Will Johnson
Johnson took to the pitch in Toronto for Portland in their 3-2 loss on Saturday – it was his 29th start of the season. His afternoon would end after seven seconds.
A turnover in midfield allowed Johnson a chance to get on the ball, but a heavy touch led to a fifty-fifty challenge with Toronto’s Mark Bloom, each lunging in hard to win the ball – note video is tough to watch for the squeamish. The Toronto-born Johnson came off the worse, his outstretched right leg caught the brunt of the force and it was apparent immediately that all was not well, Johnson signaling to the sidelines his distress.
Post-match, it was revealed that the Timbers Captain had suffered a broken leg – both tibia and fibula; he underwent surgery on Sunday and will be out for six months. The injury means that this will be the first season in the last seven that Johnson will not appear in the MLS Cup Playoffs, having made five-straight appearances with Salt Lake and leading Portland to the post-season last year.
Toronto coach Greg Vanney expressed a sentiment that the entire league has echoed, beginning his post-match conference thusly: “I want to send my best to Will Johnson. I hope he has a speedy recovery. I always thought he is a classy player and a hard-working guy so I send my best to him.”
Michael Bradley, a long-time friend of the Canadian’s, also commented: “As a player and as a competitor, you hate to see anybody get hurt, but that’s one of [my] closest friends; it’s not nice at all. They both went in very hard. On the one hand you expect that they would both pop right up, and on the other hand that play had a hard edge going to it. You could even hear the way they crashed into each other and you kind of knew that that was a hard one.”
While Bloom offered his assessment of the tackle in question: “It’s just a situation where he took a bad touch that got away from him and at the beginning of the game, you want to set a tone so we both went in for the tackle. I thought we both went in clean, no one went in dirty and it’s just unfortunate that someone had to come out like that."
Johnson took to twitter on Sunday to express his appreciation for all the support he has received.
He was replaced by Ben Zemanski in the seventh minute after a lengthy delay.
Russell Teibert
Teibert started his eighth-straight match for Vancouver in their 2-1 win over Salt Lake on Saturday – it was his eighteenth start and 25th appearance of the season.
From the left-side of the midfield, Teibert was everywhere, covering tons of ground as he both pressed up in attack – taking two long-range cracks at goal, each sailing wide – and doing well to track the movements of Javier Morales, once forcing him to check back under pressure, leading to a weak shot from Kyle Beckerman.
His passing was very good, misplacing just five of some sixty attempts, but he was unable to collect a poor pass from Andy O’Brien that led to a dangerous turnover in midfield that required a save from David Ousted.
The Niagara Falls, Ontario-native would see a yellow card in the 63rd minute for hauling down Joao Plata in transition – it was his fourth booking of the season and the third of five fouls he committed on the night.
Aside from the actual play, Teibert showed a good deal of leadership. It was he who retrieved the ball from the back of the Vancouver net when Salt Lake took the lead in the 57th minute – they would equalize five minutes later. And it was he who stepped in to separate Nicolas Mezquida and Kekuta Manneh as the two exchanged words over a missing pass deep in the match.
He spoke at length post-match about the game: “It’s a step in the right direction. We can be content with the performance. We’ve got four games left, four games to make the playoffs but right now I think we can be happy.”
On finally winning having not entered half-time with a lead: “We won now, so we can put that in the past, that’s history. Going forward there’s no looking back anymore. There’s no looking back at records that might be negative like that one. I think it’s about being positive and looking forward to the next game, and trying to win the next game and being positive about everything; having belief in each other and belief in this team and belief that we can win it at home and win on the road. As you can see it tonight the fans really push us on. And maybe some people are doubting us, but this locker room believes, our fans believe, and our organization believes that we can win.”
And on watching the Toronto-Portland match, Johnson’s injury and whether the loss of the Timbers’ Captain will affect Vancouver’s playoff chances: “I think a couple of guys were watching the match and following it. It may have been in the back of our minds but we really didn’t discuss it. We knew we had a big chance and we took that chance. And that’s what great teams do. That’s what good teams do and that’s what teams that will make the playoffs do.”
