It's that time of the MLS season when heavy legs start to show in the Concacaf Champions Cup participants, and results get less predictable around the league.

The Whitecaps are one of those heavy-legged groups, while TFC won at home and CF Montréal lost comically.

Here's a look at what stuck out this weekend.

A true anomaly

Including stoppage time, CF Montréal have been up a man for exactly 90 minutes this season, across both the Chicago game and Sunday's game in Cincinnati.

In those minutes, they are down 4-1 in goals and down 2.74-1.20 in expected goals. Plus, 0.79 of the Impact's xG while up a man was Owusu's penalty that was from Miles Robinson's red card foul.

They've basically created nothing in an entire game's worth of time spent up a man, while shipping four goals the other way, ruining a great chance at coming back in Chicago and losing a 3-2 lead in Cincinnati.

It's bad enough when it happens once, but truly incomprehensible when it happens twice. This is not the biggest sample size in the world, but there are very few teams that manage to actually end up at a disadvantage when up 11v10.

It's not even like they were already being totally outclassed on Sunday before the red. Cincy looked pretty tired after midweek heartbreak away to Tigres, and frankly, has not been a very good team this season. Prince Owusu was causing headaches, and Iván Jaime was creating a good bit of danger off the left wing.

Now, the Spaniard was substituted right before the red card, and his creativity was clearly missed afterwards. But surely there should be more ideas in possession of a man, and not relying on one chance creator in the entire squad.

Through five weeks now, the team is clearly much better with Jaime on the pitch than off it. His final ball may not be perfect, but the gravity he creates off the dribble opens up so much space for the rest of the attack, whether that be Owusu, Synchuk or Carmona. They need to get him as close to 90 minutes fit as possible if the bleu-blanc-boir want to push for more wins, at least until the decision on his purchase option comes.

Nonetheless, Jaime not being on the pitch doesn't excuse the points that were dropped, as the team heads into the international break with just one win and four losses under their belts.

Watching the pieces come together

Toronto FC left a lot of their transfer business until after their Marbella training camp, and paid the price for it with two sloppy performances leading to losses in the first two weeks.

Josh Sargent, Dániel Sallói, Benjamín Kuscevic and Raheem Edwards all arrived in late February and are just settling into the team now. Their impact is beginning to be felt, with all four of these players starting in this weekend's 2-1 win over Columbus.

This doesn't even account for earlier signings like Walker Zimmerman, who looked rock solid at the back and scored the winner on Saturday, Matheus Pereira, who picked up an injury in preseason and hasn't made a matchday squad yet, and Emilio Aristizábal, who has featured in each of the last three games.

This is a stronger Toronto side from top to bottom than they have been in years, and there are still levels to unlock once Sargent and Djordje Mihailović, who were substituted for one another against Columbus with Mihailović feeling unwell and Sargent a planned halftime change, build chemistry alongside one another. With players like Matheus Pereira, Theo Corbeanu, and Nicksoen Gomis still to return to full fitness, the ceiling remains some way above where they currently sit.

And while there's still room for improvement, the puzzle seemed to be starting to come together against the Crew.

After being down 1-0 at the half, thanks to an early Wessam Abou Ali header and not really creating much of anything in open play, the second half saw a much better showing.

Mihailović's entry helped sort the issues with progressing the ball out, as DeAndre Kerr (who is not a winger and should probably not play there ever again) struggled to both beat his man off the dribble and hold possession out wide, and was moved to the centre forward spot, where he's much more comfortable.

Sallói moved out right, and Mihailović came in as a very inverted left winger. This immediately paid dividends for the goal, as after a good bit of play from the back line to beat some pressure from the Crew's front two, Richie Laryea broke forward and played a ball out to Sallói on the right. His cross found José Cifuentes unmarked in the box, who had enough time to take a touch before blasting home his first TFC goal.

Those transition moments were there in spurts in the first, but the struggles in progression usually saw them go awry, just leading to half-chances or corners at best. After the break, there was noticeably more danger and dynamism with the ball, and it led to that goal.

The game-winner did end up coming off a corner, where the Reds found a lot of joy with 10 total opportunities. They were knocking on the door with a few inswingers to the penalty spot, but it ended up being an outswinging ball that Zimmerman headed home in the 83rd minute to give Toronto the lead.

More encouragingly, the back line looked solid once again. Kuscevic and Zimmerman were commanding in the box, controlling play well in front of them, while fullbacks Richie Laryea and Edwards dealt effectively with emergency situations and balls played in behind.

The project is starting to all fit together in Toronto. With seven more games to go on their MLS homestand after the international break, they can start to build some serious momentum in the East.

A mulligan

It was a disappointing week in Vancouver, as Champions Cup heartbreak bled into a home loss against San Jose on the weekend, the first blemish on the Whitecaps' league record in 2026.

It would definitely be fair to call this a disappointing week on all fronts. This is a team that entered the season with aspirations to win everything, and falling this early in the Champions Cup hurts, especially to a Cascadian rival. It's also never fun to lose at home in MLS.

That said, they expended a significant amount of energy in that tie, a recurring theme for MLS sides balancing continental commitments. In matchday five, of the nine teams with a Champions Cup fixture midweek, they went a combined 3-4-2 on the weekend. Of those three wins, Cincinnati and Miami both struggled at times, with only Nashville looking truly dominant.

It also helps that Vancouver was perfect through four weeks in MLS play anyway. So, despite Beau Leroux's banger just before halftime standing as the only goal of the game being disappointing, it's far from an indictment on things to come in Vancouver.

Plus, even with the loss, the 'Caps looked pretty solid, especially in the second half, and forced Quakes goalkeeper Daniel into a few pretty big stops. It's not like it was one-way traffic from San Jose the entire match.

Coming out of the break, it'll just be MLS and the Canadian Championship for Vancouver to focus on the rest of the way. The quality of this team is among the best in MLS, and they'll be focused on the Shield from here on out.

One note that is important to mention, however, is how important it'll be to get Andrés Cubas healthy and on the pitch as much as possible. The Paraguayan destroyer makes a huge difference in terms of setting the tempo on and off the ball, and it's always noticeable when he's not out there.