Darel Russell has only been a member of Toronto FC for a few weeks, but he joins an ever-growing list of Reds’ players whose late-game mistakes have cost the team points.

With the MLS season moved up to its earliest start ever, forgive us if we don’t feel 100 per cent totally prepared for First Kick. Judging by the way many MLS teams finished preseason, with tentative matches and still looking at trialists with a week to go before the games count in the standings, a lot of coaches aren’t quite ready for the early start, either.

Professional players are expected to give their all for the jersey. And, when there is nothing left to play for in terms of trophies or playoff spots, they play for pride.

Aron Winter outmanaged and outcoached Arena in the second leg. Winter made the right decisions, while Arena struggled to adjust. And the coaching decisions could very well have been the deciding factors in the quarters.

We tallied up our votes, and came up with our list of how the teams will finish, who will win MLS Cup and who will be the league’s MVP. No need to play the season, now. We have it all figured out.

Toronto FC has just been handed a massive advantage ahead of its CONCACAF Champions League ties against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

His teammate, David Beckham, was named MLS Comeback Player of the Year on Monday; but you could make an argument that it should have been Dunivant, not Becks, who should have got that nod. At 30, Dunivant had his best-ever season in Los Angeles, playing in 33 of 34 games with one of the stingiest defences in North American soccer.

The scene: The 2009 MLS Superdraft. With the second pick, Toronto FC chose midfielder Sam Cronin, passing up on University of Maryland defender Omar Gonzalez, who the Los Angeles Galaxy took with the third pick. On Wednesday, Gonzalez became the youngest player, at 23, to ever be named MLS Defender of the Year.

The Vancouver Whitecaps were beaten 2-0 by the Los Angeles Galaxy in a closed-door training game Monday in Arizona.