Larin is still comfortably in second place, but Orlando teammate Will Johnson took over the lead.
Larin is still comfortably in second place, but Orlando teammate Will Johnson took over the lead.
Three Canadian keepers all made their season debuts: Nathan Ingham started Wednesday and Saturday for FC Edmonton, as he looks (for now) to have at least a loose grip on the No. 1 position with the club. Marcel DeBellis, formerly of the Ottawa Fury, got into a game for the Richmond Kickers; and Marco Carducci finally got his chance to start for Rio Grande Valley.
Cyle Larin and Will Johnson have run away and hid at the top of the minutes-played-by-Canadians-in-MLS list.
So far this season, Toronto FC looks to have shaken the “finalists’ curse” that has haunted so many MLS Cup runners-up in the past.
There were some other interesting Canadian storylines that developed over the weekend. In the loss to Vancouver, Canadian Tyler Pasher made his MLS debut, playing 45 minutes for Sporting Kansas City.
But no one matched Tosaint Ricketts, who scored three times in two matches for Toronto FC. He scored two match-winning goals, as the Reds grew their winning streak to six games.
A few of the FC Montreal diaspora have scattered through the USL; and, so far, the most successful of the bunch is Mastanabal Kacher, who got two goals for Colorado Springs this weekend, and now has four on the season.
n MLS, Orlando City has given more minutes to Canadians so far this season than any of the three Canadian sides. In NASL, the San Francisco Deltas lead the way in giving playing time to Canadians. And, in USL, Mastanabal Kacher leads all Canadians in minutes played; and the former FC Montreal player now plays his soccer in Colorado Springs.
So, Anthony Jackson-Hamel has played just 36 minutes for the Montreal Impact so far in 2017. He has three goals. That’s a return of a goal every 12 minutes. What does this mean? That Anthony Jackson-Hamel is the greatest player to ever play in MLS. Take your Landon Donovans and Dwayne De Rosarios and Jaime Morenos and Chris Wondolowskis … …
Maybe this weekly feature should be renamed “What Orlando City SC did this week.”
The 11 offers insight, interviews and commentary by respected soccer journalists. It is affiliated with the Canadian soccer magazine, Plastic Pitch. Our editor, Steven Sandor, has covered Major League Soccer, United Soccer Leagues, World Cup qualifying, CONCACAF Champions League, women’s soccer and the Canadian Soccer League and has won numerous awards for his magazine work. His work has appeared in the Sun chain of newspapers, Soccer 360, World Soccer, Soccer Canada, Philadelphia Daily News and the Deseret News. His work has appeared in publications in Canada, the United States, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and Namibia.