And, when the chips are down in a big-game situation, Toronto FC’s Sebastian Giovinco and Montreal’s Ignacio Piatti showed us why you would rather have them on your team than any of the three MVP candidates.

The hopes for a 401-Derby Eastern Conference Final are still very much alive. The spirits of Macdonald and Cartier are strong.

On April 7, 2007, Toronto FC played the first regular-season match in club history, a loss on the road to Chivas USA. Ken Tribbett was 14 years old when that happened.

Because Designated Players take up such a large chunk of a team’s salary-capped budget, conventional thinking is that an MLS club can either spread the wealth and have depth, or invest in star players but accept the consequences of having a thin roster. But, Toronto FC General Manager Tim Bezbatchenko is trying to prove that a team can have the best of both worlds

Crepeau was brilliant. Vitoria was troubling — not showing Canadian soccer supporters signs that he could become a starter when Canada faces Mexico in a pair of World Cup qualifiers in late March. In fact, Vitoria’s flat-footed play was, in many cases, the unfortunate catalyst for Crepeau’s brilliance.

“What a performance by these guys tonight,” said FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller. “It speaks to the culture that we’re trying to build here. We gave up some very poor goals to the best team in NASL on Sunday. But we came into this game not looking to draw; we thought we could win the game. We knew that, playing against the best team in the MLS Western Conference, that we couldn’t have one single player out there fail tonight. And we didn’t have any failures.”

Victor Montagliani: "From the technical side, there are a handful of players in MLS who could be part of the team that would be at the Gold Cup. And it would hurt if those players weren’t playing. But, when you look at all the countries in CONCACAF, we might be one of the ones least affected by an MLS work stoppage. Certainly, it would not affect us like it would the United States, where the majority of their players play in MLS.”

When the CBA expires in the middle of the month, we can’t say for sure how many DPs a team will be able to have, and what the cap hits for those DPs will be. Basically, Altidore’s signing would play into a series of moving parts that makes it hard to truly pinpoint the kind of domino effect he would have on the roster.

The U.S. stormed their rivals in the opening 15 minutes and were gifted an early goal before Canada could settle down in Detroit. The red and white played a much better second half but big plays at the right moments for the Americans were key to a 2-0 victory Tuesday in the Gold Cup opener for both sides.