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    James Grossi
    Cyle Larin
    Larin made his second-straight start for Orlando City as they beat Colorado 2-0 midweek in Round 17, adding another goal to his impressive rookie campaign – it was his tenth start and thirteenth appearance of the season.
    Following a quiet first half, Larin came to life in the second, making a good near-post run towards a cross from Carlos Rivas on the left. Similar movement allowed him to direct a right-sided Rafael Ramos cross on goal, but it was easily saved.
    Having gotten his aim set, Larin would score in the 62nd minute, getting on the end of another Rivas ball as the speedy wide attacker beat Joseph Greenspan down the left to hit a curling ball behind the Colorado back-line. Larin arrived perfectly to guide a right-footed touch past Clint Irwin to give the hosts the lead - it was his sixth goal for Orlando this year.
    The Brampton, Ontario-native contributed defensively as well, covering the dangerous Drew Moor on a Rapids free-kick, marking him all the way back to the Lions six-yard box.
    Larin had three shots – two on and one off, completed seven of eight passes, and added a clearance to his name before making way for Pedro Ribeiro in the 69th minute.
    Prior to departing for the Canada camp, Larin discussed the result post-match.
    Jonathan Osorio
    Osorio started both of TFC's Round 17 matches, beating Montreal 3-1 on Wednesday and drawing 0-0 against a steadfast DC United on Saturday – they were his eleventh and twelfth starts of the season.
    Against Montreal in a thrilling Toronto night, Osorio was excellent in the build-up, completing all but four of his some-35 passes, making seven recoveries, two tackles, and an interception; getting a little dirty with a pair of fouls.
    As he has in recent weeks, the Toronto, Ontario-native looked more and more comfortable with his role in a midfield dominated by Michael Bradley and Sebastian Giovinco's need to get on the ball. Drifting wide, Osorio would receive a ball from deep and look to feed either of his higher profile teammates, alternative wide and central movements in search of the ball and space.
    He showed some excellent footwork out wide, skipping over a tackle to set up Giovinco, who saw his attempt blocked. And nearly stole in on goal himself, making an overlapping run down the left to get on the end of a Jozy Altidore pass.
    The ball was a tad underhit, allowing Bakary Soumare to get in the required blocking tackle – Osorio's only attempt at goal, blocked.
    Come Saturday, he reprised his left-sided midfield role with another sublime passing display, completing all but four of his 37 attempts.
    His aim was still a little off, that first goal of the season still proving elusive, dragging a low shot from the top of the box after Giovinco found him atop the arc. Osorio stepped around the sliding Nick DeLeon, but his effort was wide of the right-post.
    Osorio showed further good vision to lay a ball down the left-side of the area, picking out the run of Giovinco with a through-ball, but Bill Hamid was equal to the threat.
    He added four recoveries and a foul to his afternoon.
    Jay Chapman
    Chapman featured in both of TFC's Round 17 matches, coming on as a sub in each, before getting his first MLS start the following week in LA – bring his season appearance total up to five.
    Against Montreal, he came on in the 78th minute for Marky Delgado with Toronto already in a 2-1 lead – a third would seal up the result shortly. Chapman contributed some strong work down the right side, both offensively and defensively, sending in a good cross that won a corner kick and helping to see out the victory.
    He completed seven of his ten passes, adding two recoveries and a tackle, committing one foul.
    In DC on Saturday, the Brampton, Ontario-native again came on in the 78th minute, this time for Osorio, once more putting in a solid, if brief, shift.
    He completed eight of ten passes, made two tackles and a recovery, committing another single foul.
    There was one play in particular that showed a glimpse of what Chapman can be: a tenacious and versatile central midfielder with good range. He drifted out wide to confront Chris Korb on the ball, muscling him off it, then deftly plucking away the now-loosened ball to initiate a Toronto move – very well done.
    The rookie would get his first start in LA a week later, manning the left-side of the midfield.
    Despite the tough outing for Toronto – they lost 4-0 – Chapman showed well, intercepting a Baggio Husidic ball and laying a pass down the left for Giovinco that was a little too far ahead of the Italian phenom.
    A Justin Morrow ball was played a touch beyond his reach and a cross into the area from Chapman was cut out by Leonardo.
    Defensively he was solid, intercepting a Robbie Keane ball played across the top of the box and clearing the danger, tracking back to hurry Keane on a later chance, preventing the hat-trick scorer from getting a clean shot off from the top of the arc, and hacking down Robbie Rogers in the middle, escaping a booking for his zealotry.
    He would make way for Dan Lovitz in the 70th minute – his longest outing of the season – having completed 27 of 35 passes, making four recoveries and a clearance, conceding just a single foul.
    He was back on the bench in Round 19 when Toronto played in New York.
    Kofi Opare
    Opare returned to the starting lineup following a two-match absence for DC's Round 17 midweek match in Chicago, taking up his left-sided centre-back role alongside Bobby Boswell.
    Opare barely missed a beat, rising up with the Chicago keeper to guide a header wide from a left-sided Luis Silva corner kick and showing a stellar burst of pace to get back and pressure Kennedy Igboananike on a break, forced a rushed shot that hit the outside of the post.
    That same recovery ability was on display again when Mike Magee was able to ghost in behind the DC back-line, receiving a long pass from Guly do Prado. Opare made up the ground quickly, preventing Magee from making the most of his fortune.
    Having completed 24 of 30 passes, while racking up seven clearances, five recoveries, four interceptions, and two tackles on the night, Opare was a massive presence in the air as Chicago flung ball in late, looking for an equalizer, helping his side see out the 0-1 win away from home.
    Despite that impressive contribution, the Niagara Falls-raised Opare was an unused substitute on the weekend in Toronto and again the following round when DC travelled to Seattle.
    Ashtone Morgan
    Having missed the midweek round, Morgan returned to the Toronto starting eleven on Saturday to make one final appearance before joining Canada – it was his twelfth start of the season.
