A week after assistant coaches Colin Miller and Denis Hamlett were shown the door, new Vancouver Whitecaps boss Martin Rennie is bringing one of his old Carolina RailHawks cohorts into his new club’s staff.

Canadian midfielder Will Johnson will play in the MLS Western Conference Final; but his Real Salt Lake had to survive a furious charge from the Seattle Sounders.

"We're looking at both options," said Cochrane. "The challenges here (at BMO Field) are obvious. The field is the least of our worries. We can get the field up and running and ready to play and be in great shape. It's all the other stuff in and around — the stands, making sure they're safe, plumbing, restrooms, amenities.

The Montreal Impact now has its fourth player under contract for the 2012 MLS season, and copy editors around Canada will curse the club for it.

Hainault’s goal was the highlight of a day filled with MLS playoffs incidents that would turn the heads of Canadian soccer fans.

And if there is a group of Canadian fans who want to see Real Salt Lake return to the form it showed in the early part of the season — when it looked two steps better than anyone else in the league, including the Los Angeles Galaxy — they would have been overjoyed by Saturday night’s performance.

The fact that just 10,017 people showed up at Pizza Hut Park to cheer on FC Dallas is troubling. And, it’s a sign MLS can learn some lessons on how much time is actually needed to generate interest in a one-and-done playoff game between lower seeds.

New Vancouver Whitecaps coach Martin Rennie will get the chance to work with a new staff in 2012.The Whitecaps announced Wednesday that assistant coaches Colin Miller and Denis Hamlett were relieved of their durties “effective immediately.”

Although Toronto FC finished out of the MLS playoffs, midfielder Terry Dunfield’s season isn’t over just yet.The B.C. native is looking forward to Canada’s last two World Cup qualifiers against St. Kitts and Nevis in November. But, as his club wrapped up its end-of-season press conference, he took time to reflect on his up and down year so far.

Perhaps the hardest decision for him will be surrounding the goalkeeping tandem of Stefan Frei and Milos Kocic. Frei started the season as the bona fide No. 1, but after suffering a midseason injury, Kocic came in and played very well to hold onto the starting job until the end of the year.