Canadian Content MLS Round 27 – How did our Canadians do in MLS this week? - 24th Minute

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.

The top three spots this week go to Dwayne De Rosario – for a second week running, Doneil Henry, and Ashtone Morgan.

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

Dwayne De Rosario

De Rosario made his third-straight start for DC United in their 2-1 loss at New York – it was his fourteenth start and nineteenth appearance of the season.

Again playing alone atop the formation, with Luis Silva positioned slightly behind, De Rosario was spritely against another of his former clubs – as usual. The freedom to roam, shorn of any defensive responsibilities and apart from the bustle that is an MLS midfield, the veteran has come to life, using his experience and nose for space to great effect.

He would regularly drift out to the left – where he could cut in on his right-foot, once laying a tidy ball down that side for Jared Jeffrey before squaring a pass from that side to Jeffrey for a blazing shot that drifted just over the bar.

It was from the left that he hurried to get a throw-in back in play and served up an excellent cross to the back-post for Nick DeLeon; DeLeon would cut back inside around David Carney and level the match for United in the 36th minute.

It was his second assist of the season.

Completing 19 of 27 passes, De Rosario took four shots – two on and two off – made two recoveries, and lost possession a mere thirteen times – good for a player pushing the attack - while winning two fouls and committing three – a measure of how combative and involved he made himself.

The Scarborough, Ontario-native troubled New York keeper, Luis Robles, with a stinging shot, and would earn his side a chance at a draw when he forced centre-back Ibrahim Sekagya into a rash play, conceding a penalty kick and seeing a red card.

Sekagya tried to shepherd a rolling ball back to his keeper, but it moved too slowly, got caught in his feet, and Robles failed to read his intention, allowing De Rosario the chance to cut in front of the defender forcing him to react rashly.

De Rosario would step to the spot himself, but Robles would save the attempt, diving to his right. It was neither hit firmly enough, nor tucked far enough into the corner.

David Lee, the Red Bulls performance analyst, would share the following image of De Rosario’s previous spot kicks – he went were he usually does, but left it too close to the keeper who got a good jump on the attempt.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>DeRo's penalties before tonight... <a href="http://t.co/Dru94KgYiI">pic.twitter.com/Dru94KgYiI</a></p>— David Lee (@davelee_NY) <a href="

">September 1, 2013</a></blockquote>

De Rosario would have a late chance at redemption, diving to get on the end of a Collin Martin cross, but he could not keep it down on target.

Post-match he was asked about the penalty miss, saying, “disappointed in myself that I missed that penalty shot at a time like that. I guessed right, I hit it on frame but still, at a time like that I think should bury it.”

Doneil Henry

Henry made a seventh-consecutive start – without picking up a red card to boot - for Toronto in their 1-1 draw under the shadow of the Alpine Express.

Paired with Steven Caldwell as the left-sided centre-back, Henry was again immense, battling all night with the impressive Juan Agudelo.

It is easy to not catch from afar, but live Agudelo is a physical specimen, and Henry did very well to keep a lid on the prodigious – and in-form – Stoke City-bound talent. The two engaged in running battles throughout the match – a clash of heads would leave Agudelo cut and bloodied, requiring a head-wrapping – and by the time the forward was removed, he was thoroughly frustrated.

Henry prefers the one-on-one battle with a big centre-forward, he will take that all day and night, but midfield runners are a different story.

Kelyn Rowe, the other red-hot New England player, blazed past the flat-footed defender on way to crafting the opening goal in the second minute. His shot was saved, but the rebound returned for him to square to the wide open Diego Fagundez at the left-post.

The Brampton, Ontario-native was fortunate to not concede a penalty kick to New England’s tricky forward shortly thereafter, when he barged over Fagundez inside the TFC box.

Henry would make amends and help Toronto tie the match in first half stoppage-time, corralling a Jonathan Osorio shot and poking the ball to Andrew Wiedeman after a scramble in the box – Wiedeman would finish with aplomb.

It was his second assist of the season.

The young centre-back would complete 28 of his 38 passes, win four headers, four tackles, and one foul – conceding four (he was finally booked for tugging down Dimitry Imbongo in the 86th – his fifth of the season*), adding five recoveries, two clearances, and a single block, while losing possession ten times.

