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.

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."

Forget about the power rankings. If you are betting on MLS games, and aren’t putting money on draws, you aren’t looking at the stats. The combined record of MLS teams this season is 78-78-100. Of the 128 games played this season, 50 have ended in ties.

Eric Hassli may have scored the most jaw-dropping goal since the dawn of time, but it wasn’t enough to earn him the nod as MLS Player of the Week. San Jose Earthquakes’ striker Steven Lenhart got the nod after the ballots from the members of the North American Soccer Reporters were counted. Hard to argue with the decision: Lenhart bagged a hat trick and set up the Quakes’ winning goal in a 4-2 win over D.C. United.

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.

Canada is 10-18-17. That’s the combined win-loss-tie (we live in North America, so we’ll put the draws behind the wins in the standings) record of the four major Canadian professional sides this season. Out of 45 games, our NASL and MLS teams have just won 10 of them. And five of them come from FC Edmonton, the new kid on the Division-2 block.

The significance of Toronto FC’s 6-2 home loss to the Philadelphia Union can’t be ignored. Through five coaches and three GMs/directors of soccer/technical directors, TFC fans have heard of long-term plans, rebuilding processes and the continuing pleas to fans for patience. Philadelphia was a raw expansion franchise last season. It has played a third of its schedule in year two of its existence, and it’s in first place in the East. You could make the argument that the Union is at a better point now than TFC has been any time in its history. When the Union faced TFC — on TFC's home turf — it was men vs. boys.

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.

The league’s Disciplinary Committee decided to ban Chivas USA’s Marcos Mondaini a total of four games and levy fines worth US$1,500 for his red-card challenge from behind that broke two bones in the ankle of one of the league’s top stars, Javier Morales. This comes just hot on the heels of the decision to ban Colorado’s Brian Mullan 10 games for his studs-up challenge that broke the leg of Seattle’s Steve Zakuani.

LS has decided to keep its championship game at a neutral-site venue. And, it will go back to the safety of a warm-weather site for the Nov. 20 MLS Cup. The league announced Tuesday that the game will be awarded to the Home Depot Centre, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA.