Decision Day presented by AT&T was not only the final slate of regular season games, it was also the last chance this year, before the postseason, for US and Canada national team hopefuls in MLS to make their bid for call-ups.
As such, we're back with another rundown of which players are riding the up elevator and who's in danger of slipping out of the international frame.
US men's national team
Up
Stefan Frei: While it's rather unusual to advertise an uncapped 31-year-old for a call-up, things are different for netminders. With the USMNT set to open a new battle for No. 1 job, Frei closed the season with his career-best and league-leading 13th shutout of the year. The 2016 MLS Cup hero's best stop in the 3-0 victory came while Seattle was a goal up on and one man down to Colorado, staring down an unmarked Stefan Aigner to protect the lead.
Dom Dwyer: There's certainly much to shout out, from an Orlando City perspective, following Sunday's 6-1 humbling at Philadelphia, but the good news is Dwyer finished the term in fine form after a slow start to his second Lions tenure. The striker expertly nodded home the visitors' late consolation with one of his four shots on target, giving him four goals and four assists in the last seven games.
Kelyn Rowe: Boosted by his participation in this summer's Gold Cup triumph, the New England man was in fine form when the injury bug struck in August. Rowe wasted little time reminding everyone of his big play ability in Sunday's return from the shelf, beating the Montreal 'keeper from 35 yards for the stoppage-time winner mere moments after entering the fray.
Down
Marlon Hairston: With plenty of personnel turnover on the way, the USMNT will be looking for some capable new flank attackers. Unfortunately, the speedy Hairston (who split time between the wing and right back this year) has gone cold since summer. His last assist came on Aug\. 5, and he ended the season mired in a 17-game goal drought. In fact, he's only managed a single shot on goal since bagging a brace against Houston on the first day of July.
Jonathan Lewis: Two months ago, the 20-year-old NYCFC winger was getting starts and national team call-up buzz. However, since scoring in back-to-back games in August, Lewis has started just one of nine games and will go into the playoffs having received just three minutes of playing time in his side's final six regular season matches.
Canada men's national team
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Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla: The Montreal youngster had only been sparingly used since July until last week's lukewarm 62-minute shift in a tight loss at Toronto FC. On closing day, Tabla coolly notched his first assist since May with a clever 90th minute cross that allowed Matteo Mancosu to temporarily pull the Impact level with New England.
Marcel de Jong: Sometimes a player's value can also be highlighted by the games he doesn't play. De Jong stayed on the bench as Vancouver lost both first place in the West and the Cascadia Cup in Sunday's 2-1 defeat at Portland. Since July 29, the Whitecaps are 5-2-1 when the veteran starts and 1-3-2 when he doesn't.
