Before the match San Jose and Vancouver were ranked right next to each other in the Western Conference standings as the Earthquakes were in eighth and the Whitecaps were in seventh.
San Jose started off the first half extremely well as they were putting high pressure on the Vancouver back-line. Fatai Alashe almost opened up the game early in the first half as he connected with the ball from a cross but only managed to hit the crossbar on the header. San Jose continued putting on the attacking pressure as they opened up the score-sheet on a header from striker Quincy Amarikwa in the 14th minute.