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    The Eddies scored two goals in the first 20 minutes, and held on throughout the game, despite significant possession by the Fury. Edmonton scored its first goal in the 8th minute when it overloaded its left flank, leaving their talisman and winger Lance Laing with all sorts of time to pick out a low cross to ST Chad Burt to slot it home. The goal was as much of a defensive failure from Ottawa as it was a good play from Edmonton, as Ottawa’s right flank was over-numbered with winger Philippe Davies and captain Richie Ryan providing not enough support for RB Ryan Richter, while CB Omar Jarun was not fast enough in trying to block the incoming cross.
    Edmonton scored its second goal on a terrible goalkeeping blunder from Romuald Peiser, who has been a bright light for the club through the Fall Season. His initial movement out of the goal-line left him in no position to come back when an in-swinging left-footed corner from Laing curled perfectly into the net, with CM Nicki Paterson valiantly attempting to head the ball away.
    Ottawa pushed for a goal from some nicely taken free kicks from Ryan and Paterson, while Jarun had a great opportunity in the 2nd half, but the Eddies held on for a professional win, as the contrasting fortunes of the two clubs in the Fall Season was put out on full display at TD Place on Saturday. Manager Marc Dos Santos could not hide his disgust at the Fury’s 1st-half display, labelling it a disgrace, and the Fury players will have to come out stronger for another big home match next week, when it hosts its expansion cousins Indy Eleven for the home finale of 2014.
    Starting Lineup
    LB O’Brian Woodbine has been a pleasant inclusion in the roster and was handed another start after a good performance vs. New York last week. CB Omar Jarun also was given another start after a full-hearted performance while performing his vice-captain duties with the absence of Ryan last week, as the back four remained identical to the match vs. the Cosmos.
    Paterson made a surprise start over CM Sinisa Ubiparipovic, with the surprise being less at the inclusion of Paterson than seeing Ubiparipovic on the bench, as he has been a main-stay in the starting XI. Up top, the injury and suspension of Oliver and Tom Heinemann meant that P.R. Mayard and Vini Dantas got the starts, next to Davies.
    Next Match Preview
    The Fury play their final home game next Sunday, welcoming their Class of 2014 expansion cousins Indy Eleven at 3:00pm EDT (Rogers TV, NASLLive.com). Indy is finishing off the season on great form, with a 2-0 home win over Minnesota followed by a gutsy 1-0 home win over San Antonio, as they knocked off the top two clubs in the NASL in back-to-back weeks.
    Ottawa has had the better of Indy in their two match-ups this season, as the Fury have visited Indianapolis on two separate occasions and coming up with two big away victories. Their 2-4 away win in the Spring Season was followed up by a 1-2 away win in August in torrential conditions, as Ubiparipovic slotted in the dagger in the 86th minute to give Ottawa the precious away victory, while Peiser had a fantastic game in net.
    Indy is ahead of Ottawa in the Fall Season table, but looking at the overall season, Ottawa leads Indy by 3 points, with its 26 to Indy’s 23 points. Indy lines up in a 4-4-2 formation, so Ottawa’s two centre-backs will have their work cut out for them. While CM Kleberson leads Indy with 8 league goals, he has actually only played 15 minutes in the two recent home wins. Ottawa will have to be wary of Indy’s hot form and their newfound confidence.
    Lineups and Stats
    Ottawa (4-3-3) – Peiser; Woodbine, Trafford, Jarun, Richter; Paterson, Ryan ©, Donatelli; Mayard, Dantas, Davies
    Edmonton (4-4-2) – Smits; Moses, Roberts, Watson ©, Navarro; Laing, Jones, Hlavaty (Raudales 8), James; Burt (Edward 70′), Ameobi (Nonni 77′)
    Ottawa Subs – Haworth (Davies 35′), Ubiparipovic (Paterson 57′), Soria (Jarun 81′)
    Ottawa Goals: None
    Edmonton Goals: Burt (9′), Laing (21′)
    Ottawa Injuries and Suspensions and Absences: F Oliver (out, facial injury), F Tom Heinemann (1-game suspension)
    Ottawa NASL Overall Record: 8th; 7-5-13; 26 points
    Edmonton NASL Overall Record: 5th; 9-7-11; 34 points
    You can follow Namu Yoon on Twitter at @BBSC_SeoulBro, and his blog on Ottawa Fury FC at OFFCReview.wordpress.com, and at @OFFCReview.
    James Grossi
    With goals few and far between pickings were slim, but the top three go to Montreal’s
    – the dance was unnecessary however; DC’s after a turnover, and Chicago’s that played him in – shame that Nyarko looked to have suffered another bad injury shortly thereafter.On to the results:
    Results in Brief

    The round began on Thursday night with a fitting match-up to herald the coming playoffs and the last home match for Dominic Kinnear in his tenure with Houston. In his nine years with the club, Kinnear led his side to four Cup Finals, winning two, both against New England in 2006 and 2007. Last Wednesday it was made official that Kinnear would be leaving the club, returning to his old stomping grounds in San Jose as the Earthquakes look to turn the page and harken back to their past as they open their new stadium.
    The Dynamo were eliminated last week for the first time since 2010 and just the second time ever under Kinnear, but the Revolution were very much still in the mix, in possession of second place in the East, tied with Sporting KC.
    A close fought opening frame – most notable for a wild Luis Garrido elbow that caught Lee Nguyen in the throat and will no doubt get some attention from the DisCo – gave way to a Dynamo opener in the 37th minute when Garrido’s long ball forward allowed Omar Cummings a shot from the right-side of the area. His attempt was parried by Revs keeper, Bobby Shuttleworth, but the rebound fell to Giles Barnes, arriving perfectly late to the top of the area to hit a low right-footer across to the far-side of goal.
    New England’s misfortune continued at the start of the second half, when Jermaine Taylor caught Andrew Farrell with a biting challenge on the ankle that forced the standout sophomore defender out of the match.
    Their luck would turn with the addition of Jermaine Jones in the 63rd minute, as two minutes after his introduction Jones would hit a nice ball down the left for Kevin Alston, who picked out Nguyen with a pull-back to the top of the box having driven deep to the end-line past a napping Andrew Driver. Nguyen stepped around a desperate lunge from Taylor to hit a right-footer to the top right-corner of the Houston goal.
    New England would find their second with time ticking down, waiting until the 87th minute to ensure the points were theirs. A Kelyn Rowe free-kick from the right began a spell of pressure, the ball eventually falling to Jones on the left. His cross was deflected, falling to Charlie Davies at the right-post, who put an effort on goal that Kofi Sarkodie was able to clear off the line. The rebound fell to Darius Barnes in the middle, who wisely and calmly tapped a ball to Nguyen – a better finisher in a better position - to right-foot past Tyler Deric, who got a hand to it, but could not keep it out.
    Having entered the round level on points with Kansas City, the win would see New England move into sole possession of second-place. Houston meanwhile were unable to find a much-deserved win for Kinnear in his farewell match.

    Friday night saw a Portland side desperately in need of a win to stay alive – they entered the weekend trailing Vancouver by a single point in a race for that fifth spot in the West. Their path would have to go through Salt Lake, no easy task, especially considering the visitors were hoping to fend off the surging Dallas to keep hold of third place and out of the play-in round.
    As such, it was no surprise that Portland moved forward in waves, repeatedly testing Nick Rimando and the Salt Lake defenses, probing for a weakness throughout the ninety minutes. In the 18th minute, Rimando had to be alert, reading the intentions of Diego Chara to get his fingertips to a low cross across the top of the box, pushing it away from two incoming attackers on a quick break. Salt Lake had a few good looks of their own, Robbie Findley forcing Donovan Ricketts down low to his left to push a ball off the line when the Salt Lake attacker got on the end of Tony Beltran cross.
    Chances aside, there was quite a midfield battle brewing – Chara and Kyle Beckerman mixing it up in the centre of the pitch – and a flurry of yellow cards, three in three minutes, calmed a fractious battle.
    Portland’s best chance of the match would come in the 61st minute from a mad goal-mouth scramble that saw Darlington Nagbe get on the end of a Diego Valeri ball that was partially-blocked by Beltran, but his effort was saved by a miraculous sprawl from Rimando; Rodney Wallace would follow up the rebound, only for Chris Wingert to get in the way of his effort, sending it out for a corner.
    A pair of Timbers handball shouts – first on Luis Gil who cleared a Norberto Paparotto header from a corner kick off the line with his thigh and then on Nat Borchers, who appeared to catch a bouncing ball inadvertently with his elbow in stoppage-time – but no call was forthcoming and the match would end scoreless.
    The point each would not be sufficient for either club come round’s end, as Portland would remain a point behind Vancouver and Salt Lake would drop into fourth with Dallas moving into third, ahead by a single point as well.

    Saturday kicked off with appetizing match as Eastern Canadian foes Toronto and Montreal met in Toronto, where TFC hoped to keep their slim playoff aspirations alive.
    Their hopes received a boost in the 20th minute when Warren Creavalle scored the game’s opening goal, keeping his eye on a deflected Luke Moore effort that fell out of the sky, right-footing a first-time finish into the bottom right-corner of the goal past Evan Bush after Matteo Ferrari got a piece of Moore effort after Jackson’s neat back-heel played up to the striker.
    It was short-lived advantage however, as Patrice Bernier’s long ball sprung Andres Romero streaking up the right off the back of Mark Bloom and his cut-back found Felipe alone at the top of the box to guide a right-footer into the top right-side of the goal. The Brazilian milked his celebration, dancing in front of the addled Toronto fans.
    Montreal continued their good play into the second, nearly grabbing another goal minutes after the restart when Felipe chipped in Jack McInerney, only for his finish to clip off the top of the bar in the 53rd minute. Felipe himself would draw a good diving stop out of Joe Bendik in the 68th minute.
    Desperate, Toronto poured forward, their best chance coming on the counter in the 80th minute when Dwayne De Rosario played Gilberto up the left. The striker’s well-placed cross to the back-post was met by Dominic Oduro, but Bush was on hand for a crucial foot save.
    Two minutes later the Impact were reduced to ten men, when Heath Pearce was harshly dismissed for a lunging challenge on a streaking Oduro – it was definitely a foul, but whether the card was warranted is a matter of debate. The physical play continued with Jackson drawing a crowd when he flung himself needlessly into Eric Miller.
    The sides would exchange half chances, De Rosario lifting an effort over the bar after Doneil Henry played him in with some silky moves down the right-side of the area and Bendik was called upon again to deny Marco Di Vaio when Bernier’s quick free-kick found Issey Nakajima-Farran who played to the Italian retiree on the right.
    Jonathan Osorio would see a red card as well, equally harsh for a swing at Felipe, who milked it, feigning injury. Bendik lifted him off the pitch and the pain magically disappeared with the diminutive Brazilian outraged at the affront – the TFC keeper would be booked as well. A spectacular collision in midfield, Hassoun Camara upending De Rosario, who then executed a back-heeled can-opener on the defender that saw them each booked – it was Camara’s second yellow of the match.
    With the draw, Toronto were officially (and mercifully) eliminated, much to the pleasure of the visiting Montreal fans who took up a good chunk of one stand.

