Frank Yallop should probably look at the positives. There are ways in which his Chicago Fire side could have lost a match more catastrophically. For instance, a meteor could have hit, or the war of the worlds could have broken out upon kick-off at Toyota Park (Sean Spence had similar thoughts on his perceptive blog at Hot Time in Old Town). Both would have been a worse way to lose to Orlando City, although only marginally.

In front of a crowd of over 20,000 the Fire pushed their way to a deserved 2-1 lead against the Floridians, playing an attractive brand of dynamic, entertaining soccer. But with just eight minutes left Chicago somehow conceded twice to lose 3-2 and slip to 18th place in the overall standings. At least such a bumper audience was afforded a landmark moment: Adailton’s MLS-record double own-goal. Few teams have the capacity to turn such a rousing performance into such a distressing one so quickly but it’s a flaw the Chicago Fire have struggled to shake.

“I’m kind of stunned and shocked with the result, it felt pretty similar to last year to be honest,” said Yallop following the defeat. Indeed, the Fire’s 2014 campaign was completely undermined by an inability to see out results, suffering a collapse at some point over the course of 90 minutes almost every game. Chicago lost just 10 matches all season, yet missed out on the play-offs by recording a league-record 18 ties. Having lost two successive games, Yallop would probably settle for some of those points right now - although not if Chicago are to secure a post-season place.

“It’s pretty frustrating, it reminds you of what happened last year in a lot of games,” echoed Harry Shipp, whose impressive performance was cancelled out by his side’s late capitulation. David Accam also played well, scoring and contributing an assist before the metaphorical meteor hit the Chicago Fire. But it mattered for nothing, especially with only the Colorado Rapids and New York City FC now below Chicago in the standings.

Orlando City however, are having no such issues. Adrian Heath’s side have embraced the challenged of becoming the first expansion team since the Seattle Sounders in 2009 to make the play-offs, with victory over Chicago only aiding their cause. Although with Cyle Larin – this year’s thriving No1 draft pick – now with the Canadian national team for World Cup qualifying the Lions will turn to Pedro Ribeiro to sustain what has become a formidable frontline. But as one goes out, another comes in, with Aurelien Collin returning from injury at Chicago to reiterate his value to Orlando. While the Frenchman can be erratic he’s decidedly steadfast when compared to the Fire backline.

Thomas McNamara might be the necessary short-term solution for NYC FC

At New York City FC’s first ever regulation game – a friendly match against Scottish side St Mirren played at Manchester City’s academy stadium in February – a fellow writer, only there to ask Jason Kreis about Frank Lampard, must have clocked my interest in the team lineup. “So do they have anyone other than David Villa?” he enquired, with a degree of derision. Recognising his lack of MLS knowledge I was struggling to find a reference point anywhere else.

But NYC FC were always going to be reliant on native talent as much as the likes of Villa (and Lampard, when he finally arrives). And one such player – of MLS pedigree – proved the difference-maker as the franchise picked up its first ever road win against the Philadelphia Union at PPL Park.

Of course, NYC FC do indeed have more quality than just Villa – even if the Spaniard is the only one to appear on a Times Square billboard. But even so, few expected Thomas McNamara to make such an impression on his first start of the campaign, scoring a stunning equaliser and generally impressing on the left-side of the central midfield. The 24-year-old has lingered around the frame of the picture in 2015, but against Philly he provided something that NYC FC have lacked this season.

With an inherently attacking midfield unit, Kreis’ side have simply been too easy to cut through for opposition teams – something that will hardly be rectified with the signing of Lampard. But against the Union McNamara made 10 clearances, preventing Philadelphia from adding to their goal tally and helping out a defensive line which hasn’t exactly been the epitome of resolute rigidity this season.

