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.

His teammate, David Beckham, was named MLS Comeback Player of the Year on Monday; but you could make an argument that it should have been Dunivant, not Becks, who should have got that nod. At 30, Dunivant had his best-ever season in Los Angeles, playing in 33 of 34 games with one of the stingiest defences in North American soccer.

The Vancouver Whitecaps were beaten 2-0 by the Los Angeles Galaxy in a closed-door training game Monday in Arizona.