    From his familiar left-back role, Morgan was able to find acres of space up that flank with DC laying off and staying compact.
    His best play of the match was a sneaky throw-in combination with Giovinco that nearly allowed the Italian maestro to steal in down the left-side of the area.
    The Toronto, Ontario-native would be scythed down by Facundo Coria in the 89th minute, the DC sub seeing a yellow card for his action, and Morgan would have a go at goal himself from distance following a half-cleared corner kick, but it was blocked.
    He completed just seventeen of his 32 passes, but made five recoveries, four tackles, three clearances, and an interception, winning a trio of fouls in the process.
    Maxim Tissot
    Tissot got the nod when Montreal visited Toronto for a midweek Round 17 encounter, making his fourth start of the season.
    On the left-side of the midfield, the Gatineau, Quebec-native had a rather quiet match. He had one good passage, making a strong inside run that led to a chance for Jack McInerney. That attempt was blocked and Andres Romero's follow-up went wide.
    Tissot contributed at the back on occasion, tracking deep to help contain and pester Giovinco.
    He completed fifteen of 23 passes, made two recoveries, one clearance, and one tackle, before being replaced by Duka in the 57th minute.
    He was on the bench come the weekend when Montreal travelled to Philadelphia.
    Tesho Akindele
    Akindele began Dallas' Texas derby against Houston on the bench, coming on in the 60th minute for David Texeira, to make his final appearance before the Gold Cup – it was his fifteenth appearance of the season and sixth from the bench.
    With his side already ahead by two goals, Akindele injected some energy into seeing out the result, beating DaMarcus Beasley to whip a low ball through the box and getting past the full-back once more to pick out Mauro Diaz with a pull-back – it was cut out before reaching it's target.
    Akindele too chipped in defensively, winning a corner kick in his own area.
    The Calgary, Alberta-native completed 19 of his 22 passes, made three recoveries and a clearance in his half-hour, winning a pair of foul and conceding one.
    One day earlier, it was announced that he had extended his tenure with Dallas, signing a new, multi-year deal that will see him with the club through 2018.
    Patrice Bernier
    Bernier featured in both of Montreal's Round 17 matches, coming on as a sub in Toronto before starting way to Philadelphia on the weekend.
    Against Toronto, the Brossard, Quebec-native entered the fray in the 77th minute for Ignacio Piatti, completing ten of his twelve passing, adding three recoveries, an interception, and a clearance in his brief cameo.
    Inserted into the starting eleven in Philly, sitting deep in the midfield alongside Callum Mallace, Bernier had a difficult evening against a rampant Union attack, hitting their stride, though Montreal scrapped to a 2-2 draw.
    He would see a yellow card in the 22nd minute – his first of the season – for blocking off a Cristian Maidana run, ending a potential counterattack.
    Bernier would come up with a key block in the area against Maidana who attempted an end-line run. Having cut back on Laurent Ciman, Maidana looked to play into the area, but Bernier stayed with him, ending the threat.
    With Philadelphia on the front foot, Bernier was forced to do a lot of deep tracking.
    He would pick up a second yellow card in the 67th minute for a rash sliding challenge on Vincent Nogueira, who attempted to initiate another counter. The ensuing red card was Bernier's first in MLS in his 95th appearance for the Impact.
    It was very uncharacteristic of the veteran midfielder, who has seen just thirteen bookings in his four seasons with Montreal, though it was his fourth foul of the match.
    Bernier's passing was again supreme, missing just one of some thirty attempts, adding five recoveries, two clearances, two tackles, and an interception prior to departing.
    He owned up to his error post-match.
    Having served his one-match suspension, Bernier was on the bench against Columbus in Round 19.
    Marcel de Jong
    de Jong made his eighth start of the season for Kansas City as they beat Colorado 2-0 on the Saturday night of Round 17 – it was his ninth and final appearance before a Gold Cup enforced hiatus.
    Ostensibly manning the left-back position, de Jong was an attacking force, winning a corner kick with an early cross that greatly troubled Clint Irwin and ballooning a later effort well over the bar.
    His flair in attack is admirable – he made a dashing inside run in the 41st minute to collect a knockdown from Krisztian Nemeth and laying a ball down the side of the area for Dom Dwyer, it skipped just beyond the striker's reach – but when committed forward, it leaves him capable of being exposed at the back – his positioning was found faulty when Luis Solignac was sent in down the attacking-right, but Tim Melia bailed out his teammate, making the save and holding the rebound.
    The Newmarket, Ontario-native would complete twelve of his 23 passes, compiling five clearances, four interceptions, three recoveries, and three tackles before making way for Saad Abdul-Salaam in the 78th minute.
    Will Johnson
    Johnson started his fourth and fifth matches of the season for Portland over Rounds 17 and 18, helping to guide his side to a pair of wins over Western Conference opponents, Seattle and San Jose.
    In the 4-1 win over Seattle, Johnson was strong, but still looked like a man still finding his feet after the long injury lay-off.
    Sitting deep for most of the match, the Toronto-born midfielder was not involved in much of the attack, though he did make his impact felt.
    Fanendo Adi was able to collect the rebound from a weak Johnson shot from distance, testing Stefan Frei with an effort, and Johnson played a secondary role in forcing the turnover that led to Adi's second goal, playing an early pass in the build-up as well.
    His only shot was blocked, but Johnson completed 37 of his 42 passes, ending the match with two recoveries and two clearances, committing and winning a pair of fouls each way.
    The following weekend against San Jose, Johnson was again conservatively influential, once more sitting deep, orchestrating and supporting from there.
    This time however, he had four shots, some good, some not so much.
    He horribly screwed a right-footer wide from the top of the box after Darlington Nagbe pulled back to him, but he nearly made amends for that minutes before half-time with another attempt from distance – some thirty yards – that bent agonizingly wide of the top right-corner of the goal.
