Canadian Content MLS Round 17 – 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 this week.

Will Johnson, Russell Teibert, and Patrice Bernier take the top three spots this round.

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

Will Johnson

Johnson, the Timbers captain and the only Canadian to have a double-game week, made his sixteenth and seventeenth starts for Portland - away to Los Angeles and home to Colorado - continuing his iron man streak of playing every minute of MLS action.

He had a relatively quiet match in the scoreless draw in LA – offensively speaking, at least – though he did help his side keep a third clean-sheet in their last four matches and extend their unbeaten run to fourteen matches against a side hungry to make up for a string of poor performances.

On Wednesday in LA, he completed a whopping 52 of 57 passes, made seven recoveries, two clearances and two interceptions; winning and conceding a pair of fouls, while conceding possession a mere five times.

His one shot, after a right-sided cut-back to the high slot from Ryan Miller, was well off-target.

Against Colorado on Sunday, Johnson sprang to life, setting up the first, and scoring the second, as the Timbers romped to a 3-0 victory, extending their streak to fifteen unbeaten.

In the 12th minute, he wisely took a quick free-kick – with the Colorado defenders having turned their backs on the ball – playing Rodney Wallace down to the left end-line. The Costa Rican hung a ball up into the middle where Frederic Piquionne was on hand to win the header over Nathan Sturgis and open the scoring off the underside of the bar.

It was his third assist of the season, matches career highs in MLS from 2009 and 2012.

He set up Wallace again shortly thereafter, dashing up-field, drawing defenders towards him before sliding out to his teammate, but Rodney could only find the side-netting.

Before the first half closed, the Toronto-native added one himself – his sixth of the season – receiving a squared ball across the top of the box from Wallace on the left – after Piquionne had flicked a Donovan Ricketts goal-kick out to the wide attacker – lifting the ball over the leg of a Colorado defender with his right-foot and smashing a volley with his left.

Lovely – and nominated for MLSsoccer.com’s Goal of the Week.

Scoring on his only shot of the match, he completed 46 of 57 passes, won three of four tackles – including a crunching challenge on Sturgis, made six recoveries, three interceptions, and one clearance, conceding three fouls and relinquishing possession fifteen times.

During the broadcast, Arlo White, the commentator, spoke very highly of their pre-match interview, calling him well-spoken, thoughtful, and determined.

That determination showed a little, both when he slammed the ball into the advertising hoardings after drifting offside – probably more mad at himself than the official – and then when he hopped in anger at a poor touch that drifted away from him and out of play after a dangerous run down the left.

He discussed his goal and the team’s form in his post-match interview – around the 1:31 mark

Russell Teibert

Teibert made his fifth-straight start – and ninth of the season – for Vancouver on Wednesday night, as they beat Chivas 3-1 at BC Place.

Once more on the right-side of the three-man attack – though he occasionally swapped to the opposite flank to help out left-back, Jordan Harvey, when Chivas were attacking down that side – Teibert continued his wonderful stretch of form, picking up another two assists – raising his tally to six – all of which have come in the last four matches.

Vancouver fell behind to a Tristan Bowen screamer, but roared back in an 82 second stretch in first half stoppage-time.

In the 2nd minute of added time, YP Lee played up to Camilo, who fed Teibert on the right. His return pass skipped off the foot of the Brazilian, but fell to Harvey attacking the back-post area and his left-footed shot deflected past Dan Kennedy in goal.

Two minutes on – still in the first half – Teibert forced a turnover out of Gabriel Farfan near the halfway line and laid the ball up to Camilo attacking the right-side of the box. Camilo cut across Mario de Luna and finished with a low drive across the keeper.

The Niagara Falls-native was replaced in the 88th minute by Erik Hurtado, having completed 23 of 35 passes, had one shot – off target, been successful on two of three dribbles and three of nine crosses. He made four recoveries, won and conceded a foul, and turned over possession sixteen times.

His post-match interview can be seen here, while head coach, Martin Rennie had this to say after the match, perhaps indicating some backroom knowledge that Teibert would indeed be a member of this summer’s Gold Cup squad, “Well I think recently he has been playing fantastic. In the first 20 minutes I thought he was playing a bit below the level he has shown for us in recent games but then he turned that around and at halftime we challenged him for more and he gave us more. I think that’s part of the success for him is playing on the national team and while he’s gone it’s going to be a great opportunity for someone else. There’s no doubt we will miss him while he’s gone but there are some exciting players at this club and when they get their chance they can do similar things so it’s up to them when they get the chance.”

Patrice Bernier

Bernier made his sixth-straight start – and twelfth of the season - for Montreal in their 2-0 win over Houston on Wednesday.

Positioned alongside Felipe in the centre of a 4-4-2 formation, Bernier was tasked once more with a defensive-minded role, making fourteen recoveries, one interception, while conceding just a single foul.

Given more time and space than usual, he was successful in five of eight dribble attempts – basically, runs with the ball – completing 36 of 45 passes, including this lovely, penetrating through-ball for Felipe to open the scoring.

It was the Brossard-native’s fifth assist of the season.

Doneil Henry

Henry returned to the starting lineup for Toronto FC, having served his one match suspension for a red card against Philadelphia, to make his fifth start of the season – all in the last six matches - in their scoreless draw away to Houston.

