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.
The top three spots go to Will Johnson – for one lovely touch, Tesho Akindele – on the eve of his first start, and Kofi Opare – who did not miss a step in replacing Omar Gonzalez.
Find out what they did to deserve recognition and who else earned their keep this week.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Will Johnson
Johnson made his tenth-straight start for Portland on Sunday in their 1-1 draw at home against LA, continuing his run of starting every single match for the Timbers this season.
Alongside Diego Chara at the base of the midfield, Johnson was once more handed a more defensive role; sitting deep to direct traffic, while keeping an eye on that pocket of space in front of the centre-backs that Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan seek to exploit.
He was rather conservative when venturing forward, making one strong run up the left before feeding Jack Jewsbury - whose cross was cleared for a Portland corner kick, preferring instead to mop up any troubles, helping to keep the Galaxy off the scoreboard until stoppage-time.
Johnson made one especially spectacular intervention, diving in to nick the ball off the foot of Juninho just inside the Timbers area – the Galaxy howled for a penalty, but the Timbers captain got all ball.
He had one good look from the top of the area, but could not get the ball to settle – his only shot on goal came later and was a tame effort from distance that was easily saved.
But when his team needed him most, after going down to a Keane header from a throw-in in stoppage-time, Johnson was the one who stepped up.
First getting the ball into the box, then following up to maintain possession, before spotting Diego Valeri in space on the right side of the box and playing a cheeky back-heeled roller into the path of the Argentine, who slammed an equalized past LA keeper, Jaime Penedo:
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The Toronto-born midfielder completed 41 of his 49 passes, had one shot – on target, won three headers and a tackle, losing another. He racked up four recoveries, three clearances, and an interception, while losing possession ten times in his ninety minutes on the pitch.
Tesho Akindele
Akindele, who spent Wednesday’s 2-1 loss at Seattle unused on the bench for FC Dallas, made his first MLS start on Saturday when his side travelled to San Jose, losing 2-1 – it was his third appearance of the season.
On the right-side of the Dallas attack, Akindele had a nice battle going with San Jose left-back Jordan Stewart throughout the match. Taking on such an experienced defender was always likely to be a rather difficult task, especially in a team still finding its way with injury to Mauro Diaz robbing them of the creative engine.
Stewart got the better of him through the early goings, until the second half, when Shea Salinas’ red card at the end of the first, tilted the field in Dallas’ favour.
Akindele did well to get a cross past his opponent on one occasion, only for the behemoth Victor Bernardez to cut it out, and the tide began to turn when Tesho was called for a foul, attempting to win a header over Stewart.
After that encounter, Akindele seemed to find the space to operate: nearly getting on the end of a David Texeira flicked header from a Michel chip that struck the post inches in front of the young Canadian; then beating Stewart in their next aerial battle, flicking a neat header down to play in Matt Hedges, who shot wide:
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He had two further chances before taking his leave in the 89th minute, to be replaced by Andrew Jacobson.
The first came in the 82nd, when Fabian Castillo sent a poked ball across the face of goal. Akindele misread his teammate’s intentions, coming to the near-post for a square-ball and could not reach the service to the back-post – though whether he would have been able to reach it anyways was a question for the physics majors out there.
His final chance came seconds before he departed the pitch, but not until after he got sandwiched between Stewart and Ty Harden challenging for another hopeful cross. In the 89th minute, he got the better of Stewart and arrived unmarked at the back-post to get on the end of a left-sided Jair Benitez cross, but he could not direct his right-footed touch on goal, going agonizingly wide of the left-post with his side trailing by a single goal.
All told a pretty good run-out against a tricky opponent – San Jose has a lot of size to confront on their back-line.
The Calgary, Alberta-native completed 15 of 23 passes, committed one foul, won two headers, won and lost a tackle, and made six recoveries, two interceptions, and a clearance, losing possession twelve times.
Post-match he commented, “I thought we had so many chances and if we played that game just like that ten times, I feel like we’ll score two goals nine times and that was just the one unlucky one for us.”
Kofi Opare
Opare also made his first start of the season, in LA’s 1-1 draw at Portland, alongside Leonardo in the centre of the Galaxy defense, replacing the injured Omar Gonzalez – it was his second appearance of the season.
Prior to the match, in light of Gonzalez’ injury, Bruce Arena challenged Opare to step up to the task of replacing LA’s talismanic centre-back, “He’s a better player this year than he was last year. It remains to be seen if he’s a player that can play regular minutes,” adding, “I thought he had a good showing Saturday. Hopefully we’ll continue to see a little more when Omar disappears for a period of time.”
For his part, Opare was up for it, “If Omar can’t play and Bruce needs me to step in, I have to make sure I’m ready physically and mentally to help the team and perform well”, while fellow defender, AJ DeLaGarza felt Opare was more than ready, “Kofi came in last year and made a name for himself. We’re confident he can get the job done.”
