Harris can be a brutal opponent to play against, tall and gangly, he is an energy player who saps the will from defenders. He doesn’t often score the goal himself, but his high-pressure game creates openings throughout the pitch.

Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Colorado guaranteed the Whitecaps would finish tied for the worst record in MLS with the New England Revolution. But, if you want to be picky, the tiebreaker in MLS is head-to-head record, and New England drew and beat the Whitecaps this season. So, by the MLS book, you can say that the Whitecaps finished with the worst record in the league.

For the second week in a row, the Vancouver Whitecaps took advantage of a team in a tailspin.

But, in examining RSL’s 3-0 loss to the Whitecaps Thursday, you have to shake your head and try to think back to the spring, when the Royals were everybody’s shoo-in pick for the MLS Cup. Think back to when Real Salt Lake was one lousy goal away from winning the CONCACAF Champions League and making plans to head to Japan for the Club World Cup.

The Whitecaps could not have had a worse opponent scheduled for the MLS opening of B.C. Place than the Portland Timbers. The Timbers not only, ahem. blessed the new Bell Pitch at B.C. Place with a 1-0 win in front of sold-out throng of 21,000, the Whitecaps’ Cascadia rivals had the chance to display just how wide the competitive gap is between the two teams that jumped from second division to MLS in 2011.

Two of the three Galaxy goals came when men were left completely unmarked in the Whitecaps penalty area to nod crosses home. These were goals you’d expect decent men’s league players to score given that much time and space.

New York’s equalizer came after Whitecaps’ defender John Thorrington totally lost his mark on Agudelo, who had an easy time directing home a cross from Designated Player Rafa Marquez.

And, the result only confirmed what we’ve all come to realize since the MLS season began; that Portland is well ahead of Vancouver. The Whitecaps weren’t deserving of losing by the slender 2-1 scoreline.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon and, through a combination of inspired finishing, loose defensive play and some diabolical goalkeeping, the Whitecaps and Fire produced a six-goal thriller. The Whitecaps won 4-2 at Empire Field — and the Fire erased all doubt of who is the worst team in MLS at the moment.

Eric Hassli scored twice as the Whitecaps came back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to earn a 2-2 draw at Buck Shaw in a wide open, end-to-end game that could have very easily with a ridiculous scoreline like 4-4 or 5-5.