    The rancourous enthusiasm of the opening match was counterbalanced by a sleeper of a game in Colorado, where the eliminated Rapids looked to end their long winless run against playoff-bound Dallas.
    A quiet first-half gave way to a muted second, the game’s only goal coming from the penalty spot in the 56th minute after Chris Klute was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box. Dillon Powers weak clearance bounced up on his teammate, catching an elbow/forearm as the player turned and the official pointed to the spot. Blas Perez stepped up, calmly slotting a right-footer past Clint Irwin, freezing the keeper with a slight-stutter before dispatching low to the left-side of goal.
    Jared Watts was booked for complaining at the award, a senseless remonstration that would led to his dismissal in the 79th minute when he hauled down Andres Escobar who had the beating of him, reducing Colorado to ten men.
    With the win Dallas leapt over Salt Lake into third spot in the West, ahead by a single point and ending a four-match winless streak on the road; Colorado fell to a third-straight loss, extending their club-record winless run to thirteen matches.

    Saturday’s action returned to the East for two more matches, the first of which saw eliminated Philadelphia continue their domination of Kansas City.
    Having had their hearts broken with last weekend’s come-from-behind win by Columbus – conceding three goals in short order having battle to a two-goal lead – Philadelphia came out intent on restoring their damaged pride, taking the game to playoff-bound Kansas City.
    The Union dominated large swathes of the match, testing fit-again keeper, Eric Kronberg, before taking the lead in the final minute of the first half when Vincent Nogueira cut in from the right, playing up to Brian Brown, who in turn played wide right to Cristian Maidana. Maidana returned a pass into the middle, finding Brown making a run off the shoulder of Aurelien Collin and in front of Seth Sinovic to right-foot the opener to the right-side of the goal.
    Sporting would equalize nine minutes after the restart from the penalty spot after Zac MacMath upended Soony Saad in the box. The play began with Lawrence Olum forcing a turnover in midfield and Paulo Nagamura playing Saad in down the left-side of the area, prompting MacMath to take a chance with an attempted-sliding collection.
    Dom Dwyer stepped to the spot, wiping the slate clean after last weekend’s missed penalty, with a calm, well-taken left-footer placed low to the keeper’s right after sending MacMath guessing the other way.
    But the Union’s desire to end the season on a high in front of their home fans would not be denied, retaking the lead in the 71st minute with Maidana again the playmaker. Danny Cruz played out wide to the right for Sheanon Williams, who slid a ball forward for Maidana down the right-side of the area, drawing three defenders towards him before cutting a ball to the near-post for Pedro Ribeiro. The rookie calmly collected with his left, settling the ball for a right-footer shot under Kronberg towards the left-side of goal.
    The win was Philadelphia’ second over Kansas City this season, having won and drawn matches in Kansas City earlier; with the loss Sporting concede second-place in the East to New England, trailing by three points, and only three points ahead of Columbus, who play on Sunday.

    Where Kansas City have dropped off their blistering place to settle back into the pack, DC have kept their slow and steady assault on the table steaming along – their win over Chicago would locked up top spot in the East for the club, ensuring them home advantage through the conference playoffs and earning them a place in the record books with the largest season-after-season turnaround, having improved by 42 points after a dismal 2013.
    United suffered a blow when it was announced that a hamstring injury would see Luis Silva miss the next four-to-six weeks – the playoffs, basically – but the form of Eddie Johnson, who scored in a second-straight match and assisted on the opener is a boon.
    DC would take the lead in the 31st minute, when Nick DeLeon and Eddie Johnson crisscrossed, the striker ranging out wide right to receiving a ball down the flank from DeLeon before hanging up a cross to the back-post where it was met by Chris Pontius to nod in his first goal of the season after a year marred by injury.
    Johnson would add the second himself in the 53rd minute, when a miscommunication and a poor-pass saw Patrick Ianni bank a ball off his teammate Chris Ritter, falling to Johnson who surged to the right, blowing past Jeff Larentowicz before blasting a right-footer past Kyle Reynish, making his first start for the club in goal.
    Chicago would find some consolation with a fine goal as Patrick Nyarko played a lovely ball with the outside of his right-boot to spring Harrison Shipp in down the right-channel. The rookie reminded award-voters of his skill after a quiet few months, slotting a right-footer under Bill Hamid to the far-side of goal.
    Unfortunately for the Fire, Nyarko looked to suffer a devastating knee injury, planting his feet awkwardly before crumbling to the ground – not good for an exciting player who has struggle with misfortune for years.
    The three points put DC beyond the reach of Eastern foes, into first place on 58 points, six ahead of nearest chasers New England. For Chicago, the self-titled draw kings, the loss was just their tenth of the season.

    Saturday night would close with the back-end of that Western Conference playoff battle with Vancouver looking to reinstate some breathing room between themselves and Portland.
    Ramifications aside, the match was also notable as the last that the Earthquakes would play at quaint little Buck Shaw Stadium, their home for the past seven years, with their new ground set to open new season.
    Somewhat fittingly, the Quakes closed their tenure as it had opened, with a scoreless draw – the less said about this one the better. The only real action worthy of words was Jordan Harvey getting hit in the back by a Kekuta Manneh shot and drawing an offside flag for his troubles.
    With Dominic Kinnear’s rumoured return having come to fruition, former Canadian International Mark Watson and his assistant Nick Dasovic left the club last Wednesday, leaving interim Ian Russell to see out the season.
    He was unable to overturn a fourteen-match winless run, establishing a new club record, but is unbeaten in his tenure, which is something. With the draw the Whitecaps extend their unbeaten run to four matches and reinstate the one point advantage over the Timbers in their playoff race with one match remaining for each club.

    Sunday kicked off back in the East with New York and Columbus, sitting fourth and fifth respectively, battling over playoff positions.
    New York booked their spot last weekend, while Columbus were ensured of theirs without taking to the pitch when Toronto failed to collect the win over Montreal the previous day. This would be a match for momentum and perhaps a preview the play-in round in the East, should standings remain the same come the end of the season.
    Columbus flew out of the gates where New York stumbled, dominating from the off and taking the lead after seventeen minutes when Wil Trapp dispossessed Thierry Henry and played Ethan Finlay down the right. Finlay played a ball to the near-post, where Aaron Schoenfeld failed to connect on his first attempt, while his second kicked up off the desperate lunging block of Jamison Olave to loop past a helpless Luis Robles.
    The Crew would add a second in the 34th minute, Finlay this time the scorer – grabbing a goal in a fourth-straight match. The in-form wide attacker was played down the right-side of the box by a wonderful Tony Tchani ball, placed inside the full-back, Roy Miller, before squeezing a right-footer from a tight angle under Robles.
    Red Bull would awaken from their slumber – if only for a moment – in the 58th minute when Lloyd Sam drew one back for the home side, moving in from the right, beating Bernardo Anor to cut in and smash a right-footer past Steve Clark in the Crew goal.
    But Schoenfeld ensured the points for Columbus in the 80th minute with his second of the match, found by a Finlay pull-back at the near-post after Federico Higuain had played Finlay down the right-side of the area. Schoenfeld would not require a second look this time, right-footing his effort firmly to the right-side of goal.
    The loss snapped New York’s long unbeaten run at home – nine matches – and dropped them below Columbus into fifth spot; the Crew meanwhile surged into fourth with a fourth win in their last five, level on points with Kansas City and hoping to avoid a rematch with New York in that one-game knockout play-in.

