The Brazilian’s conversion from the spot was a relief given he’d missed a pile of opportunities, especially in the first half. On the play, Camilo slotted the ball into the bottom left corner as Nick Rimando dived to the right side.

The 22-year-old’s 62nd-minute effort came in strange circumstances, as two Earthquakes left the field to change their boots.

When asked about whether he found the performance of his midfield trio of Davidson, Gershon Koffie and Nigel Reo-Coker subpar, he responded simply that he was “very disappointed.”

“I thought it was a possession clinic for the Whitecaps in the first half,” Miller told reporters following the match. “We created a few chances for a five-minute spell. It was our first outdoor 90 minutes in all honesty, so we weren’t expecting miracles, but with well-chosen words at half time, you could see a response from the guys.”

“That’s the difference between being playing a higher level of football and a lower level of football. You take your chances. You might only get once chance away from home and you must learn to take that one chance that you may get.”

The Vancouver Whitecaps might not have had their captain, but they got a skipper’s performance from his stand in, as Kenny Miller bagged the winner as the home side defeated the Columbus Crew 2-1 in front of 18,078 at BC Place.

“We’ve been doing that one-time passing at training a lot,” Koffie said following Saturday’s win. “To do one-time passing, you have to move, and know what to do before the ball comes.”

“Obviously the lateness doesn’t help,” Toronto head coach Ryan Nelsen conceded to The 11 when asked about the last minute additions. “We had to evaluate what we had at Toronto on the playing staff, what we could do with the cap. The cap’s a big issue with this club so we had to be creative. Creative in making this club competitive looking at the short-term and long-term future."

But, the Whitecaps later found out they would become the first Canadian franchise to qualify for the playoffs after all, as FC Dallas couldn't capitalize on the Whitecaps slip-up, losing 3-1 to Seattle.

Gershon Koffie, Dane Richards, Camilo and Barry Robson all found the back of the net against the worst side in the Western Conference, despite the club finding itself on the wrong side of the possession statistics, holding only 32.3 per cent of the ball.