Both the Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps were busy in preseason action Friday.

Hainault, who was not invited to the Canadian national team camp for next week’s two upcoming World Cup qualifiers against St. Kitts and Nevis, scored the opening goal as the Dynamo beat Sporting Kansas City 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Final.

And if there is a group of Canadian fans who want to see Real Salt Lake return to the form it showed in the early part of the season — when it looked two steps better than anyone else in the league, including the Los Angeles Galaxy — they would have been overjoyed by Saturday night’s performance.

All the changes worked for the best as Joao Plata's 77th-minute strike gave TFC a 1-0 victory over RSL. The win snapped a six-game (0-4-2) winless streak in league play for Toronto and suddenly the Reds find themselves on a five-game unbeaten streak (3-0-2) in all competitions.

In what was a low-scoring week across Major League Soccer, Real Salt Lake’s Jean Alexandre stood out. Alexandre scored and made the pass to free Fabian Espindola for the second goal as RSL beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0. His performance earned him top spot in the vote from the North American Soccer Reporters.

The Vancouver Whitecaps were unfortunate to have to face Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium the game after the Utah-based squad registered its first loss at home in two years. The result was a 2-0 loss at the hands of RSL in lacklustre fashion. "Today it just wasn't good enough in so many aspects of the game,” said coach Tom Soehn.

It was a moment of brilliance. We can speak of David Ferreira, Chris Wondolowski and, yes, even Landon Donovan. But, is there a player in MLS who can carry a team quite like Javier Morales? The Argentine midfielder conjured a goal in the 89th minute, allowing Real Salt Lake to leave Mexico with a 2-2 draw against Monterrey in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League final.

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.