    The round concluded with the marquee matchup between Supporters’ Shield contenders Los Angeles and Seattle. Tied on sixty points, the trophy would be determined appropriately, as a scheduling quirk has the two meeting on consecutive weekends in the final two rounds of the season.
    The Sounders entered with the advantage, holding the first tie-breaker (wins), needing just to come out equal after the two games had been played, whereas the Galaxy needed to take the series.
    The match would also be Landon Donovan’s final regular season home game, a momentous occasion for the forward, his club, and the league. And it was nearly Donovan who kick-started the scoring in the 10th minute, getting on the end of a Dan Gargan cross at the back-post, guiding his tight-angled header off the face of the bar.
    As it was, the Galaxy would have to wait until first-half stoppage-time to take the lead, capitalizing on a momentary lapse of concentration from the Sounders. A harmless Gargan ball into the area was missed by DeAndre Yedlin’s header, his leap put-off Brad Evans, who could only nod his clearance towards the top of the box, where Baggio Husidic collected and drove a low left-footer to the bottom right-corner of the goal, beating Stefan Frei and opening the scoring seconds before the half-time whistle was set to be blown.
    The home side would add a second five minutes after the restart, when a Donovan corner kick skipped to the top of the box and was laid back by AJ DeLaGarza to Marcelo Sarvas on the right of the arc to sweetly hit a right-footer that appeared to take a touch off the attempted block off Obafemi Martins finding the left-side of the goal.
    The contentious first half had seen five bookings and Seattle’s frustration was palpable when Martins earned the sixth in the 57th minute for steamrollering over DeLaGarza. That passion sparked something in the disgruntled Sounders, who would draw one back in the 69th minute when Yedlin was finally allowed a foraging run up the right.
    The young full-back was able to squeeze a cross between Donovan and Robbie Rogers, picking out Martins in the middle, who got a slight touch on the service, helping it on towards the back-post where Clint Dempsey was attacking unmarked, driving a left-footed smash into the back of the net.
    Three minutes later the Sounders had equalized, Dempsey and Martins again involved, as the former played to the latter, who in turn found Lamar Neagle streaking down the right-flank to slip a right-footer through the legs of Jaime Penedo.
    Neither side would find the winner, the match ending all-square; the main implication for next weekend will be the suspension of Omar Gonzalez, who was dismissed in the 88th minute for a needless lunging challenge on Gonzalo Pineda, collecting his second booking of the match.
    Should a winner emerge in Seattle, they will take top spot, but a draw favours the Sounders.
    CanCon
    The extended review of the Canadian performances will be posted tomorrow (Tuesday) early afternoon, looking over a moderately busy week. Nine players saw the pitch this week – four as starters and five from the bench – those most did so in the Canadian derby between Toronto and Montreal.
    Most noteworthy was a fine performance from Patrice Bernier, who showed why he is still one of the best passers around, while rumours swirl around the future of Doneil Henry.
    Overheard
    Quality soundbytes were few and far between this round, though the farewells did bring out some interesting ones:
    Brad Davis commented on Dominic Kinnear’s departure: “It’s been hard. It’s not an easy thing for players to go through. It definitely, mentally, was difficult. Dom’s choice to leave I think everybody understands it and supports him in that, but the unknown as an athlete and what happens to us is a big question. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t difficult and weighed on us a little bit. We still went out to do our business to the best of our ability but it was something that was there.” He continued, “As players we would’ve loved to send Dom out on a win. Dom’s shoes aren’t necessarily going to be filled. He’s always going to have, there’s always going to be part for what he’s done.”
    San Jose’s Jason Hernandez reflected on his time with the Earthquakes at Buck Shaw: “It seems like full circle. I’m very honored to be part of this club for that long. I’m very honored to leave this stadium with some good memories and also to leave in the company of some really great and historic players for this club. [i’m] ready for the next chapter.”
    Sam Cronin would have appreciated a more appropriate ending however: “I was thinking it would be fitting if we would have scored late there to win, and have a little bit of a walk-off like we’ve done so many times. But it wasn’t to be tonight.”
    All the talk in LA revolved around the match, rather than Landon Donovan’s goodbye – there will be further nights for that in the post-season. Bruce Arena took the disappointment of giving up the two-goal lead rationally: “To say that you have to go into the last game and win a game to get the Supporters' Shield, that's fair enough; who can argue that?”
    See It Live
    The DOM-inator two-stick in Houston was pretty rad and Joe Bendik lifting Felipe off the pitch was hilarious (well worth the yellow card), but clips of Quincy Amarikwa’s crazy pass and Kekuta Manneh hitting Jordan Harvey with a shot, in an offside position no less, were not available.
    The pregame Landon Donovan ceremony can be seen here, but more explosive was the heated exchange of words between Obafemi Martins and Clint Dempsey when they got their wires crossed – they would get over it and combine for both Seattle goals.
    Some of the top saves: Nick Rimando’s save on Darlington Nagbe will win Save of the Week – but was not available; Evan Bush on Dominic Oduro, Eric Kronberg on Cristian Maidana, and Jaime Penedo on Obafemi Martins paled in comparison.
    Controversy
    A few moments of controversy:
    Portland claimed two handballs – the first on Luis Gil was not, but Nat Borchers elbow, while it would have been harsh, has been called – clip unavailable; watch for Simon Borg’s Instant Replay later today.
    Both straight reds in Toronto were unnecessary, with the referee taking it upon himself to kill the match before things got overheated. Heath Pearce was rightfully angered by his dismissal, a foul, maybe a yellow, but red? And the replay of Jonathan Osorio’s is inadequate to judge, but only Felipe seemed to think it was a foul, the rest of the Impact playing on without even a shout.
    What about Chris Klute’s handball that led to Dallas’ winner – a little harsh, no?
    And finally, New York’s Roy Miller may be hearing from the Disciplinary Committee for his hand to the face of Ethan Finlay – again no clip at the moment.
    Upcoming Fixtures
    The final round of the MLS season is here (finally, phew), but not until the CONCACAF Champions League wraps up its Group Stage. On Wednesday DC heads to Panamanian side Tauro FC, while Portland travel to Honduras for a visit to CD Olimpia. New York and Montreal meet on Wednesday and Kansas City head to Costa Rica to take on Saprissa.
    Wednesday: Salt Lake-Chivas. Friday: Chicago-Houston. Saturday: Seattle-Los Angeles; Montreal-DC; New England-Toronto; Dallas-Portland; Vancouver-Colorado. Sunday: Columbus-Philadelphia; Chivas-San Jose; Kansas City-New York.
    The Playoffs begin next week with the Play-in matches, pitting the fourth and fifth seeds against one another on Wednesday and Thursday.
    All video & quotes courtesy of MLSsoccer.com
    Each week James takes a look at the league as a whole.
    You can follow James on twitter @grawsee or read more of his writing at Partially Obstructed View
    Michael Mccoll
    Carl Robinson went with just the one change from the team that beat Seattle last Friday, an enforced one with Johnny Leveron coming back in for the suspended Kendall Waston.
    The Caps went for it from the off and won an early corner in the opening 70 seconds, when an Erik Hurtado shot was deflected for a corner. The kept the pressure on for the next spell and their best opportunity came from another corner, in the 12th minute, which Jon Busch spilled but there were no takes.
    Khari Stephenson showed some nice control for San Jose before firing a shot off from the edge of the box in the 16th minute, but Ousted comfortably held on.
    But then the action died. There was some huff, but very little puff from either side.
    San Jose set the visitor’s pulses racing though in the final minute of the half when David Ousted was forced to produce a point blank save to keep out Chris Wondolowski from ten yards and with that the teams went in level at the half.
    There wasn’t a lot to write home about to start the second half either, so just past the hour mark the Whitecaps decided the freshen things up with the introduction of first Gershon Koffie and then Darren Mattocks.
    Sandwiched inbetween the two substitutions, Yannick Djalo curled one over for the Earthquakes from the edge of the box.
    The Whitecaps had their best chance of the game in the 75th minute when Kekuta Manneh twisted and turned in the box, shook of Pablo Pintos but Busch was out quick for a huge point blank block of his fierce shot.
    San Jose responded with a ball across goal that had no Quake takers but ex-Earthquake Steven Beitashour came dangerously close to turning it into his own net.
    Both sides had half chances to close out the match but ultimately, the last ever MLS game at Buck Shaw Stadium ended a goalless and pretty lifeless affair.
    The end result though is another crucial point for the Whitecaps and one that might seal their playoff place. They’ll take that over playing exciting football right now I’m sure.
    FINAL SCORE: San Jose Earthquakes 0 – 0 Vancouver Whitecaps
    ATT:10,525 (sell out)
    SAN JOSE: Jon Busch; Jordan Stewart, Jason Hernandez, Victor Bernardez, Pablo Pintos (Shaun Francis 78); Atiba Harris, Shea Salinas (Matias Perez Garcia 71), Sam Cronin, Khari Stephenson; Chris Wondolowski, Yannick Djalo [subs Not Used: Bryan Meredith, Tommy Thompson, Ty Harden, J.J. Koval, Cordell Cato]
    VANCOUVER: David Ousted; Steven Beitashour, Andy O’Brien, Johnny Leveron, Jordan Harvey; Matias Laba (Gershon Koffie 61), Russell Teibert, Mauro Rosales, Pedro Morales (Sebastian Fernandez 71), Kekuta Manneh; Erik Hurtado (Darren Mattocks 64) [subs Not Used: Paolo Tornaghi, Sam Adekugbe, Mehdi Ballouchy, Nicolas Mezquida]
    REACTION:
    VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
    CARL ROBINSON
    Happy with the point?
    “Yeah I am, because we’re in control now of what we do. I said all along, if we can concentrate on our business and take care of our business then we’ll get to where we want to get to. So we go into the last game of the season knowing that we need to get a result to take us to where we want to get to, so pleased.”
    Thoughts on the overall performance:
    “The connection of the passes, we were a little bit off. We started the game very well in the first 15 minutes and I thought, here we go. As I said all week, it was a trap game for us. They’ve got nothing to lose, they’ve replaced their manager, players are fighting for contracts. We had everything to lose because of the 32 games we’ve had prior to this. For me, this is as important a result as it was last Friday in Seattle, because it’s a crucial point for us, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
    Was there a lack of intensity in their play?
    “I thought we started the game very well. As I said, it’s a difficult game. It’s never easy to play at San Jose. They’ll be the first to admit that they probably haven’t performed to the levels they should have, but they’ve got good players. Wondo’s scored 14 odd goals or whatever and he’s a danger. Maybe I wish we had someone who scored 14 odd goals then we might not be talking about this position that we’re in.”
    How important was it getting Gershon Koffie minutes?
    “Very important. I had always planned to do it. The reason I did it for Mati Laba was that he started to get tired. He’s on four yellow cards and when he gets tired, all players make wrong decisions. He was sliding in a little bit, he missed two tackles when he usually makes them, so I made the decision because I need him next week.
    “It was great to get Gershon. It’s a win-win really. We get a valuable point and we get Gershon some valuable minutes.”
    On the play of Pedro Morales and subbing him out:
    “I thought Pedro started brightly. The start of the second half I thought he was okay, and I’m being kind there. Again, he’s on four yellow cards and I don’t want him to get booked. So I bring off my two Designated Players to protect them for next week as well. The guys that came in did fantastically well obviously to get a result.”
    On the performance of the returning Johnny Leveron:
    “It’s hard for certain players to come in at certain times. Johnny’s been out of the team for four games, obviously with Kendall coming in. He took time to settle in, but we kept a clean sheet. We’ll analyse it individually, we’ll go through the video with them but I can’t be too critical because we kept a clean sheet.
    On the lack of goalscoring chances created:
    I’m disappointed because we didn’t create enough chances higher up Darren had a half chance, Scooter maybe should have scored as well, but that’s credit to Jon Busch as well who made a fantastic save. I’m sure they’re disappointed, we’re disappointed, but I’m sure we’ll move on.”
    Did he watch the Portland-RSL game and will he be sending Nick Rimando a gift?
    “I did [watch it]. He’s a very good goalkeeper isn’t he?! It was a very intense game. Two excellent teams. You’re talking about Salt Lake, who have been in the playoffs seven consecutive years I believe, and Portland who won the Western Conference last year with the same group of players. So two fantastic teams. I watched it because I love watching football. I can’t control what goes on there. I can control what goes on with this group.”
    Was he more nervous watch that game on Friday or the Caps on Saturday?
    “Last night probably because it does have a bearing on it, but I’ve said all along, if we control out destiny going into the last game of the season, I’ll be happy and at the moment, we do. We’ll get back to work on Tuesday because it’s a big week for the football club. There’ll be a lot of work done this week in preparation for this game.”
    How important is it to get attack scoring against Colorado next week?
    “It would be nice to win 1-0 [as well]. It’s a very difficult game again where they’ve got nothing to lose and we’ve got everything to lose. They’ve beaten us twice this year and that’s why I’m not taking it lightly. It’s a very difficult game for us. I’ll make sure the guys know it. We’ll be organised, we’ll be disciplined, and we’ll go out to try and win the game because I think we’ll need to as I think Portland will go out and get a result in Dallas. Then it’s down to us to win the game. There will be a lot of work done this week in preparation for Saturday’s game.”
    On clinching the Champions League spot:
    “[it’s] very important to the club. We’ve never done it, so it was important that we tried to do that and we have done that. More games. Scheduling will be a nightmare for us no doubt. Four Champions League games minimum, then we’re talking about the Canadian Championship games as well. So there’s definitely going to be six, maybe eight games.
    “It’s great for my young players. I want to develop more young players. I’ve got a talented young group and it’ll give them opportunities. It’s great for the club and the organisation to be in the Champions League because only three of four teams get involved in that each year and we’re delighted for next year.”
    DAVID OUSTED
    On the performance against San Jose:
    “Definitely wasn’t pretty, but sometimes you won’t play pretty and you’ll get the point and that was important today. We needed that point. We can go home and win and control our own destiny. Not a pretty game, not that great to watch I imagine, but so important that we got the point.
    On next week’s game against Colorado:
    “Win it and we’re in it. As simple as that. It’s nice to control our own fate that way. We’re looking forward to that game.”
    On attack not producing:
    “Definitely we want to produce more and we want to produce chances and goals, but when we’re not doing that I’m happy to see defensively that we’re really sound and doing good work. I know the guys up front will produce, they have done. I think you’ll see more chances, and hopefully more goals on Saturday.”
    Any concerns over his first half injury?
    “The last 15 minutes of the second half my hip locked up on me. He hit me pretty hard. I told the bench to keep Paolo ready. Luckily they worked on me at half time and I felt better and I could continue, but there was a little bit where I wasn’t sure if I should be in there. I want to be 100%, I want to help the team when I’m in there and if I don’t feel 100% I won’t go in there.
    “They worked on me and I told Marius to keep Paolo ready. He did tremendously. He warmed up the entire half to keep ready, which is testament to the pro he is. I felt better coming out for the half and after ten minutes I felt that I could finish the game.”
    After 12th clean sheet, how important was it for him to put up those numbers?
    “It’s always important to keep clean sheets, it’s always important to put up good numbers, and I’m happy with where I am. I said at the start of the season I felt really ready for it. I was in good shape, I worked really hard in the offseason coming in and I wanted to prove myself and I think I did. I’m not done yet and we’re not done yet as a team, so hopefully we can continue.”
    RUSSELL TEIBERT
    On the next week’s massive game against Colorado:
    “We said that we had five cup finals to play in and we’ve won three and tied one. So we’ve doing okay in the cup finals so far. This is the last cup final that we’re going to have to play in before the playoffs and we’re going to approach it like we have the past four games. I think if we stick to our gameplan and everybody focuses on their tasks, individually and collectively, I know we can get a result.
    “The confidence and belief is there. We come out of here with a very professional performance, take a point and we set ourselves up nicely for next week’s match.”
    On finally making the Champions League after all the previous heartbreak he’s been a part of::
    “It’s massive for us, not only for myself, but for the club and the entire organisation. From top to bottom everybody is thrilled and they’re going to be excited for next season. Those Champions League games are new for us and it’s going to be very exciting to play against all those different teams. It’s going to be a challenge and we’ve been taking on challenges all year long and we’ll have to do that next year as well.”
    What does playing in those kinds of games, atmospheres and different countries do for a young player?
    “I think it helps you grow for sure. I don’t want to look too much into it right now because we’ve got job to do and I want to keep my mind focussed and on task and that’s making the playoffs this season and that’s taking care of business next weekend.”
    ERIK HURTADO
    Was it a happy homecoming for the former Santa Clara Bronco?
    “Yeah. Love playing here, I played here for three and a half years. It was a happy homecoming.”
    On controlling own destiny:
    “That’s all we want is to be in control. It’s a massive point. I’m proud of the guys to hold it out and get that point. Obviously we were trying to get the win, but a point gets us above that red line. We are in control and we’re ready for that game on Saturday.”
    On the overall game and performance