    Another attempt in the second half, this time from an Adi layoff, was blocked, and his final attempt at goal was a supreme example of his iron will (get it?), fighting off a pair of defenders to get on the end of an Alvas Powell cross from the right at the back-post, directing his header towards goal, requiring a block and winning a corner.
    There was one comical moment when Gaston Fernandez thought he had scored a late-winner, only to be denied by the off-side flag. Johnson recovered his discarded shirt and pointed out the assistant referee, somehow helping to avoid a booking for his frustrated teammate.
    Portland would find the eventual winner.
    Johnson completed 35 of 42 passes, adding seven recoveries and four tackles, committing a single foul.
    Anthony Jackson-Hamel
    Jackson-Hamel came on in the 83rd minute for Dilly Duka in Montreal's 1-2 home loss to New York City in Round 18 – it was his fourth such appearance of the season.
    With the Impact having fallen behind to a second David Villa strike, Jackson-Hamel joined Jack McInerney up top in search of a late equalizer.
    The Quebec City, Quebec-native nearly proved the hero, but just could not stretch enough to get on the end of a Marco Donadel free-kick. His stat-line for the brief cameo was all zeros.
    He was an unused substitute in Round 19 when Montreal hosted Columbus.
    Jordan Hamilton
    Hamilton entered Toronto's heavy loss in Los Angeles in the 86th minute, replacing Robbie Findley with the score already three goals in the Galaxy's favour – it was his first run-out of the season.
    The Scarborough, Ontario-native was energetic, but could not make headway against a tough LA defense, though he did complete all three of his passes.
    He was an unused substitute the following round in New York.
    The Rest
    Kianz Froese was on the bench for all three of Vancouver's matches over this spell, but failed to see any playing time following the opening of his account last round. He was however the subject of a feature at MLSsoccer.com, expressing his thoughts on scoring his first MLS goal.
    Wandrille Lefevre was an unused substitute for Montreal in Rounds 17 and 18. There was some huge news for the French-born defender on July 2nd, as he became a Canadian citizen in a ceremony held at Stade Saputo – mmm, Maple crème cookies.
    Russell Teibert was on the bench for Vancouver in New England in Round 17, but was not used, departing for Canada and the Gold Cup shortly thereafter.
    Chris Mannella was an unused substitute for Toronto in LA.
    Each week (ideally) James takes a look at the contributions of Canadians in the league. He can be followed on twitter @grawsee and more of his writing is available at Partially Obstructed View
    Michael Mccoll
    Have a listen!
    You can listen to this, and all previous, episodes of the podcast on iTunes HERE.
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    Or after all that, you could just listen on the player below!

    Michael Mccoll
    But football-wise, they've got better season upon season, making the Central Conference semi-finals in 2014 under former Whitecaps Residency head coach Stuart Neely.
    With Neely moving back to coaching with Toronto at the start of this year, another former Whitecap took the reigns, in the shape of defender, and former Canadian international, Chris Pozniak, who played for the 'Caps from 2008 to 2010 in the old USL days.
    Pozniak guided K-W to a second place finish in the Great Lakes Division, losing just two games all season and finishing just a point behind the defending PDL champions, the Michigan Bucks.
    That set-up an all-Canadian Central Conference quarter-final showdown with Forest City London, which they won 2-0. Heartland Division champions Des Moines Menace were next up in the semi-finals and were dispatched 3-2.
    K-W United were now one game away from their first-ever Central Conference Championship and the Final Four and they got there with a 3-1 over Michigan Bucks and with a Whitecaps hand in each of their goals.
    Polakiewicz set up Ken Krolicki's 9th minute opener, before adding a second himself five minutes later. Cain made it 3-0 in the 55th minute, sending the Ontario side on their travels to Washington this weekend.
    Both Cain and Polakiewicz graduated from the Whitecaps Residency program after the 2011/12 USSDA season and were part of the 'Caps U18 side that agonisingly lost out on the 2012 Championship game to an 82nd minute goal in a 3-2 defeat to FC Dallas.
    After graduating, Cain went the NCAA route and has just finished his Junior season with Wright State University Raiders. Lead the team in scoring in his Freshman year with ten goals, adding a further two in 19 games of his second year and two in 21 games this season just past. He will enter his final Senior season this fall.
    This is the second season with K-W United for the Guelph native, as he looks to keep up to match shape for the NCAA season ahead. Cain made 12 appearances for K-W last season in regular play, grabbing one goal and one assist. This year he's made 17 appearances, grabbing that one crucial goal last Saturday.
    Polakiewicz graduated from the Residency after the Championship game and played some PDL for the ‘Caps. He initially moved to Poland and joined top division side Slask Wroclaw, but soon returned to Canada to play PDL with K-W United in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. He’s with the club again this season and has made 11 appearances with two goals and assist.
    Another BC connection on the K-W side is defender Quante Abbott-Hill Smith, who played with the SFU Clan and was on the first preseason camp roster with WFC2 back in February.
    If K-W United are going to make history then they're going to have to do it the hard way, facing off against Seattle Sounders U23s on Friday night at 8pm. If they can get through that, they will face the winner of NYRB and Ocala Stampede on Sunday afternoon at 2pm.
    Tickets are still available, cost $10 for each day, and can be bought HERE.
    AFTN will be there, so get along if you can and lend some Canadian cheers to the guys.
    Duane Rollins

    TFC adds depth

    By Duane Rollins, in 24th Minute,

    Toronto FC added some depth at the back today by picking up Josh Williams off waivers.
    He will likely serve as a back-up fullback. The money gained from putting Mark Bloom on the long-term disabled list was likely used to fit Williams in under the cap.
    Williams, 27, has 80 career MLS appearances, mostly playing in Columbus. He most recently played for NYCFC. However, he was underused in New York this year, making just four appearances.
    With Ashtone Morgan still injured Williams could make his debut on Saturday against New England.
    Duane Rollins

    C-League cities

    By Duane Rollins, in 24th Minute,

    Vancouver, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa and Montreal.
