An extension to Canadian Soccer News’ MLS Week in Review, this article provides a closer look at the performances of the Canadian players who saw the pitch this week.
With all three Canadian teams in action this round, there were plenty of candidates on the pitch, but no real standout performance. The top three spots go to Jonathan Osorio, Doneil Henry, and Rob Friend, more for consistency than anything particularly spectacular.
Find out what they did to deserve recognition and who else earned their keep this week.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Jonathan Osorio
Osorio made his second-consecutive start in Toronto’s 1-0 win over DC United in the BMO Field home opener on Saturday – it was his twentieth start and thirtieth appearance for the club.
Paired once more in the middle of the park with Michael Bradley, Osorio was dynamic in the middle of the park, setting up chances and causing the opponent endless troubles, notably picking up the scraps whenever there was a loose ball to be had.
He nearly set up Jermain Defoe from an early cross and then played a wonderful long ball into space for Jackson to chase, leading to another Defoe chance:
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He later sprung the Brazilian with another such ball, but Jackson’s shot sailed high and wide, while neither of Osorio attempts on target really troubled Bill Hamid – the first was a slow roller from the top of the box, while the other was blocked after cutting around one defender to make space for the shot at the edge of the area.
Two further examples of his understated elegance and tenacity in the match – it was his little sideways ball to Bradley that allowed the American space to spring Gilberto leading to Defoe’s goal on the hour mark:
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His pesky hustle to win those loose balls and skillful touch in this play goad an already testy Davy Arnaud over the edge, warranting a booking:
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Nothing spectacular, but incredibly efficient from the young man.
The Toronto, Ontario-native completed 32 of 43 passes, attempted two shots – one on and one blocked, suffered four fouls and conceded two, while making a whopping seventeen recoveries, four interceptions, and a clearance, winning three headers and a tackle. However, he lost possession fourteen times.
His post-match interview can be viewed here.
Doneil Henry
Henry too started Toronto’s second-match of the season.
Paired with Steven Caldwell in the centre of defense the formidable duo helped the club keep their first clean-sheet of 2014 – the understated story of the early season for TFC has been the defense.
He showed a little class on the other side of the ball early, attacking deep on the right, evading his man, and setting up Osorio to cross for Defoe’s missed header.
But it was on the defensive side that Doneil has grown into his starting role – stumbling on the shoddy pitch, but retaining the composure to get a piece on the ball (the old face-block), then recovering nicely to put it a sharp tackle on Fabian Espindola, who was endlessly frustrated by the physical gifts of his opponent.
Again nothing spectacular, just consistent – Eddie Johnson and Espindola, DC’s high-profile attack, combined for just one shot all match.
He landed awkwardly after an aerial challenge, but shook off the pain and resumed his stellar play.
The Brampton, Ontario-native completed just six of his eighteen passes (more on that shortly), committed and suffered a foul each way, made eleven clearances, eight interceptions, and five recoveries, winning and losing a tackle.
Most of his registered ‘passes’ were actually launches up-field, which accounted for a healthy portion of his thirteen losses of possession.
While a no-nonsense defensive clearing of one’s lines is always recommended in emergencies, the next step in his progression will be to do a little more with the ball once it gets on his foot. He did have some very good completion numbers last season, so the unreliability of the pitch was likely a factor in Saturday’s tactic.
Nevertheless, he earned the praise of defensive partner Caldwell post-match, who commented on his play thusly, “Very pleased.* Obviously he is a very good young good player who has proven.* It's a pleasure playing beside him.* I think we complement each other well and hopefully we can keep getting better and better and obviously clean sheets are important so it's a real bonus to get one today.”
Rob Friend
Friend made his first start for LA in their 1-1 draw at Salt Lake on Saturday – paired up top in a target-man’s role alongside Robbie Keane in attack.
After impressing during his dominant second half cameo away to Tijuana in a disappointing midweek Champions League loss, Friend earned his position and put it to good use.
