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    Michael Mccoll
    The draw moves Vancouver (7-6-13; 34 points) level on points with Portland in the race for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, while DC (14-8-5; 47 points) increase their lead over Sporting KC to five points in the East.
    Vancouver made more changes to their starting line-up and also their formation this week, going to a 4-4-2 diamond.
    Right back Steven Beitashour hobbled out of training on Thursday and was replaced by South African Ethen Sampson, making his first MLS appearance. Kekuta Manneh dropped to the bench and Sebastian Fernandez came back into the starting line-up, this time as a striker to partner Darren Mattocks.
    Vancouver took the game to DC early, with a very attacking line-up moving the ball about well without creating too many real chances.
    Mattocks had a great chance to give Vancouver the lead 12 minutes in, having two attempts at finishing a cross into the six yard box, but ended up blasting high and over.
    The game suddenly exploded into a chancefest in the final 15 minutes of the half.
    Kendall Waston just failed to get his head onto a Pedro Morales free kick in the 31st minute, before Fabian Espindola had two great opportunities to give DC the lead.
    The Argentine fired a fierce long range shot which David Ousted had to tip over in the 36th minute and followed that up by blasting over from the edge of the six yards box minutes later, when he only had Ousted to beat.
    Mattocks finished the half by forcing two saves from Bill Hamid, but once again Vancouver couldn't take their chances and the teams went into the half scoreless.
    The second half was a more cagey affair.
    The Whitecaps threatened briefly at the start and Jordan Harvey came close with a flying header but that was it from either side until the 84th minute, when substitute Kekuta Manneh sent the ball across goal but Mattocks couldn't get on the end of it.
    And that was it. Neither team looked like they were going to win the game, but Vancouver will be the ones most disappointed to just pick up a point.
    FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 0 - 0 DC United
    ATT: 18,116
    VANCOUVER: David Ousted; Ethen Sampson (Sam Adekugbke 54), Andy O'Brien, Kendall Waston, Jordan Harvey; Matias Laba, Mauro Rosales (Mehdi Ballouchy 69), Russell Teibert, Pedro Morales; Sebastian Fernandez (Kekuta Manneh 69), Darren Mattocks [subs Not Used: Paolo Tornaghi, Nicolas Mezquida, Erik Hurtado, Omar Salgado]
    DC: Bill Hamid; Sean Franklin, Bobby Boswell, Steve Birnbaum, Taylor Kemp; Nick DeLeon, Perry Kitchen, Davy Arnaud, David Estrada (Lewis Neal 70); Fabian Espindola, Luis Silva (Kyle Porter 84) [subs Not Used: Joe Willis, Kofi Opare, Alex Caskey, Jared Jeffrey]
    Squizz
    Speculative whispering engulfs the room until the door opens once again and Ryan Nelsen enters. Assembled group stands up in ovation.
    Ryan Nelsen: Oh, too kind, really. Really, stop it.
    Unnamed Man: Come on in, Ryan. Have a seat. We're so happy to see you.
    Nelsen: Thank you, thank you. I've never been in a group like this before, but I'm sure that lack of experience won't be an impediment at all.
    Unnamed Man: Right. *clears throat* So, I'm sure all of you know Ryan's story...
    Nelsen: (interrupting) I've played in big games! I've played in the World Cup!
    Momentary silence.
    Torsten Frings: Well, so did I.
    Amado Guevara: Me too.
    Julio Cesar: Everybody plays in the World Cup, don't they?
    Samuel: Even I have!
    Andrea Lombardo: Do under-20 World Cups count?
    All: No!
    Lombardo:
    Knock at the door. A man pokes his head in.
    Jermain Defoe: Hey, did someone say World Cup?
    Unnamed Man: You're not scheduled to be here for another four months!
    Defoe: Whoops, sorry!
    Door closes.
    Unnamed Man: Gentlemen, let's focus here. You'll note that since our last meeting, TFC has lost three straight games against conference rivals! They haven't scored a goal! They've slipped from a comfortable playoff spot to almost being out of contention altogether! And we've got Ryan to thank for that!
    Group applauds, except for one member who stands up.
    Sam Cronin: Wait a minute, I still don't understand this.
    Earnshaw: Oh, here we go again...
    Cronin: Ryan got fired after the New England game. How does he get credit for the two losses since then?
    Earnshaw: Why don't you just...
    Cronin: And also, how does he get credit with helping our cause when he was still there? I mean, one can't be a TFC Castaway if they're still with the team, right? It's a paradox.
    Unnamed Man: Sam, Sam, Sam. What are we going to do with you?
    Cronin: I dunno, listen to my grievances and take measures to ensure they're addressed?
    Group erupts into laughter.
    Unnamed Man: Oh Sam, you're talking like a TFC fan now. It's so adorable.
    Amarikwa: Hahaha, I get it!
    Gala: Shut up!
    Unnamed Man: Gentlemen, the simple truth is this -- Toronto FC is falling apart, again. Toronto FC will miss the playoffs, again. And however it comes about, and whoever is responsible for it, our mission is once again being fulfilled.
    Loud throat-clearing from one member of the group.
    Unnamed Man: But this week, our plaudits go to our brethren in Philadelphia. Conor, who is clearly battling some kind of throat irritation, really got us off on the right foot with that early goal.
    Conor Casey: Hey, yeah, that's me. Y'know, no problem, whatever, just doing my job. Cool, right. Yeah. Cool.
    Unnamed Man: Next time, perhaps you could wait until most of the fans have shown up, though. It always makes it sweeter to break as many of their hearts as possible.
    Casey: Oh, yeah, cool, alright. Conor does what Conor does, y'know. Yeah.
    Unnamed Man: Right. And Maurice, we'll do what we can to make sure you get credit where it's due. I'm pretty sure I saw you get a touch on that second goal. Everyone saw that, right?
    Muttering from group suggests agreement.
    Unnamed Man: Maurice, why don't you take a bow?
    Group starts looking around, expecting to see him. He is nowhere to be found.
    Unnamed Man: That's strange. Perhaps he's just late.
    Cronin: Or maybe he knows the truth!
    Earnshaw: Oh for the love of... you want me to take care of him, boss?
    Unnamed Man: No, no. It's always good to have dissenting voices within any organization. After all, it's worked well for Toronto FC, hasn't it?
    Group erupts in uproarious laughter. Attention turns to Amarikwa.
    Amarikwa: ...I don't get it.
    Gala: It's irony.
    Amarikwa: You mean like a coincidence?
    Gala: No, a coincidence isn't irony.
    Amarikwa: Yeah it is.
    Gala: No it isn't. Just because dummies constantly use a word incorrectly over and over, that doesn't make their definition correct.
    Earnshaw: Then how come they changed the dictionary definition of "literally" to mean "figuratively"?
    Gala: They did?
    Earnshaw: They did.
    Gala: Wow. That's literally the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
    Earnshaw: What an ironic thing to say!
    Group erupts in laughter. Attention turns to Amarikwa.
    Amarikwa: Oh... I get it now!
    Group focuses rapt attention on Amarikwa, waiting to see if he really got it.
    Amarikwa: The internal dysfunction is what has made TFC the club it is, and that lack of stability has not only meant poor results, but also resulted in such a preposterous degree of player turnover that they more or less play against a former player every single week, despite not having even completed eight seasons in the league. And boss was ironically stating that dissent was a good thing for our group, as a means of paralleling it with the club we're all here to fight against.
    Group pauses.
    Gala: ... I don't get it.
    Samuel: And then I ate the bowl!
    Group erupts in uproarious laughter again.
    Duane Rollins
    Canadian Soccer News has learned that plans are well underway to bring a USL-Pro team to the Toronto suburbs.
    TFC executives, including General Manager Tim Bezbatchenko, met with representatives last week to hammer out details that would see a USL-Pro team operate out of a renovated stadium at the Ontario Soccer Centre in Vaughan.
    Currently, the stadium there is in bad need of an upgrade. That upgrade is supposed to break ground this fall, with an expected finish date of June 2015.
    The plan is for the OSA to partner with TFC to run the game day operations for the club, which would act as the TFC reserve side.
    As reported by CSN yesterday, the CSA has approved the sanctioning of USL-Pro teams that are attached to MLS teams. Those clubs will be required to have a roster of 50 percent Canadian players and to start six of 11 Canadians each game.
    TFC is currently looking for a temporary location to start the 2015 season while waiting for the upgrade to be complete.
    It's been suggested that TFC is also hoping to use the partnership with the OSA to repair relationships within the Toronto soccer community that had soured during the early years of the TFC academy. To that end, the plan is to allow free entry to USL-Pro games to any registered youth player in Ontario.
    Michael Mccoll
    Have a listen!
    You can listen to this week's podcast on iTunes HERE.
    Or download it for your later listening delight HERE.
    We also have an iPhone app, so you can now add our podcast to your phone as an app. Visit the podcast's mobile site HERE and then at the bottom of the screen just click the "Quick Launch" icon and the podcast will be added to your home screen and appear as an app.
    And if that's not enough, we've joined Stitcher Radio Network. Download the app and listen to the AFTN podcast on your device, along with over 15,000 shows HERE.
    Or after all that, you could just listen on the player below!

