Vancouver Whitecaps and Philadelphia Union fought out a goalless encounter at PPL Park this afternoon, in their only meeting of the season.
Going in to the game most of the attention focussed on the returning Sebastien Le Toux, as the home side looked to avoid beginning their season with four straight losses and the Whitecaps hoped to build on their unbeaten start and keep their fourth consecutive clean sheet.
Having made only one change to the starting line up in the first three games of the season, Martin Rennie was forced into making changes for today's game, with both Eric Hassli and Camilo Sanvezzo failing to shake off knocks in time.
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Camilo made the trip but couldn't get through yesterday's training session, whilst Hassli stayed in Vancouver. Their omissions meant the return to the team of both John Thorrington and Atiba Harris, coming in fresh from their own injuries to make their first MLS appearances of the season.
The third change for Vancouver saw ex Philly favourite Jordan Harvey start at left back for the injured Alain Rochat.
Philadelphia sprang a surprise of their own, opting to go with rookie Chandler Hoffman up front instead of Congolese international Danny Mwanga.
With all eyes on Sebastien Le Toux, the Frenchman seemed keen to impress from the off and was just unable to get on the end of a long ball from John Thorrington in the third minute.
The Union had the first real chance to open the scoring, eight minutes in.
Thorrington had given away a free kick wide right and although the initial danger was headed clear, the ball came out to Gabriel Farfan, whose delightful lob over the Caps defence left Carlos Valdes one on one with Joe Cannon on the edge of the six yard box.
The Philly captain sent the ball across the goal instead of taking a shot and Vancouver's own captain, Jay DeMerit, was on hand to knock it out for a corner. If Valdes had got the ball on target, the home side would probably have been looking at a 1-0 lead.
With 15 minutes gone, Atiba Harris picked up a misplaced Union header in his own half and ran at the Philly defence, before playing in Le Toux. The Frenchman was denied a fairytale return by Zac MacMath, who did well to rush out of his goal and dispossess the striker, as he looked to round the underfire keeper.
Both sides were enjoying possession but not seeing any penetration at the back. The telling final ball was missing and too many passes were going astray for both teams.
A looping ball from Harris played Le Toux in again in the 27th minute, but as two defenders closed him down, the vital final ball was just ahead of the charging Harris and MacMath collected.
Philadelphia immediately went up the field and Lionard Pajoy pounced on a slack Thorrington pass and evaded a sliding Martin Bonjour tackle to fire narrowly past the left post.
The game was starting to finally flow and Matt Watson came close in the 29th minute when he got on the end of a bouncing ball on the left sideline, cut inside and bent his effort narrowly left.
With five minutes of the half remaining, it was Cannon's turn to be on his toes, and he was quick to come out to first block, and then smother, a Farfan ball into the box before Pajoy could get on the end of it.
That was the last real action of the half and neither side would have been particularly happy or unhappy with how things had gone so far. It was the tight, scrappy game many had expected.
Philadelphia tried to liven things up by bringing on Michael Farfan at the break and they came out quickly to start the second half, almost taking the lead two minutes in when Valdes got onto the end of a Keon Daniel corner to the back post, but his close range shot bounced off the ground and then the post, allowing the Caps defence to clear.
It was poor marking at the corner and Vancouver's clean sheet record was certainly being put to the test.
And they were tested again two minutes later when Gabriel Gomez crossed deep into the box to an unmarked Brian Carroll, but his weak shot was easily stopped on the goal-line by Cannon.
Vancouver's best form of defence was clearly going to be to attack and they responded with a nice passing move from the back, which saw Harris narrowly fail to get on the end of a perfect cross into the box from Y-P Lee in the 51st minute.
Philadelphia continued to push and Daniel forced a good save from Cannon with a strike from the edge of the box.
'Man of the Match' Lee was proving to be Vancouver's best attacking threat and he sent another great cross into Harris midway through the second half, but the St Kitts striker was sandwiched between MacMath and Danny Califf and the danger was cleared by the Union defence, with both the keeper and Harris left needing treatment.
The Caps defence again had to be alert as the game entered the final twenty minutes. Daniel tried to dance his way towards goal, but a robust shoulder charge from Jordan Harvey, allowed Cannon the chance to smother the loose ball.
As the teams exchanged half chances, Vancouver had their best chance of the match so far with eight minutes remaining.
Davide Chiumiento's delightful chipped pass, saw Le Toux stay onside and leave two Union defenders in his wake, before firing high over MacMath and the bar with the goal gaping. He should have done better and he knew it.
With two minutes remaining, Cannon bravely punched away a Gomez free kick from the right, as two Union players pressured.
Neither side could find the breakthrough in the closing moments and the final whistle saw the Caps leave Philadelphia still unbeaten and the Union still winless. I know which side will be the happier.
Not the best, nor the worst, scoreless game you'll ever see and if the Caps can ever get some clinical finishing clicking, just watch us go!
The Caps now head to San Jose next weekend, looking to try and break the MLS record for the longest start to a season without conceding a goal. If they can hang on until the 62nd minute at Buck Shaw Stadium next Saturday, then they take that record from the 2007 New York Red Bulls.
Nothing major in the grand scheme of things, but from Vancouver's point of view, it shows the steps forward that this team is taking under Martin Rennie.
What a difference a year makes. Or should that be, what a difference a decent coach makes?
FINAL SCORE : Philadelphia Union 0 - 0 Vancouver Whitecaps
ATT : 17,189
PHILADELPHIA : Zac MacMath; Sheanon Williams, Danny Califf, Carlos Valdes, Porfirio Lopez (Michael Farfan 46); Brian Carroll, Gabriel Gomez, Keon Daniel (Danny Mwanga 86), Gabriel Farfan; Lionard Pajoy, Chandler Hoffman (Jack McInerney 51) [subs Not Used: Chase Harrison, Chris Albright, Amobi Okugo, Josue Martinez]
VANCOUVER : Joe Cannon; Young-Pyo Lee, Martin Bonjour, Jay DeMerit, Jordan Harvey; John Thorrington (Gershon Koffie 59), Jun Marques Davidson, Davide Chiumiento, Matt Watson; Sebastien Le Toux, Atiba Harris (Long Tan 70) [subs Not Used: Brad Knighton, Greg Klazura, Carlyle Mitchell, Floyd Franks, Omar Salgado]
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