GOAL: With Vancouver, how do you feel about their chances this year? What do they need to get over the line? They go to a cup final last year, but what’s missing?

KYLE: I’ve gotten in trouble so many times, and I actually don’t care. I’m like, unapologetically Canadian. I don’t care. I love Vancouver. I grew up with the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Right now, I don’t think there’s much missing for Vancouver. I think if you look at the Vancouver Whitecaps the last two seasons under Jesper Sorensen, he’s one of my favorite coaches in Major League Soccer. He’s implemented a playing philosophy. I don’t think we had that under Vanni Sartini. I think he kind of built the base and took it where he could. He added his character, his off field antics in the best possible way. He kind of gave players confidence.

And then you have Sorensen, who has come in, and they play, for me, one of the most beautiful brands of football in Major League Soccer, because they can go route one. But then they also have multiple different ways to build up with different players. You have Andres Cubas and Sebastian Berhalter, who are arguably two of the best double pivots in the league. You have Thomas Muller who hasn’t hit yet, so that’s going to be scary when he does hit. You have a Ryan Gauld who hasn’t featured due to injury. You have Brian White, who’s pushing his way into the US Men’s National Team. So there are so many good question marks around Vancouver, and then the ability to sell players as well. But don’t look at it like Philadelphia Union, for example, where you sell so many players, and you look like a completely different team, whereas Vancouver has just been able to remain balanced. Which is, which is remarkable.

GOAL: And as for Montreal. They’ve fired a coach, there isn’t loads to get excited about. Is this just neglect?

KYLE: The thing is, whether they were Montreal Impact before, or FC Montreal, their fan base is second to none, then they go and build an amazing soccer specific Stadium, which is unreal. I feel for the fans, first and foremost, because they show up through the good, the bad, the ugly, like Vancouver did for so many years. And now, Vancouver’s winning. They’re investing. They’re bringing big players in, like Thomas Muller. I had to re-read X when that happened!

And Montreal has just never been that team, other than Nacho Piazzi, who we had on MLS. He was one of their mainstays there. They’ve not really been exciting. And they sell a lot of, like, their youth that comes through, obviously. So it’s sad to see what’s happening in Montreal, because it could be so amazing.

And then Toronto, I think they just made a couple of bad DP signings, turned the corner, and spent a lot of money on Josh Sargent. So let’s hope he comes through and he’s scoring goals weekly. Because, if not, like, I still think Toronto is, quite honestly, two more transfer Windows away to being competitive in the east.

GOAL: On Toronto, that’s interesting. It seems like it’s just a rebuild at this point…

KYLE: Howmany times can you say it’s a rebuild when you’re Toronto? Because Toronto pump money in. And that’s what I love about them. I love that Toronto are unapologetically, like, “we’ve screwed up. Let’s go out and spend $22m on Josh Sargent with extra add-ons. Could potentially go to 27.” Like, that’s a crazy number. Do I think they overspent on him? Yes, I think you could have gotten three players to fill roles to do the building of your team.