By the end of the first half, the air in BC Place was nasty with hate.

It wasn’t just anger or a regular expression of rivalry, it was a fermented mix of helplessness and outrage. The score was 1-0 to the visitors, Dallas were playing like sneering villains and Vancouver were playing awfully. Vancouver manager Martin Rennie argued that his players weren’t mad, but the rest of the stadium might have been.

You could feel it in the rueful head shakes of two ground staff waiting for the elevator at half-time. In the the social media staffer who accused Dallas of playing like Bambi from the Whitecaps main account while the match was in play. In the short, staccato four rounds of “FUCK YOU DALLAS” from the Southsiders late in the first, fully aware they weren’t supposed to sing it but too furious to stop.

It’s the sort of hate that isn’t productive, not in soccer. Joe Cannon looked up and waved frantically after the second goal went in on 47 minutes in disbelief. Even though there probably wasn’t contact, something had to be wrong with it. Could he have closed in any more without mashing his face into Matt Hedges’ boot? There had to be something wrong. I wanted there to be something wrong, because that would explain how Vancouver was down 2-0; how they had 57 per cent of possession but only two shots on target.

But that can poison you in soccer. Search for their foul or their dive and you never find the through ball that’s coming for you. No amount of roaring or taunting Dallas can change the fact that you’re down 2-0 in the second half.

And then the game turned. Passes started connecting. Jun Marques Davidson and Daigo Kobayashi, both having tough seasons, came out, replaced by youngsters Kekuta Manneh and Tommy Heinemann. Camilo, who had not taken a shot, lit up.

The first goal was a combination of those three forces. When Camilo’s shot riocheted off Raul Fernandez, Heinemann used a crazy diving header to try and keep the ball in play; it ended up being an assist when Kekuta Manneh, who had showed promise with no result, slid the ball inside the near post and brought the spark of life to the Whitecaps.

Three minutes later, it was Manneh again, sliding the ball through the box and finding Camilo, whose first touch slipped coolly into the goal. Just a week after a FC Dallas video mocked the Whitecaps for players lying on the ground, head in hands, in sorrow over missed chances or botched goals, three of their players collapsed in disbelief.

It was now Dallas who couldn’t believe how they found themselves level. Trying to shake off Alain Rochat, Brazilian midfielder Jackson whipped back and thwacked him in the previously-broken nose with a right hand. He saw red, and the Dallas attack slowed to a crawl. The goalie, Fernandez, got rattled. The crowd roared with excitement now, instead of rage.

Vancouver couldn’t, unfortunately, turn the comeback into a win. Even though they managed anger well, there’s still an element of fear that has persisted throughout the current streak of six games without an MLS win, especially the away loss last week to Dallas. You can see it nowhere stronger than than Darren Mattocks. Mattocks, who remains athletic and fast, had serious problems being in position for through balls in the first half. And while Joe Cannon saved the game in the 94th minute with a point-blank save, his decision-making is being questioned for his role in the two goals.

But on the night, the good guys won, because they started clicking and they paid attention to what mattered: their own play.

Dallas’ manager, Schellas Hyndman, for their part, was furious. He addressed the reporters like they were the team themselves, blamed the stadium for playing Dallas fouls on the screen and called a journalist embarassing for asking about diving. He hated that his team didn’t win.

But it didn’t win him the three points.

Stats and quotes after the jump.

Quotes

“My question mark as a coach was, how much heart and how much character does the team have? Today, no doubt, I got answered that question, and all of us, fans, everyone around the club, got answered. We’ve got a lot of heart and a lot of character.”
-Whitecaps manager Martin Rennie

“I was really, really pleased with his workrate. It’s one of the things that I’ve questioned [for the team] … I feel like we’re in a little spell right now where we’re playing well but things aren’t bouncing our way. We’re very very unfairly criticized for one poor performance against Dallas a week ago. We aren’t getting a lot of breaks at the moment, but when it comes it’s going to be good.”
-Rennie on Darren Mattocks

“I think our captain, Nigel. He’s done well. He showed a lot of heart, desire going forward, getting the boys going, and through his play we feed off him.”
-Whitecaps defender Brad Rusin on why the team surges in the second half

“As soon as I was on we were down two goals, so I mean, we needed a goal, so we needed to hurry up and speed up a little bit.”
-Goalscorer Kekuta Manneh on coming into the game

“I think first of all, you’re always biased. You’re angry because you got a red card. Take a look at the video, you guys do a great job of showing videos when your team gets fouled, but you don’t show video when anyone else gets fouled, and that ain’t right. It’s a great way to instill the fans, and I think we have a little bit of an issue with that.”
-FC Dallas manager Schellas Hyndman on the red card

“You know what? I have such a hard time sleeping at night, I worry about it so much. What do you think? Do you think I take it personal? What do you think? Do you think I’m going to worry about what you think of us, or about my team? I’m trying to be nice here, and say you guys did a great job, but now you’re just kind of embarrassing me. Anyone else got a question?”
-Hyndman, answering the Province’s Marc Weber about how he feels about the team’s reputation for diving

Goals

9′ – DAL – Andy O’Brien (VAN OG)
47′ – DAL – Matt Hedges
72′ – VAN – Kekuta Manneh
75′ – VAN – Camilo

Cards

2’ – VAN – Yellow – Nigel Reo-Coker
78’ – DAL – Red – Jackson
81’ – DAL – Yellow – Raul Fernandez

Numbers

Shots: Vancouver 27 – Dallas 13
Shots on Goal: Vancouver 9 – Dallas 4
Saves: Vancouver 3 – Dallas 7
Fouls: Vancouver 13 – Dallas 11
Offsides: Vancouver 1 – Dallas 2
Corners: Vancouver 6 – Dallas 4
Possession: Vancouver 60% – Dallas 40%

Lineups

Vancouver Whitecaps FC: Joe Cannon; Young-Pyo Lee, Andy O’Brien, Brad Rusin, Alain Rochat; Nigel Reo-Coker, Jun Marques Davidson (Kekuta Manneh 54′), Gershon Koffie; Camilo Sanvezzo, Darren Mattocks, Daigo Kobayashi (Tommy Heinemann 70′)
Unused Subs: Brad Knighton, Jordan Harvey, Johnny Leveron, Erik Hurtado, Russell Teibert

FC Dallas: Raul Fernandez; Jair Benitez, George John (London Woodberry 45′), Matt Hedges, Zach Loyd; Jackson, Andrew Jacobson (Je-Vaughn Watson 41’), Michel, David Ferreira, Kenny Cooper (Fabian Castillo 76′); Blas Perez
Unused Subs: Chris Seitz, Bobby Warshaw, Bradlee Baladez, Eric Hassli

Best snarky fan display

Plugs

I’m on the AFTN There’s Still Time post-game podcast! You should listen to it. Not for me, but to hear Hyndman totally lose it.

-with files from Steve Pandher