    Organizers remain hopeful that Edmonton investors can be convinced to come on board, but relationships there are strained.
    Due to confidentiality agreements, the names of the investors are being kept under close wraps. However, it’s been strongly suggested that much of the money is linked to the CFL. The Calgary Flames have also been rumoured to be involved in that city.
    The investors in the three MLS cities are not attached to the MLS sides. There is no suggestion that the MLS teams will be pressured to leave, with investors preferring a “Welsh model” of sorts to the Canadian pyramid – a few teams separate from the C-League competing in a foreign league (i.e. Swansea City in the Premier League), while maintaining a top flight Canadian league as well.
    The NASL teams are the biggest question. It’s thought that the investors would prefer to launch with both NASL sides coming on board, but neither has 100 percent committed to moving. It’s unclear whether the Ottawa market has a second set of investors ready in case the Fury opt to stay in the NASL. As of right now, the investors would prefer to entice the NASL sides to join, rather than to force them.
    Ottawa President John Pugh appeared to be open to a move without committing to one in a recent interview with the Apt 613 blog.
    Edmonton has proven to be a much harder sell. There, owner Tom Fath is deeply involved in the NASL and is said to feel “unfair pressure” to abandon that league after the amount of effort and investment he’s put into it.
    Clarifying previous CSN reports, the C-League would be fully professional and would aim to operate at a higher level than he USL. The MLS reserve teams would likely remain in USL.
    The salary budget for each team would likely be between $1-m and $1.5-m Canadian. That would roughly work out to an average salary of between $40,000 and $60,000 Canadian. The USL average is around $20,000 USD and the NASL pays an average of about $40,000 USD.
    Despite previous suggestions that the announcement may be fast forwarded, the investors have instead decided to slow the process down in an attempt to possibly convince both NASL sides to join. They are said to believe that they can wait as long as January 2016 to make the official announcement.
    Michael Crampton
    Sitting fourth in the East at the start of August is respectable. Particularly by Toronto standards. With games in hand against two of the teams ahead of them, and lots of home games to come, TFC should be expected to, at least, maintain a points-per-game that will ease them into a playoff position.
    Wins have been hard to come by, however, with only one in the last five league games. This, like the shaky defence, has been masked by the excitement of the offence TFC is generating. The inability to turn draws into wins was Ryan Nelsen’s downfall last summer. Ominously, it was a disaster versus the Revs, at home and later in the month of August, that precipitated his dismissal.
    Greg Vanney, in comparison, seems secure. Earlier this season I argued that nothing he had accomplished in his short time in-charge demanded absolute loyalty, should a better candidate be available. At the same time, however, nothing demanded that TFC relieve him of his duties and appoint a replacement.
    Sometime in the last month that situation changed. While many Reds supporters may disagree, and harbour doubts about Vanney’s contribution to the team’s success, it has become obvious that the club has now reached the point where change would be more disruptive than the likely gains from another leadership revolution. Vanney is approaching a year in the position of head coach and, unlike the situation in spring, stability and continuity now have value in and of themselves.
    TFC’s opponents are in a more precarious position. After a strong start to the season, the Revolution have been sliding down the standings all summer. Like Toronto, they’ve only won one game out of their last five, but have been losing more than they draw in that stretch as well. Nominally tied on points with Toronto in the standings, New England has played four more games and are into the final third of their season. A dismal 1.22 PPG would see them just make the playoffs, other things being equal, but with expansion sides Orlando and New York City making moves for the second half the season, the Revs are looking over their shoulder at a closing pack.
    Like Toronto, goal scoring isn’t as much of a problem for Jay Heaps’ side as keeping the ball out of the net is. The Revs’ total of 35 goals against is currently the second highest in the league. Matched up against TFC’s potent offense, it would seem to invite a potential rout.
    Such an outcome shouldn’t be taken for granted. Heaps is certainly capable of looking at Toronto’s recent performances and realizing that New England’s first priority must be stifling the Reds attack. If the Revs attempt to kill the game, would anyone find it untypical of soccer for a high-scoring team to visit one of the league’s most porous defenses, only for the game to turn into a lifeless 0 – 0 bore?
    A couple months ago a draw at Gillette Stadium, against a team above them in the standings, was regarded as a decent result for Toronto. While a repeat would not be a disaster, and would keep New England behind them in the standings, TFC must have greater ambitions during this visit. Wins are what will keep Toronto in the hunt for a top-two finish in the East, and this is a winnable game.
    Michael Mccoll
    Robinson gave the youngster a rest to save him for the Canadian Championship game against FC Edmonton. The Canadian was fired up to be playing for the 'Caps in the national cup but unfortunately that's where disaster struck for Adekugbe and he was forced off just 17 minutes in with an ankle injury.
    The severity of that injury to his right ankle soon became clear and Adekugbe hasn't kicked a ball in anger since that game on May 13th. But after a lot of work, a lot of rehab and what must have felt like the longest 11 weeks of his life, Adekugbe is back, raring to go and looking to regain that left-back role, no matter how late into the season it now might be.
    "It's been a while," Adekugbe told reporters at training on Tuesday. "It was disappointing. I was able to get into the team and getting a run of games. To be hit by such a big injury was obviously disappointing but I'm happy to be back.
    "It's never good to come back at the latest time possible but there's games coming up. I'm hoping to get back into the team by training well and just doing a lot of stuff to get back into the team."
    Adekugbe returned to full training last week. He's walking and running fine, and although he may be back in the mix with less than half of the season remaining, that freshness could yet give him an advantage in his quest to get back that starting left-back spot.
    "It does, but obviously it's harder to get back into the groove of things because the season's gone on for so long and people are almost playing at their prime and at their max fitness levels," Adekugbe said. "Now it's just for me to get back into that zone where I'm getting match fit, I'm getting up and down and I'm able to get that volume of fitness back.
    "It's disappointing, but there's nothing I can do. Everyone is going to get injured so I'd rather it be now than when I'm older and it's harder to recover from."
