Vancouver Whitecaps lost the opportunity to clinch a spot in the MLS playoffs after a 2-0 loss to Minnesota United.
Franco Fragapane scored early in the first half, and Jonathan González added a second to cap the win.
Emanuel Reynoso notched his 11th assist to go with 10 goals. He is one of three players to reach double figures in both categories this season — joining Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar and Carlos Vela of LAFC.
Minnesota United (15-14-6) came into the match needing a win or tie to advance and improved to 3-0-2 all-time against Vancouver (12-16-7) at home.
Minnesota United entered play with just one point in its last six matches (0-5-1) before beating Vancouver for a second time this season. It marked the first time one team beat the other twice in the same season.
The Whitecaps put more shots on goal than Minnesota (7-4), but the efficiency they’d displayed in consecutive wins over Austin, Seattle and the LA Galaxy wasn’t there Sunday.
“I think were not as good as we could have been. I don’t think you can look at the game and say that we deserve to win — which is frustrating. And not that we necessarily had a really bad game, just don’t think we’d done quite enough to win,” said Whitecaps midfielder Ryan Gauld.
“It’s easy to look at it tonight and say it’s not been a good season, but … we still managed to win the Canadian Cup for the first time in quite a few years. That’s a positive to take from the season. Obviously everyone is frustrated we didn’t get the job done.
“Home field advantage is a real thing. And we know that because towards the later stage of the season, we were very tough to beat at home,” said midfielder Russell Teibert. “Your fans drive you on and there’s something special about playing in your home stadium.
“You have to take care of business at home. Playoff teams in the MLS they tend to get results on the road and that’s something that we’ll need to address in the offseason and make sure we find a way going into next season.”
