Canadian Content MLS Round 16 – How did our Canadians do in MLS this week?

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 - and any relevant events transpiring around it - this week

Dwayne De Rosario, Russell Teibert, and Nana Attakora take the top billing this round, one marked by Canadian involvement in every match.

Find out what they did to deserve recognition and who else earned their keep this week.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

Dwayne De Rosario

De Rosario returned to the starting lineup, after being relegated to the bench in two of the last three matches, in DC’s 1-2 loss to Toronto FC, as their winless streak stretched to thirteen matches. It was his ninth start and twelfth appearance of the season.

The veteran attacker made a statement midweek, with a three-goal performance in the Open Cup against Philadelphia – his fifth career hat-trick.

After that match, DC coach, Ben Olsen, shared these thoughts on the performance, “I thought Dwayne was a stud. The guy’s a winner,” going on to say, “He’s been through a lot, I put him through a lot and he responded tonight like you would expect him to respond. That’s a positive sign.”

De Ro put any disagreements with his coach behind them saying, “I’m passionate, there’s blood in my veins – you saw that tonight. I just want the best, and I don’t settle for anything less. And sometimes, you’re going to bump heads when things aren’t going your way. I have a strong personality. Like I said, I’m passionate, and he [Olsen] has a strong personality too, so we’re going to bump heads. But at the end of the day, my job is to go out there and do the best job I can to help this team, and thankfully I was able to do that tonight.”

Paired up top with Lionard Pajoy - if slightly behind the striker - the Scarborough native carried that hunger into the Toronto match and was a threat all night, taking five shots - two on target, one off, and had a pair blocked.

He twisted up Matias Laba with a clever run and nearly got on the end of a dangerous Nick DeLeon ball to the near-post, but Gale Agbossoumonde was on hand to cut it out. Late he was again lurking in the near-post area for a DeLeon cross, but was denied by the fingertips of Joe Bendik in goal.

He scored his second goal of the season in the 19th minute, from the spot, after DeLeon was supposedly tripped at the edge of the box by Agbossoumonde.

And was involved in a lot of good interplay with both Pajoy and Casey Townsend - who entered the fray after an hour – including this cheeky little flick that allowed Townsend a dangerous attempt on goal, completing 30 of his 39 passes on the night.

Dwayne added five recoveries, a pair of interceptions and lost possession a mere thirteen times – impressive for his style, winning three fouls and conceding four, prior to departing the match in the 70th minute, replaced by Rafael, after he seemed to pick up a bit of tightness in the hip area.

He could be seen poking at it in an attempt to loosen it up, hopefully it is nothing serious, as he has finally rounded into form after struggling to get up to the pace of play following suspension and injury early in the season.

Olsen gave him a jovial hard pat on the bottom as he came off for a job well done, and Dwayne could later be seen giving Darel Russell some accusatory gesticulations after the Toronto utility man landed one on Daniel Woolard.

Russell Teibert

Teibert started his fourth straight match – eighth of the season – for Vancouver in their barnstorming 4-3 win over New England.

Once more on the right-side of the midfield, his good work helped create an early attempt for YP Lee.

It was his dangerous ball behind the Revolution backline that led to Andrew Farrell’s red card – for shoving over Kenny Miller in the box – and he later picked up his fourth assist of the season – all in the last three matches – with a deadly ball from the right after receiving a pass from Nigel Reo-Coker and cutting back onto his preferred left foot that required only the simplest of touches from Jordan Harvey to put the Whitecaps in front.

The Niagara Falls-native completed 28 of 39 passes, had one shot – off target – and turned over possession thirteen times; adding four recoveries and a pair of interceptions, while winning three fouls – one that saw Kelyn Rowe booked in the final minutes for hauling down the Canadian – and conceding a pair, one of which drew a yellow card – incorrectly, as replays show Rowe was the one who pulled them both to the ground.

He showed lots of tenacity in defense, regularly tracking back to give the likes of Lee Nguyen – who once wrestled him to the ground in a virtual headlock – and the aforementioned Rowe trouble.

It was not all positive, he could perhaps be faulted on New England’s opener, giving Chris Tierney way too much time and space to measure his ball for Juan Agudelo.

One must be aware of the threat Tierney’s ability poses and surely Martin Rennie would want a little more pressured applied on the ball in that area of the pitch.

Nana Attakora

Attakora returned to the San Jose starting lineup in their 1-2 win at Colorado following a lengthy spell on the sidelines – five weeks, missing four matches – due to a concussion and subsequent symptoms suffered in a head clash with Doneil Henry at the start of May.