*He will not be suspended for caution accumulation – listed as two bookings away from discipline in the pre-match literature, presumably for good behaviour, having gone four matches without a booking since his last yellow.

Ashtone Morgan

Morgan made his eighth-straight start for Toronto against New England – it was his thirteenth start and fifteenth appearance of the season.

For all that Morgan looked passive, indecisive, and unsure of himself early in the season, he has come around, returning to the confident, involved, and at times, nasty, left-back Toronto fans came to love through his sharp rise to the first team.

Against the Revolution, he was striding forward with abandon, directing a perfect cross for Robert Earnshaw, but the forward could not connect cleanly.

He was a handful moving forward – forcing a booking out of Fagundez – and a thorn in the opposition’s side – booked himself for cutting in front of Agudelo; it was his second yellow card of the season.

The Toronto, Ontario-native completed an impressive 33 of 43 passes – a measure of how involved in the build-up and possession he was – won two of three tackles, an impressive seven headers, and that one foul, while conceding just two (not bad considering he was up against the lively and troublesome Fagundez several times), adding five recoveries and an interception.

If there are any positives to take from the withering death of another disappointing Toronto FC season, it is the return of a confident Morgan, the continued maturation of Henry, and the impressive debut campaign from Jonathan Osorio.

Patrice Bernier

Bernier made an eight-straight start for Montreal in their dour 0-0 draw in Philadelphia – it was his 22nd start and 25th appearance of the season.

Paired once more with Hernan Bernardello at the base of the Impact midfield, Bernier operated a little deeper than he did against Houston last weekend – they were on the road after all, but was still allowed to push forward more than he did early in the season.

From that position he was constantly on the prowl to start Montreal counterattacks, despite his team’s struggle to get into the match early; late in the first half he finally found Justin Mapp in space on the right, from whence he squared the ball, but nothing came of it.

Bernier’s vision was on display with a sharp ball over the top for Mapp in the second half, but the service was slightly over-hit and skidded away.

He had a bit of trouble with the marauding play of Danny Cruz, once done up neatly and turned by the aggressive wide midfielder, but no damage was done.

In the final minute of play, Bernier nearly crafted a winner with a neat turn and slashing run to the right before laying off to Marco Di Vaio, but the Italian’s strike dragged wide of the post.

The Brossard, Quebec-native completed an astonishing 55 of 64 passes, adding eight recoveries, four interceptions, and a pair of clearances, winning two of three tackles and a foul; conceding possession eleven times.

There are few players more eloquent and consistent on the ball than Bernier in this league; he is a joy to watch.

Jonathan Osorio

Osorio started his eighth-straight match for Toronto against New England – it was his thirteenth start and 23rd appearance of the season.

Once more paired with Jeremy Hall in the centre of the pitch – with Matias Laba injured – Osorio was solid, if lost a little in the congestion.

He did well to intercept a New England pass and spring a counter, drawing a foul and yellow card from Lee Nguyen, and played a direct role in both of TFC’s best chances early in the match.

His cross from the right led to a brief scramble in the box and it was his shot that was collected by Henry and fed over to Wiedeman for the Toronto goal.

The Toronto, Ontario-native completed 35 of 49 passes, had one shot blocked, while adding six recoveries and two interceptions, though he lost his one tackle and possession sixteen times.

Dejan Jakovic

Jakovic made a third-consecutive start for DC – it was his fifteenth start and sixteenth appearance of the season.

As the right-sided of the centre-back pairing with Daniel Woolard, Jakovic again had a mixed performance, alternating strong plays with careless mistakes, at times looking a step behind,

He made a timely and biting tackle on Tim Cahill in the box on a cutback from Bradley Wright-Phillips, snuffing out the danger for a moment and leaving the Australian rolling around on the ground, but Lloyd Sam would collect the loose ball and score.

Jakovic was then dragged out wide and made to look foolish by the twisting and turning of Johnny Steele, prior to delivering of a cross to Cahill that led to New York’s second goal.

It’s hard to entirely fault Jakovic on his erratic play, the DC full-backs were committing forward leaving him with an awful lot of room to cover – hence his trekking out to face Steele – and very little cover.

