Sabbi, Ngando and Laborda score goals, Takaoka has 11th shutout; Whitecaps beat Sporting

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Emmanuel Sabbi opened the scoring in the 35th minute, J.C. Ngando and Mathias Laborda also scored a goal on Saturday night and the Vancouver Whitecaps beat Sporting Kansas City 2-0.

Yohei Takaoka, whose leads MLS with 11 shutouts this season, had three saves for Vancouver (13-5-6).

The Whitecaps are second in the Western Conference with 45 points this season. First-place San Diego has 46 points and Minnesota is third with 44.

Jayden Nelson side-footed a low cross from the left side to the back post when Sabbi put away a sliding shot from point-blank range.

Vancouver had 54% possession and outshot Sporting 22-12.

Ngando made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute. Nelson played an arcing entry from the left side to Bjørn Utvik whose header from the center of the area that was blocked, but the clearance attempt by Joaquín Fernández went directly to Ngando, a couple yards from the penalty spot, for the putback.

Laborda went up high for a header, off an arcing entry pass played by Sebastian Berhalter from the left side to the back post, that went between the legs of goalkeeper John Pulskamp and bounced into the net int he 87th.

Pulskamp finished with two saves for Kansas City (6-12-6).

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer