FC Edmonton will not confirm — and won’t even comment on this — but there have been reports out of Vancouver that the Eddies were close to securing Whitecaps’ defender Carlyle Mitchell on loan, adding to what has become a crowded back line.

“We’ve been doing that one-time passing at training a lot,” Koffie said following Saturday’s win. “To do one-time passing, you have to move, and know what to do before the ball comes.”

The Montreal Impact walked onto the pitch at Seattle’s Century Link Field and, in front of almost 39,000 of the most rabid fans in MLS, handed their hosts a 1-0 defeat, signalling to the rest of the league that the sophomore version of the club might bear very little resemblance to last season’s inaugural edition.

“Obviously the lateness doesn’t help,” Toronto head coach Ryan Nelsen conceded to The 11 when asked about the last minute additions. “We had to evaluate what we had at Toronto on the playing staff, what we could do with the cap. The cap’s a big issue with this club so we had to be creative. Creative in making this club competitive looking at the short-term and long-term future."

Even though his agent declared that the Canadian forward, who represented his country in January friendlies against Denmark and the United States, had come to terms with D.C. United last weekend, the move was only completed Thursday.

“We’ll be playing one of the best teams in MLS (Seattle) and there’ll be 50,000 people cheering against us but we’ve done everything we can. We showed during the matches in Florida that we were a good team but Saturday is another story.”

Welsh national teamer Robert Earnshaw has confirmed that he has signed with Toronto FC and will likely be available for the Reds' season opener Saturday in Vancouver.

Judging from the readership numbers — which spike every time we put up a story about new kits, redesigned kits, anything to do with kits — we've surmised that, to be a Canadian soccer fan, you have to be a bit of a fashionista.

With the MLS season moved up to its earliest start ever, forgive us if we don’t feel 100 per cent totally prepared for First Kick. Judging by the way many MLS teams finished preseason, with tentative matches and still looking at trialists with a week to go before the games count in the standings, a lot of coaches aren’t quite ready for the early start, either.

Major League Soccer has pledged to a lot more to aid the professional development of its referees — but it will not tolerate extended protests from players and coaches.