    “It was difficult out there. We battled, we fought, we ran, we played soccer at times.”
    On playing one final game at Buck Shaw:
    “It means a lot. I was praying to god thank you for giving me one last chance to play here. It was great. I have so many memories on this field and I’m going to keep them with me forever.”
    On clinching Champions League spot and what it would mean to him to play in it:
    “It’s awesome. It’s a great opportunity and when the time comes we can talk about it, but right now we’ve got to focus on our game next week.”
    SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
    IAN RUSSELL
    On how it felt being the club’s interim head coach:
    "It felt really nice. I was happy with the player’s energy tonight. I thought they brought it tonight. I was very happy with the effort.”
    On defensive effort:
    "The whole back four was fabulous. It started with the first line and the midfield five putting pressure on Vancouver. They made it easier for the back four and I think the defence really stood out tonight. They made it very, very difficult for Vancouver.”
    JASON HERNANDEZ
    On Buck Shaw Finale draw:
    “I think over the last seven years we’ve played here, more often than not it’s been a tough place for opponents to win. Defensively, we’ve been solid, although we’ve let up a little this year. For our fans to come out to Buck Shaw [stadium] one last time and see us pitch another shut out make our unit proud. We’re going to miss this place. Our fans brought a ton of energy week-in and week-out, through our ups and downs. We have a lot of respect for these fans and we’re hoping they follow us into the new stadium, on to bigger and better things. We appreciate them very much.”
    On 2014 play:
    “I was third on the depth chart at the beginning of the season, but I always made sure I’d stay ready. I’ve played a lot of games for this club, I’ve seen a lot of things here and I knew I would be called to contribute. I was able to get over my injury and personal matters off the field to establish a role with this team. I gave all I could every game and personally it’s a disappointment the way our season has ended, but I am proud of the way I played and I hope the fans are too.”
    JON BUSCH
    On match:
    “The boys played fantastic in front of me tonight. I really didn’t have much to see from a shot perspective, which is a testament to them. We all knew that after a disappointing season we wanted to end our run at Buck Shaw with a victory against a playoff calibre team. Although we didn’t get that goal, our work ethic was unbelievable tonight and it’s fitting we end our time here with another strong defensive showing.”
    On favourite Buck Shaw memories:
    “I’ve been here for five years now so this has become home. It’s going to be sad to leave here, but at the same time it’s going to be that much more exciting to be in our new stadium. We’ve gone through a lot on this field. From the Supporter’s Shield and Goonies magic, to me being stepped on and having part of my ear torn, there was no shortage of memories made here. My favourite moments from Buck Shaw are my first start here and Ramiro Corrales being carried off of the field last season. For all of Ramiro’s service to this community, he was deservedly honoured by the team and fans. That shows this club is more than a team, it’s a family and we can’t wait to make new memories at our new home.”
    Michael Mccoll
    Carl Robinson has already indicated that the Honduran will get the start for Waston, ahead of other choices Christian Dean and Carlyle Mitchell. It's a bit of a downgrade on Waston in terms of aerial presence, but then who wouldn't be?! Leveron though bring a calm, steady and usually reliable mindset to the backline. Just what the Caps could be needing in what could be a night of hot heads in Northern California.
    "He's ready, he's fine," Robinson said of Leveron's return to the team. "Johnny lost his place, not because he was playing poorly but because he went away with the national team, so sometimes you get penalised for being a top quality player unfortunately.
    "He was playing probably as well as he's played in the last two years. Unfortunately he picked up an injury, he's come back and Andy and Kendall have done great.
    "Kendall being suspended is a big loss for us. Johnny is a different kind of player but I've got no worries about him stepping in. He'll be confident as always, he'll defend right and hopefully he can fit in with the team we're going to pick."
    There is no doubting that Vancouver will miss Waston's presence, as I covered over on MLSsoccer.com earlier in the week, but having an international player like Leveron at your disposal to replace him, is a nice luxury for Robinson to have at this key stage of the season.
    It may not feel like it, but Leveron has made only three fewer appearances (15 in total) for the Whitecaps this season than he did last year. Robinson had been keen to keep as settled a side as possible down the stretch. Sometimes his hand is forced, but having that settled backline the last couple of games has been important. Leveron now has to come in, readjust and settle back into the swing of things pretty quickly, with a lot on the line.
    The man that will be directly behind him, goalkeeper David Ousted, is unconcerned about the enforced change.
    "The continuity's nice and you get to learn the people in there," Ousted admitted. "But Johnny's a good player and Johnny's shown before that he can go in and fill that spot. Like I said last week with Seba out, where's there's people out, others need to step up and Johnny has to step up now and we know he can do that."
    His centre half partner Andy O'Brien has been getting used to partner swapping these past two seasons, but O'Brien and Leveron have played multiple games together now and know each other's game inside out.
    "I played with Johnny before so hopefully we can get back in the groove we had prior to Kendall coming in," O'Brien told reporters at training. "That's what we've done well in recent weeks, the relationships across the whole team. Not only in the 11 that have started but the whole 18 squad and the guys that are not involved.
    They may have played together before, but defenders get a familiarity built up with each other. How they're going to play and move and pass. O'Brien has had that with Waston over the last eight games, so what kind of extra challenge does having to adjust to a new partner pose for the veteran?
    "It is different," O'Brien admitted to AFTN. "They're very different players in terms of their style. As I've said before, it sometimes isn't who you're playing with but who you're playing against and what do you need to do to counteract what they're doing.
    "I think there's a real team ethic that even if you're marking but you can intercept the ball, don't think you're happy enough just doing your job. Guys are filling in and there's been times where I've been playing a little bit higher than I normally would do, but guys are filling in. Whether it be a full back or whether it be Rusty, and likewise if strikers drop short the pocket in front of us is getting well protected in terms of the defensive screening.
    "Sometimes you have to do other people's jobs and I think a lot of the guys are doing that and when they are doing that, other lads are filling in, so it's working well."
    Exactly how much the Caps will be tested by the Quakes tonight is the unknown commodity. San Jose are a bit of a shambles of a team at the moment. A 13 game winless streak, two goals in their last four games, they've just sacked their manager and looked woefully out of form the last couple of matches.
    Can they find the scoresheet no matter who is playing in the defence? Can the Caps? 0-0 would do the job!
    There's always a danger going in to a game like this that last weeks heroics against Seattle could lead to a flatter performance against a weaker team. We have seen it all season from Vancouver. Having the pressure of knowing that they have to come away with at least a point is another factor as well.
    Robinson knows the pitfalls and admits to a little apprehension.
    "For me, this is a more difficult game than against Seattle away," Robinson told reporters. "At Seattle, no-one expects anything from us, obviously everybody expects us to go there [to San Jose] and get a result. But all the information we're getting out of San Jose is that they've nothing to lose. They're fighting for contracts those players. Dominic's going to be going in for next season, so they're going to be wanting to prove a point to him."
    The Whitecaps themselves would no doubt settle for a point tonight. But if they can get all three, then next week is set to be a barnstorming season finale.
    To get there, the defence will likely be the key. So keep calm and Leveron.
    Michael Crampton
    Probability. That’s what it’s really about though. And the truth is that it’s damn hard to estimate. Much, much harder than you’d think. Even smart people, who are supposed to have expertise in a subject, get it shockingly wrong depending on how you ask them. The human brain just has too many biases – mental shortcuts it likes to take – to make accurate perception of unlikely events something that anyone is innately good at. Read Daniel Kahneman’s seminal book Thinking, Fast and Slow if you’re interested or don’t believe me.
    But one thing humans are blessed with is the faculty of reason. It’s harder, it generally takes longer, and it’s rarely fun, but it is something we can get better at. When we need to, we can slow down and actually reason out an answer. This is particularly effective if you’ve learned tools that you can apply your reason to.
    So, is that statement I started with actually reasonable? Just how much of a miracle will it be if Toronto FC, a team that makes losing special, actually pulls off a great escape from further infamy?
    Well, the first thing to remember is that a (non-knockout) soccer game has three, rather than two, potential outcomes: win, loss, or draw. It seems obvious, but people often forget that last one when they start an ad hoc mental estimate. Draws are important because, unlike most other major team sports, they’re really common in modern, low-scoring soccer. Keep in mind, TFC will be eliminated with the loss or draw of either of their next two games, or if Columbus win or draw either of theirs.
    So, right from the beginning, we can do a very basic calculation. How many permutations of results involving Toronto FC and the Columbus Crew exist with two rounds left in the season? That’s two games for Toronto, and two games for the Crew. Each one has three possible outcomes. TFC needs the exact correct outcome in every single one, or they’ll miss the playoffs for the eighth consecutive year.
    (1/3)*(1/3)*(1/3)*(1/3) = 1 / (3^4) = 1/81
    There are 81 possible results. TFC makes the playoffs in one of them. 1:81 . That’s it. That “we win two, they lose two” scenario your brain has such an easy time conjuring? There are 80 other possible outcomes you haven’t taken the time to consider. Converted into a percentage it’s about 1.23%. Assume an equal chance of a win, loss, or draw in each match, and TFC has a 1.23% chance of making the playoffs.
    “But Mike, there isn’t an equal chance of a win, a draw, or a loss in each game! Teams don’t draw one-third of the time!”
    I hear you, I hear you! And you’re absolutely right. So let’s refine our analysis a little, no?
    I’ve taken the time to pull some data from MLS’s official site. To date, in 2014, at the time of writing before Portland and RSL kickoff, there have been 84 draws in 305 MLS games this season. That’s about 27.5%. So less than one-third, but actually not all that far off.
    How does that number change our analysis? Well the formula is ((1-0.275)*5)^4 . In words: (The chance of there not being a draw times the chance the team TFC needs to win does) repeated four times. Remember, any draw, in any of the four relevant matches, eliminates TFC. AND Toronto needs the right team to win in each match. It’s not encouraging, but it’s better than before, and works out to a 1.7% chance of making the playoffs. Hey, that’s almost 1 in 50! Roll on, TFC!
    Now, the chance of drawing the above is premised on is for the entire league. Maybe we should just look at TFC and Columbus? It turns out that the chance of a draw in one of their games this season is 26.6%. So really, not all that different than the league stat. For all of Chicago’s attempts to redefine what we think possible in terms of drawing, it really hasn’t shifted the overall likelihood very much. That points to a stability in all these numbers that we should store in the back of our head. And it does put TFC’s chances of making the playoffs all the way up to 1.8% using our last formula! Baby steps.
    “But Mike, there’s not a 50/50 chance that either team will win, even in a non-draw… Surely TFC has a better than 50% of beating the Impact! And home teams always win more than away teams.”
    Okay, you got me again. I’m going to have to go a step further. Fortunately, the fine folks at ESPNFC.com, when they’re not not correcting silly Jermain Defoe blog pieces, present MLS’s table split for home-and-away. That makes it possible to calculate both team-specific and overall numbers for the chance of: a home win, a home draw, a home loss, an away win, an away draw, and an away loss. As Ben Knight used to write, “onward!”
    Overall, in MLS in 2014, the home team wins 48.2% of the time. They lose 24.3 % of the time. As above, games end in draws 27.5% of the time. I’ll let you figure out what that means for away teams…
    Considering that, in sequence, we need 1 home win (TFCvMTL), 1 home win (NYRvCMB), 1 away win (NERvTFC), and then another 1 away win (CMBvPHI) the math is pretty simple. It’s just 0.482 * 0.482 * 0.243 * 0.243 = 0.014 = 1.4%. Oh. Oh, that’s bad again.
    Maybe it’ll get better if we figure out the team-specific numbers?
    Here’s Columbus: home win 50%, home draw 25%, home loss 25%, away win 25%, away draw 37.5%, away loss 37.5%. Toronto FC: home win 43.8%, home draw 12.5%, home loss 43.8%, away win 25%, away draw 31.3%, away loss 43.8%. (TFC’s numbers not totalling to 1 is a rounding error. The formulas use more precise values.)
    Now, we need a TFC home win, a Crew away loss, a TFC road win, and then a Crew home loss. That’s 0.438 * 0.375 * 0.25 * 0.25 = 0.01 = 1%. That’s really bad! A 1:100 shot. Maybe we should have stopped back at the simple analysis after all! It’s worth noting that this is probably close to how sportsclubstats.com is generating their estimate as well.
    Okay, okay, okay! I can hear it already! Yes, TFC is playing Montreal. Montreal is terrible and hasn’t won a game on the road all season. Heck, they’ve barely drawn. And Columbus has to go to New York who haven’t lost at home in however many straight home games! That does count for something, but how do we model it?
    A simple way would be to look at each opponent’s relevant team-specific number and average the two values. For instance, Montreal has lost 12 of 16 away games, or 75%. TFC’s chance of a home win (0.438), times Montreal’s chance of an away loss (0.75), over two, or (0.438+0.75)/2 = 0.594 = 59.4% . Call it 60% for clarity. Maybe TFC has a chance after all?
    The Red Bulls have won 10 of 16 home games so for their match versus Columbus the calculation is (0.625+0.375)/2 = 0.5 = 50%. New England have lost 25% of their home games, the same percentage of away games that TFC have won, however, so that value doesn’t change at all. It’s the same with Philly’s away wins of 25%. That’s the same as the Crew’s home losses, so there’s no change there either.
    Plugging in the revised “crappy Montreal” and “good New York” numbers does improve TFC’s chances though. 0.60 * 0.50 * 0.25 * 0.25 = 0.019 = 1.9%!!!! There you go folks, TFC has gotten within touching distance of the 1:50 threshold!
    Now you could go even further and add a subjective component like motivation, or form, and play around with those base numbers. I’ve done it, and even using the most generous estimates possible you’ve got to really stretch credulity to get Toronto even close to a 5% chance of making the playoffs. And the reality is, that’s probably the wrong way to be estimating because the father you pull away from the underlying base rates of the entire league, the less you’re allowing for regression to the mean.
    When you get right down to it, TFC probably has somewhere between a 1:50 and a 1:100 chance of making the playoffs. That’s not nothing, but it really shows how much of a miracle it’ll be if it happens. You don’t have to stop cheering, or stop hoping – that is the big virtue of how deceptively simple “we win two, they lose two” is – but just don’t be too surprised if it doesn’t work out. I mean, it is TFC we’re talking about.
    Oh yeah, and Defoe’s “injured”, Bradley’s suspended, and the rumors are TFC is trying to add a big pile of stupid to their already existing collection. Fun times.
    Correction (14/10/18, 11:15 a.m. ET): An earlier version of this article incorrectly substituted the chance of a Columbus home win for the correct chance of a Columbus away loss in calculating the team-specific averaged base rate of Columbus not losing in New York. The correct value has now been substituted, the calculation adjusted, and subsequent paragraphs modified. It turns out that TFC has an even worse chance of making the playoffs than the original article estimated. Yippee!
    Michael Mccoll
    "The meeting we had a few weeks ago, the penny has dropped and players said their pieces," O'Brien admitted to reporters at training on Thursday. "There's been a real coming together and we want to make sure that we can keep on performing and be out there on the pitch, which is all it's about, as long as possible now.
    "Not everyone is going to be here next year. We've got a real opportunity to make a statement, to do something together. I think we're determined to continue what we've got for as long as possible. I think it is a special dressing room and it's certainly one I've enjoyed being part of this year. Long may it continue."
    It's all part of the right culture that Robinson wants to instil at the club. You'll always have pissed off players, not happy at not getting more playing time, but it's how they carry themselves with their teammates at training and behind closed doors that is the true mark of what the dressing room harmony is.
    You could kick lumps out of them (cough, Omar Salgado) or you could realise that the coach is making what he feels is the best decision for the team and you change his mind with your abilities on the training pitch.
    Of course, the big culture at the Whitecaps this season has been some Argentine, Chilean and Uruguayan Latino flair. Matias Laba is cited by many players as being the joker of the locker room, but the others aren't too far behind.
    "The South American boys that we've brought in are the life and soul of the dressing room. They keep chanting my name for some reason, I don't know why it is!", O'Brien laughed.
    "I don't know if you get a feel of it out there in training but behind closed doors they're the life and soul of the party. Even though some of them have not played as much as they would have wanted to, they're still supportive of the players.
    "And although he's not South American, Sam [Adekugbe]. I don't know if you noticed but when we scored recently the smile on his face epitomises what the team is about. He'd have liked to have played more than he has done, but he's as happy as anybody when we score and we win.
    "I think to have that in a young boy and to have that in huge amounts with the South American boys, it's infectious."
    You saw it on Monday when the players joined supporters on the bleachers during training at UBC on Monday to sing Carl Robinson 'Happy Birthday'

