Fanshawe FC: MLS season is underway

The domestic season opened this passed week in dramatic fashion: all three Canadian top-level clubs were in action, including the mostwatched MLS game in Canadian history and the most-attended match ever in Canada featuring an MLS team.

The Montreal Impact opened their inaugural campaign against the Vancouver Whitecaps. All indications show that the Impact will need some help if they are going to amount to anything this season. They drafted well out of the expansion draft considering Donovan Ricketts is one of the best MLS goalkeepers, and he will be tested often this season. Their defence was poor, while central players like Hassoun Camara and Sanna Nyassi ended up all over the place, trying to shore up other people's errors. Vancouver was fantastic, albeit against a poor side. They play a 4-2-3-1 and it works well. Sébastien Le Toux tracked laterally and brought players to him, giving loads of space for their explosive offense, including Eric Hassli up top and Camilo Sanvezzo on the side. I was hesitant when I could tell that they were not using Hassli's size as a target, but it only took four minutes into the game before Le Toux and Hassli linked up. Vancouver has repaired their problems at the front and also at the back. Y.P. Lee was fantastic, saving a ball off the line and bringing the ball forward. Overall, the 2-0 win showed that Vancouver will probably have the skill to challenge for the playoffs, while Montreal is still very much an expansion side.

Toronto FC started their season in the quarterfinal of the North American Champions League against the L.A. Galaxy. They also started their season in an unfamiliar, but not unfriendly, building in the Rogers Centre. TFC fans filled the dome, with over 47,000 people in attendance. I was lucky enough to be one of those people, and the atmosphere was indescribable. Being a fan and being a part of the spectacle felt incredible; I could only imagine how the players must have felt. Many of those players saw their first start for TFC in that game. Reggie Lambe found the field after a substitution for Joao Plata. The mood was uneasy as he failed to impress in his first match. It looked poor by comparison, yes, but Lambe seemed very bland. Luis Silva, however, was fantastic in the centre of midfield in his first match. Other ‘veterans' (in TFC's definition of the word) of the squad like Torsten Frings proved awesome. Frings played at centre back the entire game, but pushed up to provide good distribution, only to return back. It seems like no one got by him, only the other defenders like Ty Harden. In the second half, Richard Eckersley was pushing into a winger position, and failed at playing on the half of the pitch. The 2-2 draw was not what TFC wanted, but they will have to perform in L.A. this week.

With three teams in the league, this domestic season will be better than ever.