Kreis might have envisaged his NYC FC playing with more dynamism by this point of the year, but given their expansion season struggles the use of someone like McNamara could be something of a short-term necessity. After all, a team toiling to score goals must make a priority of stopping them going in at the back – as crude an approach as that may seem. As the league’s basement side, Kreis must be pragmatic – and that may mean more starts for McNamara.

“It’s great to finally get some points that I feel like we’ve deserved for a long time,” said Kreis after the win at PPL Park, and there is a sense that NYC FC have suffered the brunt of their own misfortune. There are fleeting signs of development around the team, yet the midfield has still to find its natural form – especially with Mix Diskerud away on an international jaunt with the US national team. McNamara’s goal against Philadelphia was just the second of his MLS career – and the former Chivas USA man could never be labelled a league veteran – but his qualities dovetail with what NYC FC needs right now.

Will Bruin has become the Houston Dynamo’s Chris Wondolowski

This season has been something of an exercise in rebranding for the Houston Dynamo. The club has a new coach in Owen Coyle, a new general manager in Matt Jordan, a new designated player in Erick Torres and even a new slogan – changing the previous ‘Forever Orange’ tagline to ‘Forever Orange, Forever One’ – a fairly inconsequential alteration, but one a room of marketing executives probably decided said something about the direction of the New Houston Dynamo.

Such a rebrand extended into the sporting side of things too, with Coyle demanding a more (appropriately) dynamic approach from his side – particularly when considering the role of his strikers. Will Bruin, the Dynamo’s most dependable forward in recent years, was seen, for a time, as something of a misfit. Giles Barnes was instead regarded as the embodiment of what the Scot expected from his attackers: mobile and interchangeable.

But since the opening day win over the Columbus Crew, which saw Houston use Bruin in behind Barnes, Coyle has flipped the briefs of his two strikers. Now it is Barnes in behind Bruin – and the change has sparked the Dynamo’s frontline into life – as was the case against the New York Red Bulls on Friday, when Bruin netted twice (his sixth in five games) in a thumping 4-2 win. With seven goals from nine starting appearances this season, the 25-year-old is on course to at least challenge his 2012 tally of 16 goals, reiterating just how important he is to the Houston Dynamo, even if Coyle originally envisaged something different from his frontline.

In MLS terms there is something of a comparison to be made between Bruin and another reliable – if somewhat unfancied – goalscorer, Chris Wondolowski. The San Jose Earthquakes striker brought up a century of MLS goals last month, and yet Wondo is still something of an under-appreciated star of the league, much like Bruin. Both players are natural finishers and both men probably should have received more international recognition for their domestic performances by now. Did Jürgen Klinsmann not think Bruin was worthy of a place in his roster for this month’s friendly fixtures against Holland and Germany?

In fact, on the basis of statistics Bruin is the more prolific of the two, with his 42 goals from 128 MLS appearances working out at 0.33 goals per game, compared to Wondolowski’s 0.26 goals per game from 101 in 382 outings. Things didn’t work out for Wondo in Houston, but in Bruin the Dynamo might have the closest thing.

On the other side of Friday’s result, defeat ended a streak of results for the Red Bulls but not the one they would have hoped for. Jesse Marsch’s side had not lost in their last seven league meetings with the Dynamo, yet extended their winless run to four matches with the loss at BBVA Compass Stadium. Having slipped into fifth place in the West the Red Bulls must arrest their slide – and quickly.

Robbie Keane’s return is not the instant fix the LA Galaxy was hoping for

If ever an example was needed of how possession doesn’t always result in attacking prowess, the LA Galaxy provided one on Saturday night. Bruce Arena’s side claimed 65.6% of the ball all for themselves against the Vancouver Whitecaps, setting up inside the opposition half for much of the match, yet were handed a 1-0 defeat – their first in 23 regular season games at StubHub Center.

Of course, the result in isolation wasn’t much of a surprise. The Galaxy have been toiling for weeks, struggling for traction as they head into the crucial summer months. This is when play-off contenders set the tone of their challenge, and with just two wins from their last nine games LA are setting a decidedly meek tone – which certainly won’t have been boosted by defeat to the Whitecaps.