“I had seen what had happened. And you know, God bless him. You never want to see that happen and I feel for him. So I’m definitely going to send him a message later on tonight. And I just hope for a speedy recovery for him.”
“I don’t really want to speak about that. It’s an injury, it’s an injury you don’t really want to see happen to anybody, especially a friend. And I feel for Will and again I hope he has a speedy recovery.”
He handled that last question with particular maturity.
Jonathan Osorio
Osorio made his second-straight start for Toronto in their epic 3-2 come from behind victory over Portland on Saturday – it was his twentieth start and 23rd appearance of the season.
Playing as the more advanced of the central midfield pair with Michael Bradley, Osorio was central to a lot of Toronto’s positive forward work, taking one crack at goal from distance when space opened up for him – it curled wide - and swinging the ball wide to help find space from which TFC could attack – finding Dominic Oduro on the right on one play that led to Portland centre-back nearly putting the ball in his own net and then finding Dan Lovitz on the left to set up a Gilberto look.
His passing in the final third left a little to be desired, completing less than half of his attempts, but he did play a key role in Toronto’s equalizing goal, s
Still working his way back from that hamstring injury, the Toronto, Ontario-native would make way for Kyle Bekker in the 75th minute with TFC searching for the winner.
Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé
Gagnon-Lapare made a third-consecutive start for Montreal in their 2-0 loss away to Columbus on Saturday – it was his fourth league appearance of the season, all but one coming in the last three weeks.
Stationed once more out-of-position, tasked with a left-back’s role, Gagnon-Lapare had a bit of a tough outing against a quick and troublesome Crew.
Inside of two minutes he was beat by the
He would again be caught out by a Finlay run, this time with a ball to the inside that required intervention from the Montreal keeper and when he did return to staying compact, he was exploited wide once more when Hector Jimenez found space to send in a dangerous cross.
Gagnon-Lapare was pulled all over the place by a rampant Columbus attack – the Crew move the ball well when on song and are very good at using width as a weapon. Whenever the rookie tried to press, the Crew would have an outlet, such as when Gagnon-Lapare stepped in to Finlay, only for Federico Higuain to slip in behind him.
Despite those struggles, he would collect three interceptions, three recoveries, one clearance and a tackle. His only foul of the match would prove costly…
The night was made even worse in the 57th minute when he was controversially whistled for a penalty kick, getting tangled with Finlay as the pair ran into the Montreal box. Gagnon-Lapare did indeed put an arm on the Columbus runner, but whether it was enough to cause the tumble is a matter for debate.
He was not best pleased with the decision, protesting vehemently and seeing a yellow card for his troubles – it was his second booking of the season.
Higuain would convert the look and Gagnon-Lapare would be replaced by Marco Di Vaio in the 61st minute, as the Impact looked for a way back into the match.
Montreal Coach, Frank Klopas, himself not pleased with the call – Klopas was sent to the stands for the close of the match – praised the youngster: “I think the kid has done well. I still have a lot of confidence in him. I know it wasn’t going to be with Finlay’s pace but I have all the confidence in him to put him back there. I think he has had two very good performances. Young players are going to have ups and downs and we have to show him confidence and I believe in him.”
Gagnon-Lapare himself assessed the performance honestly: “I think we got to be a bit more compact defensively, try to push the other team wider. I think that cost us the first goal, so we will have to work a bit defensively.”
And commented on the penalty call, “I didn’t have a chance to see the replay yet… those things happen fast in a game. They had more speed on a few occasions, but we came back in the second half with more energy. I still have a lot to learn in that position. They were attacking my side with two players, which was tougher to manage tonight.”
That said, he still had a sense of humour about it, noting on his role in the penalty kick: “Maybe I wasn't subtle enough.”
Tesho Akindele
Akindele began Dallas’ Wednesday night match against Seattle on the bench, coming on in the 54th minute for Jair Benitez with Dallas holding a 1-0 lead – it was his 22nd appearance of the season and fifth from the bench.