He showed a tidy bit of footwork early in the match with a Zlatan-esque (yes, that Zlatan – video, unfortunately, not available) back-heel pass into the path of Keane while holding off the attentions of a defender and then played a subtle, but important role in Keane’s equalizer in the 34th minute.
Once Keane collects the turnover in the midfield and bears down on goal, note how Friend stays onside, provides an option, and then drags Nat Borchers away from the space Keane is attacking. This leaves Chris Schuler one-on-on with Keane – it does not end well for the defender:
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When not occupying Borchers, he had an entertaining running contest with Schuler, who rose nicely to prevent Friend getting on the end of a Keane cross.
Friend also showed some hustle to get into position, only to have his run ignored by Baggio Husidic and nearly set up a winner in the dying seconds with a lovely cushioned header to Keane, only for Luke Mulholland to alertly track back and intercept just as the Irishman was set to smash a volley:
The Rosetown, Saskatchewan-native completed 20 of 32 passes, won an astonishing fifteen headers and provided eleven layoffs, suffered five fouls and conceded just one, had one shot – wide, two clearances, and a recovery, but lost possession some thirteen times.
Friend earned the praise of his teammates for his midweek exertions, wrecking havoc on the Tijuana defense, winning every ball sent his way. Landon Donovan offered this, “I thought that this would be a game where Rob would be effective. It was good for him to get on the field at halftime, it gave us an outlet and we needed [one] with the pressure that they were going to put on us, and it proved to be true. He did a great job of causing foul, getting some knock down and getting some chances.”
While Keane commented, “We knew that with his height advantage it was going to cause them a hell of a lot of problems because they’re small in the back and that was the case. Rob isn’t one of these [target forwards] that you can just smack the ball up to him and he flicks [forward], he holds the ball up and gets involved in the play. It gave myself and Landon a lot of joy just behind him.”
Friend himself was rather humble about it all, “It is nice to get a half into my belt. There were a lot of positives I think, and we can move on to the next game, learn from our mistakes and learn from our positives in the second half.”
Further praises were sung here.
Will Johnson
Johnson continued his ironman streak for Portland in their disappointing 2-0 loss at Colorado on Saturday – appearing in a third-straight match for 2014 and extending his streak from last season to eleven-straight league matches.
Paired once more with old friend Diego Chara at the base of the Portland, Johnson opted into a more conservative role on the road, often sitting rather than straying forward as he is wont to do. He had a good running battle with Dillon Powers throughout the match and was whistled for a foul when he was a second late on Edson Buddle.
He remonstrated the referee at the double-punishment decision of awarding a penalty kick and red card when Donovan Ricketts hurtled into Deshorn Brown around the 70th minute and did his best to put off the taker, Vicente Sanchez, by yapping a little and lingering near the spot for as long as possible without getting booked.
Straight from the restart, he took the initiative to get forward, but the Timbers were immediately punished – the space he vacated was abused by Powers, who surged through the middle and played out wide right to Sanchez, who earned the spot kick with a bit of veteran savvy.
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Johnson was twice flattened by Jose Mari (one – two), who was cautioned for both offenses and dismissed. Never one to give up without a fight, Johnson attempted a cheeky Olimpico, nearly curling one in from a late corner kick, but to no avail.
The Toronto-born midfielder completed an impressive 36 of 40 passes, had one shot – on target, suffered two fouls to the one he conceded, made five recoveries and a clearance, won two of three tackles and three headers, all while conceding possession eight times.
Patrice Bernier
Bernier made a second-consecutive start for Montreal in their home opener against Seattle – despite his contributions they would lose 0-2.
Paired with Hernan Bernardello at the base of the midfield, Bernier’s ball movement, as usual, was immaculate, functioning as both the team’s metronome and pendulum, collecting the ball and moving it on in one smooth motion – if ever there is to be a Bernier action figure, it will be of him collecting the ball on one boot and sweeping it on with the other.
His passing chalkboard is a thing of beauty.
