“It was a happy ending,” offered head coach Marco Schallibaum, who managed to remain on the sidelines for the entire game rather than making an early exit as he has in both games against SKC played earlier in the schedule. “When you change someone to bring on fresh legs and the guy you send on gets the goal, there’s a bit of luck involved. We deserved it because we dominated the second half and managed to defeat the team that, I think, is, at the moment, the best team in MLS.”

This time it was a late first-half free kick effort which proved to be the eventual equalizer in a 1-1 away draw against Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday.

In a match that featured the eruption of Mount Schallibaum, the expulsion of Alessandro Nesta and a controversial officiating decision that led to a Kansas City goal, the Montreal Impact did what its done since the beginning of the season. The team found a way to win, its 2-1 victory placing it atop the MLS Eastern Conference ladder.

Bernier: “We’re a little disappointed because we had four games to play and we knew we had to win them all to have a chance at the playoffs. We didn’t have the same energy in the first half as we did in the second and you can’t play that way against a team that knows exactly what it has to do and then goes out and does it. We came up with too little too late and now we have three games left in the season.”

So, on Sept. 1, with two months of regular-season soccer left to play, TFC is a single point from being mathematically eliminated from the playoff chase. That is the result of Saturday's 2-1 loss to Sporting Kansas City.

With Paul Mariner taking the reins from Aron Winter, beginning the next chapter of Toronto FC's history, the end result was still a familiar one for the Reds. Poor play at the start of the match and bad luck on the offensive end played a big part of a 2-0 road loss to Sporting Kansas City.

After starting unbeaten in four, the Vancouver Whitecaps are now winless in just as many after a 3-1 loss to Sporting KC at BC Place Wednesday evening.

Vancouver Whitecap Eric Hassli’s wonder strike against the Seattle Sounders didn’t win the Goal of the Year honour. Instead, rookie Darlington Nagbe got the award for his volley-and-shoot effort against Sporting Kansas City.

Up to the 28-minute mark of what would become yet another Toronto FC debacle on the road, the Reds had given coach Aron Winter and their supporters some signs of hope. Despite the sweltering temperatures in Kansas City, TFC didn’t sit back and simply try to play rope-a-dope. The Reds seized the initiative and could have been up 2-0 within the first 10 minutes.

In Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Sporting Kansas City, the Whitecaps got out to a 1-0 lead, then fell completely apart, giving up two goals in eight minutes. The Caps recovered at halftime, but couldn’t find an equalizer in the second 45 minutes.