“If we wouldn’t have slipped up in Miami two weeks ago, we’d be having a party right now,” said Keegan, who opened the scoring with his foot and scored the second with the back of his head.

Nana Attakora and Drew Beckie prove a point: That if a Canadian player is able to count as a domestic player on the roster of an U.S.-based NASL team, he'll get a shot.

“The more I see the goal [on the replay monitors], the more I like it,” Watson joked after the match. “And the more I think I’m wasted as a centre back.”

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.

Toronto FC began the post-Kevin Payne era with a resonating 4-0 loss to the host Portland Timbers. Yes, Whitecaps supporters will be unhappy to see a Cascadia and conference rival pick up maximum points and also pad the vital goals-for column. But, if this game was any indication of how Toronto FC will play out the string, the Whitecaps have to be hopeful that they can maximize their draft position in 2014.

It went like this: You could put the entire team in a sack, then have someone punch it. No matter which player took the punch, “you’d be right.”

"Generally a team has to really work hard to score goals against us… Three goals, I'm extremely disappointed about. We haven't conceded three all season and that hurts me horrendously. But that's the best team in the East."

And it gave TFC one of the oddest stat lines at the end of the game. Two goals scored, but only one shot on goal.

"It's not a jinx, not a hoax or anything like that. We need personalities to go and clear the ball or win the ball," Nelsen said. "Strong personalities in the back. Every successful team in the world has had one or two defenders that the ball seems to go like a magnet to their head since they want to win it so much."

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.