The Calgary, Alberta-native ranged all over the pitch in his forty minutes, variously popping up deep on the left in his own half near the right corner flag in attack – he goes in search of those spaces and is more than willing to get back and contribute defensively.
Seven minutes after coming on, he made an excellent diagonal run to get away from Seattle right-back DeAndre Yedlin, starting wide on the left before darting centrally, but he could not reach the through-ball from Blas Perez. He pulled off the same move eleven minutes later, this time receiving the ball to break in from the right this time, but Yedlin recovered and forced him well, eventually conceding a corner. Akindele was very much on his own in attack on that play, no other Dallas player was in the area, so a corner wasn’t a bad result.
Akindele would factor in on Dallas’ third goal of the night, securing the 3-1 win in the 88th minute. Perez would get on the end of a Michel corner kick, but not until after the Canadian’s
Maxim Tissot
Tissot would make his first start in exactly two months in Montreal’s loss at Columbus – it was his sixth start and seventeenth appearance of the season.
Like Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé he would be caught out by the early Crew move, allowing Ethan Finlay to drift off him, exposing a gap between himself and his left-back leading to the opening goal.
Playing on the left-side of the midfield, Tissot hugged the touchline as the Impact looked to stretch the field of play. The Gatineau, Quebec-native was lively, but was a little isolated out on his flank in attack; defensively, with Columbus regularly looking to exploit that side, Tissot had his hands full with Hector Jimenez rampaging forward while Finlay kept Gagnon-Lapare on his toes, and, to make matters worse, Federico Higuain regularly drifted there as well.
He did manage at least one promising move forward, receiving a pass from Dilly Duka, running square across the top of the area before feeding a return ball down the side of the box that led to a dangerous ball into the goalmouth that bounced off a pair of defenders, falling beyond the reach of a lurking Jack McInerney.
Tissot was caught by Finlay with a late challenge in the 67th minute, drawing a yellow card.
Issey Nakajima-Farran
Nakajima-Farran made a third-consecutive substitute’s appearance for Montreal on Saturday it Columbus, replacing Andres Romero in the 82nd minute – it was his tenth appearance for the club, six of which have come in reserve.
With the Impact trailing by two goals, Issey sought a way to help them back into the match, which he nearly accomplished second after coming on, laying off a ball to Marco Di Vaio at the top of the area, leading to a handball shout that was not forthcoming.
Montreal would get their desired penalty in the 91st minute, when the Calgary, Alberta-native was upended by Columbus defender Tyson Wahl, but Di Vaio would see his spot kick denied by Steve Clark in goal.
Kyle Bekker
Bekker began TFC’s win on the bench, coming on to replace Jonathan Osorio in the 75th minute with Toronto in search of the full points – it was his fifteenth appearance of the season, six of which have come from the bench.
Taking up a central position, his passing and positioning was excellent, misplacing just one of twelve attempts. The Oakville, Ontario-native picked out Dwayne De Rosario in space at the back-post with a lovely cross just four minutes after coming on, but De Rosario could not keep his shot on target.
His reading of the game has always been an asset, making two interceptions in the closing minutes to help see out the result.
Dwayne De Rosario
De Rosario entered TFC’s match on Saturday in the 69th minute, replacing a tiring Daniel Lovitz on the left side of midfield – it was his third-straight substitute’s appearance and his fifteenth of the season, all but four of which have come from the bench.
Spurring the crowd with Toronto having drawn one goal back, a minute after his introduction Toronto would equalize through Nick Hagglund and De Rosario would have a glorious chance to play the hero when a Kyle Bekker cross picked him out in space at the back-post.
Unfortunately, having brought down the delivery, the Scarborough, Ontario-native could not bend his right-footer from a tight angle around Donovan Ricketts, instead sending it sailing high and wide.
The Rest
Doneil Henry, Ashtone Morgan, Kofi Opare, Sam Adekugbe, and Maxime Crepeau were unused substitutes on the bench for their respective sides.
All video and quotes courtesy of MLSsoccer.com
Each week James takes a look at the contributions of Canadians in the league and the league as a whole.
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