Player

FC Dallas forward Blas Perez and defender George John were ranked among the Castrol Index Weekly Top 20 performers for Week 8 in Major League Soccer following the team's 2-0 win over Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Perez checked in at number four in this week's Castrol Index after scoring his third goal of the season in Week 8 and registering four shots on goal vs. Whitecaps FC. Super Raton's goal came in the 50th minute of the match after he got a head to Kenny Cooper's deflected shot and redirected the ball past goalkeeper Joe Cannon.

John landed at number 11 in this week's Index. The big center back played the full 90 minutes against Vancouver and was occupying defender Brad Rusin on FCD's corner kick attempt in the 29th minute, during which Rusin scored an own goal following David Ferreira's service. John also made a goal-line clearance in the 41st minute to help maintain the clean sheet.

Castrol Index Week 8 Top 20 Performers

You can see the full Castrol Index report from Week 8 here.

Letting a two-goal lead slip away with under ten minutes left makes for a long trip home no matter the opponent. 

Still, despite coming away from Canada with the solitary point, Zach Loyd knows earning four points from consecutive road games against TFC and New England is an acceptable overall result. 

"We come out [of the road trip] with four points, so from that perspective it was a great road trip," Loyd said after Saturday's game. "It was frustrating not to get the six points after being up two goals, but we are very happy to come away with four points. Now, we get two home games where we hope to win both of them and stay at the top of the table."

Before Justin Braun's 85th minute header ended the defensive shutout streak at 272 minutes, the Dallas defense held TFC to just three speculative shots on goal, but unfortunately all that will be remembered is the two late strikes from the home side. 

"We got a two goal lead, but we kind of took our foot off the pedal and started sitting in and tried to kill the game instead of continuing to play," said Loyd. "We took a lot of pressure in the last 30 minutes and I tip my hat to Toronto, they were down two goals and they showed a lot of resilience to come back and get two goals."

With LA - a team known for late goals - coming to town on Saturday night, late-game defense will certainly be a focus this week as Dallas looks for three points on Saturday to widen their first-place lead in the Western Conference. 

"Going forward with leads we need to not take our foot off the pedal and keep possession," said Loyd.

David Ferreira is in the running for MLSsoccer.com's Top 3 Performers of the Month for his output through five games in March.

The FC Dallas captain scored a goal or an assist in four of FCD's first five matches. Ferreira's lone goal came in the club's only loss of the season, 3-1, to Chivas USA.

El Torito also set up FCD's game-winning goals against the Colorado Rapids and New England Revolution, with his third assist of the month coming on Dallas' second goal in a 3-2 win over the Houston Dynamo.

You can vote for Ferriera to be one of the Top 3 Performers of the Month here.

FC Dallas players Jackson and Fabian Castillo were named to MLSsoccer.com's Team of the Week for Week 4. This is Jackson's second time this season - and second straight week - to be named to the Team of the Week, and the first for Castillo in 2013. You can read Nicholas Rosano's explanations of why they made the cut below:

MF: Jackson (FC Dallas) – Worked tirelessly as usual up and down the flanks, and his hard work and pressure were rewarded when he stripped Josh Saunders for Dallas' second goal. Also fed Fabián Castillo on the FCD opener.

MF: Fabián Castillo (FC Dallas) – At his electric best in Dallas' win over RSL on Saturday. Torched Lovel Palmer and fired an unusual but effective high, near-post shot to open the scoring.

See the full Team of the Week here.

What do you think? Should any other FC Dallas players have made the cut this week for their performance against Real Salt Lake?