That said, he should have done better on his one-on-one with Thierry Henry – a play that looked striking similar to a confrontation with Marco Di Vaio a few weeks ago - allowing the striker to cut inside onto his right-foot far too easily, rather than forcing him to the outside.

The Croatian-born defender was lucky to not concede a penalty when he left Henry get in front of him for a cross and wrapped both arms around the Frechman, pushing him to the ground in the box.

His reading of the opposition was again on display, twice stepping in with timely pressure to force interceptions, and he did very well to recover to twice block Henry at the left-post after biting on a Steele dummy that dragged him inside.

Jakovic completed a tidy 32 of 35 passes, won one header and a tackle, conceding just one foul, while making eight clearances, four interceptions, two blocks, and losing possession just three times.

Russell Teibert

Teibert made a seventh-straight start for Vancouver in their 2-2 draw against Chivas at BC Place – it was his seventeenth start and eighteenth appearance of the season.

With Nigel Reo-Coker suspended, Teibert was moved into the centre of the midfield, paired with Matt Watson ahead of Gershon Koffie.

In the hustle and bustle of the midfield – and far too close to the ogre-ish Oswaldo Minda (a vastly underrated player) – Teibert struggled to get on the ball and impact the game.

Common opinion would suspect that a player with Teibert’s ability, speed, and trickery should excel in the middle, where he has vastly more options than on the wing, but at times, that can be optimistic.

Options are overrated and more often than not effective play is borne of simplicity, such as the isolated outside or inside play fans have grown accustomed to seeing from the young player.

He did have a nice free-kick to the back-post that Chivas keeper, Dan Kennedy, alertly came out to punch, following that up with a shot from above the arc that was blocked, prompting shouts of handball from the Whitecaps – they do that quite a bit, before a well-hit corner kick to the back-post found the noggin of Andy O’Brien, whose goal-ward header was cleared off the line without much fuss.

Frustrated in the middle, Teibert began to push out to the right to his familiar stopping grounds, in search of more space, once finding it and squaring a ball for Kenny Miller, who could not keep his attempt on target.

Down two goals, the match was not going Vancouver’s way and Teibert was replaced by Erik Hurtado in the 56th minute.

The Niagara Falls, Ontario-native completed just fifteen of 26 passes, took one shot – it was blocked, making six recoveries and one tackle, winning and conceding a foul, and losing possession thirteen times.

The Rest

Kyle Porter was on the bench as an unused substitute for DC United.

Will Johnson missed a fourth match for Portland in their 4-2 loss at Salt Lake, with that scapula injury.

Early reports had listed it as a contusion – or a bruise in layman’s terms, but quotes from Timbers’ Coach, Caleb Porter midweek (Tuesday), seemed to indicate a fracture - “I mean he’s got a broken bone in there and it’s very sore. He’s not quite ready yet. He’s doing fitness, but obviously that's not the same as playing in a real game where you're banging guys and falling."

He is still “day-to-day” according to Porter, not willing to disclose the full extent of the injury and how long they would be without their captain – at least it wasn’t just proclaimed to be an upper body injury.

His absence – and rest – could be advantageous for a post-season run, as long as Portland doesn’t slip out of contention while he is gone.

Brett Levis’ trial with Vancouver ended and he returned to the University of Saskatchewan, where his coach is, coincidentally, also the head coach of the Whitecaps regional academy centre.

Highlights of his reserve league cameo – his cross for Carlyle Mitchell’s goal is around the 1:50 mark:

On Wednesday, Vancouver signed homegrown defender Sam Adekugbe, adding the left-back to the first team roster – the announcement and his story.

“This is truly a dream come true for me. I couldn’t be happier to sign my first MLS contract in Vancouver. Spending the last few years with the Residency program has been great for my development, and I look forward to taking the next steps in my career with Whitecaps FC.”

While both Martin Rennie and Russell Teibert would speak highly of the eighteen year-old and what his development means for Canadian talent in Vancouver.

Drew Beckie featured again for Columbus’ reserves.

And finally, Montreal launched their charitable foundation with a video chalk full of Canadians.

Canada announced a 33-man squad for their upcoming training camp and a pair of fixtures against Mauritania. Nine MLS players and two MLS academy standouts were called in by Benito Flores.

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

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Canadian Content MLS Round 27 – How did our Canadians do in MLS this week?

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