Renteria was left wide open in the penalty area to direct Higuain's cross over Impact keeper Troy Perkins in the 92nd minute. And Higuain was given acres of space down the left side in which to engineer a cross, as veteran Alessandro Nesta inexplicably decided to lay off rather than take away the Argentine's space on the wing. It

But, for 60 minutes of Wednesday’s 2-1 loss in Columbus, TFC looked like a team that was going through the motions, even though coach Paul Mariner handed keeper Freddy Hall his MLS debut and centre back Dicoy Williams his first MLS start of the season.

Call it a smash-and-grab. Call it larceny. But there was definitely a sense that the Vancouver Whitecaps left the Ohio capital Saturday night with three points that they had simply stolen from the Columbus Crew.

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.

Football in February. It’s rare in Ohio. And for good reason. With the temperature clocking in below the freezing mark, the 10-man Columbus Crew and nine-man Real Salt Lake battled to a first-leg 0-0 draw in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals in extreme conditions at Crew Stadium.

For the second time in three preseason Arizona games, the Vancouver Whitecaps faced CONCACAF Champions League opposition. And, just as the Whitecaps beat Real Salt Lake 2-1, they triumphed over the Columbus Crew by the same score on Tuesday.