Canadian Content – How did our Canadians do in MLS this week? - 24th Minute

As an extension to Canadian Soccer News’ MLS Week in Review, further details regarding the performances of the Canadian players who saw the pitch in MLS this week.

Will Johnson, Nana Attakora, and Russell Teibert claim the top three spots this round.

With DC United sitting out and the likes of Patrice Bernier and Ashtone Morgan rested due to midweek exertions in the Voyageurs Cup the pickings were slim.

Find out what they did to deserve recognition, as well as who else earned their keep this weekend.

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Will Johnson

Will Johnson’s Portland Timbers failed to follow up their impressive 2-3 victory at Kansas City last week with a win over New England, drawing 0-0 in an offensively underwhelming performance.

They sparked plenty of chances, but their finishing – and some fine saves from Revolution keeper, Bobby Shuttleworth – left something to be desired.

Johnson started and went the full match, continuing his run of playing every minute of the Timbers season. As with his display in KC, his duties leaned more towards the defensive side of the game – tackling (winning four), tracking runs, collecting loose balls (ten recoveries), clearing the danger (two clearances) and stifling the opponent - rather than committing forward.

Most impressive was his sheer determination; upon committing a turnover in his own half – he tried to pirouette out of trouble and was caught – he hustled back, dove in and stripped the ball off the ever-dangerous Sair Sene. His side then worked the ball up pitch for another half-chance. That sort of responsible play, making up for any missteps, is captain material.

He did have a late right-footed attempt from outside the box that sailed over the bar – his only shot of the match.

The Toronto-native completed 54 of 61 passes on the night, but in truth what he and the club contributed the day before – Wednesday – was so much more valuable.

Eight-year-old Atticus Lane-Dupre and his team, the Green Machine, joined the Timbers, the Timbers Army, and the Oregon Make-a-Wish foundation in creating one of the most memorable matches of the season.

Doubtless by now most have seen the

, but in analyzing the highlights, Will Johnson experienced mixed fortunes that day.

He was nut-megged by Atticus for an early goal, bagged one himself – going on to shush the heavily pro-Green Machine crowd – and was then sent off for barging over a defender as he went up for a header.

He had this to say after the match on trading jerseys with the star of the afternoon, Atticus, “Trading jerseys is a fun thing in the game. I’ve actually never asked anyone to trade jerseys, so that was probably the first and only time in my career I’ll ask for somebody’s jersey. I’m glad it’s that way because he’s a special kid and I’m quite proud to own his jersey.”

All told a wonderful moment, good on everyone involved. Will - in his own words - once a “young punk” has matured in recent years.

Portlandtimbers.com spoke with him about his entrance to the professional game and his aspirations for Portland in a recent edition of ‘Timbers in 30’.

Nana Attakora

Nana Attakora’s San Jose overcame a two-goal deficit to draw level with Montreal by dint of another stoppage-time goal, tying the match at twos.

It was Nana’s third-straight start and fifth appearance of the season; his performances earned him this praise pre-match from coach, Frank Yallop, “I’m very happy with Nana’s performances, I always knew it was in him. He has the confidence to know he can handle anything. Not only off the ball defensively, but I thought he used the ball really well, too, last Saturday. And that all comes with the team moving for him, but him also being confident enough to play out of the back.”

Defensively he struggled a little on the afternoon and played a role in both Montreal goals.

Justin Mapp’s laser beam strike saw too many Earthquakes hold off from pressuring the midfielder as he cut in from the right. Nana was not the primary offender, but if given the chance to have the play over he would undoubtedly have stepped up more quickly.

On the second goal he did well to follow the cut-back, staying with his man, Andrew Wenger, as the forward made a move towards the near-post to receive Andres Romero’s pass, but failed to track Wenger when he stole the ball off the foot of centre-back partner, Victor Bernardez.

Attakora would not have expected Bernardez to relinquish possession so cheaply, but he could have held up Wenger’s progress a little and prevented the chance from coming about.

That said he was dominant in the air once more, handled the probing challenges of Wenger and Marco Di Vaio rather well, once skillfully cutting out a dangerous long ball to the Italian poacher, nullifying any threat. He also combined well with Bernardez to squeeze off a surging Sanna Nyassi run who tried to force his way between them – good luck with that strategy.

The referee was not his friend on the afternoon, once harshly blowing play down when the defender went up with Troy Perkins for a ball – never a foul – and once not whistling a foul on Wenger when the forward barged Attakora over midway and raced in on goal.

