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.
With no goals or assists and only six players seeing action this weekend, it is a little more difficult to separate a top three. So this week’s nominations – Dwayne De Rosario, Kyle Porter, and Patrice Bernier - are a less to do with on-field achievement and more regarding their being left out of the squad for the upcoming Gold Cup.
Find out what they got up to this round and who else earned their keep this week.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Dwayne De Rosario
De Rosario returned to the starting lineup, making his tenth start of the season (and thirteenth appearance), in DC United’s 0-1 loss to Vancouver on Saturday.
Rested last week in a 1-0 win over San Jose, with concerns over a hip flexor injury picked up against Toronto, De Rosario was fit enough to start Wednesday’s Open Cup match against New England, where he scored the decisive - second and go-ahead - goal in a 3-1 win, allowing DC to progress to the Semifinals in August where they will face Chicago.
The Scarborough-native’s exclusion from the National Team for this summer’s tournament has divided opinion – some argue that though he may still be able to contribute now, he will not be of use when the next cycle of World Cup Qualifying comes around, while others find a different type of value in his experience and determination, assets not easily replaced at any level.
Regardless of where public opinion falls, Dwayne has slowly been rounding into form this year.
Playing as a second striker, in the hole, behind Chris Pontius, De Rosario was lively on Saturday, taking four shots – one on, two off, and a further blocked.
The first came very early, redirecting a Porter corner kick just wide of the right-post in only the second minute.
He bookended his night with a low right-footed drive from distance after making space by juking past Johnny Leveron just before he was removed – in the 69th minute, replaced by Lionard Pajoy.
In between, Dwayne was very busy, completing 24 of 32 passes, making four recoveries and winning a foul, while only conceding possession eleven times – which is virtually immaculate for him.
He was darting out wide – a great cross from the left-side, bound for Pontius, was cut out by Leveron; following up chances – his attempt after Porter was denied led to a DC corner; and in all likelihood would have scored, if Chris Korb had picked the correct pass on this break – Korb mysteriously cut the ball back to Pontius at the top of the box rather than square to the wide open De Ro in the middle.
De Rosario was cleaned out by a Matt Watson challenge in midfield and prior to being substituted showed his extreme displeasure at the referee by violently spiking the ball into the ground – for which he was lucky to not see yellow.
Kyle Porter
Porter also started DC United’s match, making his second-consecutive start – after missing the Toronto match with an injury; it was his tenth start of the season (and fourteenth appearance).
From the left-side of midfield, Porter was once more extremely active, completing fourteen of twenty passes and three of five crosses, taking two shots – one on and one off – and making five recoveries, while only losing possession eight times.
The Toronto-native had an excellent chance denied by Vancouver keeper, Brad Knighton in the seventh minute, after taking down a cross from John Thorrington and snapping a drive on goal; he would keep the play alive, hustling to collect the ball near the end-line before laying off to De Rosario, whose shot was blocked by Carlyle Mitchell.
Having been crunched by an earlier Nigel Reo-Coker challenge, Porter skipped past the combative Englishman down the left and played a ball to Pontius, who had strayed offside.
He was removed in the 60th minute, replaced by forward Casey Townsend.
Porter’s omission from the young Canadian Gold Cup squad was nearly as shocking as the decisions to leave out De Rosario and Bernier, though given the glut of midfielders, perhaps not wholly unreasonable.
Patrice Bernier
Bernier is, simply put, one of the most dominant – in his own subtle way – midfielders in MLS.
What he does seldom is obvious in the highlights, but the intelligence with which he strolls around the pitch, rarely forced into any unnecessary waste of energy or erroneous movement, is a joy to watch.
Making his seventh straight start for Montreal – his thirteenth of the season (and fifteenth appearance) – in their surprising 3-4 loss to Colorado, he completed 44 of 55 passes, won all three of his tackles, made an impressive fifteen recoveries, three interceptions, two clearances, and one block, winning a pair of fouls to the one he conceded and losing possession fourteen times – which is quite a few for him.
Early in the match, hanging out in his defensive midfield position, he could be seen directing the flow of the game, pointing out where the ball should go, and throughout constantly moving towards any potential danger before it came to light; generally being a force without being obvious.
The Brossard-native, an enthusiastic hockey player in his youth – and in the off-season - took a pretty heavy body check from a Rapid’s player in the midfield and moments later delivered a strong response, stepping into the next Rapid that came near him.
Sporting the Captain’s armband, with Davy Arnaud on the bench still recovering from a concussion, he was partially to blame for Colorado’s game-tying goal – the second one - scored by Deshorn Brown in the 77th minute. Bernier was beside the young attacker at the top of the box, but failed to track his run.
<iframe width="533" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/59WVc-mPxFY?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Bernier failed to properly address that threat, but later, an indication of his excellent positioning and tactical nous was shown in how he handles the late break that ended in the winning goal.
Arnaud is stripped and the last man back for the Impact is Bernier. Despite being at risk of seriously being outpaced by both Chris Klute and Brown, Bernier takes a page out of the hockey defenseman’s playbook, keeping himself between the two, playing the pass and leaving the shooter for the keeper, while trying to force him to a slightly wider angle than he’d like.
Klute, a left-back moving up the right, opts to pass rather than take the attempt on his wrong foot, and Bernier neatly blocks the pass, snuffing out the danger. But, neither of the recovering Montreal defenders recognized the trailing man and Tony Cascio was completely free to pick up the loose ball and strike a shot on goal.
Bernier was extremely unlucky that his sliding block attempt saw the ball kick up off his bottom leg and lift over Troy Perkins in goal for the winner.