Making his sixth start of the campaign - at left centre-back, though he seemed to swap places with the left-back, Justin Morrow, on occasion, perhaps to focus on the particularly combative style of Atiba Harris, which Nana is more equipped to deal with than Morrow - and sporting a protective headband, Attakora barely missed a beat, helping to solidify a defense shorn of Victor Bernardez through suspension.

The North York-native was tidy on the ball, completing 38 of 43 passes, including one, following a brief run up field, to Alan Gordon that led to Harris’ red card, and only conceding possession a mere five times.

As physical as ever, Nana won four headers, made six clearances, four recoveries and won a pair of fouls, while conceding only one.

There was a slight scare when Deshorn Brown seemed to catch him in the head with an errant hand and the defender stayed down for a moment, but he proved to be alright, after giving the referee an earful of opinion.

His battles with Edson Buddle, a former teammate - albeit briefly - at TFC, were great to watch, each taking turns getting the better of the other. Attakora did well, with the aid of a handful of jersey, to contain Buddle near the end-line, forcing the ball out for a goal-kick, but was then turned by the forward at the top of the box for a shot that was saved.

Will Johnson

Johnson started his fifteenth consecutive league match for Portland in their 1-0 win over Dallas on Saturday.

Returning to a deeper midfield role, having been tried as the more attacking of the three-man midfield last week against Chicago, Will was once again immaculate on the ball, completing 47 of 54 passes, most notably a little dish off to Frederic Piquionne who hit the post, after a strong run through the middle of the park from the Timbers Captain.

Though tasked with a more defensive, containing role, he still managed to arrive forward on occasion, getting one solid strike on goal – parried by Raul Fernandez – and hitting the free-kick that led to Fernandez’s heroic goal-line save, after Futty Danso’s header back across was sent goal-ward by Diego Chara.

The Toronto-native made six recoveries and five clearance, won a single foul, while conceding two, but turned over possession eleven times – which is a significant number for him – including having his pocket picked by Jackson, who stole in on goal only to blaze his shot over.

Patrice Bernier

Bernier made his fifth consecutive start – and eleventh of the season – for Montreal in their disappointing 2-0 loss away to Columbus.

Paired in central midfield alongside Collen Warner, they struggled, along with the rest of the Impact, to contain a hungry Crew side.

It was a pass between the two, from Bernier to Warner, which led to the turnover that allowed Dominic Oduro to steal the ball and storm in for the second Columbus goal

Bernier himself was victimized by Bernardo Anor, who poked the ball to Federico Higuain to create another chance for Oduro, one of 24 times Bernier conceded possession – a staggering number for him.

The Brossard-native, of Haitian descent – and quite a good hockey player in his youth, as discussed in his appearance on Inside the Crew, was much looser on the ball than normal, completing only 63 of 82 passes, but still proved a threat, having been allowed freer rein to move forward - once intercepting a pass and immediately playing a lovely ball through the middle for Andrew Wenger, which drew a fine kick-save – and a beaut – from Andy Gruenebaum.

He won five headers, a pair of tackles, two fouls – conceding one – and made two clearances; then inserted himself into the Marco Di Vaio-Danny O’Rourke tussle, as a good captain, if only due to the absence of Davy Arnaud, should.

Jonathan Osorio

Osorio made his second straight – and third overall – start for Toronto FC, as they finally snapped their eleven game winless streak with a 1-2 victory at DC United.

Stationed on the right of midfield, Osorio struggled to make the same impact that he has from the bench when given a more central role where he brings a spark against tired defenders.

When he moved in-field to clog up the channels he had a nice running battle with De Rosario and was dangerous from the wide positions, finding success in three on four dribbles; once neatly tricking past the veteran Canadian to get a ball into the box and twice using the space on either flank to send crosses into the middle – one was cut out and the other sent well over by Robert Earnshaw.

The Toronto-native completed 26 of 35 passes, won a tackle and a pair of fouls, made six recoveries, three interceptions and a clearance, but conceded possession twelve times.

The Rest

Dejan Jakovic, who had missed three matches due to injury, was on the bench for DC, as were Quillan Roberts, Kyle Bekker, and Ashtone Morgan, though for TFC, while both Karl Ouimette – who did some fine charity work off the pitch – and Wandrille Lefevre were in the game-day eighteen for Montreal.

Kyle Porter was unavailable for DC due to a left calf strain and Terry Dunfield, deemed surplus to requirements, was released by TFC midweek.

Mark Watson won his first match in charge of San Jose – he did a video hangout with the San Jose media folks midweek – and got involved in a spat with Hendry Thomas, then Oscar Pareja, which is

News emerged that Nick Dasovic was San Jose bound, to assist Watson in his first head coaching venture.

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