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.
Top three spots this round go to Portland’s Will Johnson, Montreal’s Patrice Bernier, and Toronto’s Kyle Bekker.
Find out what they did to deserve recognition and who else earned their keep this week.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Will Johnson
Johnson made his eleventh-straight start for Portland in their 3-3 draw against Columbus on Saturday night – he has now started nineteen consecutive league matches, stretching back to an injury-enforced absence last August.
With Diego Chara nursing a metacarpal-injury, Johnson was paired with Ben Zemanski at the base of the midfield, from whence he was instrumental in guiding his side to a draw despite going down a man after 34 minutes.
Indicative of that energy was how, after miss-hitting an early pass, he hustled up-field to force a turnover immediately making amends for the error. It was that sort of drive that helped craft the opening goal in the fifth minute, when Johnson pressured Josh Williams forcing another turnover on the left and feeding Steve Zakuani, who in turn found Max Urruti:
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Allowed to be more aggressive at home, Johnson was caught pressing a little too high on Columbus’ equalizer, allowing Wil Trapp to walk around him in the centre-circle, leading to
He had a good chance before half-time to put Portland back in the lead in the 43rd, when Diego Valeri’s cleared cross fell to him at the top of the box, but his volley-attempt squirreled wide.
With his side trailing after half-time, courtesy of another Higuain strike (from the penalty spot, this time), Johnson sought to drag his side back in, attempting a hopeful free-kick on target from a tight angle before eventually finding the equalizer in the 80th minute.
A long, cross-field Valeri pass sprung Jack Jewsbury down the right. Three Columbus defenders collapsed on him, but Jewsbury was able to poke away a heavy touch from Tyson Wahl into the path of Johnson, whose right-footed shot deflected off Giancarlo Gonzalez and past Steve Clark:
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It was his second goal of the season.
The Toronto-born midfielder completed 41 of 51 passes, attempted four shots – two on and two off, won a pair of tackles, committed one foul and suffered two, and made seven recoveries, losing possession ten times.
Post-match, he reflected on the match, with one of the quotes of the season:
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Patrice Bernier
Bernier returned to the Montreal starting lineup in their 1-1 draw at DC United having appeared from the bench last weekend, in between the two legs of the Voyageurs Cup – it was his fifth start of the season and ninth appearance.
He spoke with the media after Montreal’s controversial last-minute win over FC Edmonton, having taken the deciding penalty himself (en francais):
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Alongside Hernan Bernardello at the base of the Impact midfield on Saturday, Bernier had a steady performance with his side desperate to begin to turn around a tricky season with a solid road performance.
He nearly played a role in putting his side behind in the 15th minute when he stuck out a boot to try and block a Fabian Espindola ball in the box, redirecting it upwards for Eddie Johnson and Wandrille Lefevre to challenge in the air. Lefevre would make contact, unintentionally directing the ball goal-ward where it would strike off the bar.
But come the 56th minute, Bernier’s vision would play in his favour, sweeping a ball from deep over the DC back-line for Justin Mapp to chase towards the end-line. The in-form Mapp beat DC left-back, Christian, to the ball, pulling back for Jack McInerney at the near-post, who opened the scoring:
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The goal was nice, but what Montreal really needed was a little bit of midfield tenacity, which Bernier brought to the match, wrestling Perry Kitchen to the ground on one occasion and picking up a yellow card in the 92nd minute for bringing down Nick DeLeon – his first of the season.
The Brossard, Quebec-native completed 38 of 48 passes, won six headers and five tackles, committing four fouls, and making eight recoveries and a pair of clearances, while losing possession twelve times.
Kyle Bekker
Bekker made his fifth-straight start for Toronto FC in their 2-0 win over New York on Saturday – it was his sixth appearance, all in the last month and a half, not to mention Voyageurs Cup duty.
Given the more attacking role in the centre of midfield, with Michael Bradley away and Bradley Orr providing defensive cover, Bekker was all over the place, causing havoc for a troubled New York defense.
He had a good look on goal after seven minutes, when Jonathan Osorio found him on the edge of the Red Bull area, but he could not get himself over the ball, curling a right-footer wide of the far-post. He then cleverly took a tight-angled free-kick from deep near the New York end-line low, through the goal-mouth, that was just a little too hot for Gilberto to handle at the back-post:
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Shortly after the half-hour, he spotted Jermain Defoe floating in-between the New York centre-backs, picking him out with a lovely pinpoint cross that Defoe chested down, but had to rush a shot under pressure, going high.
He was caught in possession on one occasion, putting himself in the awkward position above the TFC box and was lucky to not have a foul called for a pretty obvious shirt-pull on Eric Alexander – the New York midfielder’s shot struck his teammate, Thierry Henry and went out for a goal-kick.
And finally, having forced a turnover in midfield, Bekker had a glorious chance to seal the result in the 92nd minute, but put his right-footer wide of the post – again he was a touch off-balance:
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The Oakville, Ontario-native completed 38 of 54 passes, had four shots – two blocked and two wide, won four headers and three of his four tackles, and made five recoveries, four interceptions, and three clearances, while losing possession some seventeen times.
Jonathan Osorio
Osorio made his third-straight start for Toronto in a winning effort against New York – it was his fifth start of the season.
Stationed on the left-side of midfield, Osorio was his usual productive self, recovering from an early bell-ringer when Kosuke Kimura climbed over him on an aerial challenge to cause all sorts of trouble to a discombobulated New York.
In the 24th minute, Osorio threaded a lovely through-ball down the right-channel for Defoe, who tried to drag past Jamison Olave, only to see the defender poke away the ball from the ground.
