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The 'Caps successfully grabbed the bull by its horns, and will now look forward to catching the tiger by its tail later this month.
Goals from Alphonso Davies and Fredy Montero were enough to see off the New Yorkers, after 10-man Vancouver had earlier secured one goal draw in the first leg.
After Brek Shea, who had only been bought from Orlando on Monday, had some nice interplay with Jordan Harvey, Marcel de Jong whipped the ball into the six-yard box, and Davies finished it from close range.
"He was one of a number of players who was outstanding today," said Vancouver Whitecaps FC manager Robinson. "He's 16 years of age. I think two things stuck out to me."
"He's breaking in the 75th, 77th minute, when Kekuta [Manneh] has got the ball. The desire to want to try and score a goal -- and he's already scored one -- was phenomenal. And then I shouted at him to get back and he just looked at me with his big eyes and just run back. Brilliance. As a coach you want players who are going to work."
"And then the second one was Fredy [Montero] playing him the ball into the box, and for someone so young to make a sensible decision -- it was three against one in the Red Bulls box and he decided not to try to score a worldly goal, and beat three men, he decided to play it out to Brek Shea, and that understanding of the game for someone so young was phenomenal."
"He was outstanding in the game. You run him ragged and there's still lots more to come. He and all the team should be proud of what they achieved for the football club today, because it's a piece of history."
Fredy Montero, currently on loan from Chinese side Tianjin TEDA FC, added Vancouver's second goal with just his first touch as a Whitecaps FC player. The 29-year old Columbian was just as impressed with Davies as his manager.
"He's good, he has a lot of quality," Montero said. "He's young. We need to take it easy with him. He's going to get more experience in the games, and he just needs to keep doing what he's doing."
"He's working hard in every single training [session], and you can see in 90 minutes today how hard he was running to the back and to the front to defend the team."
Montero's fitness remains a concern, as he only signed with Vancouver two weeks ago, but Robinson was happy with his performance nonetheless.
"He scored with his first touch," Robinson said. "He's disappointed in there because the young kid set him up for a sitter and he just lost his feet, he lost his balance. He could have had two goals, but that's what natural goal scorers do. It's nice to get him up to speed."
Another newcomer that impressed the manager was Brek Shea, who was asked to fill a role that has been vacant, some would say, since Eric Hassli left the club in 2012.
"Brek was outstanding, by the way, he really was," Robinson said. "From the first minute he was a threat, playing up as a No. 9, we wanted to get him behind. He should have scored as well, [and] then he went to the left side, so we've got an exciting player in Brek Shea as well."
Between Davies' prodigal talents, Shea's size and strength, and Montero's experience, Vancouver might just have turned their greatest weakness from last year, into their greatest strength.
Their next match will come this Sunday, on 5 March, when they host the Philadelphia Union to start the Major League campaign, but they'll be forgiven if they set their sights a little higher.
On 14 March, they'll head to Nuevo León, Mexico for the first leg of the Champions League Semifinal with CF Tigres UNAL, before returning home for the final leg on 5 April. And, should they navigate that, admittedly far sterner test, then they will face off against the winner of FC Dallas and CF Pachuca in a two-leg final, with the Champions League trophy being awarded to the victor at BC Place on 26 April.