Vancouver’s Eric Hassli, who is likely to win the Goal of the Year for his stunning volley against Seattle, and who scored 10 times this year, finished third in voting, behind Rosales and New York Red Bull Luke Rodgers.

And if there is a group of Canadian fans who want to see Real Salt Lake return to the form it showed in the early part of the season — when it looked two steps better than anyone else in the league, including the Los Angeles Galaxy — they would have been overjoyed by Saturday night’s performance.

Throw away the fan turnout, the hoopla surrounding the game. The truth is that Keller made seven saves in the game, many of them from point-blank range. He bailed out a Seattle team that in no way deserved three points from its match with San Jose. And that’s why he got the vote — and most of the other votes, too.

You have to wonder if Eric Hassli’s ridiculous wonder goal, scored a month ago in Seattle, will go down as the defining moment of the Whitecaps’ first season, a moment of magic that gleams from a dim campaign of disappointments.

With the MLS All-Star Game once again going head-to-head against the qualifying round of the CONCACAF Champions League (Toronto FC will face Real Esteli at the same time the All-Stars will take on Manchester United), two of the players selected in the First XI — Kasey Keller and Brek Shea — will be question marks for the game.

Despite playing almost the entire second half with an extra man, Toronto couldn't score against the 10-man Rave Green side. Then, in yet another crushing late-game blow, Fredy Montero converted a free kick to give Seattle the 1-0 victory. "It's incredible that we have lost the game that we deserved to win. We played very well and in the end we gave it away," said TFC head coach Aron Winter. "It's hard that we lost since we deserved more than defeat."

On Saturday, Hassli showed just how special a player he can be; his equalizer in a 2-2 draw with the rival Seattle Sounders at Qwest Field was nothing short of brilliant. It is the kind of goal that will not only be shown on local highlight reels, but will likely be seen on best-goals packages broadcast all around the world.

Seattle defender Jeff Parke got the nod after a runoff vote was needed to break a tie between him and Philadelphia Union forward Carlos Ruiz after the the first round of ballots from the North American Soccer Reporters was counted.