Paired with Steven Caldwell in the centre of defense, playing on the left-side of the pairing, he was once more impressive in the air – winning four headers and nearly beating Dynamo keeper Tally Hall with his one attempt on goal - directing a corner kick goal-ward, only for it to strike off the back of a defender and fall kindly for the keeper to grab.

There was a scary moment when he appeared to fall awkwardly and strain his knee in a brave clearing attempt, requiring treatment, but he soon returned to the pitch.

The Brampton-native’s passing was a little subpar – after racking up some staggering numbers in earlier matches – completing only five of twelve; though every launch up-field is considered a pass of sorts and hence the percentage completed can fall drastically for defenders.

He won all three of his tackles, made twelve clearances, four recoveries, two interceptions, while conceding three corners and one foul.

His recovery effort, when Will Bruin appeared to break free off a quickly taken free kick was a solid piece of defending – if risky - getting the barest of touches on the shot, slowing it down just a fraction for Joe Bendik to collect easily.

His post-match interview can be viewed here.

Nana Attakora

Attakora made a second consecutive start, since returning from concussion – his seventh of the season - for San Jose in their disappointing 1-0 loss away to DC United.

As the right-sided centre-back, alongside Jason Hernandez, the North York-native battled well with forward Casey Townsend all night and was responsible, as the speedier of the two defenders, for stifling the threat of Chris Pontius’ runs from deep, a task he handled well all night – twice shuttling the ball out wide for defensive throws when threatened.

Nana completed 24 of 29 passes, won three headers – including an attempt on goal, off-target – and two tackles, making four clearances, four recoveries, and conceding only a single foul, while losing possession a mere five times.

There was one awkward moment when he tumbled over his own keeper, who rushed out to smother a ball, but everyone was fine in the end.

Kyle Porter

Porter returned to the DC starting lineup, having sat out their match against Toronto with a calf strain, to make his ninth start of the season for the struggling side.

From the left-side of midfield, Porter harshly picked up a booking in the first minute of play, for a swing at Marvin Chavez – his only foul of the match - but even that could not stifle his enthusiasm, prompting a nice crack from distance that sailed inches over the bar.

The Toronto-native completed only eighteen of 35 passes, one of seven crosses, and lost possession 21 times, but what those poor numbers don’t convey in how he is always testing the opposition, prodding, trying to create things, which can be just as valuable, if not more so, than higher percentage plays.

Whether it is collecting the ball on the left, backing the defenders up before cutting onto his right-foot and having a strike – it rebounds to John Thorrington who nearly beats the San Jose keeper with a blast from distance, or hitting dangerous corner kicks for his teammates to attack, Porter is at the heart of most of DC’s creation.

He also puts in an awful lot of defensive work, tracking back and tucking in to clog of the midfield, winning a pair of tackles and making four recoveries.

Jonathan Osorio

Osorio made his third-straight start – his fourth of the season and fourteenth appearance – for Toronto in their draw at Houston.

From the right-side of midfield, he won an early corner kick by pestering Corey Ashe, hunting him down, stripping the ball then nearly skipping past him. He combined well with Luis Silva on that side repeatedly, once sending a dangerous cross to the near-post, but Robert Earnshaw had not made the run, staying towards the back-side instead.

He fell asleep for a moment, squaring up to Brad Davis, which made space for Ashe’s dangerous run and cross from the left that allowed Bruin a header that blazed just over the bar.

With the second half played largely over his head – the two side exchanging hopeful long balls – he had trouble getting on the ball, but still completed 21 of 28 passes, and made a good little inside run that looked promising until Bobby Boswell stepped in to cut him off.

Defensively he put in a solid shift, making five recoveries, two interceptions, and one clearance, conceding three fouls.

His post-match interview can be viewed here.

The Rest

Dwayne De Rosario returned to the bench for DC United, after an impressive pair of matches last week before leaving the match against TFC with a hip concern. That issue, a problem with his hip flexor, was the reason for his absence.

Coach Ben Olsen addressed his decision to hold De Rosario out post-match, “a little bit of [how the game played itself out], a little bit of Wednesday in the back of my head and a little bit [because] of his injury. He’s only had one or two trainings this week. Dwayne’s going to tell you he’s fine, but you have to kind of gauge that and I’m glad we got through without using him.”

Similarly, Dejan Jakovic seems to have taken a step-back in his convalescence. He was on the bench last week and listened as ‘Questionable’, but was not available this week and listed as ‘Out’, with that pesky adductor strain.

Wandrille Lefevre was on the bench for Montreal in their match, while Quillan Roberts and Ashtone Morgan were available for Toronto.

Mark Watson’s second match in charge of San Jose ended in a loss away to DC. He had this to say afterwards, “Yeah we’re disappointed. You never like to lose. I thought the penalty was somewhat dubious. We don’t have a good angle from the bench, but the referee said play on and the linesman had his flag up for the penalty. Regardless, we dug ourselves a hole, but I thought the way our players responded was fantastic. We had a little lull right after the penalty and needed a few minutes to collect ourselves. I thought from there to the end of the first half and pretty much the whole second half, our guys were excellent. We can take some good stuff. I thought our ball movement was good, and I thought we chose the right moments to attack the box. In the end [we were] unfortunate not to get something out of the game.”

Please help make these profiles more complete by posting links to any additional resources – interviews, articles, tweets - in the comments section below and they will be incorporated into next week’s article.

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