    Duane Rollins
    The CSA will sanction a limited amount of new USL-Pro teams in Canada, but only if they agree to strict Canadian quotas.
    The new teams must be affiliated with one of the three existing Canadian MLS teams and the sanctioning will be reviewed annually.
    MLS and USL-Pro have a working affiliate arrangement where MLS teams loan a minimum of four players to their affiliate team. However, teams are permitted to operate a stand alone USL-Pro team rather than enter into an affiliate relationship with an existing team.
    The program is designed to replace the MLS reserve league.
    There were questions as to whether the Canadian MLS teams would be able to operate stand alone teams due to a policy in the CSA that prohibits the sanctioning of new professional teams that operate in predominately American leagues.
    Despite those concerns the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact went ahead with plans to start USL-Pro teams in the 2015 season. Toronto FC has not yet indicated its intentions.
    Yesterday, the CSA agreed to sanction the Montreal and Vancouver teams and to extend sanctioning to Toronto should it wish to pursue a team. However, there will be strict quotes imposed.
    Each team will be required to ensure that 50 percent of its active USL-Pro roster is Canadian. Importantly, it defines Canadians not by their citizenship but rather by their national team eligibility. Canadians capped by other nations are free to play for the teams, but will be considered imports in relation to CSA sanctioning.
    To ensure that the cubs aren't just filling out their roster with Canadians for the sake of meeting the quota, the CSA is also requiring that six of the starting 11 players for each game be Canadian.
    In an e-mail statement, CSA president Victor Montagliani said the following:
    “Canada Soccer feels confident that these guidelines will allow for the existing Canadian MLS franchises – Impact de Montréal, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC – to develop a viable homegrown system while ensuring we, as Canada’s governing body for soccer, continue to work towards our goal of becoming a leading soccer nation. We believe this is consistent with our aim to encourage the growth of the game, building an environment that will provide consistent, world-class performances by our National Teams as identified in our 2014-2018 Strategic Plan.”
    Michael Mccoll
    "I could stand here and make excuses. I'm not making excuses," Robinson told reporters at training yesterday. "We need to be better as a group, the individuals need to be better and I said that to the young group of guys I've got as a forward group in there, and we're working at it.
    "At the moment we're not putting ourselves in proper situations that we should be, we're not probably getting enough bodies in the box. That's something we've reviewed, me over the last 48 hours especially, because we need to try and find a solution.
    "We have got nine games left, we can't keep saying this in two or three more games time because it might be too late. We've got to make sure that our very good start to the season doesn't peter out."
    And what a start it was. The Whitecaps were in free flowing, glorious goalscoring form. 25 goals from 13 games before the World Cup break. A 1.92 goals per game average, and even Erik Hurtado had finally found his shooting boots and actually started to look like a striker.
    We talked at the time about whether the break would be a momentum killer. We always thought it would take a little toll but not such a drastic one. Since they returned to action, the Whitecaps aren’t even managing a goal per game. They’ve scored 8 times in 12 games, for a 0.67 goals per game average and that’s nowhere near playoff form.
    And neither is four goalless games out of the last five.
    So what's happened to the team? Where and why did it start to unravel?
    Robinson has said in recent weeks that a good team doesn't become a bad team overnight. Very true, which perhaps indicates that the Whitecaps weren't actually a good team in the first place, but more one who caught their opponents unprepared for what they would bring and punched a little bit above their weight on their eight game unbeaten run.
    One theory is that the Whitecaps have been figured out. Their strikers are simply too one dimensional and teams know how to shut them down, which basically just involves stopping them running.
    It was talked about at training this week and I covered it in my piece for MLSsoccer.com this morning.
    All well and good, and probably true, except this hasn't been the first time it's been raised.
    "I think teams have adapted to our style of play. At the beginning of the season they didn't really know what to expect. We've got a few games under our belt, half the season under our belt. Teams know what our strengths are. When you go out to a game, just like we look at film at team strengths, they're trying to counter our strengths."
    That was Erik Hurtado talking at training on July 22nd. We're now over a month down the line, nothing's changed and we're having the same discussions.
    Robinson agrees with that theory to a certain extent, but also has one of his own as to why his team have been flopping of late.
    "Inconsistency, not just of young players but I think players in general," he suggested. "There's a reason why players are maybe playing in Major League Soccer rather than the Premiership in England, or playing in La Liga. It's because they maybe have got some deficiencies in their game.
    "With young players you have ups and downs. Ten games ago, Erik Hurtado had scored five in five and he was looking unbelievable. Maybe his confidence has been dented a little bit, things aren't going his way, but he's still the same person, he's still the same individual. He's trying his hardest, his giving it everything he's got but people go through ups and downs in their young career."
    So what can Robinson do to try and kickstart his young steeds if a new striker doesn't appear to be looming soon on the horizon (which is looking increasingly less likely)? Formation is most certainly one avenue that he is actively looking at.
    The Caps changed to a 4-4-2 formation towards the end of the Portland game and looked livelier, helped by the addition and runs of Sam Adekugbe at left back. It would be a major surprise if Robinson doesn't go with that formation from the start against DC.
    Robinson had pondered before how to fit Pedro Morales into such a formation and there are others who may struggle to find a place in the team if the Caps go down that route. But at this stage of the season, it is worth a try and will be given a try, and it could be just up the alley of Kekuta Manneh.
    Some people have been crying out for Manneh to get a chance to play as an out and out striker. It's his preferred position and it's the one that he's had the best success in both within MLS and before. Seattle hat-trick anyone?
    He's wasted on the wing and has been ineffectual at that position for months. At this stage of his career he doesn't appear to have the footballing brain to play there and on Saturday looked confused and lost as to what to do. A case of too many people giving him advice and he can't think straight as a result?
    Robinson acknowledged the clamour to play Manneh up top but again feels that he just doesn't have the football acumen right now to pull it off as the lone striker. But it's a whole different story in a 4-4-2 formation.
    "I think Kekuta can play up front as a two," Robinson said. "He did have success last year but sometimes playing him up front on his own I think would be very difficult, which is why I've tended to stay away from it. It is something that we've looked at over the last two weeks, about playing him up front. We didn't think it was the right time. Will it be the right time this weekend? Maybe.
    "But I think he needs a partner. Darren's done very well this year up front on his own, as has Erik at certain times, but we haven't got enough numbers in the box and we haven't created enough chances, so I've got to find a solution."
    Easier said than done on current form? Perhaps, but after showing faith in his strikeforce, Robinson knows things can continue as is and ended with a clear message for his four young strikers.
    "I will find a solution, but with the personnel we've got in there, we've got to mix and match sometimes," he said. "If someone's not doing their job correctly, then there will be changes."
    Guest

    It Isn't Always Sunny in Philadelphia...