With Seattle staying very compact, often playing with ten men behind the ball, having taken the early lead via the Troy Perkins own-goal, Montreal struggled to break them down. Bernier gradually dropped deeper and deeper to initiate the Montreal build-up from the back, at times appearing as a third centre-back; despite his best efforts nothing would come for them.
He was caught flat-footed on Seattle’s second goal, tracking deep into the box only for Obafemi Martins to get free of Hassoun Camara behind him – the prodigious leap from the Seattle attacker made Bernier look at fault, but he definitely needed a shout to know the open man was behind him, which probably did not coming judging from the look of surprise on his face when he let Lamar Neagle’s cross sail over him straight to Martins.
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That was in the 58th minute and Bernier nearly made amends six minutes later when he hit one of those lovely long passes up for Andrew Wenger, who knocked it down for Felipe entering the box. The Brazilian went down with contact, but no penalty was forthcoming.
Bernier would exit the match in the 70th minute, once more making way for Blake Smith – no doubt his ongoing recovery and the turf played a factor in his removal.
The Brossard, Quebec-native completed 38 of 43 passes, had one shot – blocked, made two each of interceptions and recoveries, won three of four tackles and conceded possession just six times.
Bernier is without doubt one of the gentlemen of the league – a respect that he had earned. There was one play where Neagle could have gone heavy into the back of him, but, because it was Patrice, he opted not to and was made to look foolish by the turn.
Post-match, captain Bernier pragmatically commented, “It wasn’t a bad game, but wasn’t a good game either. We gave too much space to the other team in the first half and then we were just running after the game. Tuesday, we have to get back into playing. I won’t say that we will forget this, but we have to work on it quickly and concentrating on getting points.”
Russell Teibert
Teibert returned from his hamstring concern to Vancouver’s starting lineup in their 0-0 draw at New England on Saturday – it was his second start of the season on the right-side of the midfield.
In a match that lacked cohesion, the combination of wind and turf wrecked havoc on the passing game, the only thing really worth noting was his new hairdo – it’s a short of Samurai knot thing, with shaved back and sides for the aficionados.
There was a moment of concern when required treatment and continued to rub his collarbone area after a battle with Jose Goncalves, before making way for Kekuta Manneh in the 67th minute.
The Niagara Falls, Ontario-native completed eleven of seventeen passes, made four recoveries and an interception, suffering one foul, while winning a tackle. He lost possession seven times.
Dwayne De Rosario
De Rosario was on the bench in Toronto until coming on in the 63rd minute to replace Gilberto up top alongside Defoe and officially seal his second homecoming.
With TFC ahead, De Rosario operated more in the hole than up top, and he did an admirable job of throwing himself about, trying to win aerial challenges – not necessarily his forte.
He nearly made his debut special, when Defoe slid him in down the left, but the bobbling pitch prevented the ball from settling and Hamid was able to deny the storybook ending to the match.
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The Scarborough, Ontario-native completed six of eight passes in his 27 minute cameo, took one shot – on target, made three recoveries, winning a foul and a header, while losing possession just three times.
Kyle Porter
Porter began the match on the bench for DC in his hometown – entering the fray in the 66th minute, replacing a bloodied Arnaud after clashing heads with Bradley.
The Toronto, Ontario-native was very lively in his 24 minutes, completing thirteen of seventeen passes, committed a pair of fouls, won a header, and lost possession five times. He had a chance to send it a tricky end-line cross, but could not wrap his foot around it, sending it sailing into the crowd.
The Rest
Remaining on the bench this round for their respective sides were Ashtone Morgan, Kyle Bekker, Maxime Crepeau, Karl Ouimette, Wandrille Lefevre, and Nana Attakora.
Tesho Akindele scored a very composed brace in FC Dallas’ reserve match against Chivas on Sunday.
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Kofi Opare was internally loaned to LA Galaxy II for their USL PRO season opener – he entered in the 81st minute to help the side see out a 3-1 victory over Orange County Blues FC.
All video and quotes courtesy of MLSsoccer.com
Each week James takes a look at the contributions of Canadians in the league and the league as a whole.
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