    Having joined the 'Caps Residency program in 2011, Adekugbe is now in his third MLS season with the club. He's worked hard, developed his game and impressed many watchers. But despite knocking on the door for first team minutes, the 20-year-old has had to play the waiting game for his chance to seriously challenge for the starter's job.
    Adekugbe made his MLS debut in the last game of the 2013 season under Martin Rennie, starting against Colorado for the suspended Harvey. He made a further four appearances last year, but only one of those was a start. This season, he already has seven to his name, all of them starts.
    But while he's been away the landscape has changed a little and he's perhaps not only battling Harvey for left-back minutes, but also Christian Dean.
    With Harvey suspended once more, the centre back came in at left-back and put in an excellent and assured performance in Sunday's win over San Jose, offering the Whitecaps more size and athleticism in the position.
    Dean has also looked good there in USL games, so Adekugbe could find himself with more of a battle to establish himself as a regular starter than he had at the start of the year. It's a battle he's aware of and ready for.
    "I have to crawl over a lot of people," Adekugbe admitted. "Dean played really well on the weekend. Jordan has been playing well ever since he got back into the line-up. It just makes me want to play harder and do things more positive and do things even better to get myself back into the team. Competition's all over the place, so it's not just me, it's everyone else as well."
    It's exactly what Robinson wants in his squad and how Adekugbe bounces back and battles back will tell the 'Caps coach a lot about his young player and the hunger and desire is already clear for all to see.
    But being back in training and being up to full match sharpness are two very different things, as fellow defender Diego Rodriguez has been showing of late.
    Rodriguez has been playing the last few USL games as he tries to fully recover from his own injury and Adekugbe is likely to follow suit and play some minutes for WFC2 in their game at Tulsa Roughnecks on Friday evening.
    So does Adekugbe feel he needs just one or a few of those USL games to get back into full match fitness and a return to MLS action? It's hard to really say until he gets out there.
    "Obviously you want to play a MLS game before a USL game in terms of quality," Adekugbe admits. "I've been working well with the fitness staff. I'm a pretty fit kid. Obviously it's been a while since I played a game, so I wouldn't say I wouldn't like to play in the USL game but I'd also like to play in the MLS games as well.
    "Games are games and I'd still be getting fitness in either or. I wouldn't expect myself to play 90 minutes straight away, unless I could and I feel great, but who knows?"
    From the Whitecaps point of view, Adekugbe's return couldn't have come at a better time. With eight games, over three competitions, coming up in August, Vancouver's squad rotation and depth will be tested to the max. Every player should see playing time, and Robinson already has his eight line-ups planned, selected and drawn up on a whiteboard in his office.
    That's all pending unforeseen circumstances, of course, but Adekugbe is very much part of those plans and fans are likely to see him again in first team action as early as next week's home Champions League tie with Seattle.
    Is that a realistic target game?
    "I think so," Adekugbe feels. "I think I could have been fit last week and I might have been pushing it. But we got a good result and Christian played very well. I think I could play the USL game coming up this Friday, the Seattle game coming up Saturday or the game on Wednesday.
    "I'm feeling pretty confident in my injury now. I've gone over it, now it's just about a matter of me getting more training. I was able to train all last week, training this week, so hopefully it's just around the corner now."
    Duane Rollins
    The league engines are doing their best to try and drum up interest/pretend there is interest, but, even more than in past years, no one seems to be buying it. There was less than a half-full stadium last night for the Homegrown game and the players are going out of their way to talk about how they want to go back to playing an MLS East vs MLS West format (we'll get into the why below).
    The problem is the league and the sponsors want star power and an US vs them (pun intended) format. Thus the “big” Euro team coming in to play. The league wants games against pre-season European teams partly because close results against them give them credibility among those not paying all that close attention.
    It doesn’t matter that Spurs would win the Supporters Shield with 100 points (They’d draw the Galaxy once), because perception is reality. And, if the MLS all-stars give it an honest go, they league’s best should be able to hang with a team like Spurs that’s still two weeks away from games that matter (and who probably don’t care all that much about the result).
    The key there, though, is “give it an honest try.” If you listened carefully this week to the noise being made by the players they don’t really appreciate being put in a position where they need to put an intense effort in for a game that doesn’t matter and provides them with next to no direct benefit.
    They want to go back to an East v West format because that will allow them to play at a lower intensity level. Whether already indifferent fans will accept a testimonial-like match is debatable, but the players do not want to play anything that even remotely resembles a competitive match in the middle of an already loaded schedule.
    The players have likely felt this way for a while. The difference now is the clubs are staring to agree. A member of an America team’s front office contacted me last night to stress how much the clubs HATED (bold was theirs) the game. They went on to say “the only reason it’s in Denver is because no one else wanted it – the timing is awful.”
    The timing this year is particularly bad with the Gold Cup just finishing, but there is a major tournament in three out of every four years so it’s always going to be bad.
    The event is for sponsors and media partners. It allows the league to wine and dine them and to throw a party for the league media partners as well (I was at the media party at the 2010 MLS Cup and I get why those that go every year wouldn’t want to lose it…). So, there will always be an All-Star Game. But, something has to give.
    A suggestion: Scraping the MLS v pre-season Euro team must happen (and hopefully will before a player is seriously injured or the MLS players take matters into own hands and lay down and lose 6-0). Putting an East v West game into the same part of the schedule makes little sense – the fans barely care when it’s something that resembles a real game. You make this like the NBA/NHL All-Star Games and you may as well have the sponsors play in it. No one will be watching anyway.
    So, move the game to the start of the season. Pick a format that is all MLS players (I like either MLS USA v MLS Internationals, or MLS all-stars v defending MLS Cup champions) and play it as the very first game of the season. If possible, play it at the defending champions’ stadium or city. Think of it as MLS’ Community Shield. The proceeds could even go to MLS Works.