    By Guest, in 24th Minute,

    The game plan? Press higher, play on the front foot, do not allow the Union to dictate the pace, and have more energy – all of which sounded wonderful.
    Unfortunately for the Reds, the young backline contributed the defensive downfall that would control the match.
    Toronto was exposed on the counter attack, down the middle, and on either flank.
    Casey’s game winning goal was a perfect example of what went wrong for Toronto throughout 90 minutes. Both Ashtone Morgan and Doneil Henry were caught high and out of position, allowing Cristian Maidana to send a crisp pass up to Sebastien Le Toux.
    He was given a massive amount of space up the right flank as Henry and Morgan struggled to get back. Nick Hagglund failed to close the gap to prevent Le Toux’s uncontested cross to Casey. Mark Bloom was not positioned goal side of Casey which allowed him the easy finish on the near post run.
    Flash back to June 1st 2013: Henry was sent off for earning his second yellow card of the game after a foul on Philadelphia midfielder Danny Cruz.
    April 13th 2013: Morgan was sent off for his second yellow in the 88th minute against the Union
    Fast forward to September 3rd 2014: the trend continued as Morgan was, you guessed it, sent off with a straight red in the 77th for dragging down Le Toux from behind to halt his breakaway.
    Morgan, who hasn't seen first team action since the beginning of the season, couldn't catch a break.
    Joe Bendik made a solid save on the resulting free kick. His performance throughout the match kept the scoreline flattering for the visiting side.
    Inside the 15’ minute Bendik stopped Casey’s right footed shot from the center of the area with an excellent drive. He did it again in the 53rd minute when he sprawled to make a one handed save to deny Amobi Okugo’s header from a corner kick.
    Union goal keeper Zac MacMath was also strong, coming off his line on more than one occasion to stifle Dominic Oduro’s breakaway attempts. He also came up big for Philly in the 57th minute when he silenced sub Gilberto from close range.
    It would have been unreasonable expect a brilliant result considering the drama surrounding TFC since Sunday. However, that doesn't make it less difficult for supporters to stomach. Toronto is now win-less in its last five games and have been shut out in its last two. TFC battle the Union again on Saturday September 6th at BMO Field.
    After New England’s 3-1 win over Kansas City on Wednesday Toronto move to fourth place in the East with 33 points. Philadelphia and Columbus, with the same tally, are quickly catching up.
    Michael Crampton
    Even the possible want-away inclination of Jermain Defoe, the likelihood of his sale, and what his contribution will be to the Reds in the immediate future pales in importance. Defoe, officially, is injured, may need surgery, and wasn’t expected to play again until the end of the month. His sale, or lack thereof, was unlikely to affect Toronto’s game against Philly.
    The unfortunate fact is that most of the discussion around Nelsen’s dismissal is wasted. Speculation about what it will lead to, or new head coach Greg Vanney’s suitability, is just that: speculation. Until the games are played, we won’t have the slightest idea of how Vanney’s approach will be different from Nelsen’s or whether it has a greater likelihood of being successful.
    Really though, we’ll never know how things would have concluded under Ryan Nelsen. TFC’s form has flagged since the World Cup break, dropping from the sort of points-per-game that would have seen them competing for, if not winning, first place in the Eastern Conference, to a level that has turned playoff qualification, even with the points already earned in the bank, into a touch-and-go proposition.
    But over ten game anything could have happened. A couple wins out of their next four, even with a couple losses included, and Toronto fans would have probably seen their team keep their noses ahead of the red line that’s been chasing the team all season. The demoralizing dropped points in the Reds’ last three games – particularly the way those points were dropped – has obscured that Toronto has actually still taken seven points from their last 15 available, and won back-to-back away games as recently as early August.
    Inevitably the comparison will be made but, in truth, there’s no way compare how things might have gone under Ryan Nelsen to how they’ll end up under Greg Vanney. Because there’s no way to run the counterfactual, neither success nor failure over the next few matches should be used as unequivocal evidence of the efficacy of Tim Bezbatchenko’s decision to make the change.
    In the end, the most important lesson is that Ryan Nelsen never should have been hired. That was Kevin Payne’s fault, and it was as inexplicable then as it is now. It had happened long enough ago that it looked like the worst possibility, more instability at a club justly famous for it in its short history, had been avoided. Then, almost out of nowhere, the time bomb that started ticking in January of 2013 exploded and Toronto fans were once again learning the name of their team’s new head coach.
    What it points to is one of the real values of hiring an experienced coach. It’s not just that they’re more likely to be better for their experience. The biggest asset that an experienced coach brings is the ability to point at past success. When the tough times come, and they do at virtually every club everywhere, being able to point to a record and say, “don’t panic, I’ve been here before, and turned things around then,” is far more important than whether you prefer two or three players in central midfield, or when you make your subs.
    Football is a game that has a lot of randomness and all a good coach can do, even a very good coach, is nudge the odds a little more in his team’s favour. Do everything right and you can still lose more often than not, especially over short periods. Sometimes the coin-flips just don’t go in your favour.
    But this is Toronto FC. They’re a club, now through multiple leaderships, who basically refuse to learn these lessons about experience and about luck. Let’s hope that, for Greg Vanney’s sake and the club’s, that the coin-flips don’t betray him over the next few games, because if they do there’s every chance Toronto fans will be learning another new name early next year.
    James Grossi
    Patrice Bernier
    Bernier returned to Montreal’s starting lineup for their 2-0 win over Columbus on Saturday, helping his side pick up their second win in their last three matches as they look to close the season out on a positive note – it was his eighteenth start and 23rd appearance of the season.
    Paired with Felipe at the base of the Impact midfield, Bernier again was nearly perfect on the ball, misplacing just four passes all match, while racking up ten recoveries and a pair of interceptions.
    He nearly sprung Marco Di Vaio with a long ball early, but the striker had, surprise, drifted into an offside position prematurely. Bernier then set up Ignacio Piatti for a great chance on the half hour, pressing forward to collect a knockdown from Di Vaio before finding the Argentine near the arc – Columbus keeper, Steve Clark, was equal to the task, pushing the shot wide.
    The Brossard, Quebec-native had one crack at goal himself, hitting a shot from distance wide of the right-post and was fortunate not to be punished when caught in possession by Wil Trapp, who set up Adam Bedell for an early chance – the big forward shot straight at Evan Bush.
    He would make way for Callum Mallace in the 80th minute with Frank Klopas looking to secure the victory.
    It was announced last week that Bernier would be rejoining the Canadian National Team for the first time since a certain match in Honduras. He spoke with the media about potentially reaching the fifty-cap milestone, commenting, “This time, it came out of nowhere. I knew the game was coming up, and I said yes, because it’s a chance to reach 50 caps which really was my objective at the national team level. It’s also an opportunity to catch up with former teammates and see whether the coach has an idea of how fit in his short-term plans.”
    Will Johnson
    Johnson started his 26th-consecutive match for Portland in their 0-3 win over Vancouver on Saturday, helping his side leapfrog Vancouver into the fifth and final playoff spot in the West – Johnson has been in the starting eleven for every one of the Timbers matches this season, a streak that stretches back into the last, reaching 34 games.
    Alongside Diego Chara in the two-man shield ahead of the defense, Johnson, despite being on the road, was allowed to get forward, completing a larger percentage of his passes in the attacking half than in previous away games, while still contributing defensively in keeping the ever-dangerous Pedro Morales under tight wraps.
    Early in the match, he touched away a ball from Morales on one occasion when the midfielder was trying to control the flow and then did well to pressure a potentially dangerous shot, deflecting away a clear look at goal from the Chilean.
    Breaking forward late, Johnson had one good chance at goal, running onto a loose ball, but his right-footer was over the target. He later whiffed on a bouncing corner kick that fell to him atop the area. One mistake nearly proved costly, as his soft pass led to a turnover, allowing Russell Teibert to feed in Darren Mattocks, but Donovan Ricketts made the required save.
    The Toronto-born midfielder will not be involved in Canada’s match, with Portland’s late push up the table a priority.
    Dwayne De Rosario
    De Rosario has seen limited action this season, appearing in just eleven of Toronto’s 24 matches, but he entered their woeful loss to New England in the 80th minute and provided a much-needed spark to a stagnant side – it was his eighth appearance from the bench.
    Replacing Luke Moore in the 80th minute, De Rosario was lively, using his ten-plus minutes on the pitch to craft several chances. Roaming around the pitch, he got past Darius Barnes on the right to force a low ball to the near-post, where AJ Soares alertly cleared.
    The Scarborough, Ontario-native then broke down that same side a few minutes later, alertly winning a ball over the usually-imperious Jose Goncalves to test Bobby Shuttleworth with a low drive that nearly squeaked in at the near-post.
    Throughout his brief cameo, De Rosario lurked in dangerous positions, had Gilberto left this cross to his teammate, Toronto may have found some consolation.
    With Ryan Nelsen exiting the club and Greg Vanney intent on bringing in new faces could this energetic De Rosario help push the club towards their first-ever MLS playoff appearance? Time will tell.
    Tesho Akindele
    Akindele started his fourteenth-straight match for Dallas in their 1-0 loss at Chicago on Saturday – it was his fifteenth start and eighteenth appearance of the season.
    Atop the formation as the lone striker, Akindele was held off the score-sheet for just the fourth time in their last ten matches, having racked up six goals and two assists over that spell.
    That said, he was still integral to much of Dallas’ attack, blowing past Bakary Soumare on one play before cutting a ball back to Fabian Castillo, unfortunately it was alertly cut out by Lovell Palmer. His one shot of the match came from a tight angle and was blocked, but he nearly sprung Castillo on a counterattack, dropping deep to collect a loose ball and picking out his teammate with a long pass. Castillo surged past Jeff Larentowicz down the left, but Sean Johnson came up with a big foot save.
    The Calgary, Alberta-native was a handful all night, drawing a yellow card out of Soumare, who tripped him up in transition, and settling a cross from Jair Benitez inside the Chicago area to set up a chance for Ryan Hollingshead, who smashed his shot off the bar.
    As discussed last week, he will not be part of the Canadian side for the time being, focusing on Dallas’ MLS campaign. Akindele’s solid month has seen his rise in MLSsoccer.com’s Rookie Rankings, taking over top spot in the race for Rookie of the Year.
    Russell Teibert
    Teibert started his third-straight match for Vancouver in their loss to Portland on Saturday – it was his thirteenth start and twentieth appearance of the season.
    Alongside Matias Laba at the base of the Whitecaps midfield, Teibert put in a solid defensive shift, earning praise from Jason deVos on the TSN broadcast at half-time, while also contributing to the attack when possible – a majority of his passing came in the Portland half.
    The Niagara Falls, Ontario-native did struggle to match the physicality of Fanendo Adi on one play – many would – getting outmuscled to a ball early and could be accused of being
