Joel Lindpere shone the brightest out of the New York Red Bulls’ star-studded lineup this past weekend. His two-goal effort helped earned the Red Bulls a 2-2 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday in front of more than 41,000 fans at Stanford Stadium — and it also earned him the MLS Player of the Week nod.

The time for talking is over — in just over 24 hours, Canada will look to upstage its rivals from the Unites States as both teams begin their Gold Cup campaigns in Detroit. Whenever the U.S. and Canada play each other it’s a big game, but when the neighbours take to the pitch on Tuesday night, the Red and White will also have revenge on its mind.

Heck, Philadelphia had two multiple-goal scorers in the same game in its 6-2 romp over Toronto FC. And, Justin Mapp got the nod after the votes from the North American Soccer Reporters were tallied. Union teammate Danny Mwanga also had two goals, and helped set up Mapp’s opening goal of the game.

Coach Stephen Hart won’t have a lot of time to prepare his Canadian men’s national side for the June 1 friendly against Ecuador and the June 7 kickoff of the Gold Cup schedule. Hart named Canada’s 23-man provisional roster Monday; those players will be available for selection for the June 1 Ecuador match at BMO Field. From that, 20 will …

The shortest player in Major League Soccer has made a major impact. Toronto FC became the eighth separate team in eight weeks to have an MLS Player of the Week, as the North American Soccer Reporters gave the honour to Joao Plata, the Ecuadorean midfielder selected 49th in this year’s SuperDraft.

Toronto FC still has a ways to go before it perfects the attacking, pass-heavy, Total Football-esque style that Aron Winter has tried to implement in his first few months as the club's head coach. Saturday's 2-1 win over the Houston Dynamo, however, is the clearest example yet that Winter's style may be starting to take hold with his team.

After breezing past FC Edmonton on Wednesday in Nutrilite Canadian Championship play, Toronto FC has quickly shifted its focus to Saturday when the club takes on Houston Dynamo. “I think that mentally we are all focused on this Saturday’s game and going in there we have to visualize how we play with one another beside us,” said Cann. “It’s very crucial that we get the three points so that’s our main objective going forward.”

Major League Soccer has issued the longest suspension in league history. Colorado Rapid Brian Mullan is the new owner of this dubious mark, after MLS lengthened his red-card suspension to a total of 10 games after last weekend’s studs-up challenge that broke the leg of Seattle’s former No. 1 overall draft pick, Steve Zakuani, in two places.

The reigning MLS MVP is also the Player of the Week. David Ferreira scored twice and provided the corner kick for Winnipeg native Ugo Ihemelu’s opening marker as FC Dallas thrashed the previously undefeated Colorado Rapids 3-0 on Friday night.

The Whitecaps and their fans can have no complaint about the result — a 3-1 loss to the Houston Dynamo. Indeed, you could argue that things could have been a heck of a lot worse. A four- or five-goal margin would have reflected the run of play.