“He (Mallan) had his hands behind his back and the ball’s gone off the label on his jersey. That’s never a penalty. The funny thing is, I thought Drew was having a good game up to that point. But there was also six minutes of time added on. As soon as the six minutes went up, you go the feeling that something was up.”

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.

A late equalizer from Heath Pearce neutralized a spectacular goal from Martin Bonjour Wednesday night, as the Vancouver Whitecaps drew 1-1 with the New York Red Bulls at BC Place.

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.

There is a very real trend that has become evident in Whitecaps match after Whitecaps match. Win, lose or draw, the Whitecaps will allow their opponents to have more of the ball and, in the case of Saturday’s 0-0 draw at home to Chivas USA, a lot more of the ball.

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.