Busy day: Three Canadian teams in preseason action

Three of Canada’s four professional sides were in action Saturday. Our two MLS sides both faced non-league, lower-tier competition, with mixed results. Orlando City, who is affiliated with Premiership side Stoke City, beat Toronto FC in the consolation game of the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic. Toronto left the land of Mickey Mouse with two losses, one to the Houston Dynamo and the other to Orlando, which will play in USL-Pro this season. Player-coach Ian Fuller came in as a second half sub, and beat TFC defender Dan Gargan and keeper Milos Kocic, expected to be the Reds No. 2 this season, for the lone goal of the game. While a trialist- and Academy-laden TFC lineup had more of the ball, Orlando had more of the scoring chances. Kocic was beaten twice on the night, but one of the goals was called back for offside. For Gargan, it was the second goal against in a row in which wore the goat horns. He was beaten by Houston’s Cam Weaver for the deciding goal in Thursday’s 3-2 loss. Demar Stewart, with 10 lifetime caps for Jamaica, played the full 90 for Orlando. A former product of the Sheffield United system, who played for SU’s sister team in China, Stewart signed with Orlando last week. Dwayne De Rosario, after leaving Thursday’s game with a minor injury, started for the Reds. While Toronto struggled, Vancouver romped, winning 6-1 over AZ Sahuaros in Casa Grande, Ariz. Six different Whitecaps scored against the lower-league side; Terry Dunfield scored from the spot and Chinese trialist Long Tan made it 2-0; the Whitecaps added four more in the second half, including a marker from the No. 1 pick in the 2011 SuperDraft, Omar Salgado. Atiba Harris, snatched in the expansion draft from FC Dallas, Nizar Khalfan and Camilo da Silva Sanvezzo also scored for Vancouver. The Whitecaps had been blanked in their previous two pre-season matches, both losses to the Los Angeles Galaxy. The Sahuaros will face FC Edmonton when the NASL makes its trip down to Arizona for pre-season training. Those two will face each other on March 7. The Montreal Impact, preparing for its final Div.-2 season, lost its second match to MLS opposition in a row, dropping a 2-0 decision to Sporting Kansas City. Neither SKC goal was particularly memorable; Montreal’s Nevio Pizzolitto’s attempt to send a cross away from danger went horribly wrong, beating goalkeeper Bill Gaudette for an own goal. SKC’s second goal came on a second-half penalty, with C.J. Sapong beating Impact trialist keeper Evan Bush from the spot.