Before the kickoff of the season, MLS headquarters instructed its officials to crack down on fouls in the box and to make absolutely certain that a player was in an offside position before raising the flag. More penalties, more cards, less offside calls — the recipe to boost scoring. We are clearly seeing the effect of the mandate. Fans will likely have to get used to seeing the flag stay down more often than not.

It’s become obligatory for every sports journalist to provide season previews for the league he or she covers. It’s automatic, and a great space killer! In that vein, The 11 presents its “waited until the last possible second before the regular season” season preview! Why the wait? Because it’s hard to figure out the East. The West? Wow, a lot of power and depth there. As for the East? Last season, New York and Columbus and six other mediocre to bad to awful clubs were in the conference. New York and Columbus left them all in the dust.

It’s rare for Caleb Porter to take a break from his passion. The University of Akron head coach is a self-professed soccer junkie, constantly watching, reading about and developing tactics for the game so it was a strange thing for him to put everything aside for a month following his Zips’ 1-0 win over Louisville in the NCAA title match on Dec. 12. The championship was Akron’s first as a school. But given the stamp the 35-year-old Porter has put on the program in his five years in charge, it might not be the last.

There have been more than a few embarrassing moments in the four-plus seasons of Toronto FC’s existence; but the fact that Dwayne De Rosario was training with Celtic —less than a full day after acting GM Earl Cochrane vehemently denied that the team’s all-time leading scorer would be leaving the club —has to go right to the top of the charts when it comes to egg dripping off the faces of those running the Reds. De Rosario checked into Celtic’s training session Tuesday morning, wearing shirt No. 19.

If, despite Sporting Kansas City’s protests, Stoke City does sign Teal Bunbury after he finishes his week on what the Potters are calling a “trial,” there could be a chance that Canadian soccer fans could forgive the striker. Could is the key word. Is it coincidence that Bunbury received a look-see from Stoke manager Tony Pulis just weeks after he made his debut for the Stars and Stripes — after famously deciding against playing for Canada — in a friendly against South Africa?

Sporting Kansas City’s position, that Canadian-born U.S. national team striker Teal Bunbury is not on trial with Stoke City, continues to be refuted by the English Premier League club. On Thursday, Stoke City posted a list of eight players it is linked to in possible transfer-window deals and, voila, Bunbury is on the list. Bunbury, who won the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy in 2010 as the most valuable player in the NCAA, scored five goals in his first MLS season with the then-named Kansas City Wizards.

Is Teal Bunbury switching sides again? The Hamilton, Ont.-born son of Canadian national-teamer Alex Bunbury, recently alienated most soccer fans on this side of the border when he decided to play for the United States rather than the country of his birth. Now, is he also hoping to leave Sporting Kansas City? Stoke City has officially stated that this might be the case. Bunbury appeared with Stoke’s reserve side Tuesday and, paired with former Chelsea and Barcelona forward Eidur Gudjohnsen, was reportedly very impressive. Bunbury scored against Wigan’s reserve side.

Igor Pisanjuk has two goals in mind: to wear the red strip of Canada’s national team, and to wear the famous green and white stripes of Hungary’s most decorated club, Ferencvaros.

That’s why this column is coloured when I state that Teal Bunbury made a horrible decision. A wrong decision. On Thursday, he committed himself to the United States national program.