For Toronto FC fans, there was the joy of beating Columbus for the first time. And, for neutral fans, there was a fantastic spectacle a 4-2 win for the Reds— a relief in a weekend of non-competitive matches from England (and likely more to come from Spain).

Veteran Dutch defender Paul Matthijs left the FC Edmonton fold on Friday — and chances are he won’t be back.

But now that the club has clinched the top playoff seed, will coach Martin Rennie contine to put out a full-strength lineup as the RailHawks play out the string?

Hart said there are a “couple of areas” where Canada needs to improve, and he will make roster changes ahead of the next couple of qualifiers. But he won’t say exactly what the problem spots are.

But national coach Stephen Hart made it clear in a conference call Thursday that he thinks the atmosphere can get a heck of a lot better — and if it wasn’t for the travel issues, he’d prefer to have the team move around Canada rather than call Toronto its sole home.

A last-gasp header from substitute Paul Craig has guaranteed FC Edmonton a trip to the NASL playoffs.Craig scored at the death, heading home a corner from Shaun Saiko to give the Eddies a 2-1 win over the last-place Atlanta Silverbacks, who were reduced to 10 men at the half-hour mark.

Tonight’s adversaries played the final 60 minutes a man short but, despite this assistance, the best the Impact could manage was a 1-1 tie against the Puerto Rico Islanders.

Mozzi Gyorio, the pride of Stratford, P.E.I., scored on a perfectly placed free kick to give FC Tampa Bay a 2-1 win over the NSC Minnesota Stars in NASL action Tuesday night. The win clinches a playoff spot for third-place FC Tampa Bay but, more importantly for the Impact, still leaves Montreal just four points behind Minnesota for the final playoff spot in the NASL.

Simeon Jackson and Tossaint Ricketts scored second-half goals late to give Canada an important 3-0 away win Tuesday over Puerto Rico in a 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifier.

Goalkeeper Evan Bush was named the NASL’s defensive player of the week Tuesday, after his stellar performance allowed the Impact to, ahem, only lose to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers by a 1-0 scoreline Saturday.