The result now leaves TFC with 23 points with five games left to play. With Houston’s win over Philadelphia Saturday night, the Reds are officially (as in, mathematically) eliminated from playoff contention. If somehow lightning struck five times in a row, and the Reds won their last five, they’d get to 38 points. The Philadelphia Union, which held fifth place at the time of this article, have 39 points.

It is rare, very rare, that the MLS Player of the Week comes from a team that didn’t get even a single point out of its game(s).

On the short end of a 2-0 score by the quarter-hour mark, Montreal were let down by its defence and dominated, as is his custom, by Thierry Henry. The French forward’s goal and pair of helpers ran his lifetime record against the Impact in MLS play to seven goals and three assists in four matches.

A 2-1 triumph over the Red Bulls was more than just three points for Vancouver; it was a statement to the fans back in British Columbia that this team wasn’t going to roll over.

Two of the three goals came in added time — one in the first half and another in the second — with Thierry Henry notching both the home side’s tallies while Marco Di Vaio got one (and very nearly two) back for the visitors.

“He played very, very well. He didn’t make any mistakes. He was solid and he concentrated,” said Head Coach Marco Schallibaum when asked for his assessment of the youngster’s performance. "He also played a simple game, like I asked of him. He did very well for a first game."

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.

The point guarantees that the Whitecaps will open the 2013 Amway Canadian Championship against No. 4 seed FC Edmonton, while Montreal will meet Toronto FC in the other semifinal.

“I thought we put in an excellent performance tonight,” said head coach Martin Rennie after the match. “I thought we had lots of chances against a good team away from home."

It was too good a story to ignore. The membership of the North American Soccer Reporters voted Canadian midfielder Patrice Bernier as the MLS Player of the Week.