    That singing and chanting certainly seems to be a key part of the team camaraderie. And the whole team spirit thing is something we've talked about before.
    Russell Teibert was another player to talk about the "special" locker room atmosphere yesterday, sharing a tale of what last week's trip to Seattle was like.
    "The bus ride down to Seattle is just something I'll never forget," Teibert told reporters. "It was an unbelievable bus ride. We had guys singing. The bus ride to the game was tense and we were late for the game but the amount of team spirit we had on the bus, and everyone singing on the way to the stadium.
    "When I say we have something special in this locker room, I really mean it. Whether we're at training, whether we're off the field, guys get on really well here. Guys believe in each other and the talent speaks for itself."
    When asked what they were singing, Teibert said he has no idea. It was mostly in Spanish!
    That's infectious atmosphere O'Brien was talking about before adding that even for an older guys like himself, "stuck in his ways", it's impossible not to get swept along with it.
    So when O’Brien came over to Major League Soccer from England, did he ever think that he would get so emotionally invested in a team thousands of miles from home that he had no previous connections with?
    "No," was O'Brien's honest reply, but he went on to explain why and what's changed.
    "In 2011, these are only private thoughts, I was close to packing it in, stop playing football. It had been the best part of my life for 15, 16 years then. The opportunity I was given, firstly by Martin wanting me, it taught me that even though you can go through a rough period. if you can keep digging away, there's light at the end of the tunnel.
    "I've certainly enjoyed my time here. I think physically, I'm as fit as I've ever been. Mentally, I'm enjoying coming in to work every day and that's testament to what the club have done in terms of the players that they've brought in."
    "I've found it a real nice experience and one that I'll learn from and one that I think the European model can learn from. I know that MLS and North America aspire to be like the Premier League but I think there's a lot that could be learned from the North American model."
    O’Brien is now 35-years-old, hardly ancient, but in footballing terms, especially for a central defender, age can play a part in how much in demand you are. His Whitecaps contract runs out at the end of the year. He hopes to remain in Vancouver, but whatever happens here, he has no intentions of hanging up his boots.
    "Whether anyone wants me or not is another story," O'Brien joked. "But in terms of my desire and wish to play, yeah."
    James Grossi
    Jonathan Osorio
    Osorio started both of Toronto’s losses this week, on Wednesday 0-1 against Houston in Toronto and on Saturday 3-1 in New York – they were his 22nd and 23rd starts of the season, bringing his total appearance tally to 26.
    On Wednesday, attacking from the left-side of the midfield, Osorio tucked in-field in order to get on the ball and insert himself into the play, but also made good use of the wide spaces. He would pick out Jermain Defoe with a nice long ball, but the striker was called off-side in the first half.
    The second half saw him put in some solid work out on the touch-line, combining with Justin Morrow to work towards goal, only to be blocked off by Ricardo Clark – a foul whistle was not forthcoming. It was a ball from just such an area, though a little higher, that led to TFC’s penalty kick, Osorio finding Defoe in the middle, who helped it on to Luke Moore who was pulled down leading to a red card and spot kick, which Defoe would miss after a long delay.
    Overall his passing on the night was superb, with just six of some sixty-plus going astray.
    He took a rather vicious ball to the face on one passage that left him slight shaken for a moment, but the Toronto, Ontario-native composed himself to help his side go in search of a goal (or two) that would not come.
    On Saturday, Osorio was equally impressive in New York; going forward at least.
    Nominally on the left again, he would move further and further in-field as the game wore on, his passing again was nearly-perfect, completing all but three of roughly forty attempts.
    Osorio would get involved straight from the off, trying to race onto a through-ball down the left-channel, only for Luis Robles to beat him and make the clearance. The Canadian was further involved minutes later, on the receiving end of a crunching challenge from Richard Eckersley, who saw a yellow card for his efforts.
    His attacking instincts – or more succinctly, the lack of defensive ones - proved costly, as he
    , which was touched in by Dax McCarty – the back-breaker before half-time.His disappointment during the half-time interview was palpable – and a little depressing to be honest.
    Osorio would respond to the tough first half, offering his side a life-line by scoring ten minutes after the restart,
    after Michael Bradley had played the full-back down that side – it was his third goal of the season, his last having come ten matches ago in Columbus; happier times for TFC, no doubt.Russell Teibert
    Teibert started a tenth-straight match in Vancouver’s crucial 0-1 win in Seattle on Friday night – it was his twentieth start and 27th appearance of the season.
    Paired with Matias Laba at the base of the midfield, Teibert covered plenty of ground in a largely defensive outing, racking up seven recoveries, two clearances, and an interception. Early in the match he tracked well back to close down an Obafemi Martins run, preventing his path to goal, but allowing the Seattle attacker to spray a wide ball to the opposite flank. He was unable to stop an Osvaldo Alonso run later on, but was aided by Steven Beitashour, who cleared away the trouble.
    Despite focusing on the defensive aspects of the game – providing coverage, mopping up loose balls, and assisting in double-teams – the Niagara Falls, Ontario-native moved the ball relatively well, though many of his more adventurous passes went awry, sending a seriously over-hit ball down the right on one occasion.
    It was especially nice to see Teibert yapping at Martins when he protested a late foul call and then proceeded to get in the face of Clint Dempsey. Teibert is being groomed for a leadership role in Vancouver, something he is growing into with each match.
    The Whitecaps would seal up a second-straight Cascadia Cup, put themselves in control of the final playoff spot in the West, and all but ensure they will represent Canada in next year’s rendition of the CONCACAF Champions League. They released this nifty graphic heralding their Cascadia triumph.
    Kyle Bekker
    Bekker made his eleventh and twelfth starts of the season in Toronto’s double-game week – he has made eighteen appearances this season.
    Paired with Michael Bradley in the centre of the pitch in both matches, Bekker played, somewhat bizarrely, as the more advanced of the duo, from where he pressed very high.
    His passing was very crisp that night, with just six of thirty-odd passes incomplete, setting up looks for Bradley – a weak shot – and Jermain Defoe – with a deft touch to Luke Moore that set up Defoe’s run. The Oakville, Ontario-native had two shots himself, testing Houston keeper Tyler Deric with a low drive from range early in the second half; his later attempt was blocked before making way for Dominic Oduro in the 65th minute when Greg Vanney looked to inject more pace to help spread the match.
    On Saturday in New York, Bekker was one of the more involved players through a strong opening twenty-plus minutes until New York took the lead, somewhat against the run of play. His movement was good, covering a lot of ground, and misplacing just three of 25 or so passes.
    He would be sacrificed for Gilberto at half-time with Toronto desperate for goals.
    Tesho Akindele
    Akindele returned to the Dallas starting eleven in their win over Los Angeles on Sunday night – it was his eighteenth start and 24th appearance of the season.
    Playing up top with David Texeira, Akindele ranged all over the pitch, as is his wont, popping up to cause problems for the Galaxy defenses. His first real involvement came in the first half when he ran at left-back James Riley, beating the full-back around the outside to pull-back a feed for Texeira – the striker made of mess of the play, tripping up over his own feet and the ball to waste the chance. He later played an inviting layoff to Victor Ulloa, who shot wide.
    The Calgary, Alberta-native had one look at goal himself, collecting the ball from a Fabian Castillo touch deep in the midfield before hitting a right-footer from distance – it sailed off target.
    His willingness to assist his side defensively was admirable, collecting four interceptions and four recoveries on the night. That unending work would force a late turnover after battling to gain control, setting up a weak Adam Moffat shot.
    Kianz Froese
    Froese, who signed his homegrown contract with Vancouver in the middle of September, made his debut on Friday night in Seattle, coming on at half-time to replace the injured Kekuta Manneh.
    The 18-year old took up the left-side of the attacking midfield three and immediately put himself about. Coming on, at half-time, on the road, in front of more than sixty-thousand fans can be a daunting task, but the Cuban-born teenage did well, if was a little rambunctious, picking up a pair of fouls – both on Seattle’s Jalil Anibaba and losing out on three dribbles.
    The first came just ten minutes after his entrance, moving inside to run at the Sounders defense. Unfortunately a heavy touch – nerves and turf – saw the ball run away from him, leading to a heavy tackle that sent Anibaba flying. He would catch his target with a late challenge in the 78th minute – clearly not afraid to get involved in the physical side of the game.
    Froese showed some good speed tearing up the left to get on the end of a Pedro Morales ball, but it was hit too far and Chad Marshall was able to come over to collect.
    He was featured in a piece on MLSsoccer.com (by CSN’s own Michael McColl), where he spoke of making his debut and Carl Robinson made note of his strong outing.
    Maxim Tissot
    Tissot began Montreal’s 2-2 draw against New England on Saturday on the bench, coming on in the 65th minute for Justin Mapp – it was his eighteenth appearance of the season, all but six have come as a substitute.
    Andres Romero would swap over to Mapp’s right-side allowing Tissot to take up his preferred left, from which he got involved with little success. Montreal would relinquish their lead four minutes after his introduction and the Gatineau, Quebec-native would spend the remaining twenty-plus minutes trying to correct that setback.
    His passing suffered in an attempt to force the issue, completing just five of his fifteen attempts, but he did win a foul after a nice move up the left to combine with Marco Di Vaio, for getting shoved over by Jermaine Jones.
    Tissot even took up a bit of the set-piece responsibilities, sending in a corner kick from the right.
    His best passage saw him cut into the left-side of the area from a nice Patrice Bernier ball, working to the end-line only to see his cross cut out by a swarm of Montreal attackers.
    Patrice Bernier
    Bernier returned to the pitch after a six-match injury lay-off due to a foot problem – it was his 24th appearance of the six, but only his sixth from the bench.
    Coming on for Felipe in the 77th minute, the Brossard, Quebec-native was his usual imperious self on the ball, completing all but one of his passes – including laying that ball in for Tissot after a bursting, slashing run up the pitch.
    Dwayne De Rosario
    De Rosario was a substitute in both of Toronto’s losses this round, coming on for Jackson in the 80th minute on Wednesday and Warren Creavalle in the 83rd on Saturday – De Rosario has made appearance from the bench in TFC’s last six matches, bring his season total up to eighteen, only four of which have been starts.
    Against his former club on Wednesday, the Scarborough, Ontario-native was very lively with his running, making on darting run to the right that dragged a pair of defenders with him, allowing Luke Moore to find Jermain Defoe in acres of space on the left – his effort sailed harmlessly over the bar.
    Three minutes after coming on in New York, Toronto would be reduced to ten men, limiting his ability to make an impact.
    The Rest
    Kofi Opare, Sam Adekugbe, Maxime Crepeau, and Wandrille Lefevre were unused substitutes on the bench for their respective sides.
    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
    Michael Mccoll
    If the Timbers get chopped down at home to RSL, then a victory at Buck Shaw Stadium, where they haven’t won in four attempts, would see the Whitecaps in the playoffs with a game to spare. A game where they can either try and keep momentum going against a defensively woeful Colorado side, maybe even grabbing some confidence boosting goals in the process, or rest up some key or close to suspension players like Pedro Morales.
    A Portland point against Salt Lake, would see them jump ahead of Vancouver on the tiebreakers, but the ‘Caps would then just need at least one point of their own against the Earthquakes to claim it back a day later.
    A Portland win (we don’t really even want to consider that option), would mean Vancouver falling back out of the playoff places and sitting two points behind the Timbers. But fear not, because matching the Timbers’ result, no matter what, see them back above the red line. Not getting anything out of this scenario is simply unthinkable.
    For all that Vancouver want their focus to be solely about themselves, Portland have perhaps an equal part to play in the whole race to the playoffs.
    "I said we couldn't look at Portland too much, we're little bit forced to look at them now," goalkeeper David Ousted told us at training this week. "It's about us finishing the job.
    "Win, draw or lose for Portland, we still need to go and get hopefully two wins to push our way in there. If we get two wins, it doesn't matter what Portland does. If we can focus on that, it's going to be easier for us. If they lose points, then good for us and we don't have to maybe make a win too, but still, we need to push our way in there and not hope that Portland loses."
    Carl Robinson has preached for weeks that all that matters is taking care of their own business and it doesn't matter what anybody else does if the Caps can't do their own job.
    He has shifted from that stand with two games to go, but him and his squad will most certainly be watching Friday's Portland result with keen interest.
    "I think my players will generally watch [Portland's] results," Robinson told us. "I watched them on Wednesday night [against San Jose]. We beat Dallas 2-0 and suddenly we were in a decent position and then they followed up with a result and then they followed up again with another result and then apparently the pressure was on us.
    "I just said to the guys, 'listen, it doesn't matter what anybody else does, we've just got to concentrate on ourselves' and we did on Friday [against Seattle] and we won the game. It changes every week and every game that goes on, a different result changes the dynamic of the playoff race.
    "If we win two games we're in. I'm trying to make it as simple as possible for them [the players]. Obviously I'll look at their result Friday and watch their game, because I love watching games of football, and if they win, then it puts a little bit of pressure on us. If they don't win it puts pressure on us because we need to get our result."
    James Grossi
    Seeing as the review is so late (apologies) and the next round begins tonight (Thursday), a slightly altered format will be engaged, foregoing the usual depth of coverage for a more cursory glance at the actual games, while focusing on where the league sits heading into the penultimate weekend.
    Before the results, the goals of the round:
    Five candidates this week, beginning with
    to crack open Sporting KC’s Friday night match against Chicago. may have taken a slight deflection, but that hardly subtracts from its quality. with his first MLS goal, scything through the Colorado defenses to equalize for Chivas. on the counter was delicious, while against Dallas was equally worthy of praise; honourable mentions for Marco Di Vaio’s clinical brace.Be sure to cast your ballot for Goal of the Week. On to the results:
    Midweek Results in a Sentence (or Two)