    By playing it in March fans would be more likely to tune in – they’d be excited for the new season, after all. The broadcasters could spend the game hyping the new season, profiling the newest player additions and growing excitement.
    It would still be an all-star game and it would still be a bit of a lazy kick about, but it would be welcome after three months without MLS soccer.
    Regardless, something has got to give because the current format satisfies no one.
    Duane Rollins
    The first stat we are going to look at isn’t really even a stat. Rather, it’s a projection. In the old days of the 24th Minute blog we used to publish a bi-weekly table we called the Home-Away Projected Standings (HAPS). The concept was simple: Understanding that MLS has an unbalanced schedule that often sees teams holding multiple games in hand as well as extreme home or away weighted starts to the year we sought to even that out. By determining each team’s home points per game (PPG) and their away PPG then multiplying each by the amount of home and away games each teams had left we came up with a projected final points total.
    That number doesn’t really predict where teams will finish – it assumes they will play the second half of the season the exact same way as they played the first – but it does allow fans to quickly look at the results to get an idea of how, when all factors are equal(-er), teams have performed so far.
    How have teams been performing so far? Find out below.
    East
    1. DCU 54 (projected points)
    2. TFC 53
    3. NYRB 53
    4. Crew 46
    5. IMFC 45
    6. NER 42
    7. NYCFC 39
    7. OCSC 39
    9. Philly 35
    10. Fire 30
    West
    1. Dallas 60 (Supporters Shield)
    2. SKC 58
    3. VWFC 53
    4. LAG 49
    4. Seattle 49
    4. PDX 49
    7. SJE 47
    8. RSL 43
    9. Houston 41
    10. Colorado 39
    Again, this reflects what HAS happened. Obviously, teams can get hot in the second half, especially if they add significant pieces. That said, fans of each of the three Canadian teams should enjoy HAPS as it reflects well all three team’s starts. TFC’s massive back-half home schedule bodes well for them to not only finally make the playoffs, but to actually compete for the Eastern title. The Impact are already solidly projecting in the top six and Vancouver is right there in the hyper-competitive west.
    The disparity between east and west is a weakness of this model (and the Ns are simply too small to make effective projections of Home Vs. East, Away Vs. West, etc.). You can reasonably assume the west will start to take points off each other making the Supporter’s Shield race projection somewhat premature – esp if the top of the East starts to dominate against the weaker sides at the bottom of the East (the stretch run is mostly in conference).
    Let’s look at another number.
    The old adage in sport is that “offense sells tickets and defense wins championships.” That’s Sports Radio 101 – a truism we’ve understood since sitting on our granddad’s knee watching (aging myself here) the New York Islanders win Stanley Cups.
    There’s one problem with that as it relates to MLS. It’s wrong. This is a league where offense wins championships.
    Since 2007 (the accepted start of the so-called MLS 2.0 era) the top offensive team in MLS has won a major trophy (MLS Cup or Supporter’s Shield) six of eight seasons, with that team winning the double once. Correspondingly, the top defensive team has only won a major trophy in two of the eight seasons – one of which was a season where the top offensive team was also the top defensive.
    The lowest regular season finish by the top offensive team was in 2009 when Salt Lake shocked the league by winning the MLS Cup from the wildcard position. However, it maybe shouldn’t have been a shock since, as we now know, being the highest scoring team in MLS is a great predictor of winning silverware.
    The projected top scoring teams in MLS this season:
    1. TFC 55
    2. SKC 52
    2. Dallas 52
    2. Columbus 52
    2. NYRB 52
    6. LAG 50
    7. NYCFC 48
    8. Montreal 47
    9. NER 43
    9. Philly 43
    11. OCSC 42
    12. Vancouver 41
    13. DCU 40
    14. Seattle 38
    15. PDX 37
    15. Chicago 37
    15. Chicago
    18. RSL 35
    19. Houston 34
    20. Colorado 31
    We’re just going to let No. 1 hang there. Two out of eight years the top offensive team hasn’t won a trophy and I suspect most will instinctively suggest it’s about to be three of nine if the projection turns out to be true.
    Maybe, but it’s further illustrating that painting TFC’s start of the year as mediocre does not hold up when you look deeper – they are performing as a top third team, not a middling team.
    Colorado is a great example of how being a top offensive team is more important than being a top defensive one. They are the best defensive team in MLS right now. They’re also last in the west.
    All of the numbers so far have been projections based on performance so far. Let’s end this by looking a couple stats that are designed to predict what we might expect moving forward.
    Total Shot Ratio is a well-known number in the stats world that, in England at least, has been shown to be effective at demonstrating team’s “true” strength in a way that goes beyond the table. The basic idea is that teams that get more shots score more and teams that score more win more. So, TSR looks at what percentage of shots each team is getting in the games it plays in.
    If a team has 500 shots for and 500 against it would have a .500 TSR -- (500SF+500SA) /1000TS. It’s kind of soccer’s answer to hockey’s Corsi for those who understand what that means.
    However, MLS has had some odd TSR results over the last few years people have tracked this. That’s not to say that TSR is irrelevant in MLS, but it needs to be viewed in a full picture (as any stat should be). Before we give you this year’s TSR numbers, let’s look at the MLS TSR numbers at the 2014 all-star break.
    1. LA Galaxy .597 (MLS Cup champion)
    2. Kansas City .590
    3. Colorado .577
    4. Philly .571
    5. Columbus .515
    6. Toronto .511
    7. New England .510
    8. Chicago .508
    9. Vancouver .507
    10. Seattle .503 (Supporter’s Shield)
    11. Salt Lake .502
    12. Houston .500
    13. Portland .478
    14. Montreal .457
    15. San Jose .453
    16. DC United .451
    17. Chivas .450
    18. New York .447
    19. Dallas .441
    LA was at the top of the TSR rankings all last year, even when it started slowly. That would give credence to the value of TSR in predicting likelihood of success. However, teams like Philly and Colorado near the top and DC United and Dallas at the bottom should make you question it.