    on his goal in the 75th minute.He did help craft Vancouver’s best look of the game, collecting the ball from Erik Hurtado after a loose Will Johnson touch to play Darren Mattocks in down the right-side of the box, but Mattocks could not settle the ball and his rushed shot was parried over by Donovan Ricketts.
    Somewhat surprising, Teibert was left off the Canadian squad called for Tuesday’s match.
    Doneil Henry
    Henry returned to the TFC starting eleven against New England on Saturday – it was his fifteenth start and seventeenth appearance of the season.
    In tandem with Bradley Orr, Henry, the left-sided of the duo, struggled to keep a lid on the Revolution attack from the start, getting caught out by a poor turnover inside of two minutes. While he could have possibly stepped up earlier to
    , Henry definitely , who scored their second in the 21st minute.As if his afternoon was not rough enough already, he took a vicious boot to the face in the New England box when AJ Soares cleared a corner kick and was then left helpless on New England’s third, forced
    , only to open up the back-post for Teal Bunbury to score. Could the Brampton, Ontario-native have cut out the pass, possibly, but he did as well as could be expected.Despite such a dour loss, Henry was still his usual effective self at the back, collecting seven clearances, three interceptions, two clearances, and a block.
    He was named to the Canadian side, but recalled from the training camp by TFC for their matches against Philadelphia.
    Wandrille Lefevre
    Lefevre started a fourth-consecutive match for Montreal in their win over Columbus – it was his ninth start and tenth appearance of the season.
    As the left-sided centre-back in unison with Matteo Ferrari, Lefevre was again solid, tallying six clearances, four recoveries, three tackles, two interceptions, and a block as the Impact picked up a solid win – and did TFC a favour in the process.
    The French-born defender did make one mistake, giving away a dangerous free-kick, fouling Ethan Finlay above the area, but Federico Higauin spared any potential blushes, wasting the look. There was another nervy moment in the closing minutes when Lefevre nearly got in Evan Bush’s way as the two were over-eager to deal with a cross – just the sort of defensive miscue that has haunted Montreal this season – but the keeper caught and held the ball.
    Jonathan Osorio
    Osorio started his fifth-straight match for Toronto in that loss to New England – it was his seventeenth start and twentieth appearance of the season.
    With TFC trying out a new formation, Osorio moved in-field from his left-sided midfield position to take up the central role behind Gilberto, the lone striker. It did not work well, the Revolution scored twice in the first twenty minutes, and the system was quickly abandoned, Osorio drifting back to his wide position.
    Toronto struggled to maintain possession for any significant passages, as such Osorio struggled to impose himself on the match, but he did get on the end of a good chance, drawing a fine save out of Bobby Shuttleworth with a right-footed shot that was bound for the far, top corner just after the hour mark.
    It would have been a spectacular finish from the Toronto, Ontario-native and may have changed the match – and who knows whether all the fall-out from the loss would have happened in the same way.
    Maxim Tissot
    Tissot made a fourth-straight appearance from the bench for the Impact, playing the final half hour in a winning effort against Columbus on Saturday.
    Replacing Dilly Duka in the 63rd minute, the Gatineau, Quebec-native took up the wide left-position in midfield, putting in another solid outing, tracking deep to help to shore up the defenses when needed, while also pushing forward.
    He made one long sprint to blaze into the box, catching up with a Marco Di Vaio break and finding space towards the back-post, but the Italian veteran overlooked him, shooting into the side-netting instead.
    Sam Adekugbe
    Adekugbe entered Vancouver’s match in the 80th minute, replacing Jordan Harvey at left-back – it was his second appearance of the season and first since July against Toronto, having overcome an MCL strain that saw him sidelined for much of the season.
    He did well in his brief run out, the match having already been decided.
    The Rest
    Nana Attakora and Kofi Opare were on the bench for both of DC United’s matches this week, while Kyle Bekker, Karl Ouimette and Issey Nakajima-Farran were similarly unused substitutes for their respective sides.
    Nine MLS players were named to Canada’s roster for next Tuesday’s match against Jamaica at BMO Field, tickets for the Voyageurs sections can be purchased here.
    Ashtone Morgan and Doneil Henry were recalled from the Canadian Camp to travel to Philadelphia with Toronto. Whether they are available for the match on Tuesday is yet to be seen.
    All video and quotes courtesy of MLSsoccer.com
    Each week James takes a look at the contributions of Canadians in the league and the league as a whole.
    You can follow James on twitter @grawsee or read more of his writing at Partially Obstructed View
    Michael Mccoll
    Morales can only carry the team so far. At some point, such a player needs help and those around him need to step up to the plate and shoulder some of the burden. That point probably came 6 to 8 weeks ago, and unfortunately no-one took up the mantle.
    One of Kenny Miller's frustrations here was the fact that those around him didn't have the same footballing brain. He would make runs, but the pass never came. He would make passes and the run never came. You can only imagine what Pedro Morales must think at times.
    The result is he tries to do too much himself (ala that Dallas game) and when the opposition know that if you take Pedro out of the game, you've pretty much negated the Whitecaps attack, that's hard to overcome.
    If you look at the six games that the Caps have lost this season, Morales has no goals and just one assist in them. In fact, of the 13 games this year in which Morales has registered neither a goal or an assist, the Whitecaps have won just one, with five defeats and seven draws from the others.
    No Pedro, No Party and not too many points.
    The cavalry has at least arrived in part with the addition of Mauro Rosales, who was excellent on Saturday against Portland, and will take on a lot of the creative play for the remainder of the season. But is it too little too late and has the long gruelling season to date started to wear down the Chilean?
    Morales is looking tired and a shadow of the player we've seen at times during the early part of the season. Those balls aren't being sprayed about anywhere near as easily as they once were. He has struggled much of the season with his form on the road, but now has no goals and no assists in each of the last three matches. The Whitecaps have taken just one point from those three matches.
    Are the signs there that Morales is worn out?
    "I hope not, I really do," Carl Robinson told reporters after Saturday's loss. "But he’s played 13 months now nonstop which is why when I make the decision to leave him out and rest him it’s because I can sort of sense it.
    "And maybe I get a bit of criticism when I leave him out. I've got to be careful of how I handle him because we've seen how good he can be. Today, he was okay. When he plays well we play well and today he didn't play to the levels of how we've seen him this season."
    Part of the reason Morales' form has dipped is also due to the fact that finds himself heavily marked, and it's something Robinson knows is inevitable but hard to stop.
    "In every game he gets targeted," Robinson added. "If I was playing against him, and knowing Caleb the way I know Caleb, I'd target him. It's no different. We talk about repetitive fouling and things like that and there was quite a bit of them [against Portland]."
    The problem the Whitecaps have is that, Rosales apart, no-one else can produce close to what Morales can do. Nicolas Mezquida has been a disappointment, Sebastian Fernandez has been invisible far too often and Russell Teibert has been at his best in the DM role.
    So what's the answer? The Caps can't rest him too often down the stretch, and especially not in the home games. Maybe Dallas away is the only game that you feel you may want him to sit if he needs that recovery time.
    He's had niggling back and hamstring problems this year and running him into the ground doesn't help the player or the team. But they need him.
    Can Morales get his mojo back for the season run-in? Especially without rest. It's going to be tough, but you do get the feeling that the Whitecaps playoff hopes largely depend on it.
    Duane Rollins
    Honestly, in the context of the entire history of TFC, the last 24-hours doesn't even break into the top five wackiest days. That has a lot to do with just how wacky TFC has been, but still...
    For the record, the sacking of Preki and Mo Johnston is No 1 with the day John Carver had a mental breakdown coming in with the silver.
    Aron Winter, in general, is third. DeRo's Scottish vacation fourth and the hiring of QPR's starting centre-half fifth.
    It's been an odd little ride.
    And the last 24-hours contributed to the general oddness of The Worst Football Club in the World ™.
    But, it's not yet clear whether the oddness is a continuation of Danny Kovermans' apt description or whether it was the act of a general manager who is finally in full control. The instinct will be to mistrust all that TFC does -- and that's understandable -- but that instinct is based on perception rather than evidence. The truth is there is literally no history to point to with Tim Bezbatchenko.
    From all reports it appears that Bezbatchenko was on the wrong side of a power struggle between himself and Tim Leiweke/Ryan Nelsen. Although Bezbatchenko did actually play professionally, he's not your typical jock and, as such, notorious jock sniffer Leiweke sided with the former Premier League defender.
    With Nellie's biggest backer now a sitting duck, the geek took his revenge and took control of the operation. We won't know if that's good or bad for a while, but based on his first big move he deserves some rope from TFC fans.
    That move?
    Sacking Nellie.
    Nelsen was clearly in way over his head and should never have been in the job in the first place. As others have said today, and as I've been saying since the day he was hired, Nelsen made a bad situation worse by refusing to hire qualified assistants.
    He was tactically naive and made bizarre roster choices. Bezbatchenko was 100 per cent right to call him out for not doing more with the talent that is here.
    The second part of the move -- hiring Greg Vanney -- is riskier. Vanney is more experienced than Nelsen was (technically speaking my cat was equally as experienced as Nelsen was so this isn't that big a deal), but he's hardly what you'd call experienced. He was widely seen as have done good work with limited resources at Chivas and his work with the academy thus far has been solid, but this is a guy that is getting a look as much because he's a Bez guy as it is because he's highly qualified.
    So, file this one solidly under the "wait and see; lots to prove" category.
    There was, of course, another piece of drama at BMO today. Bloody Big Drama, so to speak.
    We simply don't know how unhappy Defoe is and how much the last 24-hours will impact his performance moving forward.
    We do know that TFC did not capitulate on a deal that wouldn't help them -- it appears that the $11-million deal rumoured yesterday was well below what the Reds would have been willing to take.
    We also know that they considered moving him. That means things aren't perfect and that the next two months will go a long way to determining whether Defoe is here next Spring, or if his MLS experiment will prove to be a Bloody Big Letdown.
    James Grossi
    While they may have been few – honestly, nobody cares how lovely crucial goals are, there were some cracking strikes this weekend. A trio of nominees for the top billing and one bonus clip, not so much for the finish, as for the build-up.
    In chronological order, up first is
    , who took advantage of Toronto’s lax marking to hit a screamer from distance that swerved past a helpless Joe Bendik; then there was who helped solidify Portland’s advantage in Vancouver, turning and smashing his finish in off the underside of the bar; and finally, , who made a near-immediate impact from the bench, with this gorgeous chip over Chivas’ Dan Kennedy.Which will reign supreme?
    A special nod to Baggio Husidic’s goal against DC United on Wednesday, capping off a 26-pass move from the Galaxy.
    Back by popular demand (Cheers, Kingston), the review will resume regular service; on to the results:
    Midweek Results in a Sentence (or Two)