What was a surprise however was just how feeble the Galaxy’s attack was – and with Robbie Keane back in the team too. In fact, Arena’s side were so toothless that they failed to notch a single shot on goal for just the third time in franchise history – despite all their territorial dominance and possession of the ball. LA’s problems will take more than just putting Keane back on the field to solve.

“It was difficult because of the way they play,” explained Keane afterwards. “They’ve got two guys at the back who are very big, and then they have two midfielders who just sit in front of the back four.” The Irishman wasn’t wrong in his observation, but with a precedent now set for away teams at StubHub Center he should expect more of the same in future. If this method of stopping the Galaxy has been proved to work, why would others deviate from it?

There was plenty neat and tidy play around the Whitecaps penalty area, shifting the ball from wing to wing and to the edge of the 18-yard line, but when it came to finding a route to goal the Galaxy was devoid of both imagination and presence. Arena will now surely shift around his starting frontline, especially with Keane on international duty with Republic of Ireland next week. The team against the Columbus Crew will at least give an indication as to how Arena plans on tackling his side’s attacking deficiency.

For Vancouver, this performance was in stark contrast to the one turned in against the defending MLS Cup champions in April – with the comprehensive 2-0 win for the Whitecaps marking out Carl Robinson’s side as credible conference candidates. They endured a slump in form soon after, but are now back atop the Western pile, tied with the Seattle Sounders on 26 points. While the Galaxy fall, the Whitecaps rise, albeit with their backs to the wall.

Portland’s streak is impressive – even more so without Diego Valeri

Caleb Porter’s Portland Timbers spent a lot of time waiting for Diego Valeri to return. With every poor result that shaded a disappointing start to the campaign, a common sentiment was echoed: wait until the Argentinian creator-in-chief is back. So when Valeri finally made his return from an ACL injury only to pick up an ankle knock soon after in Toronto, the Timbers simply couldn’t wait any longer.

Now with Valeri back in the treatment room for yet another stint, Portland have picked up three straight wins – and all against strong opposition too. First there was the victory over DC United, then the road win at the Colorado Rapids. But Saturday’s 2-0 result against the New England Revolution suggested that this streak might be something more than just a momentary spike in form, such was the level of their performance. “I thought it was our best performance of the year from start to finish, both sides of the ball,” gushed Porter. That was perhaps slightly overblown, given that it took Portland until the 86th minute to make the breakthrough, but it’s true that the Cascadia outfit played with an assurance that has been missing for much of the year.

The defeat to Toronto FC two weeks ago, coupled with the injury to Valeri, left the Timbers’ season teetering on the brink. Portland were tied for last place in the Western Conference, and with a daunting run of fixtures in wait things could have got worse very easily without their best player. The Revs might have been without both Jermaine Jones and Juan Agudelo at Providence Park on Saturday night – but the three straight victories that followed the BMO Field ordeal have certainly pepped up what was an ailing campaign.

But while the Timbers’ resurgence has come without Valeri involved, another strand of Porter’s team has enjoyed something of a renaissance. The midfield pairing of Diego Chara and Will Johnson was once the best in the league, but such standards set in 2013 dropped significantly last season – with counter-attacking sides cutting through the duo with the ease of Timber Joey on a soft pine log. Of course, the partnership was split when Johnson suffered a leg break last September, but with the Canadian back to something nearing full fitness the Timbers have their midfield basis back again.

Yet for all their midfield improvement Portland’s impressive form has its root in sustained defensive resolution. The Timbers have conceded just 0.933 goals per game, ranking them as one of the stingiest sides in MLS. If Porter can somehow get his frontline firing – perhaps once Valeri is back, or once Maximiliano Urutti and Fanendo Adi exit their own personal slumps – Portland’s season could soon butterfly into something it never looked like becoming: a success.