    A few years ago the American Soccer Analysis blog found a negative correlation between possession and winning in MLS. That went against basically the rest of the world (go figure – MLS being different). It’s fair to suggest that there is something tactically that some teams do that makes things like TSR – things widely proven to be effective measures literally everywhere else in the world—more challenging in MLS.
    To offer a theory, playing a deep lying tactical game in MLS that looks to take advantage of athletic counter attackers has proven to be a very effective way for some teams to overcome a lack of top end attacking talent. Therefore, many teams chose to sit back and allow teams shots, under the belief that the shooters aren’t talented enough to score when defenders are goal side in numbers. That’s a strategy anyone who has played beer league soccer should understand, even if not all that inspiring to those that want to see MLS become one of the better leagues in the world.
    With that caveat, and the suggestion that the talent level in MLS IS improving and thus the counter-intuitive nature of possession and TSR in MLS could be shifting more towards the rest of the world, here are this year’s numbers.
    1. Chicago .574
    2. SKC .563
    3. NYRB .548
    4. Vancouver .544
    5. Columbus .532
    6. PDX .524
    7. TFC .519
    8. Colorado .517
    9. LAG .513
    10. Dallas .513
    11. Houston .510
    12. Orlando .502
    13. Philly .491
    14. NER .484
    15. Montreal .482
    16. San Jose .472
    17. NYCFC .459
    18. RSL .453
    19. DCU .421
    20. Seattle .402
    Chicago, obviously, jumps out. Subjectively the worst team in the league tops in a stat that has proven to be hugely predictive in the rest of the world. Again, this supports the theory of teams sitting back against what they perceive as a lack of top end talent. Basically, MLS teams are confident that Chicago has nothing that can beat them so they sit back and wait until they can be opened up on a break.
    The bottom of the chart is interesting as well. It’s dominated by some old school MLS management thinking -- From Montreal down you have guys that either played in MLS when counter attack was king or who have managed since the dawn of time using that strategy. In NYCFC’s case, both.
    Counter that with the new school thinking managers at the top and MLS TSR is an interesting study, even if not as predictive as it is in rest of world.
    The last measure we will look at is PDO – luck, basically. Another stat borrowed from hockey PDO (which stands for nothing by the way. It’s the internet commentator who came up with the concept’s handle), PDO simply adds shooting percentage to save percentage. In hockey, it’s been shown that over time both numbers will regress to a mean. In theory all team’s should have a PDO of 1.000. Any deviation above that can be viewed as a team being lucky, any amount below can be seen as unlucky.
    There is debate in the soccer world as to whether the stat converts from hockey. However, it says here that in a parity league like MLS it’s worth tracking.
    The PDO numbers at the All-Star Break. Listed from most lucky to least.
    Seattle 1.048
    DCU 1.044
    Dallas 1.030
    LAG 1.024
    SKC 1.012
    NYCFC 1.010
    NYRB 1.003
    Vancouver 1.002
    RSL 1.001
    Montreal 0.999
    Houston 0.998
    Colorado 0.991
    TFC 0.990
    Columbus 0.987
    San Jose 0.987
    New England 0.983
    Orlando 0.982
    PDX 0.976
    Philly 0.964
    Chicago 0.943
    Anything within a percent of 1.000 is not really worth concerning yourself over. With all three Canadian teams in that range, it’s fair to suggest that none should feel either lucky or unlucky.
    What seeing East leader’s DCU near the top suggests is worth considering. The same goes with Seattle (although since both are at the bottom of TSR as well it again may point to a tactical issue at play).
    The glaring number here is Chicago though. If MLS is even a little bit like the rest of the world the TSR number, combined with the PDO number suggests the Fire are the team struggling right now that is most likely to turn things around.
    As for the team most likely to fall – all things considered Seattle’s slump looks dangerous and DCU might be doing it with mirrors.
    The winners? To us, the team that keeps jumping out of the numbers is Sporting Kansas City. We have to make them our mid-season pick to win MLS Cup based on these stats.
    The three Canadian teams should also be pleased. Toronto is right there at the top of the East and Vancouver is consistently in the top 5 in the tougher West. Montreal, looks solid to be battling for the playoffs and the addition of Drogba adds an intriguing wrinkle.
    The great thing about using objective measures to evaluate performance is that it still provides you with the opportunity to be subjective in your interpretation. So, feel free to disagree. Just use the numbers to illustrate why.
    Guest
    Until next time, have a great soccer!
    @TwoSolitudesPod
    @24thminute
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    Duane Rollins

    Gilberto Gonezo

    By Duane Rollins, in 24th Minute,

    Gilberto, of course, was made expendable last winter when the Reds signed Jozy Altidore and Seba Giovinco to DP contracts, thus putting the club over the three per team maximum allowed.
    A solution was found that saw the Brazilian loaned to Brazilian side Vasco da Gama. Although never stated publicly, the idea was to let him play out the year in Brazil and then, hopefully, sell him to Vasco for a small amount of profit.
    Things started well for Gilberto. In the Campeonato Carioca – the Rio regional league that plays in the winter months – Gilberto scored nine times as Vasco captured the championship. However, when the quality stepped up in May in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the goals dried up. Gilberto has not scored in the top flight.
    That three month drought lead to Vasco terminating the loan agreement with TFC.
    Suddenly the Reds were in a bit of a pickle. With the loan unexpectedly ending early, they found themselves in violation of league roster rules. They had to get back in compliance quickly.
    This left them with four choices. They could sell or trade Gilberto, they could restructure his contract, they could release him, or they could trade another of the DPs to make room for him.
    The latter was a non-starter, so really they had three choices and no time to make them.
    The problem with selling is that he is an out of form striker and no one was beating down the door to buy him. The best chance at selling him went out the window when he stopped scoring.
    As far as trading him goes, every MLS team knew that TFC was in violation of the roster rules. They had no leverage.