    A midweek teaser saw the Galaxy dominate United, scoring after 67 seconds and taking a three-goal lead into half-time, courtesy of Alan Gordon, Omar Gonzalez, and Baggio Husidic. DC would draw one back via a Leonardo own-goal, only for a bizarre penalty decision to hand LA their fourth, Landon Donovan converting from the spot.
    Results in Brief

    The weekend proper began with a tasty fixture on Friday night, as these two teams do not like each other one bit, following some raucous playoff meetings over the past few seasons.
    Both sides were in need of the points, Sporting having conceded first-place in the East to DC after a surprise defeat last weekend, while Houston languished near the foot of the conference and have been simply woeful on the road, losing their last seven away from home; each entered having lost two of their last three.
    The fireworks would be put on hold after seventeen minutes, as inclement weather – lightning in the vicinity – prompted a delay of over an hour before match could safely resume. It would be Houston who initiated the scoring, Will Bruin taking advantage of a poor Aurelien Collin touch to volley in a right-footer from the top of the box, beating Jon Kempin to the left-side of goal after Houston caught KC napping from a throw-in. Bruin picked up a knock on the play that saw him leave shortly after.
    Kansas City would respond at the start of the second half, Dom Dwyer left-footing his deflected finish off the sliding block of Luis Garrido sending his finish looping over Tally Hall in the 54th minute, after Benny Feilhaber pounced on the loose ball and nutmegged Jermaine Taylor to break in to the right-side of the area before squaring to Dwyer. It was the Englishman’s seventeenth goal of the season, one shy of Preki’s club-record, set back in the inaugural season of MLS in 1996.
    Houston would respond in short order, retaking the lead eight minutes later and sealing the result five minutes after that, each goal from a set-piece.
    David Horst found himself unbelievably free from a left-sided Brad Davis free-kick in the 62nd minute, powering a header from the edge of the six past Kempin; Ricardo Clark was similarly open in the 67th minute to get on the end of a right-sided Davis delivery, flicking on the service towards the far, bottom-corner of the goal.
    For the second-straight week, Kansas City would fall at home to Eastern Conference opponents, punished by a short-spell of madness: DC scored three in seven minutes, whereas Houston needed five to get their two.
    With the 1-3 win, Houston keeps pace with the pack, while inching closer to the actual playoff spots – now five points shy of that final slot – after results elsewhere. Kansas City, on the other hand, fail to make up ground on conference leaders, DC, losing a second-straight at home and three of their last four.