<iframe width="533" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fSZ8WB_ybME?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Russell Teibert
Teibert made his sixth-straight start for Vancouver in the 0-1 win over DC on Saturday – his tenth start of the season (and eleventh appearance) before joining up with the National Team on Sunday.
Once more on the right-side of a three-man attack, Teibert was unable to extend his assist streak to a fifth-straight match.
He did nearly add to his goal-scoring tally, which currently stands at two, smacking a low shot from an extremely tight angle off the near-post.
And later had a near sure goal denied by a fantastic save from Bill Hamid – Kenny Miller laid a square ball across the top of the box where Teibert lashed a left-footer that looked destined for the top of the net.
The Niagara Falls-native had a good battle going against former teammate, Alain Rochat, early in the match – Rochat, well aware of Russell’s left-foot, would not let him cutback, forcing him to go around the outside then muscling Teibert to the ground.
Russell took a majority of the corner kicks, once taking the second of a series very quickly, nearly catching DC off guard – Daigo Kobayashi’s shot whistled wide of the near-post.
He completed 22 of 33 passes and five of ten crosses, took four shots – one on and three off (include one that squirreled well wide – no need to see that), made six recoveries, four interceptions and lost possession sixteen times.
Bound for the Gold Cup, the young Canadian put in an excellent defensive shift as well, tracking deep and clogging the midfield, though he was once made to look foolish by Rochat, who moved past him leaving Teibert lying prone, only to take a heavy touch and see the ball slip over the end-line.
Jonathan Osorio
Osorio made his fourth-straight start for Toronto in their 0-1 loss to Salt Lake on Saturday – it was his fifth start of the season (and fifteenth appearance).
Starting on the right-side of midfield, he manufactured a great chance for himself inside the first two minutes, moving in-field, winning a tackle and taking a left-footed shot from the top of the box that dragged just wide of the right-post.
Minutes later he intercepted a Yordany Alvarez pass, beginning a dangerous counterattack that allowed Bobby Convey a sight at goal.
The Toronto-native completed 25 of 33 passes, took two shots – one off, the other blocked, won all three of his tackles, and made five recoveries, as well as that one interception.
He did lose possession thirteen times, but won a pair of fouls, conceding only one in a very combative match.
Osorio mixed it up a little with Aaron Maund in the handbag session that led to the red cards, before nearly getting a boot on the last chance seconds before the final whistle.
His post-match interview can be found here.
Doneil Henry
Henry started a second-consecutive match for Toronto, making his sixth start of the season (and seventh appearance).
He was having another impressive match – completing twenty of 26 passes, making five each of interceptions and clearances (though only two headers – Salt Lake keeps the ball on the mat), winning both his tackles and only losing possession six times through 79 minutes of play – only to be dismissed for his first – and only – foul of the match, though it was warranted.
Tony Beltran left a lazy boot in on a Luis Silva pass, to which Silva responded by kicking out at the Salt Lake right-back. Beltran shoved over Silva and Henry came in, shoving over Beltran in kind, to draw more players into the scuffle.
Some argued that had Doneil not come in the defense of his teammate, Beltran alone would have gone off – highly doubtable, more likely the ref chickens out with a mere yellow – but restraint is always a good skill to see in a young player; he was very angry walking down the tunnel.
With the dismissal, the Brampton-native became the first player in MLS this season to see a second red card - it was his second in three appearances no less, having only recently returned from suspension for a pair of yellows against Philadelphia.
Toronto needs him on the pitch, as Ryan Nelsen’s anti-CSA tirade indicates.
Doneil is a big boy; he barely flinches when Robbie Findley puts the entirety of his effort into a shove on the TFC defender.
The Rest
Will Johnson and Portland Timbers had the weekend off after winning their US Open Cup Quarterfinal 2-3 in Dallas. Will went the entire match – again – and will face his former team, Salt Lake, in the Semifinals on August 7th. That homecoming – of sorts - should be worth a watch.
Nana Attakora was neither in the starting lineup, nor on the bench for San Jose and was back to being listed as PROBABLE on the injury report with his concussion. There has been no news on whether he suffered a set-back and he was not obviously visible in this clip from National Team training on Sunday.
<iframe width="533" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TEVdptImEy4?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Also of concern is that San Jose acquired US National Team defender, Clarence Goodson, last week, likely pushing Nana down on the depth chart, after he did so well to force himself into consideration.
Dejan Jakovic was once more listed as OUT due to a pesky left adductor strain.
Ashtone Morgan and Quillan Roberts were on the bench for Toronto; Wandrille Lefevre was on Montreal’s.
Mark Watson picked up his second win as Earthquakes manager, 3-2 over Los Angeles, on Saturday night in dramatic fashion.
Prior to the match he had this to say on his home debut as coach, “It’s great, it’s a big occasion. To be honest, I don’t really focus on that. I am focused on the game and the fact that we need three points. It’s great it’s a big showcase game and it’s a chance for a lot of Bay Area fans to come out and get a chance to see the team and see the game played at the highest level in this country. From our perspective it’s another game and we are preparing the best way we can to get three points.”
And after the win, he added, “I don’t think those things are supposed to happen, really. It’s one thing to be down a couple of goals, but to be down a player as well – I mean, it’s a very difficult situation. … So many things happened, I can’t really remember everything. But our guys kept pushing until the end. It was amazing to see, but I’m not surprised, because I know the kind of guys we have in the locker room.”
In honour – note the ‘U’ - of Canada Day, MLSsoccer.com’s Top Five looks at the best Canadians in MLS History. Any room for debate here?
<iframe width="533" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XPmx-VSP6dg?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
And finally, as Bernier tweeted – happy Canada Day, hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Bonne fête du Canada. Happy Canada Day.</p>— Patrice Bernier (@pbernier10) <a href="
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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