Facing the potentially dangerous Portland attack, it was a task Opare was indeed ready for, barely putting a foot wrong in a steady, calm, if conservative, performance.
He did make one wrong step, allowing Diego Valeri to nick the ball off his foot and break in, but his recovery was a thing of beauty, getting goal-side of the troublesome midfielder, before coolly touching the ball away to snuff out the threat.
Opare showed his reading of the game, making one of his two interceptions by reading a dummy and stepping in to intercept the pass.
He was one of the Galaxy defenders who collapsed on Will Johnson, making space for Valeri’s eventual equalizer - he can be seen sliding to block the shot in the video above.
The Niagara Falls, Ontario-raised defender completed 16 of 22 passes, won six headers and a tackle, making three clearances and two interceptions, while conceding possession six times.
Rob Friend
Friend also featured in LA’s draw in Portland, making his second-straight start up top of the Galaxy formation – it was his third start of the season and sixth appearance overall.
Paired with Robbie Keane in a classic big man-little man battery, Friend was a physical challenge for the Portland centre-backs, no slouches themselves in the size department – it was a thunderous battle.
Three minutes in, he displayed his linking ability, playing a touch into the path of Keane, but nothing came of the chance. Friend also showed a little more variety to his game, making one nice run into the box that won a corner kick when Pa Modou Kah was forced into a recovering tackle and even dropping off the back-line himself to pick up a ball and fizz a shot from distance inches over the bar, troubling Donovan Ricketts in goal around the half-hour mark:
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He also contributed defensively, tracking back to his own near-post to cut out a cross, factoring in on defensive set-pieces, getting a foot in on Alvas Powell as the spritely Jamaican tried to work toward goal, and once, amusingly, trying to close down fellow Canadian, Will Johnson – a thankless task, no doubt.
The Rosetown, Saskatchewan-native completed 11 of his 21 passes, had one shot – off target, won eight headers, suffered three fouls and committed one, and made three clearances and one recovery, while losing possession times in his 72 minutes on the pitch.
He made way for Samuel in the 72nd minute with the match score-less after putting in a solid shift.
Karl Ouimette
Ouimette started his fourth-straight match for Montreal in their 0-3 loss against Sporting KC on Saturday – it was his fifth appearance of the season.
Having featured in their midweek loss at Edmonton, 2-1, in the Voyageurs Cup, Ouimette reflected on the importance of the tournament, “As a Canadian, you want to prove that Montreal, and Quebec, is the best in soccer. I experienced that as a young player as well, playing in national tournaments against Ontario and B.C. These are tournaments I like very much as there is a little added competition.”
Come Saturday, three-quarters of Montreal’s back-line was comprised of their homegrown, domestic talents: Ouimette was paired with Wandrille Lefevre in the centre and Maxim Tissot was stationed at left-back; Kansas City would prove a good test of the youngster’s abilities.
They did well to contain the threat of one of the league’s most dangerous sides, but that all came crashing down in the 17th minute when they failed to properly deal with a long Matt Besler throw.
The long throw is a well-known weapon these days, but knowing and preparing do not necessarily mean that one won’t still be caught out by its devastatingly simple effectiveness.
Ouimette tangled with Dom Dwyer at the near-post, allowing the service to fall, skimming off the thigh of Jacob Peterson and towards Troy Perkins in goal. Perkins got a hand to it, but could not hold and Collen Warner eventually handled on the line as he lay prone, leading to a red card and penalty kick to open the scoring:
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Down a man against KC is no easy proposition, but Ouimette and the rest of the Impact side did well to restrict their chances. Before the red card, Ouimette had been very aggressive, clattering into a challenge on Peterson, upending his opponent in the process.
Aggressive pressure was a tactic he continued, coming out of the back-line very quickly to give Dwyer a shove in the second half; one that was exploited on Sporting’s third goal, when Ouimette came out to confront Benny Feilhaber, only to see the ball moved immediately to Toni Dovale, who fed Dwyer into the gap vacated by the defender:
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The Terrebonne, Quebec-native completed eleven of his fifteen passes, won four of six tackles and a header, committed and suffered two fouls each way, and made five recoveries, three interceptions, and three clearances, while losing possession just six times.
Wandrille Lefevre
Lefevre made his first appearance of the season in Montreal’s dispiriting loss to Kansas City, starting alongside Karl Ouimette in the centre of the Impact defense.
As the right-sided of the pairing, Lefevre would have his hands full with Graham Zusi operating on that flank and Dom Dwyer preferring to drift to that side as well.
His introduction to the match was unkind, taking a stray arm in the face from Dwyer just minutes in, but Lefevre shook it off and put in a sturdy shift.
Lefevre recovered well to prevent Dwyer from getting on the end of a low goalmouth ball on one occasion and later arrived in time to mop up a wide open chance that fell to Zusi on the attacking left of the box – a wide open chance, but the ball would not settle, allowing Lefevre to take away the opportunity.
