decisive moment. “That’s what was needed, especially in the second half, was being positive. They were getting a bit more tired and I knew all I could do was put it in the box and Camilo was in the right place at the right time.”

The effort wasn’t altogether straightforward, as Camilo was tightly marked by Steven Beitashour – but the league’s joint- scoring leader managed to get a toe on it and force it into the goal.

“I just saw him out of the corner of my eye,” Reo-Coker said of the play. “So all I could do was just put it in there. I couldn’t take it any further, so I just had to put it in the box then and hope that he could get there.”

Reo-Coker also played a part in Vancouver’s second goal — although not an entirely deliberate one. The Englishman attempted to power home a Russell Teibert pass in the 74th minute, but whiffed on his effort, missing the ball altogether.

That fooled everyone and allowed Miller to get off a shot with little pressure in the area. The Scottish Designated Player made no mistake, finding the bottom left corner of the goal with his effort.

While the Whitecaps were confident in possession throughout the game, they lacked incisiveness in the first half, only managing one shot on target.

In the second half, things seemed to change, in no small part to Reo-Coker, who burst from midfield time and again to create opportunities for the home side.

The Englishman played slightly higher up the pitch than he did in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with the Portland Timbers, where he played the holding role in place of the suspended Jun Marques Davidson.

While Davidson was eligible to return for this match, head coach Martin Rennie opted to play Gershon Koffie in the holding midfield role instead, and the move worked to great effect.

“I think he’s got the attributes to do very well in that position,” Rennie said after Saturday’s match. “He’s got to learn a lot, but he’s shown today that he learned a lot in the last two weeks as we really worked with him on that.

“Hopefully he can build on that. I really think he has the attributes to do that position really, really well and I think that’s the best balance we’ve had in midfield this season.”

That balance comprised Koffie sitting in front of the back four with Daigo Kobayasi and Reo-Coker given more freedom centrally ahead of the Ghanaian.

“We’re lucky we’ve got the options we have,” Reo-Coker said. “We’ve got so many great players we can play and interchange and the difference with Gershon, Daigo, myself, is we have the ability to interchange.

“It’s not one designated player doing that deep role. All three of us have the ability to do that and that’s a slight different advantage we’ve had in playing that three as as [opposed to] playing with different other players.”

With the win, the Whitecaps move to 10-7-6 and next play the Colorado Rapids on Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.