The significance of Toronto FC’s 6-2 home loss to the Philadelphia Union can’t be ignored. Through five coaches and three GMs/directors of soccer/technical directors, TFC fans have heard of long-term plans, rebuilding processes and the continuing pleas to fans for patience. Philadelphia was a raw expansion franchise last season. It has played a third of its schedule in year two of its existence, and it’s in first place in the East. You could make the argument that the Union is at a better point now than TFC has been any time in its history. When the Union faced TFC — on TFC's home turf — it was men vs. boys.

But Thordarson decided to use Saturday’s date in New England as a chance to test his squad players. Striker Long Tan, who any Whitecaps fans would be forgiven for not remembering still played for the club, got the start with attack partner Omar Salgado, the teenager chosen first overall in the 2011 Superdraft. The Revs won 1-0, as Shalrie Joseph converted a penalty kick after Whitecap Blake Wagner was adjudged to have stepped on the foot of Rev Benny Feilhaber just inside the box.

Toronto FC has left a number of points on the table at BMO Field this season, taking just 10 of a possible 21 points from its seven home matches. No home result was a bigger giveaway, however, than Saturday's 2-2 draw with the Chicago Fire. The Reds went from a comfortable 2-0 lead through 62 minutes to barely hanging on for the single point. "Around the 60th minute we thought this game was over," said TFC goalkeeper Stefan Frei. "It's just laziness. You can be confident with a 2-0 lead after the 60th minute, there's nothing wrong with that, but you can't get lazy. It's embarrassing if you're up two goals after 60 minutes and you almost end up losing. It's all about hard work and not being lazy."

The reigning MLS MVP is also the Player of the Week. David Ferreira scored twice and provided the corner kick for Winnipeg native Ugo Ihemelu’s opening marker as FC Dallas thrashed the previously undefeated Colorado Rapids 3-0 on Friday night.

Before the kickoff of the season, MLS headquarters instructed its officials to crack down on fouls in the box and to make absolutely certain that a player was in an offside position before raising the flag. More penalties, more cards, less offside calls — the recipe to boost scoring. We are clearly seeing the effect of the mandate. Fans will likely have to get used to seeing the flag stay down more often than not.

It’s become obligatory for every sports journalist to provide season previews for the league he or she covers. It’s automatic, and a great space killer! In that vein, The 11 presents its “waited until the last possible second before the regular season” season preview! Why the wait? Because it’s hard to figure out the East. The West? Wow, a lot of power and depth there. As for the East? Last season, New York and Columbus and six other mediocre to bad to awful clubs were in the conference. New York and Columbus left them all in the dust.

Toronto FC was unable to capitalize on 55-minute man advantage and dropped a 1-0 decision to the Chicago Fire Saturday evening at Charleston, S.C.‘s Blackbaud Stadium in the opening game of the 2011 Carolina Challenge Cup. A sixth-minute strike from Chicago’s Marco Pappa proved to be the difference, which resulted from a TFC defensive breakdown. Gaston Puerari initially sent a long ball across the face of the goal to Davis Paul, who one-touched back to an open Pappa for the tap-in from four yards out.

Eleven of the 32 players available, just more than a third, were selected in phase two of the MLS Re-Entry Draft Wednesday afternoon. If all of the 11 players chosen today come to terms, that means a grand total of 13 out-of-contract players were able to find work. Only two — and both were minor deals — were taken in the first round, where players are guaranteed to make in 2011 at least what they did in 2010. The other 11 will likely all go for less money than they did in 2010.

Earlier this week, the Vancouver Whitecaps named Carl Valentine, a member of Canada’s 1986 World Cup squad, as the club’s official ambassador. Valentine was a member of the 1979 Whitecaps squad that won the NASL Soccer Bowl, defeating the Tampa Bay Rowdies at Giants Stadium, just a week after Vancouver stunned the heavily favoured New York Cosmos in the semifinal. “Valentine, at 21, the kind of young recruit NASL teams should be looking for—rather than the big-name, passe players they are forever signing—was continually showing thrust and speed,” wrote Sports Illustrated’s Clive Gammon about Valentine’s performance in the Soccer Bowl. As well, you can’t miss the fact that, on the Whitecaps website, right beside the logo, reads a simple statement: “Since 1974.” This a team that was forged in the NASL, and doesn’t talk about the league in embarrassed hushes.

DPs for sale or rent... rooms to let 50 cents... OK, apologies to Roger Miller for that one. But, when Major League Soccer released the lists of players its existing 16 teams had made available for Wednesday’s expansion draft, the Designated Players jumped off the page. The Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers could each max out the three DPs allowed on their rosters in the first three rounds of the draft. Not that either would do that.