The silly season is starting with a bang!
4. I don't know whether NYCFC's 2-1 win at Montreal means I have to stop taking the Impact seriously or that I have to start taking NYCFC seriously. I'm really hesitant about the latter despite the fact that they've won four out of five.
3. Face of the Week was easy. Vancouver's Darren Mattocks sums up what it feels like when the best team in the West loses to one of the current cellar-dwellers:
Following Saturday's 2-1 win in Commerce City, the Rapids are 2-0 against Vancouver in 2015. They are 1-6-9 against everybody else.
2. Was it a stomp? Tough to say about Kaká's red card in Orlando City's 1-1 draw at RSL. I do know that Orlando will struggle if he's gone for a week or two, which – based upon past precedent – isn't out of the question.
1. And finally, there was a bizarre Sunday night match-up between Portland and San Jose, which the Timbers won 1-0. Hand balls, elbows (including one from Jordan Stewart that, I"d argue, was worse than Espíndola's), and late-night Captain Jack were all on the menu.
Not on the menu? A break-out performance from Tommy Thompson. Taylor Twellman made the point on the ESPN2 broadcast that I'll reinforce here: Thompson doesn't complete plays. He's now logged 232 minutes in 2015 and has yet to create a chance from the run of play.
He tries, and he'll improve with time (Dilly Duka is an example of that). But teams in the playoff hunt will naturally start to gravitate toward guys who can provide the end product, and right now that's a struggle for the Quakes youngster.
