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“(Van der Wiel), Auro, take your pick. You just listed off five or six guys who are starters for this team,” Vanney said when asked for status updates post-game.

“Obviously with (Vazquez) and Jozy and Chris and Drew’s close, these guys over the next seven to 14 days will be back into the team. What I’ve been saying for four months now is if we can stop losing guys and start adding guys, then we’ll start to look like our former selves a little bit more.”

NOTHING TO SEE HERE

It was a surprise to see captain Michael Bradley come out with about 30 minutes left on Saturday, but it was easy to understand Vanney’s thinking. A 2-0 game, with that hope on the horizon, a frustrated Bradley who had just appeared to pull up lame after taking a bogus yellow card, it made sense, even if he hadn’t been subbed out since 2014.

Vanney said it was his call and he knew it wouldn’t be received well by Bradley, who didn’t even hand over his captain’s armband as he left the field quickly, the frustration clearly mounting.

“It’s never a popular choice, he’s a competitor and a fighter and he wants to play, he wants to be out there through thick and thin, but for me again, we’ve got to get as many guys back as we can and keep as many guys as we can. It was just my feeling in the moment,” Vanney said when asked about it by Postmedia.

Bradley has been a candid, media workhouse lately and got the night off from speaking.

FRIENDLY FACE ON HAND

Altidore did not get into the match. He was seemingly brought to Florida as much to boost morale as to actually return to action, but he is getting close, and his teammates were thrilled to have him around.