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.
Doneil Henry, Will Johnson, and Kyle Porter claim the top three spots this week, while Dwayne De Rosario earns special recognition, in part, due to his omission from the starting lineup and the furor it created – if only momentarily.
Find out what they did to deserve recognition and who else earned their keep this week.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Doneil Henry
The twenty-year old centre-back made his third straight start for Toronto FC in their 2-0 loss at New England.
Playing on the left, alongside Steven Caldwell, Doneil was involved from start to finish – putting out fires and dominating in the air, winning nine headers and six tackles.
Again, he was rather tidy in possession, completing 34 of 47 passes, but his real influence was on the opposite side of the ball.
He got an excellent block in on Diego Fagundez – one of two on the night – then showed some hustle to get just enough of a touch on a Fagundez ball into the middle, bound for a streaking Juan Agudelo, to deflect it harmlessly away, adding six interceptions, five recoveries, and two clearances to his stat-line.
His recovery speed and tenacity, particularly important given the lack of pace on the TFC back-line, was on display when he was turned by Jerry Bengtson and fought back to strip the ball off the Honduran forward.
It was not all positive; he could have stepped up on Lee Nguyen to prevent his dangerous shot from distance that struck the bar, though he was tracking an Agudelo run at the time, and picked up a yellow card for pulling back Kelyn Rowe after misreading the bounce of the ball in the 80th minute – one of his two fouls.
The Brampton-native was also clocked in the face by Juan Toja’s outstretched arm, earning the Colombian a booking before half-time.
He also played a minor role in conceding New England’s second goal, squeezing over once Sair Sene had bypassed Caldwell – far too easily – but could only see the striker’s pass deflect off his hand, before being turned in by Agudelo
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It was a mixed night, but for a young player in a woeful side, that’s pretty good. His disappointed post-match interview shows a man maturing into his role and with a bright future ahead of him.
Will Johnson
Johnson started his thirteenth match of the season at the base of the midfield for Portland in their 0-2 win at DC United.
It has become difficult to sum up his contributions with specific events – his game is akin to the old Jazz saying, it’s not the notes one plays, but the ones one doesn’t.
In recent weeks – and when he’s not busy scoring and assisting on goals – Will plays a very conservative, almost cerebral game; he keeps the ball moving, often playing backwards to keep possession, resetting the Portland build-up – a key feature to their game.
Completing 41 of 47 passes, the Toronto-native made fourteen recoveries, two interceptions and a single clearance.
He is always available as an outlet to any teammate in pressure and works very hard to provide cover – ending up at right-back once, when Marcos Sanchez had skipped by Michael Harrington – and is constantly closing down the space, waiting and reading the play to be in the right place at the right time, keeping a particularly close eye on the movements of Nick DeLeon and Chris Pontius against DC.
Part of his role is to step to any problematic situations and delay the opponent, so that his teammates can recover their defensive positions. The second he overcommitted forward Pontius had a dangerous slashing run and Carlos Ruiz got a chance on goal.
And he is always near the ref, chatting constantly.
It is a shame that De Rosario did not start, as they two of them going head-to-head would have been entertaining to Canadian onlookers.
Picking his moments to get forward, he had two shots – one on target, the other blocked – and had a nice slaloming run ended by a poor return pass from Ryan Johnson after initiating a one-two at the top of the box.
Johnson had a few run-ins with Perry Kitchen, a good physical battle, especially later in the match when the DC midfielder threw the Timbers captain to the ground in front of Caleb Porter – Kitchen’s college coach at the University of Akron.
Interviewed in MLSsoccer.com’s Extra Time Radio last Thursday, he comes off as very self-assured and aware of his role, eloquent even; it’s worth a listen.
Kyle Porter
Porter made his sixth consecutive start for Ben Olsen’s DC United in their loss to Will Johnson’s Portland, though he was switched to the left flank having spent most of his time on the right.
Prior to the match he was featured in a piece at The Washington Post, looking at his enhanced role at his new club.
Porter has taken that extra responsibility to heart, taking seven shots against Portland – four off-target and three blocked, including a free-kick that he talked DeLeon and Pontius off of –only to blaze it over the target – as well as continuing his corner kick duties.
He completed only sixteen of 29 passes and six of fifteen crosses, at least one of which should have been turned into a goal – an inviting curved ball that fell to Ruiz, who laid-off to Pontius, only to watch his effort miss the target.
The Toronto-native even got on the end of a few deliveries himself, but couldn’t reach Ruiz’s dangerous low ball at the back-post and failed to keep his header down when Chris Korb had swung a ball in from the right.
