“We can’t forget that games are often decided after the 70-minute mark,” Schallibaum continued. "I saw some good things out there today but also a few not so good, perhaps because of fatigue, but we still have time to work on them.”

The Whitecaps may have signed a slew of attacking players over the last week, but Darren Mattocks re-established himself as the big man on campus after the team’s first preseason game of 2013.

Kobayashi will now call Vancouver home, as the Whitecaps announced Monday that the 29-year-old had signed, adding yet another attacking player to group of hopefuls that include three young project players the team signed last week.

The dump of an American — the kind of hard-working-but-hard-to-remember player that so many MLS teams have in abundance — is a sign of how the Impact will challenge the league status quo.

Unfortunately for Argentine defender Martin Bonjour, the final memory most Whitecaps fans will have of him is this: Looking back towards referee Silviu Petrescu, arms raised in innocence, as the official points to the spot.

USL President Tim Holt said it was a “seamless transition” to bring the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact back into the USL-Pro fold.

MLS and USL will hold a joint conference call Thursday to announce more details. But, from the release issued Wednesday: “For 2013, the partnership will include interleague play between USL PRO and MLS Reserve League teams, and the establishment of several exclusive team affiliations.”

The Whitecaps announced the signings of three men Wednesday who fall very much into the “project player” category: Paulo Jr., Tom Heinemann and Corey Hertzog.

Toronto FC media day, 2013 edition, could be renamed “Wow, Nothing Bad or Controversial Happened Day.”

Just days after drafting two local products, Kyle Bekker and Emery Welshman, in the MLS SuperDraft, TFC confirmed the rumoured addition of former Canadian national-team keeper Pat Onstad to the club’s staff.