    Houston put a serious dent in Toronto’s playoff aspirations on Wednesday night, while ensuring they stayed viable, clinging to a first-half Giles Barnes strike despite going down to ten men in the 55th minute when AJ Cochran hauled down Luke Moore in the box, earning himself a red card and gifting TFC a penalty kick.
    Jermain Defoe stepped to the spot, only for Dynamo keeper Tyler Deric to dive to his right, denying the want-away striker. Deric would stand on his head for the remaining forty minute, repeatedly preventing TFC from finding their much-needed equalizer.

    Having met just five days earlier, the series moved to Portland for a return meeting midweek, resulting in Portland momentarily overtaking Vancouver in the battle for the final spot in the West.
    Goals from Rodney Wallace in the first half and a second-half brace courtesy of Diego Valeri – the first from the penalty spot and the second on the counter - would see out the 3-0 win for the home side.
    San Jose, who were already eliminated, saw their winless streak extended to twelve matches.
    Results in Brief

    Friday night opened in Kansas City, where Sporting finally returned to winning ways, snapping a surprising three-game losing streak at home with a 2-0 victory over Chicago.
    Dom Dwyer missed a chance to open the scoring in the twelfth minute from the penalty spot after Benny Feilhaber was tripped up by Lovel Palmer, skying his effort over the bar. With Chicago the recognized draw kings, the match looked destined to end scoreless – in part thanks to some fine keeping from Andy Gruenebaum, only for Graham Zusi to break the deadlock in the 80th minute with a long-range effort.
    Dwyer would make amends for his earlier miss in stoppage-time, getting on the end of a Zusi cross in the 92nd minute to power his header past Sean Johnson in the Chicago goal.
    With the win, Kansas City clinched a playoff berth for the fourth-straight season, while Chicago inch closer to a bizarre stat, having collected more points from draws than wins – a measure that will hold true should they fail to win either of their final two matches.