    Saturday began with an early Western Conference encounter between table-toppers Seattle and struggling Colorado. The Sounders, who had their own problems of late, made a statement last weekend with a rousing display away to Portland, while the Rapids entered riding a five-game losing streak, having conceded four-goals in each of their last two.
    In the midst of an injury-crisis – shorn of two starting defenders in club-captain Drew Moor and Shane O’Neill, Colorado’s primary goal was to stay compact and difficult to beat; Seattle did indeed find it hard to play through the two banks of four that regularly confronted them through the first half.
    Having reached half-time scoreless, Colorado will have been disappointed to concede shortly after the restart when Clint Dempsey broke free of his mark from a Marco Pappa right-sided, out-swinging corner kick, meeting the service with a flying right-shin that directed his finish high to the top, right-corner of the goal, past debutant keeper, Joe Nasco, who made his first MLS appearance at the age of 30.
    Forced to open up in search of the equalizer, Colorado were regularly carved open by a rampant Seattle, Nasco regularly came up big to keep the Rapids in the match, denying Obafemi Martins on several occasions after the big forward’s left-footer caromed off the bar in the 58th minute.
    The 1-0 win was enough for the Sounders to assert their primacy atop the West, sitting on 48 points after 25 games, while extending their winning and unbeaten runs to two and three, respectively. Colorado would inch towards history, tying the club’s all-time worst losing streak with a sixth-straight, but more importantly would drop one point further away from that final spot in the West by the end of the round.

    The action would swap over to the East for the next two matches, each with ramifications on the standings; up first, was Toronto against New England.
    Having carved a niche for themselves below the top two in the conference, a poor run of form that included three wins from their last twelve matches, had Toronto at risk of being drawn back into the crowded Eastern-race. New England, who themselves once enjoyed such a lofty perch, had finally come out of their summer coma, responding to the long losing streak with results in three of their last four.
    When the two last met, the opening goal came when Lee Nguyen intercepted a poor Doneil Henry pass to feed Patrick Mullins down the middle, the rookie finishing high past Julio Cesar. This time, it was another Toronto defender who provided the turnover and Nguyen himself who scored the goal, though a healthy dollop of blame should go Michael Bradley’s way as well. Mark Bloom’s pass to Bradley skipped past the midfielder into the path of Nguyen in the second minute of play; Nguyen walked through the middle of the pitch unhurried, to hit a perfectly-placed right-footer to the bottom, left-corner of the Toronto goal.
    New England would grab their second, again from a TFC turnover, in the 21st minute, when Bradley Orr’s ball to Dominic Oduro was picked off by Kelyn Rowe, who played a one-two with Nguyen, then ghosted past a half-hearted challenge from Bradley, before finding space to unleash a venomous right-footed drive from thirty yards that eluded Joe Bendik in the Toronto goal.
    Toronto would collect themselves, somewhat, to see out the rest of the half without conceding again, only to fall apart abysmally in the 58th minute leading to New England’s third of the afternoon. It was really rather comical; the play began when Bradley’s pass struck the back of the referee, falling to Rowe on the left, who blew past Collen Warner to lay Charlie Davies down the left-side of the box. Henry tried to collapse on the striker, but Davies alertly squared a ball to the open side, where Teal Bunbury, of course, touched into the gaping net with a simple right-footed finish. Disparagingly, it did not even seem as though Toronto bothered to chase back.
    The result secured, the Revolution would hand an MLS debut to recent-signing and American International, Jermaine Jones, who entered in the 65th minute to gain match-fitness and see out the result.
    With the 0-3 win, New England collect a second-straight three points and their third win in their last five matches to climb level with Toronto and Columbus for that third spot in the East on 33 points. The fall out for Toronto would come in quick succession, as now former-coach, Ryan Nelsen, criticized General Manager Tim Bezbatchenko’s media-meddling in his post-match comments and paid with his job on Sunday.
    Montreal 2 – Columbus 0
    Given Toronto’s stumble and an away match to league-basement dwellers Montreal, Columbus could be forgiven for putting the cart before the horse, especially considering the fine form in which they entered: riding a two-game winning streak, having scored three goals in each, as well as their recent record against Montreal, having won the last three encounters.
    But as is often the case, this match turned into a trap, as the Crew were held off the score-sheet and Impact newcomer, Ignacio Piatti scored his first two goals in MLS to see the hosts to the 2-0 win.
    His first would come in the 40th minute on a strong solo run up the left-channel, cutting inside to draw the attention of three defenders, before swiftly cutting back onto his left-foot with a deft fake to place a low shot across Crew keeper, Steve Clark, into the far-side of goal.
    The Impact would seal up defensively, riding the waves of pressure and looking to inflict further damage on the counterattack. They would have to wait until deep in stoppage-time to breathe easy; Piatti adding his second in the 95th minute after a Marco Di Vaio attack was snuffed out, only for the rebound to fall to the Argentine of the right-side of the box, he right-footed an emphatic finish past Clark.
    The 2-0 win was Montreal’s second win in their last three matches (but just their third in their last eleven); they sit thirteen points off the pace with nine matches remaining, too late for a push?
    Columbus meanwhile, pass up the chance to take sole possession of third in the East, instead crammed into a three-way tie with New England and Toronto.

    The race in the East would get even tighter after the next match, with Chicago pulling out a 1-0 win over a Dallas side to stay in stride with the rest of the conference.
    FC Dallas entered in good form, unbeaten in their last ten, riding a four-game winning streak, but with heavy hearts, as a well-loved academy player passed away midweek; they struggled to create any clear chances against a stingy Chicago defense.
    The Fire would have the best early look, Raul Fernandez getting down quick to parry a Lovell Palmer striker from distance and Dallas were perhaps fortunate that Matt Hedges’ tangle with Razvan Cocis did not result in a penalty, after the midfielder touched over the defender, who budged him to the ground.
    Sean Johnson would again come up big for his side, denying red-hot Fabian Castillo with a fine foot save before half-time and as the second half wore on, the match looked set for yet another draw.
    Chicago lead the league in draws, one shy of the all-time MLS single-season record, with fourteen already to their name, but recent-acquisition, Robert Earnshaw, who entered the match in the 63rd minute soon made his presence known.
    A right-sided corner kick was met at the back-post by Jeff Larentowicz, but his weak header was blocked by Hedges. Larentowicz would chase down the rebound, drifting wide to the left, hitting a shallow cross back into the middle, where Earnshaw popped up between a pair of defenders, flicking his header inside the far-post for the match’s only goal in the 83rd minute – it was his second is as many appearances for the club; two goals in 52 minutes on the pitch, not a bad reintroduction to the league.
    Earnshaw should perhaps have added another in the closing minutes, missing two good chances, but it mattered not, as Chicago saw out the 1-0 win to take their third-straight Brimstone Cup, the two-team trophy awarded to the winner of the season series, while moving one point closer to the final playoff spot.
    Dallas, who failed to find the back of the net for the first time in seven matches, fell to their first loss since May 31, dropping one spot in the West and further off the pace set by conference leaders, Seattle.

    Play switched over to the Western Conference with a pair of matches to close out Saturday night; up first was a Cascadia Cup affair between Vancouver and Portland.
    Both sides were coming off tough defeats last week, with Vancouver having lost at Los Angeles and Portland getting humbled at home against Seattle; more importantly, the two were separated by just two points, scrapping over the fifth and final playoff spot in the West.
    Neither could find an opener through a hard-fought first half; that would come six minutes after the restart, with Portland full-back Alvas Powell breaking the deadlock with a downward header at the near-post. Pa Modou Kah played up to Fanendo Adi, who swung the ball out wide to DiegoValeri on the right to hit a dangerous ball that Powell nodded home.
    Portland would double their lead in the 75th minute, when Michael Harrington blew past Matias Laba down the right and found Max Urruti with a low ball to the top of the area. The Argentine turned, smashing a right-footer from high at the near-post in off the underside of the bar.
    Rodney Wallace would add a third four minutes later, sneaking a left-footed finish under David Ousted after Darlington Nagbe poked a through-ball down the left-side of the box to spring his teammate on goal.
    The 0-3 win saw the Timbers leapfrog over the Whitecaps into that playoff spot, ahead by a single point, but having played one further match. Vancouver, who fell to a second-straight loss, have won just twice in their last ten matches.

    Saturday’s night cap provided the round’s only draw; a result that neither side would be pleased with, but for different reasons. San Jose entered sitting in eighth in the West, some eight points off the pace, and winless in their last four matches. Salt Lake had seen their unbeaten run ended last weekend in Dallas and were eager to make up ground on the three teams ahead of them in the conference.
    San Jose would strike first after fourteen minutes, when Chris Wondolowski pressured an unexpected turnover out of Kyle Beckerman off a lazy throw-in to break in down the left-side of the box. Wondolowski picked out Sam Cronin above the near-post with a neat pull-back and Cronin made no mistake, settling the ball before beating Nick Rimando with a low, left-footer across to the far-side of goal.
    Salt Lake would respond before half-time, though they were lucky to do so, as the penalty decision was frankly astonishing: Jordan Stewart was called for a mystery foul on Olmes Garcia when the forward flung himself towards a Abdoulie Mansally ball from the right he would not win. Morales, who began the play, would dispatch the spot-kick adroitly, sending Jon Busch moving early to his left with a slight hesitation, before tucking his right-footer to the keeper’s right in the 36th minute.
    Atiba Harris nearly reinstated the lead shortly thereafter, but Rimando made a miraculous save, clawing off the line, much to the Earthquakes chagrin.
    Neither side would find the winner and the match ended in a 1-1 draw, satisfying no one, as San Jose’s winless streak extends to five. Salt Lake did move up one spot, thanks to Dallas’ loss, but failed to make up ground on the top two.

