The only goal of the match was a beauty. Garcia sent a long pas in towards the Montreal goal. Chested deftly from forward Giles Barnes to Ricardo Clark, the midfielder controlled the ball with his first touch, spun and sent an arcing shot off the inside of the left upright and into the mesh behind Troy Perkins for the first goal the Dynamo has scored against the Impact this season.

Brad Davis played a key role in helping the Houston Dynamo extend its home unbeaten streak to 35 games. His assist and winning goal in a 2-1 decision over the Chicago Fire earned him the MLS Player of the Week honour.

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.

“Overall, I was actually very encouraged about the game,” said Vancouver head coach Martin Rennie. “It was a very young team from us – lots of inexperienced players. For most of the game, we were doing well. We were on top for quite a long time. Obviously, (we’re) disappointed that we lost the goals that we did. I thought we could have defended those a little bit better given that we hardly gave up any chances throughout the game.”

Toronto FC's three-game winning streak ended with a thud on Saturday as the Reds turned in arguably their worst effort of the Paul Mariner era in a 2-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo at BMO Field.

And, like we have seen so often this year, you take the good with the bad when it comes to Ricketts’ play. But, are the highlight-reel saves covering for the fact that he’s been making too many fundamental errors to continue as a No. 1 keeper in MLS?

If tonight’s physically demanding game and the reaction of the fans in attendance at Saputo Stadium is any indication, there’s a mighty rivalry developing between the Houston Dynamo and the Montreal Impact.

But it all came undone as poor defending gave Houston the opportunity to steal a point at home on a hot, humid night in its brand new BBVA Compass Stadium.

We tallied up our votes, and came up with our list of how the teams will finish, who will win MLS Cup and who will be the league’s MVP. No need to play the season, now. We have it all figured out.

Major League Soccer announced Friday that DeRo is the league’s MVP. He becomes the first Canadian to ever win MLS’ highest individual honour. He becomes the first player in North American pro sports history to take an MVP award in a season in which the winner played for three teams. He’s the first player from a non-playoff team to ever win the MLS MVP.