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Photo by Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press

Brett Levis, the 23-year-old from Saskatoon, had some bright moments too, whipping in a pair of excellent crosses from the left, one of which Kendall Waston headed in for the 2-2 goal.

Robinson used the second half to give four Whitecaps FC 2 players some time — with Levis and fellow Canadian Daniel Haber making the most of it.

“I wanted to give them the opportunity to play, to step in with the MLS players,” said Robinson. “We have this (USL) team for a reason and when they get their chance to play in a game like this it means a lot. You see Brett crossing some great balls. You see Daniel with his work rate.”

Photo by Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press

Everything in friendlies like Tuesday has to be taken with a huge grain of salt, but at least you can say that pair only did themselves a favour.

The more important stuff out of Tuesday’s game, though, relates to the MLS team, which has run hot and cold all season and needs to start clicking soon. The Caps are at the Houston Dynamo on Saturday and it was encouraging to see centre-back David Edgar make a decent debut at centre-back, and Masato Kudo continue his strong play up front.

Preventing goals has been the Caps biggest problem this season and Edgar, it’s hoped, will do wonders for the back line and for the leadership of this group.

He scored a decent goal on Tuesday, too, and perhaps his presence will help on set plays as well.

Scoring hasn’t statistically been the Caps issue this season but there’s still the sense that they desperately need someone they can rely on up front and at least Kudo is showing signs he might be that guy.