    Sunday began with a classic MLS encounter, an Atlantic Cup match between DC and New York; again, vital points in the East were at stake for both sides.
    Having presented and honoured the 2004 Championship winning side pre-match, DC nearly got off to a wonderful start with Davy Arnaud playing in Fabian Espindola down the right inside of three minutes, but his low shot was denied by Luis Robles. New York would have taken the lead on the half-hour, were it not for some much-needed heroics from Bill Hamid, getting a strong hand on a Bradley Wright-Phillips header.
    In a tight match with a plethora of half-chances, strong goalkeeping and weak finishing conspired to keep both sides scoreless until a route one play from United would put the hosts in front. Hamid, having kept his side in the match, punted a long boot up-field, which Espindola flicked on for Luis Silva to chase. Ibrahim Sekagya halted his pursuit, incorrectly assuming Robles would win the footrace, but Silva got the touch to move past the on-rushing keeper and right-foot into the open net in the 57th minute.
    From then on, DC looked very dangerous on the counter; Eddie Johnson wasted one good chance with a horrible misplayed pass that left a wide-open Espindola frustrated, then Jamison Olave prevented Johnson from breaking in alone with an excellent tackle – Ben Olsen was convinced it was a foul (it was not); but Johnson would find his goal in the 91st minute, when Perry Kitchen sprung the offside trap with a long ball over the top and Johnson raced in on goal before popping a right-footed chipped-finish over Robles. The keeper got a touch, but not enough to prevent the ball finding the back of the net.
    With the 2-0 win – and Kansas City’s loss, DC stretch their lead atop the East to four points, drawing within two of league leaders Seattle, but having played one game more in the Supporters Shield chase, while responding to a disappointing midweek performance with their third win in their last four. New York, who lost their second in three matches, fell out of the final spot in the East to rest in sixth, two points behind Columbus.

    The weekend would close with an LA derby, Chivas playing host to the Galaxy at the ground they both call home.
    Los Ameri-Goats entered in woeful form, without a win in six matches, having not scored in over 450 minutes of action. LA, on the other hand, were in scintillating mood, winners of their last three and pushing hard for the top of the West and the league.
    Handing debuts to recent acquisitions Nigel Reo-Coker and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Chivas were solid through the first half-hour, though the Galaxy’s quality was on display, with Dan Kennedy repeatedly called upon to make saves.
    The Galaxy would find their breakthrough in the 41st minute on a quick break after Alan Gordon held up on the left, before dishing to Landon Donovan, who broke up-field curling his run into the middle. Donovan would find Gyasi Zardes lurking on the left-side of the area, alertly drifting off the outside of the Chivas defenders to create space and the striker would do the rest, right-footing a first-time finish across Kennedy to the far-side of goal.
    LA had the ball in the back of the net again before half-time, but Gordon, who knocked down the Donovan free-kick for Omar Gonzalez was offside.
    Robbie Keane, who began the match on the bench, would add the second in the 68th minute with a sumptuous chipped finish after receiving a ball from Marcelo Sarvas in the middle, nutmegging his way past Hurtado to beat Kennedy with a right-footer from the top of the arc.
    And Zardes would complete his brace three minutes later, right-footing into an open net on the end of a lovely LA build-up. Baggio Husidic played a ball across the top of the box, which Donovan dummied allowing it to fall to Keane, who fed a ball down the right-side of the box for Donovan’s run. Unselfishly, Landon squared to a wide open Zardes on the left for a simple finish.
    The 0-3 win was LA’s fourth-straight, marching up the conference to sit within two points of Seattle. Chivas fall to a second-straight defeat, their sixth in their last seven matches, stretching their winless run to seven, while extending their goal-drought to some 546 minutes.
    CanCon
    The extended review of the Canadian performances this round will have to be pushed to Wednesday, as Toronto FC’s midweek match has the author crunched for time – there is a preview to be written. It will feature strong performances from the usual suspects, with Will Johnson, Patrice Bernier, and Dwayne De Rosario topping the list, as well as a cameo from Sam Adekugbe in Vancouver.
    Overheard
    MLS is a tight-knit community; with inter-league trade under the single-entity structure the order of the day many players have friends and former teammates spread throughout, not to mention the national team ties between competitors.
    As such, when the story of AJ DeLaGarza’s yet-to-be-born son emerged last week, the league was collectively reminded that while it is loved, this is merely a game. DeLaGarza took to the pitch on Wednesday with a lot on his mind and put in a wonderful performance, playing the final pass on LA’s 26-pass sequence goal and his teammates offered their support, revealing ‘Luca Knows Heart’ shirts with each goal.
    Afterwards he commented: “When I step on the field, everything is forgotten off the field just for 90 minutes. Today, obviously I got reminded when people scored goals and came up to me, which was a nice touch and a nice gesture for everyone that has a part in it.”
    DeLaGarza continued, “It was emotional. It was a good touch and class from not only this team and my teammates, but the League and allowing us to do it and Marcelo [sarvas] and [Juninho] for thinking of the idea.”
    It was a classy move from the league to set aside the silly ‘excessive celebration’ card for revealing the messaged undershirts.
    Luca was born the following day; send some well wishes their way.
    As a defender, Peter Vermes was not pleased with the two set-piece goals that his side conceded on Friday, noting: “I'll be turning 48 here in a couple of months. If you give me the same situation that Horst had, where I'm standing in front of the goal and I'm by myself, and the ball gets served in on the inside of the 6-yard box, I'm going to put it in the back of the net. Anybody can do that.”
    Things had been too quiet in mad-hat TFC-land; that came to an end on Saturday as after their loss to New England, Ryan Nelsen let loose on Tim Bezbatchenko’s meddling-encouragement, calling on his side to step up in the absence of several starters – interestingly, the MLSsoccer.com post proclaiming the comments did not appear on the TFC site, nor were they included in the club’s post-game press release
    Quote Nelsen: “The guys came out stiff, they looked a wee bit aggravated mentally I think, and they felt like it this was way more of a pressure game than actually it was.” When asked whether Bezbatchenko’s comments were helpful, Nelsen responded: “Not at all. Absolutely not.”
    He continued, “There were 11 games left in the season, with two games in hand and in third position. I’ve won this league, played in it for four years, been in the Premier League for 10 years, played in a World Cup, Olympics, played in some pretty hot, pressured games, and the one thing that I do know is this was not one of them. It affected the guys. What we do at Toronto FC is we keep it in house. Everything we do we keep inside the four walls. The players, coaching staff, everything, stays in the four walls. So if you are going to criticize anybody today, it’s me. I picked the team; I tried to play a certain style; criticize me and leave the players out of it.”
    "But unfortunately, things happen. It didn’t help, and as you saw at the start of the game, I think the guys were very, very, let’s just say, aggravated, when it’s not even a pressure game.” He ended, clearly keeping it in house.
    He would be relieved of his duties on Sunday, with Bezbatchenko flexing his muscles, to be replaced by Greg Vanney.
    See It Live
    Plenty of must-see moments from the round:
    There was the usual bevy of beauty saves, most notably Bill Hamid on Gyasi Zardes; Sean Johnson on Fabian Castillo; Nick Rimando on Atiba Harris; and Hamid again, this time on Bradley Wright-Phillips.
    There were some handbags in Kansas City, as shoves between Benny Feilhaber and Kofi Sarkodie drew a crowd, resulting in yellow cards for the initial combatants – unsurprisingly, Aurelien Collin was in the centre of the escalation.
    Some fine defensive plays were on display – Thomas Piermayr’s block on Clint Dempsey was excellent; Jamison Olave’s tackle on Eddie Johnson was superb, despite what Ben Olsen though.
    Vancouver fans were provided a glimpse of what could be the most exciting duo for the run in, with Pedro Morales and Mauro Rosales getting acquainted with each other. Morales’ flick to Rosales was amazing, and Rosales returned the favour with this excellent cross. Morales has been a revelation for the Whitecaps and with another intelligent attacking footballer in his midst, it is possible he will only get better.
    Jon Busch’s face of incredulity at the penalty decision can be seen below, while Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi took out his frustration with the official by punting the ball away in anger – he was whistled for a high boot on Joao Plata, which is an oxymoron of sorts.
    Controversy
    The referees kept themselves on the periphery this round, more or less, with fewer penalty kicks and red cards than most other rounds, but still, they could not help from inserting themselves a little.
    There were two phantom penalty kicks: this one in LA, where Steve Birnbaum ‘hauled’ Omar Gonzalez to the ground; at least it had little impact on the result. The same could not be said of the decision in San Jose, where Jordan Stewart (or Jason Hernandez, it wasn’t exactly clear) was called for ‘fouling’ Olmes Garcia, allowing Javier Morales to equalize.
    Seattle’s Zach Scott was perhaps lucky to only see yellow for this challenge of Nick LaBrocca – given that Portland’s Norberto Paparotto was suspended for a similar incident on Chard Marshall last weekend (one that had Sigi Schmid livid on the touch-lines), Scott may be hearing from the DisCo.
    There was a trio of possible calls in Toronto: first, Teal Bunbury high boot into the chest of Collen Warner that only saw a yellow, then AJ Soares fierce clearance that caught Doneil Henry in the face – no foul was called on the play), and finally, the
    , precipitating the turnover when he blocked a TFC pass – why they simply don’t blow play dead on such occasions is baffling.Montreal’s Felipe let loose a weak dive as did Luis Silva, though neither was punished – yet; and there perhaps could have been a penalty awarded for Chicago when Matt Hedges was bamboozled by Razvan Cocis’ touch over him – the two tangled to the ground as the Fire attacker tried to ghost past the defender.
    Upcoming Fixtures
    The calendar turns to September and MLS inches closer to the playoffs; nine weeks remain in the regular season.
    Round 26 sees a trio of midweek matches before a full slate of weekend fixtures. The home-and-away series between Philadelphia and Toronto should be good – these two have had some fierce scraps in the past, while Houston and Montreal have had bad blood since the Brian Ching-Expansion Draft affair. The Salt Lake-Dallas rematch could be crucial to the West, as should New England-Chicago on Sunday, while double-game weeks for Kansas City and Chivas will definitely see movement on the table.
    Wednesday: Philadelphia-Toronto; New England-Kansas City; Chivas-Seattle. Friday: Los Angeles-Colorado. Saturday: Toronto-Philadelphia; New York-Kansas City; Houston-Montreal; Salt Lake-Dallas; Vancouver-DC. Sunday: Columbus-Chivas; Portland-San Jose; New England-Chicago.
    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
    You can find his full gallery from the game (and many other photos) on Tom's own website HERE.
     