Like Ouimette, he was aggressive in stepping into challenges, catching Zusi hard on one occasion, and he had one of Montreal’s two chances on goal in the match, with a header at the start of the second half.
The France-born defender completed eleven of his twenty passes, had one shot – the header on target, won three tackles and two headers, made six recoveries, four interceptions, and three clearances, while losing possession nine times.
Post-match he remarked, “I think it was absolutely harder to play with ten players today, but the fans come here to see a great game and I think we owe it to them to give better.”
Maxim Tissot
Tissot, who also featured midweek in Edmonton, made his third-straight appearance for Montreal on Saturday – it was his second start of the season.
From his left-back position, Tissot had a nice little contest going with Captain America, Jacob Peterson, sending his opponent flying and yelping for a call on several occasions.
He also did very well to help keep that Besler long throw from crossing the line initially (without the use of his hands) and later showed that same recovery awareness to get back and again knock over Peterson.
Tissot, as well as Lefevre, was almost able to close the gap to prevent Dom Dwyer from scoring his second of the afternoon when Ouimette wandering out to pressure Benny Feilhaber, but was a fraction too late.
The Gatineau, Quebec-native completed 33 of 44 passes, won two tackles and a header, made six recoveries, five interceptions, and two clearances, while conceding possession thirteen times as one of the few Impact players to get on the ball regularly.
Patrice Bernier
Bernier, who played all ninety minutes on Wednesday – setting up Jack McInerney’s opening goal, began on the bench for Montreal on Saturday, coming on in the 70th minute to replace Felipe – it was his eighth-appearance of the season and fourth from the bench.
With Montreal already trailing 0-3, it was simply about seeing out the match, but Bernier brought with him a spark, twice playing in teammates for half-chances: first looking for Jeb Brovsky with a ball over the top that was cut out and then springing Santiago Gonzalez with a nice ball to the outside that came to naught.
The Brossard, Quebec-native completed seven of nine passes, made one clearance and lost possession five times in his twenty minute cameo.
Afterwards he was asked about Joey Saputo’s twitter comments, diplomatically responding, “I haven’t seen the president’s comments, but it’s his team. I can tell you that tomorrow we have to get going because we’re playing on Wednesday. On the good side – if you can say there’s a good side – we’re playing straightaway, so we can evacuate that bad feeling of losing two games. The rest is not up to me to comment.”
Russell Teibert
Teibert, who was integral to Vancouver’s efforts in Toronto midweek (sporting the captain’s armband for the first time), was rested when Vancouver travelled to Columbus on Saturday, only coming on for Pedro Morales in the 82nd minute – it was his eighth appearance of the season and first from the bench.
His energy nearly sealed the match with a second goal, doing well to force a turnover on the edge of the Whitecaps box and spring a counterattack, sending Omar Salgado in alone, but the lanky forward could not keep his chip on target:
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The Niagara Falls, Ontario-native completed five of six passes, won a tackle, made a recovery, and lost possession once in his eight minutes on the pitch.
He spoke post-match on Wednesday about the honour of wearing the armband and the result:
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The Rest
Nana Attakora was on the bench for DC United when they beat Philadelphia 0-1 on Saturday.
Vancouver fielded a handful of young Canadians in Wednesday’s opening leg of the Voyageurs Cup in Toronto, including goalkeeper Marco Carducci, Bryce Alderson, and residency pair, Marco Bustos and Kianz Froese, along with Russell Teibert leading the side – three more Canadians were on the bench Jackson Farmer, Jordan Haynes, and Mitchell Piraux.
Vancouver coach, Carl Robinson, said after the match, "If they continue going in the right direction, they continue to get their opportunity and they play like they did today then not only Vancouver Whitecaps FC but Canadian football is in good hands."
Montreal’s starting lineup in Edmonton featured three Canadians – Bernier, Ouimette, and Tissot, while a fourth, Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare, an academy player, made his first appearance for the club replacing Callum Mallace in the 86th minute.
Prior to the match Gagnon-Lapare was asked about making the first team roster, “It’s a great opportunity for me. It’s the first time that I get to travel with the team in an official first team game situation, so I have to take as much out of it as I can to continue to grow and improve as a player. This trip is definitely special for me as a Canadian player because it is the tournament to determine the best team in my home country. But, we have to make sure that we keep things in perspective, approach it as any other game and get a result down there.”
The Impact bench also contained a handful of academy players, such as Victor Ndiaye, Anthony Jackson-Hamel, and Amine Meftouh – names to keep an eye on for sure.
Toronto started three Canadians – all members of the first team – Doneil Henry, Kyle Bekker, and Issey Nakajima-Farran, while Dwayne De Rosario entered from the bench in the 79th. Ashtone Morgan remained unused on the bench.
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.
You can follow James on twitter @grawsee or read more of his writing at Partially Obstructed View