He played a lovely dummy in the final ten minutes with DC pressing, the ball struck the hand of debutant defender, Pa Modou Kah, but it was not called.
It was not all going forward for Porter, he tracked back – once chasing down an interception nearly the length of the pitch after his shot was blocked – winning five tackles, making eight recoveries and two interceptions.
He conceded one foul on the night – a little chop on the leg of full-back Harrington – and won one as well.
Dwayne De Rosario
De Rosario did not start in DC’s match, ending a run of five-straight, but joined the fray in the 65th minute, replacing Pontius, to make his ninth appearance of the season.
Midweek he had complained about the side not playing to his strengths, saying, “I’m just watching the ball go over my head. In that respect, I’m not really being used to my strength.” Olsen responded, in the same piece, that, “At times we’ve asked him to be better when the ball does go to him.”
That slight rift resurfaced in the immediate aftermath of the loss – more on that shortly.
Back to the match, De Rosario’s frustration were evident in his play and demeanor; full of fire, throwing himself about, yelling for a ball to take a quick throw-in and voicing his displeasure at Portland’s slow-tactics – he looked angry.
He completed seven of ten passes – including one fantastic through-ball that Lionard Pajoy blasted off target - made two recoveries, won one tackle and committed two fouls – angry ones.
When asked why he did not start, De Rosario replied bluntly, “Coach’s decision”, saying that Olsen did not think he and Ruiz could work together on the pitch, and stating, “There is talent in this locker room, but I don’t know if they’re using that talent to the best of its ability.”
Those differences, between player and coach, were swiftly quashed on Monday when both made consolatory motions and De Rosario pointed to his passion as the culprit.
Earlier in the week, Canadian Soccer News’ Ben Rycroft had an article up at the CBC, pondering whether De Rosario’s time with the national team had come to an end. Thoughts?
Patrice Bernier
Bernier made his third-straight start – and ninth of the season – in Montreal’s 5-3 win over Philadelphia on Saturday at Stade Saputo.
On the right – more-or-less – of the central duo in a 4-4-2, alongside Felipe, Bernier reprised his usual defensive-minded role, while moving the ball around effortlessly – completing 49 of 56 passes.
He played a great ball out to Jeb Brovsky on the right that led to Marco Di Vaio’s second goal – after Brovsky fed Justin Mapp and he played Di Vaio in over the back-line – and later fed a lovely through-ball that played Felipe into the box – the Brazilian went down easily under the pressure of Brian Carroll – before finally picking up an assist – his fourth of the season, tying a cluster of players for second-most in the league – when he deftly turned a Troy Perkins ball from the back into space on the left for Blake Smith to run onto and finish.
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Bernier even showed a little bit of on-the-ball class with an awesome dribbling run past several Philadelphia defenders across the top of the box.
He made a whopping seventeen recoveries, five interceptions and a single clearance; won four tackles and lost one, and won two fouls, conceding one.
Defensively he left a few gaps, his failure to collapse on Michael Farfan when Brovsky’s poor clearance fell to him, lead to Jack McInerney’s goal.
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The Brossard-native later repeatedly failed to track McInerney’s late runs into the box which caused the Impact some concern - though that probably wasn’t his assignment – and gave Farfan too much space for a shot after Alessandro Nesta’s poor touch turned over the ball.
Jonathan Osorio
Osorio made his eleventh appearance of the season for Toronto – all, bar one from the bench – replacing Reggie Lambe at half-time.
The Toronto-native continued his excellent pass-selection, completing 25 of 27 passes, while schooling first-overall draft-pick, Andrew Farrell on several occasions, earning praise from the New England commentators for breathing life into a stagnant TFC.
Osorio played a lovely little ball for Darren O’Dea to hit a whipping ball to the near-post – one of the few genuine moments of panic for the Revolution back-line.
He also had two successful dribbles, but lost possession four times, while winning two tackles, making two recoveries, and a single interception.
The disappointment in his post-match interview was palpable.
Karl Ouimette
Ouimette replaced Brovsky in the 77th minute of Montreal’s win over Philadelphia, making his fourth appearance of the season – and third from the bench.
The Terrebonne-native completed eight of nine passes, making two interceptions and one recovery from his right-back position.
Off the pitch, Ouimette will have his head shaved for charity on Sunday, raising money for charity.
The Rest
Wandrille Lefevre, Kyle Bekker, Ashtone Morgan, and Quillan Roberts were all on the bench for their respective sides – Montreal, Toronto, Toronto, Toronto.
Nana Attakora missed a third straight match for San Jose with concussion-like symptoms and Dejan Jakovic was absent from DC due to a groin strain he has been battling recently – Ben Olsen noted that it was a concern last match, but he gutted through it.
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