    Restructuring would require the player to be on board. That is if they were even interested in keeping him around. As far as the new, barely understood, Targeted Allocation Rule goes, it doesn’t appear that Gilberto’s contract would be able to be bought down by the money. Only $500,000 can be used (over five years), so even if TFC maxed that money out Gilberto’s cap hit would still be $700,000. That’s still a DP level and that still puts TFC in violation of the roster rules.
    So, we’re down to one option. Release him, which they were in the process of doing when Chicago grabbed him up.
    Would TFC had preferred it if another MLS team didn’t get him for nothing? Probably. Did they have a lot of options in the matter? No.
    As stated at the top, fans can be forgiven for being confused. However, nothing was likely as good a deal as TFC was going to get for Gilberto.
    Guest
    Until next time have a great soccer!
    @OfftheWoodworkx
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    Duane Rollins
    Mexico, very likely El Salvador and…sigh.
    Honduras.
    It was always going to be.
    The kneejerk reaction of the Canadian supporter is to lament their life and consider giving up and becoming a massive junior hockey fan. It says here this is a good thing.
    They have to eventually deal with the fall out of that day. They eventually have to face it full on. There was always going to be a next time in and it’s better to get it out of the way now than when there are greater expectations on the team.
    So, bring it on. This particular group doesn’t seem likely to capitulate like the last one did and once the Band-Aid is ripped off the distraction of answering questions about a game they had little to do with will be over.
    Honduran demons aside, the group offers a young group an opportunity to play competitive games in Central America. Getting past the…uniqueness…of that region is something Canada will one day need to overcome if it’s ever getting anywhere. You can’t do that hiding behind your shadow hoping for a weak draw.
    Can Canada advance? Yes. Really. They could.
    Now, it’s not likely – Honduras and Mexico are both more talented and El Salvador is about on par. But, the idea it’s impossible is silly.
    For Canada to advance it probably needs Mexico to run the rest of the group and to hope El Salvador and Honduras take points off each other. It goes without saying that they would need to find a way to take care of home. But, if that happens and Canada stays solid at the back (put your e/goals math aside for a second – they aren’t allowing) it can maybe steal a draw on the road.
    Maybe even in San Pedro Sula.
    Guest
    Johan Venegas (Johan Alberto Venegas Ulloa) November 27 1988 Limon, Costa Rica.
    6'0" 168 lbs, Sagittarius
    Played 38 games with LDA last season, scoring 13 times and accumulating 6 yellow cards, but not one red card!
    Plays as a striker, winger for his national team. Very versatile and very agile on the ball and in the air. Can score off a ball crossed in the box as well as a great shot from 20 yards out.
    If he plays as a striker for Montreal, he will brings a very different style of play to the club that will be very eye-friendly for the Stade Saputo audience.
    Until next time, have a great soccer!
    @OfftheWoodworkx
    @KevLaramee
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    Michael Crampton
    Wins over Columbus used to be basically impossible for Toronto. That all ended last year when the Reds swept the three game season series. Trillium Cup silliness aside, it was a remarkable reversal for TFC. Still, incredibly, TFC managed to finish behind the playoff bound Crew in 2014.
    2015 saw the winning streak end early, in Toronto’s second match of the season, away to Columbus. A late first half red card for Justin Morrow setup a second half capitulation as TFC’s forwards stayed to high, their makeshift fullbacks were overloaded, and Columbus made victory seem as inevitable as it used to be when they hosted Toronto.
    Now, four months later, Morrow is playing right back more often than his natural left back position. Ashtone Morgan, who filled in for Morrow after the red card, has made the left back position his own, and that has brought some degree of stability to the Reds backline. It’s further worth noting that back in March, Steven Caldwell started at centre back, to be replaced by Nick Hagglund at halftime, in what turned out to be the final appearance in red for TFC’s former captain. The idea of Eriq Zavaleta becoming Damien Perquis’ regular partner in the middle of defense was not an option most TFC supporters were giving serious thought to.
    The other big difference between the March and July versions of TFC is their Italian star, Sebastian Giovinco. No one serious doubted the ability of the diminutive attacker, but until Giovinco showed that he could take over games, it wasn’t unreasonable for fans to be skeptical about the long term impact he might have.
    Now, Toronto supporters are probably being slightly hyperbolic when they describe Seba as the best player in the history of MLS but, even for his limited body of work, he has played some of the most thrilling attacking football the league has had the luxury of seeing. Most encouragingly, Giovinco seems to be sincerely enjoying his time in MLS. As this week’s friendly reminded everyone, Toronto fans have been burned in that regard before.
    While the Crew will have to find a way to counter Giovinco, TFC will have to game plan for a different Columbus playmaker than the last few years of the clubs’ encounters. Federico Higuain is still an important part of the Crew attack, but Ethan Finlay has emerged as arguably their most important player. It wasn’t enough to earn a spot on the MLS All-Star team, but the fourth year professional doesn’t just lead Columbus in assists, he currently tops the entire league.
    One of the chief beneficiaries of Finlay and Higuain’s service has been MLS veteran Kei Kamara. Like Finlay with assists, Kamara leads MLS in goals. Also like Finlay, he’s already well past his career best for goals in a season, even though there’s still more than a third of the year to go. Unlike Finlay, Kamara is achieving this in his eleventh season, rather than his fourth.
    In many ways the success of Finlay and Kamara tells a unique story about MLS. For all of Giovinco’s incredible ability, for all the focus on Villa, and Pirlo, and Gerrard, and Kaka, and Keane, and now Giovanni Dos Santos, MLS is still a league where global journeymen can achieve great success. The Crew are the second highest scoring team in the league, yet are probably not thought of as particularly entertaining.
    There has always been a culture clash in meetings between Toronto and Columbus. That clash now extends beyond the fans to teambuilding approach and club philosophy. Should the Reds overcome that other rarely mentioned streak, and finally finish ahead of the Crew, it won’t be because one approach is innately superior. It’ll be because MLS is becoming a league where different approaches are possible.
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