Hainault, who was not invited to the Canadian national team camp for next week’s two upcoming World Cup qualifiers against St. Kitts and Nevis, scored the opening goal as the Dynamo beat Sporting Kansas City 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Final.

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.

All the changes worked for the best as Joao Plata's 77th-minute strike gave TFC a 1-0 victory over RSL. The win snapped a six-game (0-4-2) winless streak in league play for Toronto and suddenly the Reds find themselves on a five-game unbeaten streak (3-0-2) in all competitions.

MLS is doing the right thing. For years, soccer fans have heard major bodies from FIFA to UEFA to the major European leagues to promise that they will do something about diving. It has only been lip service.

TFC offered very little resistance up in the first half. RSL owned the midfield, and outside of a few counterattacking chances, Toronto lacked any real possession. On the night, the Reds garnered less than 30 per cent possession — which is seldom seen by any club.

In what was a low-scoring week across Major League Soccer, Real Salt Lake’s Jean Alexandre stood out. Alexandre scored and made the pass to free Fabian Espindola for the second goal as RSL beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0. His performance earned him top spot in the vote from the North American Soccer Reporters.

It was a moment of brilliance. We can speak of David Ferreira, Chris Wondolowski and, yes, even Landon Donovan. But, is there a player in MLS who can carry a team quite like Javier Morales? The Argentine midfielder conjured a goal in the 89th minute, allowing Real Salt Lake to leave Mexico with a 2-2 draw against Monterrey in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League final.

Jamison Olave is known as one of the meanest, toughest central defenders in Major League Soccer. But the Real Salt Lake anchor guaranteed that his club would be the first MLS side to go to the CONCACAF Champions League final with a thumping volley off a scrambled corner kick to give RSL the precious road goal it needed to get by Costa Rican giants, Saprissa.

Javier Morales’ performance was judged to be superior to that of Javier Martina. The Real Salt Lake midfielder was named the MLS player of the week by the North American Soccer Reporters on Monday. Morales scored twice and set up another goal as RSL decimated the Los Angeles Galaxy 4-1, only adding to Rio Tinto’s reputation as being the toughest place for a road team to go in all of North American pro sports.

On a brisk but tolerable night at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, Real Salt Lake was able to show what many had expected out of it coming into this CONCACAF Champions League Quarter-final matchup against the Columbus Crew. Its 4-1 victory showed the dominance over their opponent that many had expected given the relative stability of the two lineups.