The North York-native completed 16 of 24 passes, won three fouls - conceding only one – and four tackles; he made seven recoveries, five interceptions, and four clearances.

Nana has been a constant threat on attacking set-pieces as well, showing a hunger to get on the end of service. Hassoun Camara was tasked with marking the big man and had his hands full. The two clashed heads, leaving the Frenchman worse for wear, and Nana completely shirked his marker on one occasion but couldn’t beat Perkins to the ball. He made twirling shoulder-contact with a corner kick in stoppage-time, but could not direct it on goal – his one attempt at goal.

Russell Teibert

Russell Teibert had a tough night, as did his entire side, with Vancouver falling 2-0 to Salt Lake.

He returned to the side after being an unused sub against Dallas, though he did feature prominently in both legs of the Voyageurs Cup – it was his fourth start of the season, starting all four of his appearances, but only his second full ninety.

Teibert began the match on the left-side of a three-man midfield, which morphed into more of a 4-4-2 as the Whitecaps struggled to deal with Salt Lake’s passing and the spacious pitch at the Rio Tinto. He later popped up on the right-side after Kekuta Manneh was introduced, a position from which he crafted his best chance of the night, eluding Chris Wingert and Ned Grabavoy with a tidy bit of footwork, cutting in and unleashing a shot, which was blocked.

His passing – 16 of 33 completed – was marred by a very stretched game; his incomplete passes matrix for the match shows he was often isolated from teammates and forced into attempting long passes, with the Whitecaps failing to link up for quick, short interplay.

They did manage one nice passage, where Russell tried to thread through to Camilo making a slashing run into towards the six-yard box, but his ball was slightly over-hit.

He was kept busy defensively by a very active Tony Beltran, playing right-back for Salt Lake, and did an awful lot of chasing on the night, making two recoveries and one each of clearances and interceptions – mileage is not tracked in MLS, but he surely would have tallied one of the higher numbers that day.

As seen in Canada’s match against Denmark in February, Russell is occasionally caught in two-minds, hug the touchline as a true, chalk-on-the-boots winger or move in-field to find the game and get involved. It leads to him roaming between the two, often caught in the wrong place at the wrong time; the inexperience of youth. With time he will learn to read the game better and not feel the need to be overly busy, picking his time and place with better efficiency.

The Niagara Falls-native took a pretty heavy fall when he got tangled up with Beltran, but shook it off to continue the match. He won one foul on the night and, further indicative of his isolation, conceded possession 21 times.

Patrice Bernier

Patrice Bernier entered Montreal’s 2-2 draw in San Jose in the 73rd minute, replacing Wenger with the score 1-2 for the Impact. It was his eighth appearance of the season - all but the last two starts, with his role in the Voyageurs Cup seeing him rested in recent league play.

Stationed alongside Collen Warner in the centre of the pitch just in front of the centre-backs, his duty was to lock down the match, clog the middle, and see out the result.

At first he appeared to nearly be man-marking Marcus Tracy, the withdrawn forward and then Chris Wondolowski when the two switched, but that soon evaporated.

He cut out a very dangerous Cordell Cato run and then kept the ball from going out for a corner and later nearly sprung Felipe for a quick counterattack with a lovely outlet ball, juggling to control and then lashing a weighted-punt up the left-flank, behind the San Jose back-line.

He played a small role in the game-tying concession. He and Warner went up for the same ball on the defensive right outside the box and both were slow to react to the second ball in, leaving Wondolowski and Sam Cronin too much space to create the equalizer.

The Brossard-native completed six of nine passes in his brief cameo, made five recoveries, one clearance and a single tackle.

Jonathan Osorio

Jonathan Osorio replaced Matias Laba in the 87th minute of Toronto’s 1-0 loss at Colorado; it was his eighth appearance of the season, all, bar one, from the subs bench, to feature in every TFC match since the opener, when he was an unused sub.

He was again perfect in his passing, completing two of two, but had little impact for a deflated side that had once again conceded late.

The Rest

Karl Ouimette, Maxime Tissot, and Wandrille Lefevre were unused substitutes for Montreal, while Doneil Henry and Emery Welshman were on the bench for Toronto.

Ashtone Morgan was left out entirely, whether for his defensive miscues or his involvement in the previous three match over a seven day spell, is a matter for debate.

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Canadian Content – How did our Canadians do in MLS this week?

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