VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Sebastian Berhalter had two goals and an assist, Rayan Elloumi and Thomas Müller each added a goal, and the Vancouver Whitecaps in a 2-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday.
Vancouver (17-6-9) has 60 points and is tied with San Diego atop the Western Conference, two points ahead of third-place Minnesota. San Jose (10-15-8) has 38 points and fell out of playoff position. Eighth-place Dallas has 41 points, while
Salt Lake and Colorado have 40 points apiece.
Elloumi, an 18-year-old homegrown who made his eight career appearance and second start in MLS, opened the scoring with a volley from point-blank range in the 39th minute. Berhalter played a perfectly-placed free kick from the left side to the back post, where Elloumi put away the first-touch finish.
Müller, on the counter-attack, ran onto a pass played by Ali Ahmed and gently settled it with his first touch and bent a low shot that slipped inside the left post into the side-net to make it 2-0 in the 57th.
The 36-year-old Müller, who has scored 45 goals in 131 career appearances for the German national team, was acquired Aug. 6 and has five goals and two assists in five appearances (four starts) for the Whitecaps.
Berhalter blasted a rising shot from 30 yards out that slipped inside the post to make it 3-0 in the 74th and his goal in the second minute of stoppage time capped the scoring.
Beau Leroux made it 3-1 in the 89th with a shot from outside the area that deflected off Vancouver's Giuseppe Bovalina into the net.
Ralph Priso made a goal-line block of a header by Josef Martínez in the seventh minute.
San Jose's Daniel De Sousa Britto — known simply as “Daniel” — had six saves.
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