It's a fourth league defeat of the season for the Whitecaps, who fell to the Houston Dynamo Wednesday night to overtake Vancouver in the league standings.
Jesper Sørensen made three changes to the side that defeated the Seattle Sounders, with Tristan Blackmon, Ryan Gauld, and Rayan Elloumi replacing Ralph Priso, Thomas Müller, and Jeevan Badwal, with Badwal not being named in the squad due to a head injury. Emmanuel Sabbi shifted back to right wing with the reintroduction of Elloumi, as Bruno Caicedo was named to the bench for the first time in almost a month.
The game kicked off with the Whitecaps on the attacking side, and a long shot from Andrés Cubas sailed just over the bar after three minutes.
In the tenth minute, it looked like Ryan Gauld was about to open the scoring, but a big tackle from Agustin Resch denied the hosts.
Six minutes later, a Houston set piece would cause all sorts of chaos for Vancouver, with Héctor Herrera having a clear look at goal but being denied by a clearance from Mathías Laborda.
Andrés Cubas received the first booking of the match, and minutes later, Houston would find a breakthrough. Mateusz Bogusz was dispossessed by Laborda and the ball fell to the feet of Franco Negri, who lashed it into the top right corner, giving Yohei Takaoka absolutely no chance.
Agustín Resch was shown Houston's first yellow card for a challenge on Cheikh Sabaly, followed by Bouzat also being shown a yellow card after a bad challenge on Oliver Larraz.
Near the end of the first half, a cross from Oliver Larraz fell to the back post, where Cheikh Sabaly struck the post off a half-volley from close range, as that was Vancouver's best chance of the game.
Ricardo Montero blew for half time, as Vancouver had some work to do at home.
The previously mentioned Sabaly was taken off for Thomas Müller at the interval, with Ryan Gauld shifting to the right-hand side, and Emmanuel Sabbi was moved to the left wing.
The second half began with Vancouver pressing for an equalizer, nearly getting it on a Rayan Elloumi breakthrough following a nice pass from Ryan Gauld, but the striker hit the side netting, much to the frustration of Müller and Sabbi.
Houston would nearly double their lead off a counterattack, as after Mateusz Bogusz was sent through, Yohei Takaoka made a big save to deny the Polish international.
Vancouver would eventually find the back of the net, as after some nice dribbling from Emmanuel Sabbi, he played it across to Rayan Elloumi, who would slide it in for an equalizer.
VAR would intervene and call Ricardo Montero to the monitor, who controversially disallowed the goal for a soft foul by Oliver Larraz on Guilherme.
Vancouver would go to their bench for a double switch, as Ralph Priso and Bruno Caicedo were brought in for Andrés Cubas and Emmanuel Sabbi.
The hosts kept pushing for an equalizer through Bruno Caicedo, who had some good moments; one of those was a great dribble before setting up Thomas Müller, whose shot was deflected wide by Dynamo captain Artur.
Sam Adekugbe and Nikola Djordjevic were brought on with two minutes left to spare, as Tate Johnson and Édier Ocampo were taken out.
In the six minutes of added time, the Whitecaps weren't able to create that one big chance, and nearly conceded a second goal as Duncan McGuire was sent through by Mateusz Bogusz, but Yohei Takaoka kept it out.
Ricardo Montero blew for full time, and the defeat is a costly one for Vancouver. Houston move to the top of the Western Conference, though the Whitecaps do have a game in hand.
Vancouver shift focus to Saturday's home clash against FC Dallas at BC Place, with kickoff set for 6:30 pm PT.