Come the second half, Osorio was at it again, laying a wonderful ball down the right for Mark Bloom’s overlap that led to Daniel Lovitz’ chance; cleared off the line by Olave:
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Kofi Opare
Opare made a second-straight start for Los Angeles in their 1-0 loss at Houston – it was his third-straight appearance in place of Omar Gonzalez, having subbed in for the defender three weeks ago against Colorado.
As the left-sided centre-back, Opare put in a fantastic, physical performance, skillfully preventing Andrew Driver from getting on the end of a squared ball to the near-post on one occasion, by staying tight and strong, but committing no foul (Houston would claim a penalty, but even the Dynamo commentator, Eddie Robinson - a former defender himself, commended Opare on playing the situation perfectly and clean), then holding the dynamic Mark Sherrod away from a long ball.
There was no getting past him on the night; when Giles Barnes did get the better of him on one occasion – from a Will Bruin pass that sprung him down the right-channel, Opare recovered wonderfully to force the attacker wide.
He would pick up a yellow card, for a handball in the 76th minute, going to ground and catching a pass with his arm – it was his first booking of the season.
The Niagara Falls, Ontario-raised defender completed sixteen of his eighteen passes, won all five of his tackles, and made a staggering 23 clearances (many of them interventionary headers) and four interceptions, losing possession just twice.
Somebody call this man into the National Team camp already.
Post-match he commented: “As a team we definitely played pretty hard, it was very unfortunate to give up that goal, a cheap goal we gave away. At the same time we could have been a little better offensively and defensively, so add in a goal as well and defend a little bit better all around the field. So obviously we must learn from the lost and look to turn the corner pretty fast because we play on Wednesday and the guys will respond back.”
Wandrille Lefevre
Lefevre made his second-straight start for Montreal in DC – encapsulating his only two appearances of the season, as Frank Klopas continued to mine the bench for minutes, rewarding a solid outing last weekend from the defender.
As the right-sided of the centre-back pairing, alongside Heath Pearce, Lefevre put in a very strong performance against DC, but nearly put into his own net, on the aforementioned play – an Espindola ball flicked up by Bernier, leading to an aerial challenge with Johnson:
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He has nice running battle with Johnson all match, containing the vengeance-filled forward for much of the match – it is telling that his goal came from drifting to his right (where Pearce was responsible for him on a cross from Espindola in the 84th minute.
The France-born defender completed 23 of 27 passes, won three headers and a pair of tackles, made five recoveries, five interceptions, and three clearances, losing possession four times.
Rob Friend
Friend made his third-straight start for LA in their loss at Houston – it was his fourth start and seventh appearance of the season.
Paired up top with Samuel for the first time, Bruce Arena having opted to field Robbie Keane as an attacking midfield, Friend was starved of service for much of the first half, though he put in a solid shift, displaying a willingness to track back and contribute defensively on set-pieces.
His one good look came in the 52nd minute when Juninho slipped him in down the left-side of the box, but his attempted shot was blocked.
Shortly thereafter, he made way for Gyasi Zardes, subbing out in the 58th minute. One commentator mentioned that patience with his lack of scoring was wearing thin, but if LA brought Friend in for his goal-scoring feats they were surely mistaken.
His role is to occupy the centre-backs and make space for the Galaxy’s darting attackers – that Landon Donovan has struggled and Keane, though scoring, not been as dangerous as last season, is hardly Friend’s doing.
The Rosetown, Saskatchewan-native completed nine of his fifteen passes, won seven headers and two tackles, had two attempts at goal – both blocked, made two recoveries and committed a single foul, while conceding possession six times.
Tesho Akindele
Akindele made his fourth-appearance of the season for FC Dallas, replacing Blas Perez in the 85th minute in their 1-1 draw against Chivas USA on Saturday.
The Calgary, Alberta-native completed his only pass during that brief cameo, as Dallas pressed for a winner, having just leveled in the 83rd minute.
Akindele commented last Tuesday, on earning his first start the previous round: “It was just excitement. Maybe a little bit of nerves, but luckily I’ve played in games before so most of the nerves were gone. It was mostly just excitement. It was a great field, great atmosphere and I was happy to be out there.”
While his coach, Oscar Pareja, commented: “He did well. It was a great game for Tesho in his first game as a starter. He came in and showed personality and I think he adapted to the game and the [level] which is difficult to play at. Tesho did good and he’s coming along. I’m happy for his performance.”
Maxim Tissot
Tissot entered Montreal’s match in DC in the 89th minute, replacing Sanna Nyassi – it was his fourth-appearance of the season and second from the bench. All four appearances have come in the last four matches.
The Gatineau, Quebec-native completed his only pass of the match and made one clearance, reinforcing the Impact back-line to help preserve the precious road point.
The Rest
Doneil Henry, Dwayne De Rosario, Ashtone Morgan, Karl Ouimette, and Nana Attakora were on the bench for their respective sides.
Just two days after scoring the winning penalty kick in the Vancouver-Toronto Voyageurs Cup series, Issey Nakajima-Farran was trade to Montreal, along with some allocation monies, for Collen Warner – on his birthday no less; MLS can be harsh:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Thanx2 every1 in TO4ur support.Cant believe it still.Looking 4wd2 Montreal. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23dirtythirty&src=hash">#dirtythirty</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23shudofhitthepost&src=hash">#shudofhitthepost</a> <a href="http://t.co/89frKfsWre">pic.twitter.com/89frKfsWre</a></p>— Issey NakajimaFarran (@isseynfarran) <a href="
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He will rejoin former team-mate and fellow Canadian, Patrice Bernier with the Impact.
All videos 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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