    The teams come out, ready for battle


    The Whitecaps' starting XI


    The Caps warm up as the tifo is unveiled


    Morales to Rosales - get used to this


    But on this occasion Pedro heads over


    Alvas Powell ghosts in to give Portland a 51st minute lead


    And he celebrates his debut MLS goal in from of the travelling Timbers


    Mauro Rosales nearly ties it up but it's into the side netting


    And that miss if punished when Maxi Urruti makes it 2-0 in the 75th minute


    Beating David Ousted all ends up as it crashes of the bar and in


    And lets him do his irritating celebration


    But worse is to come when Darlington Nagbe slips in Rodney Wallace


    And Wallace makes it 3-0


    Mauro Rosales - easily the Whitecaps' 'man of the match'


    Even with a crucial win, it takes a lot for Will Johnson to smile


    Carl Robinson answers some difficult questions post game

    ** Tom goes by the name Residual Image on Twitter. Give him a follow. **
    Michael Mccoll
    Vancouver were served up a three goal hammering by Portland Timbers that dealt a serious blow to their playoff hopes but gave those of their Cascadian rivals a massive boost.
    Second half goals from Alvas Powell, Maxi Urruti and Rodney Wallace did the damage in a 3-0 victory that never saw Vancouver at the races.
    Carl Robinson made some changes. With Johnny Leveron suspended, Kendall Waston came in for his home debut, and first MLS start, in the centre of defence. Matias Laba returned from his own suspension and new signing Mauro Rosales took his place in the right of midfield.
    All that was expected. What wasn't was Erik Hurtado leading the attack, and I use the words 'leading' and 'attack' very, very loosely. With only one striker named to the bench, Darren Mattocks, it was clear from the start that this wasn't going to be an offensive powerhouse game from the Caps, but you would have thought that they would have at least had something.
    The Whitecaps brought the game to Portland early it only took five minutes for Mauro Rosales and Pedro Morales to combine, with the Chilean heading over a perfect cross from eight yards out.
    Kekuta Manneh was next to try his luck three minutes later after a good run, but his shot had the pace taken off it and easily went into the arms of Donovan Ricketts.
    It was clearly early on just what an aerial presence Kendall Waston was going to bring to the Vancouver attack at set pieces and he did well to lose Liam Ridgewell to get on the end of a Morales corner 16 minutes in, but the Costa Rican could only head high and over.
    Portland were hardly in the game as an attacking threat, with a Fanendo Adi shot into the side netting about all they had to show for things. Both teams seemed a little nervy in a goalless first half, with neither side able to get any dangerous attacks going.
    It took just six minutes of the second half however for the game to kick into life and it was the visitors that grabbed the goal that did it.
    Portland had put Vancouver under bit of pressure at the start of the second period and it paid off when Alvas Powell was allowed to run to the near post and head home a Diego Valeri cross unchallenged.
    Vancouver were sparked into life but still had not attacking threat of note and Darren Mattocks came on at the hour mark and immediately added some.
    The Jamaican ran on goal in the 66th minute but with little room or options could only fire a shot straight at Ricketts.
    Vancouver's best chance came in the 73rd minute when Rosales played a neat one-two with Erik Hurtado but crashed a fierce shot into the side netting.
    It was to prove a costly miss as Portland went two up moments later when their two subs combined to leave the Vancouver defence standing watching.
    Michael Harrington sent a cross from the left to Maxi Urruti at the edge of the box and the Argentine had time to turn and crash home off the bar.
    Worse was to come for Vancouver in the 79th minute when Darlington Nagbe slipped in Rodney Wallace, who easily hit the ball past Ousted for 3-0.
    And that was it. It was a horrorshow for Vancouver and the win now sees them drop below the red playoff line with Portland taking their place. They'll need to pick themselves up quickly, with the Eastern Conference leading DC United coming to town next Saturday in a game they simply need to win to stay in touch.
    FINAL SCORE: Vancouver Whitecaps 0 - 3 Portland Timbers
    ATT: 21,000 sell-out
    VANCOUVER: David Ousted; Steven Beitashour, Andy O'Brien, Kendall Waston, Jordan Harvey n(Sam Adekugbe 80); Matias Laba, Russell Teibert, Mauro Rosales, Pedro Morales, Kekuta Manneh (Darren Mattocks 60); Erik Hurtado (Sebastian Fernandez 76) [subs Not Used: Paolo Tornaghi, Ethen Sampson, Mehdi Ballouchy, Nicolas Mezquida]
    PORTLAND: Donovan Ricketts; Alvas Powell (Michael Harrington 74), Pa Modou Kah, Liam Ridgewell, Jorge Villafana, Will Johnson, Diego Valeri, Diego Chara, Darlington Nagbe, Fenando Adi (Maxi Urruti 68), Rodney Wallace [subs Not Used: Andrew Weber, Gaston Fernandez, Jack Jewsbury, Ben Zemanski, Danny O'Rourke]
    REACTION:
    VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
    CARL ROBINSON
    Thoughts on the match:
    "We got a doing today for the first time this season, me included. I don't think we were at our top performance levels that we've been most of the games this season at home. It's unfortunate because it was a fantastic opportunity for us and we sort of let ourselves down a little bit, not from effort but just maybe from concentration at certain moment of the game."
    Thoughts on the loss:
    "It's never nice to lose any game, whether you lose 1-0 or 3-0. They were better than us today. You go through our players and their players and their players probably come out on top in most individual battles. When you're 1-0 down we tried to change it and we had one or two half chances to get back into it at 2-0 and then they scored the third and we're chasing shadows at the end. Frustrating for us but I don’t think we were a threat throughout the game, and that was probably our biggest concern for me."
    On the state of the defence for the three goals:
    "I haven’t seen it, I just saw the ball hit the back of the net three times and them celebrating. So I’ll analyze it, I don’t think it’s good when you concede three goals. You don’t win many games when you do that. So we’ll look at it individually and collectively but any time you concede three goals at home it’s not good."
    Concerns about the mentality of the team:
    "No, because we’ve got nine games to go. Those boys in there and myself have put ourselves in this situation. It’s on us collectively to get ourselves out of that situation. The beauty about this game is there’s always another game. Our next game is in seven days’ time against a very good team."
    Did calling it a "massive" game put too much pressure put on the players?:
    "Maybe, maybe it could have been. It was a massive game, a rivalry game for us at home against a team that’s competing for the playoff spot so I could say it’s just another normal game but I wouldn’t have been honest, and that’s one thing I am. It was a massive game for us and we lost. So we take it on the chin and move on."
    Where has Whitecaps' attack gone?:
    "I’m not sure. I think it’s something we’ve got to look at because you’re right they (the Timbers) have conceded a lot of goals. But today they didn’t seem in any danger. Even if we would have hit our levels of attack in play I still don’t think we would have scored three goals. It’s something we have to look at individually and collectively and as a staff as well and find a solution. Because we’re not going to win games if you keep conceding goals."
    On the players’ inability to capitalize in important games:
    "I don’t know, we’ll see in the next nine games because there are going to be more games where we need to win. There are going to be more massive games and must win games. There are twenty seven points to play for at the moment. We disappointed today, we were beaten by the better team and we move on. We look forward to next Saturday because it’s another big game for us."
    On how the starters played:
    "I thought we did well in the first half. I think it was a very tense game and I said it literally after Pedro (Morales) went down and got a kick on his foot I said ‘whoever scores the first goal wins this game.’ I really did believe that and we really just got a little disjointed. Because Pedro got that little kick and Steven (Beitashour) was having a problem with his hip as well. They started to dictate the tempo of the game for the five or six minutes after it and then they scored. And then I was wishing that I hadn’t thought that the first goal was going to win the game. I was trying to get that thought out of my head but it proved right."
    On if the team can come back with only nine games left in the season:
    "I suppose I can answer that in nine games. Teams drop points, I think it’s just an indication of the league today. Seattle last week went to Portland and beat them very comfortably, we beat Seattle when they played here, I think deservedly so. And Portland deservedly beat us. I think that goes to show the dynamic of the league, that on any given day if you perform you can win any game of football. And if you don’t perform like we didn’t today, you’re going to lose."
    Where is the hope for fans that the team will perform?
    "It’s been in the first twenty plus games. We’ve shown that we can do it, we haven’t done it recently, and we’ve got to find a way to do that. Whether it’s a slight adjustment in the formation or its changing personnel but we know we can do it, we just haven’t been doing it. So we take responsibility for that. I take responsibility for that and we go again. There are teams that lose five, six, seven games on the trot but they still get into the playoffs along the line. We’ve been beaten today by the better team in a rivalry game which is disappointing. You know, I’m disappointed for the 22-thousand that came out today because they were brilliant. I accept responsibility for it and I’ll make sure the boys are up for it next week."
    Any worries that Pedro Morales has played too many games in a row:
    "I hope not. He’s played 13 months now nonstop which is why when I make the decision to leave him out and rest him it’s because I can sort of sense it. And maybe I get a bit of criticism when I leave him out. I’ve got to be careful of how I handle him because we’ve seen how good he can be. Today, he was okay. When he plays well we play well. And today he didn’t play to the levels of how we’ve seen him this season."
    On if Pedro Morales was getting targeted at all today by Portland:
    "In every game he gets targeted. If I was playing him I’d target him. We talk about repetitive fouling and all of that and there was quite a bit of that."
    The most concerning aspect of the game:
    "I’m disappointed because we lost a game. I don’t think we deserved to win. First half was tense but the second half we came out flat and conceded the first goal. And I think once that went in we couldn’t find an answer for that. I said it before the game they’re a very good team they won the western conference last year. So we knew it wasn’t going to be easy and it was a test for us and we failed a test today. And we move on. So disappointing but we’ve got to bounce back from that. They managed to bounce back from their defeat last week. We’ve got to bounce back our two defeats now. It’s probably the first time we’ve been well beaten this season and deservedly so today."
    On Gershon Koffie missing three games and how valuable of a player he is:
    "He’s a good player for us. I think everyone knows that, he’s been outstanding all year. The three games he’s missed now we’ve lost two. We haven’t really performed. He’s a big player, if you miss your big players it’s hard so we hope we get him back soon."
    On putting Erik Hurtado in up front:
    "First thought was that Darren (Mattocks) needed a bit of a rest, you know against LA last week he didn’t cover as much distance as he should have done. I spoke to him before the LA game with the intention of leaving him out for this game and he didn’t want that. I’ve got two centre forwards, I’ve got Darren and I’ve got Erik. So I was always going to leave him back one of these two games. I think Erik did well today without being the threat that I want him to be in that role."
    Thoughts on the team not having a natural goal scorer:
    "Natural goal scorers are very few and far between if you look throughout the league. We’ve got players that can score goals. They are the players that we’ve got and we are moving on with them and I’m confident that they can give us the goals that we need."
    Thoughts on almost bringing Ethen Sampson on before first goal:
    "Steven Beitashour was 50/50 up until yesterday and if he wasn’t good to go Ethen was going to play. At halftime you stiffen up if you’re an older player and Steven stiffened up a little bit just prior to when the goal went in. I was going to throw in the young kid because he has been good in training but I thought Steven was going to get through it and he did so he is lucky that he hasn’t been injured because he does have a bit of a hip problem."
    Subbing Jordan Harvey off to give Sam Adekugbe some playing time:
    "I wanted to have a look at Sam. Jordan at some point is going to come off for a game or two. So I think it was important to give Sam some minutes in front of this fantastic crowd and that was it."
    JORDAN HARVEY
    Thoughts on the match:
    "Obviously disappointed. Any time you lose at home you’re going to be disappointed, three- zero. I think collectively as a group it just wasn’t good enough, they outplayed us tonight."
    On subbing off late in the game:
    "Well I think everyone is frustrated, I don’t think it was just coming off. We go down a goal, we push for the second, we pushed for one to equalize, we had a couple opportunities there, we don’t take them, and then they come down and punish us again, and then after that their third goal was just us pushing forward and kind of losing our legs because of that. Coming off, not coming off, still frustrating."
    On generating more chances up front:
    "I think first off forget about this game. This was a one off, I don’t think we’ve been outplayed all season, this was really the first time I think, in my eyes. Just go back to the drawing board, try to go back to how we were earlier in the season, maybe midseason at home or every other game besides this at home, go back to that, and regroup and get ready for DC."
    On dropping out of a playoff spot with the loss:
    "You know, it’s frustrating for a number of reasons, losing three-zero at home is one, them being a Cascadia rival is another. We didn’t really step up to the plate in terms of that, it’s a massive game, and we just didn’t do well enough. There’s a lot of reasons, obviously dropping points to them is another. You know I could go on and on, but overall it was just a bad night for us."
    On not capitalizing on other team’s results:
    "Well we obviously didn’t know the result going into this game, so I don’t think the results were a factor. You know, anytime we try to get a buffer, we still have a game on them, so we can still do that. We’ve got a few games at home coming up, and we’re just going to try to look forward to that, and try to get back the points."
    KENDALL WASTON
    Thoughts on the game:
    "Well this is difficult, because when you lose you’re always trying to find out why you lose, but really now we have to wait and see, and look forward for the next game because we have nine more games, so this is not it. We are thinking that we can do it, we have faith that we can do it. You have bad days, and this was a bad day. We weren’t playing bad, we were playing good, but football is making goals, and they scored so now we have to look forward to the next match, and hopefully we can win."
    On what went wrong defensively:
    "It’s easy now to point at the wrong things about the goals, and it’s difficult to make a decision right now on what we did wrong, because we are not calm, so it’s better when we go to the house and watch the video, and see what we did wrong, and make sure we don’t do it again. So hopefully we can get better every day."
    On his own performance:
    "Really I don’t think about myself. I prefer not playing well and the team winning, so obviously everyone wants to play well, I think I played a good game, my teammates too, but football is about goals, and we just couldn’t score."
    PORTLAND TIMBERS
    CALEB PORTER
    On the various personnel changes and how the changes were successful in this match:
    "The credit 100 per cent goes to the players. Coaches can make decisions but they’re never good decisions unless the players execute. I thought from start to finish, both sides of the ball, it was the most complete performance of the year. Maybe the most complete performance since I’ve been here, against a very good team on the road. It feels good to be above the red line for the first time. A lot of teams would have quit, a lot of teams would have unraveled, this team hasn’t. We kept fighting and we kept pushing. And here we are, above the red line where we feel we belong. But now we have to stay there and we've got some very important games ahead."
    On the victory:
    "This was a real statement game. I think it was an important one to get confidence from as well. It was an important one to get a clean sheet. We got three goals, we had some great performances out of some guys who haven’t played quite as much. Alvas Powell, Jorge Villafana and I thought Kah was tremendous. And then you had the usual suspects And Rodney Wallace is back. It’s the first game I can honestly say he’s back, 100 per cent. He showed what he’s capable of doing in terms of goal production. It was a team effort and the players deserve all the credit."
    On the decision to push Powell and Villafana forward up the flanks:
    "I think a lot of it was predicated on the last game they played, which was a really good performance in Guyana. For me, I knew I couldn’t play them the next game because they were going to be fatigued. But I always in the back of my mind thought based on that game that I would have some tough decisions regardless of how that [seattle] game went. I’m real happy that we’re able to get back to playing the way we want to play. And we looked like the team that I want my team to look like. I was real proud of them."
    On keeping a clean sheet:
    "I thought it was a real team effort defensively. Obviously the back line and the goalkeeper get the bulk of the credit and the brunt of the blame, but they need help. And I thought today that they got help. But I also thought the back line really did a nice job defending some really talented attacking players. Hurtado, Mattocks, Kekuta, Rosales, Morales, these guys are very good players. And we didn’t give them much. But it helped having the front guys chipped in."
    On why they didn’t sit back against the Whitecaps:
    "That’s just not who I am. I’m not going to put a team out that sits back. Obviously we were smart with how we managed our lines. We talked this week about being okay if we do end up dropping deeper. But fortunately we were threatening them so much and we had so much of the ball that we didn’t end up having to drop much. I think that was the real key. But when the ball did turn over, we were organized. I think the key is that we got numbers behind the ball and we weren’t stretched."
    On shutting down Morales:
    "I thought Chara did a really nice job on Morales. I can’t remember Morales doing much on the day. We sat Chara a little bit more and locked him in on Morales. I thought that was a key because in some games we haven’t had that protection in the hole. I thought Chara did a really good job on Morales, who I think is one of the best attacking mids in the league."
    JORGE VILLAFANA
    On what it means to be over the red line:
    "It means a lot because we were always fighting to get on top of that red line and finally we did it today, with a good performance. This is going to help boost our confidence going forward and we need to keep building on this and turn to the next game."
    On whether it was their best performance of the season:
    "I think we played a great game. In the first half, we had the ball, and in the second half, we completely shut them down. I think they didn’t create anything, maybe once, but it was out of our turnover. I think we dominated them on both sides of the ball, attacking and defending, in the second half, and this win gives us confidence going into the next games."
    DARLINGTON NAGBE
    Thoughts on the match:
    "I think it went well, first half we kept it tight, 0-0, which is what we wanted. You always want to be either ahead or tied at halftime. Second half, we kept the ball out and the goals fell for us."
    On the message from head coach Caleb Porter:
    "He just told us to come out and try to deny them getting service and cut off their wide game, which is what they’re good at. So, we did the best we could to stop them from getting forward on the outside and try to counter, which worked out for us."
    On what they’ll take from this match into next week’s game against San Jose:
    "Well, we kept a clean sheet, which is something we haven’t done in a while. I thought we defended really well this game. We need to do the same against San Jose, defend well, play like we did today, and we’ll have success."
    On what it means to get into a playoff spot, especially jumping Vancouver in the process:
    "It feels good. Both of us are right there, they were right above us, right above the red line where we wanted to be. We knew this game was going to be close, and to finally get above that red line, where we’ve wanted to be all season, it feels great, and now we’re looking forward to San Jose."
    ALVAS POWELL
    On how it felt coming in and scoring his first goal:
    "It’s a great feeling. I have always wanted to score, and it finally came true tonight. Hard work paid off."
    On how important his performance was in such an important match:
    "It’s very important. I’ve been working really hard in training and scored goals in training, so when this opportunity came, I was ready."
    On how his spell in Sacramento helped his performance:
    "In Sacramento, it was good. I worked really hard down there so I could come back to Portland and start playing."
    On what he was thinking after scoring:
    "A lot of things were running through my mind. I wanted to do a little dance or something, but I was really happy."
    Guest
    Toronto FC have called a news conference for Sunday afternoon where they are expected to announce the dismissal of manager Ryan Nelsen and the majority of the TFC coaching staff.
    Nelsen's departure will be made official at 4 p.m. ET when General Manager Tim Bezbatchenko meets with the media.
    Bezbatchenko discussed TFC's performance ahead of Saturday's match against the New England Revolution, a match Toronto lost 3-0 at BMO Field.
    The Red's coach stated that Bezbatchenko's comments put pressure on his team and "absolutely" didn't help matters.
    CSN will have all of the reaction after the press conference.
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