    The action swapped over to the West Coast for the final match in this season’s rendition of the Cascadia Cup. Not only were the points on the line, but the winner would take home the much-loved three team trophy.
    It was a match decided by a moment of controversy, as Kekuta Manneh scored the only goal of Vancouver’s 0-1 win in the 45th minute. Off the pitch, receiving treatment for a knock that would force him off at half-time, Manneh was allowed to re-enter the pitch as Vancouver broke on the counter, finding himself completing alone on the left to steal in on goal, slipping a finish under Stefan Frei.
    The debatable nature of whether an unfair advantage was allowed the Whitecaps when Manneh was waived on only served to ratchet even higher the emotions, as a contentious match turned absolutely fractious – highly entertaining.
    The loss dented Seattle’s Supporters’ Shield aspirations, opening the door for Los Angeles to take the initiative on Sunday, while Vancouver retook fifth in the West from Portland and secured a second-consecutive Cascadia Cup.

    Saturday’s play kicked off in Montreal with the Impact welcoming the Revolution. Having announced he would retire at the end of the season, Marco Di Vaio signed off in style, scoring a predatory brace.
    His first came in the twelfth minute, ghosting off the back-shoulder of AJ Soares to get on the end of a Calum Mallace long-ball, blasting his finish past Bobby Shuttleworth. Kelyn Rowe would respond for New England four minutes later, breaking into the right-side of the area on a Lee Nguyen ball before beating Evan Bush.
    Di Vaio would exhibit his quality again in the 39th minute, fooling one of the league’s premier defenders by letting the ball run across him, before beating Shuttleworth with a love drive.
    Nguyen would equalize in the 69th minute with a visionary passage of his own, scooping a finish from the top of the box; it took a slight deflection en route, looping into the Montreal net.
    The draw was enough for New England to clinch a second-consecutive post-season under Jay Heaps, who celebrated his 100th game as head coach.

    Aside from the changing leaves and the turning of the calendar page, a sure indication that the MLS season is coming to an end is the 300th match of the season, a milestone that was reached when Philadelphia hosted Columbus on Saturday.
    Neither side could find the go-ahead through the first hour; the Union had largely dominated the first half, but were forced to wait until the 68th minute for Danny Cruz to put them ahead with a blast after Amobi Okugo nodded down a Fabinho cross.
    Desperate for the win, needing to keep themselves alive, Philadelphia would add a second in the 75th minute through Andrew Wenger, touching in from a yard out after Vincent Nogueira’s shot rebounded off the post.
    But it all went sour thereafter with Columbus scoring twice within a minute and thrice in a four-minute span to overturn the result. Ethan Finlay notched the first in the 78th minute with a near-post finish and Justin Meram added the second in the 79th pouncing on a loose ball before slicing into the area, while Jairo Arrieta rounded out the result in the 82nd minute.
    Philadelphia would be eliminated by the result in New York, while Columbus’ post-season prospects were assisted by the Red Bulls victory.

    Desperate for points, Toronto started well, only to crumble under the pessimism, allowing three New York goals in the first half. Bradley Wright-Phillips got the first in the 26th minute – his league-leading 25th of the season, Ruben Bover added the second nine minutes later, and nine minutes after that, Dax McCarty turned in a back-breaker before half-time.
    TFC would pull one back in the 55th minute through Jonathan Osorio, but it was too little too late and a 86th minute red card to Nick Hagglund and a late booking to Michael Bradley would ensure Toronto would be short-handed next week against Montreal.
    With the dominant 3-1 win, New York clinched their playoff spot – for a fourth-straight season no less, while Toronto’s hopes would now rely on winning their last two matches and Columbus losing both of theirs; nearly impossible margins.

    Saturday night continued in the West, where Salt Lake too sealed up a playoff spot – their seventh-straight post-season appearance – winning 2-0 over San Jose in a match that was shorn of its international talent.
    As many as six potential starters were away, while Javier Morales was suspended due to yellow card accumulation, requiring other pieces to step up with the goals for the home side. Ned Grabavoy would get the first, placing a low shot into the bottom corner in the 24th minute, while Sebastian Velasquez added the second just two minutes later, arriving unmarked at the edge of the six to get on the end of a corner kick.
    With playoffs secured, first-year Salt Lake manager, Jeff Cassar had a promise to keep; San Jose on the other hand equaled a club record with a thirteenth-straight winless match as rumours swirl as to who will lead the team into next’s year stadium opening rebirth.

    Saturday night would come to an end in Los Angeles, as Chivas and Colorado played out a dead-rubber with both sides already eliminated.
    The Rapids would take the lead in the 30th minute, when John Neeskens snuck a shot past Dan Kennedy, beating the keeper to the short-side from a tight angle, only for Chivas, playing for pride with the club all but disbanded, registering two in the second half.
    Rookie Kristopher Tyrpak grabbed the first – his first in MLS – on a fine solo effort, collecting the ball, turning towards goal before sliding through some ghastly Colorado defending to beat Clint Irwin in the 65th minute. Felix Borja would notch the second in the 85th minute, getting on the end of an Akira Kaji cross, sneaking his header past the Rapids keeper.
    The 2-1 result would see Chivas win a second-consecutive match – just their second winning streak of the season – as they look to go out on a high, while Colorado extend their club-record winless streak to twelve matches.

    Sunday began in a stutter, as Houston’s must-win game against DC was halted with lightning strikes in the area. The action would restart over an hour later and it was the visitors who took the lead through Taylor Kemp, scoring his first MLS goal when a swat from keeper Tyler Deric fell to him to the top of the box.
    Houston thought they had earned a chance to level before half-time when the assistant referee appeared to call a penalty for a handball from Steve Birnbaum, only for the decision to be overturned after consultation. Fabian Espindola would take advantage of that respite and Houston pressing forward in the 64th, breaking in clear on goal from his own half to chip a deft finish over Deric for DC’s second.
    The Dynamo would find a life-line – and a penalty kick – in the 83rd minute when Ricardo Clark was dragged down by Sean Franklin; Giles Barnes expertly dispatched the kick past Bill Hamid. But Houston’s hopes were dashed four minutes later when Eddie Johnson scored a third for DC, again catching the Dynamo forward.
    With the 1-3 win, DC’s first ever in Houston, United all but assured they would clinch the top spot in the East, now six points ahead of Kansas City with two games left. The loss doomed Houston to just their second ever playoff-less season and their first since 2010. Hardly the end to Dominic Kinnear’s impressive tenure, should rumours of his return to San Jose next season, carry water.

