Kenny Miller scores twice in Whitecaps 4-1 win over Red Bulls in season opener

VANCOUVER – Kenny Miller scored two goals as the Vancouver Whitecaps opened the 2014 Major League Soccer season with a 4-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday before a sellout crowd of 21,000 at B.C. Place Stadium.

Miller scored in the 34th and 70th minutes while second-half substitute Pedro Morales had a goal and an assist. Sebastian Fernandez also scored for the Whitecaps, who missed the playoffs in 2013.

Bradley Wright-Phillips scored for New York with only two minutes left in the game as he scored in the first minute of second-half added time. The Red Bulls placed first overall in the regular season last year but were ousted early in the playoffs.

Carl Robinson posted his first regular-season win as Vancouver’s head coach following two years as an assistant to Martin Rennie. Robinson started eight returnees. The Whitecaps remained unbeaten in five all-time meetings with the Red Bulls.

Darren Mattocks, who struggled most of last season, started at striker over Kekuta Manneh, who was among Vancouver’s top-scoring players at the end of last season but nursed an injury in the pre-season.

Former Toronto FC defenders Richard Eckersley and Bobby Convey made their regular-season debuts with the Red Bulls following an off-season trade.

Vancouver pressed early as Miller put a shot over the crossbar in the first minute and New York goalkeeper Luis Robins made a diving save on Russell Teibert’s laser beam from distance in the fifth. Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted robbed Peguy Luyindula in the 12th minute, deflecting a hard shot off a goalpost and out of play.

Robins made more excellent saves in the 17th minute as he stopped Mattocks twice, including one from within the New York box with Eckersley hounding him. The Red Bulls goalkeeper also stopped Andy O’Brien’s header off a Teibert free kick.

Miller opened the scoring on a penalty-kick in the 34th minute as he sent a shot into one corner while New York goalkeeper Luis Robles went the other way. The spot kick was awarded after Eckersley was called for a hand-ball in New York’s box off a Matias Laba shot.

Fernandez gave the Whitecaps a 2-0 lead early in the second half as he fired a shot from about 25 yards out into the top right corner of the net.

Robles got his hand on the shot, but could not stop the ball from going in. Fernandez, a 24-year-old Montevideo, Uruguay native, played with Peru’s First Division champion Universitario de Deportes last season.

He was among newcomers brought in to bolster Vancouver’s midfield and make it more offensive-oriented.

Morales sent Miller a long lead ball from deep in Vancouver territory. Miller ran onto it well beyond defenders and lobbed a bouncing ball over a helpless Robles.

The Red Bulls will host their home opener next Saturday against Colorado, while the Whitecaps visit Chivas U.S.A. in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, Calif., on Sunday.

Morales put the Whitecaps ahead 4-0 in the 89th minute as he fired in Nigel Reo-Coker’s rolling pass from the right flank from outside the New York box.

Wright-Phillips spoiled Ousted’s shutout bid after the Vancouver goalkeeper was rarely tested in a second half in which the Red Bulls, who arrived Friday following a long travel day, appeared tired.

Notes: Robinson is a former Red Bulls player and assistant coach. … Ex-English Premier League star Thierry Henry, who does not like playing on artificial turf, did not make the road trip with the Red Bulls. … Ousted’s high punt in added time got caught up in the B.C. flag hanging from the bottom of the giant scoreboard at midfield.