Real Salt Lake 2-Vancouver Whitecaps 1

To Whitecaps midfielder Efrain Juarez, his team’s performance against Real Salt Lake probably would’ve been a good enough to pocket three points on most nights. But Saturday night wasn’t one of those nights.

In a match that remained close until the latter stages, Vancouver’s offense looked lively throughout, but a combination of poor finishing and a strong goalkeeping from Salt Lake shot stopper Nick Rimando dealt the Whitecaps a 2-1 loss.

“In the final third we had a lot of chances, a lot of crosses to make the difference in the first half – in the second half as well,” Juarez told the media after the match. “At the end, the quality wasn’t so good in the last third of the pitch.”

Putting quality over quantity was clearly an ongoing issue for Vancouver, who looked eager to play for the win Rio Tinto Stadium despite the unforgiving altitude. And with good reason.

The Whitecaps entered the match with two road victories already on their ledger, and with halftime approaching, they had to like their chances with the scoreboard unblemished.

But three minutes into first-half stoppage time, Luis Silva brought down a Brooks Lennon ball inside the box, then turned to fire a shot that took a fortuitous deflection off defender Jakob Nerwinski before it settled into the back of Stefan Marinovic’s net.

That said, the game was far from over. In the 67th minute, Alphonso Davis served up a dangerous ball that Rimando intercepted while Cristian Techera blasted a shot that was denied in a spectacular fashion by the Salt Lake keeper in the 79th minute.

Vancouver rued those missed opportunities in the 88th minute when Corey Baird put a ball in front of goal for Jefferson Savarino, who slotted it through to effectively end any hope of another road result for Juarez & Co.

“They just wanted to defend and counter attack it, maybe shoot two or three times, and two was what they scored,” Juarez said. “We need to be more clear on the last back two.”

To their credit, the Whitecaps never quit. Two minutes into second half stoppage, Kei Kamara linked up with Brek Shea, who scored to cut the margin in the dying moments.

However, it was too little, too late, and in the final analysis, too many opportunities that went to waste for the Whitecaps.

Despite outshooting their hosts 11-9, getting the better of the possession battle (53.6 percent), and recording 30 crosses to Salt Lake’s seven, the quests could only shake their heads once the final whistle blew.

“Normally those kinds of games, we need to win at the end,” Juarez said. “We can make (enough) to get the three points. So I’m really disappointed because we worked so hard, and we go home with empty hands.”