After winning five consecutive matches in all competitions, the Vancouver Whitecaps fell to the New England Revolution 4-1 on Saturday, mainly thanks to Lee Nguyen, the twice-capped U.S. international attacking player the club waived following preseason.

He left it late, but Eric Hassli’s 94th minute stoppage-time winner gave the Vancouver Whitecaps a 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday night at BC Place, sending the 19,271 fans home happy.

“When you see the game, you see the difference in the way we play,” said FCE coach Harry Sinkgraven after the match. “They are more mature, you can see that. In battles, they are stronger. We lost too many individual battles.”

While Wednesday’s first leg of the Amway Canadian Championship semifinal marks the first time that FC Edmonton and the Whitecaps will face each other competitively, Vancouver coach Martin Rennie is all too familiar with the Eddies.

“I think they’re a much better team, but I don’t like the way they play,” Hyndman told reporters after the match. “I think they’re still very physical.”

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.

“I had two big chances where I should’ve scored," admitted Le Toux, after the 2-0-2 Whitecaps held off the 0-3-1 Union’s second half surge to salvage a valuable point on the road. “I’m very disappointed in myself, because my team needed me.

This was an ugly tearjerker of a game, with the ball stuck in midfield, with both teams cancelling each other out.

The Whitecaps announced Tuesday that the 2012 second-overall SuperDraft pick will be out indefinitely thanks to injuries suffered Sunday in an, ahem, cooking accident.

It was an ugly game that no one will want to keep on his or her PVR. But, there will be nights like this, when the opponent plays a tight, compact midfield that’s designed more to disrupt than create.