    The round concluded on Sunday night with an entertaining encounter between two playoff bound sides. LA had shored up their spot and had a chance to open up a gap on Seattle after the Sounders lost on Friday; Dallas’ fate would have to wait until after the match.
    Their hopes took a dent in the 22nd minute, when Stefan Ishizaki opened the scoring with a lovely chipped finish, but David Texeira responded seven minutes after the restart, slipped in by Andres Escobar to finish past Jaime Penedo.
    The match looked to end in a draw, only for Fabian Castillo to get on the end of the rebound after Escobar tested Penedo with a tight-angled drive, the rebound falling to him alone in the heart of the box for a free header into the open goal.
    The 2-1 win would clinch Dallas’ spot in the playoffs, while ensuring that the two meetings between LA and Seattle over the final two rounds of the season would begin on level ground to determine who would win the Supporters’ Shield.
    CanCon
    The extended review of the Canadian performances will have to wait until tomorrow (again, apologies for the delay).
    Strong outings from Russell Teibert, Tesho Akindele, and TFC duo of Jonathan Osorio and Kyle Bekker will be covered, as will the return from injury of Patrice Bernier and the league debut of a new face, Vancouver’s Kianz Froese.
    Overheard
    Montreal head coach Frank Klopas commented on the two-goal performance from his retiring talisman: “I told him we wanted to sign him for three more years. It was great to see him tonight. We talked about the last two games and finishing strong and getting a win for Marco. It was great seeing him play tonight; it reminded me of Marco Di Vaio 20 years ago.”
    Lee Nguyen had a laugh about his deflected finish: “Of course I meant to chip him. No, I took a shot and it took a blessed little deflection. We were just happy to get the second goal there and hold on to that tie.
    Philadelphia were devastated by the loss, with Danny Cruz summing it up well: “We’re professional athletes; It’s what we live for. We live to win championships, to win games. We don’t take this lightly. I don’t. I feel awful. I feel like we let down the club. I feel like we let down the fans, more importantly.”
    While Maurice Edu was left with only clichés and disappointment: “That’s soccer sometimes. They always say 2-0 is like the worst lead to have. Again, it’s disappointing because I thought we put a lot of effort and a lot of energy into that game. To get two goals and to have it taken away just like that in a matter of minutes is really disappointing. What a rough way to lose a game.”
    “I don’t know man, we’ll see” – Thierry Henry, when asked if this would be his final season in MLS.
    See It Live
    Seattle had a pretty awesome tifo for the conclusion of the Cascadia Cup; Clint Dempsey’s sarcastic applause earned him a yellow card. Good fun was had by all – except for maybe the official in question - when Kosuke Kimura hit the assistant referee when his clearance
    A selection of the best saves: Tyler Deric’s goal-keeping performance in Toronto was stunning; Jon Busch on Fanendo Adi; Andy Gruenebaum on Matt Watson. Cast your vote for the week’s best.
    Jeff Cassar was true to his word, shaving his head with Salt Lake making the post-season.
    Controversy
    Foremost in the controversy were two procedural issues:
    The non-call when DaMarcus Beasley hopped on the back of Jackson was one thing, but the entire fiasco of the AJ Cochran red card, lengthy protest, and Jermain Defoe miss was an entirely different matter. Expect a mass confrontation citation from the league, while Toronto can complain about the amount of time it took for the referee to regain control and allow the penalty to be taken. Kudos to Houston, who alertly got in a substitute, eating up even more time before Defoe made his attempt.
    Seattle were disappointed by the nature of
    . According to Brad Evans, “I'm expecting for the referee not to give them an advantage. When we're pushing forward, there's always the risk of a counter-attack. So the referee has to wait until the play's done or they are off on a counter-attack without him getting that unfair advantage from stepping off the field and then coming back on in basically just a perfect onside position there.” Jalil Anibaba agreed, “We were all under the impression that Manneh was still off the field. The next thing we knew, he has the ball and he’s running in on goal.”Penalties too were an issue, Philadelphia thought that Vincent Nogueira should have earned one when he was blocked off by Columbus’ Bernardo Anor; then there were a pair of decisions on Sunday in Houston: the retracted call and the dicey awarding on Sean Franklin who tumbled to the ground with Ricardo Clark.
    And there was some indication that
    .Both red cards this weekend were somewhat debatable: Toronto’s Nick Hagglund and Dallas’ Moises Hernandez – did either deserve reprieve?
    Playoffs
    The composition of the ten teams who will take part in the 2014 MLS Cup playoffs was all but determined, as eight of the ten have been identified, though of course there is plenty of room for the jockeying of position.
    The fifth spot in the East is virtually Columbus’, needing a single point in their last two or a TFC slip up to secure their place. The West is a little more open, with Vancouver one point ahead of Portland with two games left to play: the Whitecaps head to San Jose before hosting Colorado, while Portland host Salt Lake and travel to Dallas.
    Seattle and Los Angeles, who meet twice over the final two weeks, enter their home and away series level on 60 points to determine who will take the Supporters’ Shield – they play in LA on Sunday and then in Seattle six days later. Seattle holds the tie-breaker, having won more games, meaning LA must come out the better over the two meetings to hoist the trophy. DC, the East’s only challenger, sit five points behind.
    Upcoming Fixtures
    Thursday: Houston-New England. Friday: Portland-Salt Lake. Saturday: Toronto-Montreal; Colorado-Dallas; Philadelphia-Kansas City; DC-Chicago; San Jose-Vancouver. Sunday: New York-Columbus; Los Angeles-Seattle.
    As a means of making amends for the tardiness, as well as satisfying any knowledge of a greater depth of coverage for this round, a rare look behind the scenes at this monster review. The forty-plus page document compiled each round in order to ensure the best coverage of MLS action in one place can be accessed here (dropbox, in PDF form).
    All video & quotes courtesy of MLSsoccer.com
    Each week James takes a look at the league as a whole.
    You can follow James on twitter @grawsee or read more of his writing at Partially Obstructed View
    Grant
    What struck me while compiling this list was how little the Colombian media seemed to have to say directly about Canada. It's natural for journalists to focus on the national team they cover, but beyond a few throwaway lines in each report there wasn't much commentary or analysis of the opposition in either the friendly against Canada or the earlier one against El Salvador. In any event, the praise was light, and my Spanish isn't good enough to detect whether any of it was backhanded.
    If you're looking for a tweet-lengthy takeaway: Canada can't really play the going forward bit of soccer that well, but is good at defence and better than El Salvador. So if we're being honest, they arrived in 90 minutes at roughly the same conclusion those who follow the team closely have known all along.
    El Tiempo, probably the most well-known newspaper in the country.
    One of the paper's writers noted that "....the 5-4-1 used by Canada allowed tactics to mask its lack of technical ability."
    "[Colombia] had control of the ball, but far from Canada's goal, a team that literally piled itself up 40 meters from its end to prevent soccer being played. And thus Colombia had barely any options on goal from open play in the first 45 minutes."
    El Spectador
    "Canada was a rival more demanding than El Salvador. A team that was well-ordered at the back and that provided few spaces to Colombia while demanding the maximum from its attackers."
    El Deportivo
    "The Reds displayed a grand defensive posture, and provided a very important challenge to the Colombian attack, which included its best players. Even then, there were few clear chances."
    ESPN Deportes
    "Colombia defeated a sturdy Canada that has started to take the shape of Spanish coach Benito Floro in a very tactical friendly that left few details to chance in the Red Bull Arena."
    Michael Mccoll
    Needing that one point is based on TFC closing out their season with two wins. I'll let Toronto fans be the gauge of how likely that will be, but it looks like that job has been done for Vancouver. Chalk that one up 'Caps. Somewhat surprising really considering the preseason spending of both sides as we covered a couple of days ago.
    Whilst it's easy for fans and media to get carried away with what lies ahead for Vancouver Whitecaps this season, Carl Robinson's feet remain firmly planted on the ground. There's no chickens being counted here.
    He won't talk too much about anything other than the next game. Neither will the players. You'll get no public proclamations or flights of fancy looking ahead to the playoffs or a Champions League campaign until both are locked up. Frustrating when you want to write about such things, but understandable!
    But Robinson knows what playing in the Champions League for the first time means for the Whitecaps in many regards.
    "It's very important," Robinson told AFTN. "It was a goal at the start of the season to do it. We've still got some work to do because Toronto can go on and win the last two games of the season, so we know we need to go on and get a result. Two wins hopefully will get us there, in the playoffs as well as the Champions League spot. I'll talk about it then.
    "Goals at the start of the season are always there to try and be reached and if it's something that we manage to do, it will be a great achievement for the group of players and very important to the club. But we've still got work to do with that as well."
    We know it's kind of ironic to be getting excited about qualifying for a competition that is likely to see lowish crowds and fringe players turning out for the Caps, but for me, it's a Cup competition, a chance of silverware and that always excites me. But there's a lot more to it.
    Some will see the Champions League as a distraction and a possible playoff killer. That can be very true. I'm pretty sure Portland would prefer not to be having their final group game just days before what could be a MLS away game with vital playoff implications.
    The Caps will get more allocation money to build a stronger and deeper pool of players and that will also have a key role to play in what is going to be an even tougher Western Conference next season.
    "I'll need to build a squad," Robinson admitted. "I'll need to build a bigger squad and a better squad, so that will be very important for me when I'm trying to build, as well as the recruitment of players from abroad. So it'll be a busy offseason for me.
    "There won't be much rest, but it will be very important when I'm trying to piece together a roster that I think can compete for the playoffs, and maybe if we manage to reach our goal of getting into the Champions League, competing in the Champions League as well. It'll be a very important offseason."
    A Champions League campaign also provides a further outlet to get some of the fringe and younger players in the squad more experience and more minutes. Again, that can only help in MLS action and make for a much stronger Whitecaps side in general.
    That, along with the new USL PRO team, could have massive longer term implications.
    "It's a very important part of the club's development for younger players", Robinson told reporters, talking primarily about the USL option. "There needs to be a platform to play. Now and again you'll get young players that are able to make that jump, like Kianz did on Friday, but not every player follows the same path. So it's important that we have another outlet for them to play games, so that there's not a gap between the Residency and the first team.
    "That's very important, so hopefully that'll come through as well. So there will be a lot of games and you guys will be following a lot of games and travelling a lot of places, and I'll be sitting on the sidelines as well at a lot of games."
    Duane Rollins
    What's in a number?
    In the Turfgate case, quite a bit. In fact, lawyers representing the CSA suggest that the number of women attached to the complaint filed to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario is central to determining the legitimacy of the complaint.
    In media reports, the women's lawyer, Hampton Dellinger, is widely quoted as saying he represents 40 of the biggest stars of the women's game. In the actual filing to the tribunal, there are 18 specific names listed as examples of the support behind the application.
    However, the CSA claims that the actual number of women supporting the application is much smaller than both of those numbers. They suggest only seven names are involved and that one of the players has already asked that her name be removed.
    "When (the number of women involved) was styled on the application that was filed Oct 1 it was filed in the form of 'Players involved in the national teams participating in the FIFA Women World Cup 2015'," CSA lawyer Sean Hern said.
    "Obviously that's not accurate -- not all of the women involved in the FIFA World Cup are a part of the complaint."
    Hern said that the filing submitted on behalf of the women was never clear on exactly who was behind the complaint. Even the 18 names listed were presented in such a way that was ambiguous as to whether they were officially attached to a complaint to the tribunal.
    In an email exchange, Dellinger told CSN that he believed that it was not a requirement of them to list specific names.
    "There can be no doubt that the overwhelming majority of players – possibly every player except the one reportedly being paid by an artificial turf company – opposes game-changing, dangerous and demeaning artificial turf fields for their sport’s most important tournament," he wrote.
    He stressed that they have "written confirmation from over 40 players supporting legal action if necessary."
    The CSA's lawyers disagree with that interpretation of the Tribunal requirements. As such, they requested that the women's lawyers submit consent forms from each of the players involved.
    "To our view those consent forms are required by the Tribunal and when we asked for them we received only seven, not 40," Hern said.
    Dellinger disagreed, saying that they provided a sampling of consent forms voluntarily.
    "We believe is not required under the tribunal’s rules," he wrote. "We asked a handful of players to fill out the additional form as an example for the tribunal and the court that players would do so if necessary."
    The form in question is called a "27 consent form." It can be viewed here: http://www.hrto.ca.wsd16.korax.net/hrto/sites/default/files/New%20Applications1/Form%2027%20-%20Application%20on%20behalf%20of%20someone%20who%20consents%20under%2034%285%29.pdf
    It is intended to give consent to third parties to make an application on an individual's behalf. Instructions written on the top of the form read: "The Application will not be accepted until the Form 27 is filed with the Tribunal."
    Michael Mccoll
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    Michael Mccoll
    "Right now, I'm not sure what's going to happen but I'm working to get my passport with the US and we'll see what happens after that," Manneh told AFTN at training on Monday. "I should get it in a year and a half, that's the date it's scheduled for, so that would be good.
    "There's a chance I might play for Gambia as well. You never know, Canada as well because I'm going to be here next year as well hopefully. So there's a chance!"
    I'd put the chance of the latter down to very slim to nil to be perfectly honest. We just threw that question in there to titillate! But have US Soccer or any of the other footballing authorities contacted Manneh about his future at international level?
    "Not yet. They've spoken to my agent. He really didn't give me any details but he told me that they contacted him. He's just letting me focus on my soccer right now and not worry about all that stuff. So I'll just let him do that job. That's what he's paid for!"
    All the talk of Manneh's international future is partly understandable. He is an exciting talent and if he reaches his full potential then he will be one hell of a player. That's still a very big 'if' right now though.
    Manneh has a lot to work on in his game, particularly looking up when he has the ball at his feet for other options than just running at defenders and the defensive awareness that every player needs to have. To his credit, the 19-year-old is well aware of this and has been working hard this season to improve.
    "I'm really lucky and fortunate to have the coaching staff we have here," Manneh told reporters yesterday. "The experienced players we have, all the lads have been helping us. Just taking the advice. [i've] been working on my finishing a lot in practice and it's just paying off.
    "It's not just taking in information, you've got to apply it once you take it. I feel it's been better for us this season, the young players, especially me. We've been given a lot of information this year. It's a little difficult to take them all in, but we've got to take the good ones and let the bad ones go, but I think we made, for me as an individual, the right choices in the advice that they gave me."
    Manneh was underused under Martin Rennie last season and you do have to wonder just how much he actually learned and developed during his first season in the pro ranks.
    At least all the talk about going to play in the Premiership has died down. Such chatter can only be disruptive for a young player and can let them get ahead of themselves. That's something that Carl Robinson will have undoubtedly seen during his long playing career in England and the 'Caps coach and the club don't want to happen to a talent like Manneh.
    "Obviously the 45 minutes he showed on Friday, he was a constant threat throughout the game," Robinson told reporters at training on Monday. "He can be a lot better by the way. My job is to bring him back down to earth because you gentlemen will build him up and you'll build him up maybe to knock him down at some stage as well.
    "I've got to keep his feet on the ground. He's got the world at his feet, he really has, but it's important I don't let him get there before he's ready because if I do then he'll lose his way. And I don't want the kid to lose his way because he's a very special talent. Not just for this group of players but for many years to come."
    Manneh has had more minutes this year, but the expected output hasn't been there. Whether this was due to a stunt in his development last year or the player himself is open to debate. A bit of both is the obvious answer, and a niggling back injury in the preseason that set back his fitness didn't help matters.
    The player and club are at least on the same page when it comes to his future development. He needs to work hard, learn the game, make sure he doesn't become a one-trick pony, and bide his time. Good things come to those who wait - and work hard.
    "We've got to teach him the understanding of the game, we've got to teach him what it's like to be a professional, we've got to teach him what it's like live off the field as well," Robinson said. "It's not as simple as just picking him on a Saturday or a Friday and saying to him 'go out and play'. It's an important part of his development off the field as well as on the field.
    "It's taken time. He's very engaged with it. He wants to learn, he wants to get better, he wants to take things on board. He's a pleasure to work with."
    Manneh's international future may be undecided, but he knows where his immediate club future lies to undertake all this development and that's in Vancouver.
    Talk of moves abroad and to bigger clubs is still very premature. It's a fact that Manneh seems to now be aware of, but he also knows that being at a successful Vancouver Whitecaps side can only put himself in the shop window for a dream move.
    "I definitely want to be on this squad and on this team," Manneh said of being in Vancouver. "I want to score goals for the team and I want to provide for them. I want to win trophies for this team as well. It's a work in progress but there's a chance we can win something this year. We just need to keep doing what we do best and hopefully we can get something this year."
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