Well last night was a dud. A real ball-buster of a way to start the playoffs for Major League Soccer. Two solid teams go head-to-head in front of maybe 5,000 people in New England. Tough break really, I know it was cold and a mid-week but come on, it’s playoff time baby!

Well the playoffs now move to Saturday as the other three series kickoff. Three matchs with the lower seed hosting in the opening leg of each series. After last night’s game I figure we will see a very defensive style of play this weekend out of some road clubs, while teams like Kansas City and Real Salt Lake will hope to use their home field to their advantage.

Houston Dynamo – at – New York Red Bulls: Everyone’s least favorite match-up of the post season.  Houston hasn’t done well in New York in recent years but you can expect Dominic Kinnear to have a fairly rested club for this game. New York will rely heavily on Juan Pablo Angel. Continue Reading…

MLS released their award finalist today. I was planning on sharing my votes later on this week or early next week but why not today. I was able to vote in this year’s voting through the league (apparently the league enjoys the blogging world out there that cover the sport). My selections are marked in bold. I will release my Best XI later on.

Goalkeeper (Nov. 4 announcement)
Jon Busch, Chicago Fire
Will Hesmer, Columbus Crew
Matt Reis, New England Revolution

Fair Play (Nov. 4)
Juan Pablo Angel, New York Red Bulls
Michael Parkhurst, New England Revolution
Chris Rolfe, Chicago Fire

Comeback (Nov. 22)
Jon Busch, Chicago Fire
Kenny Cooper, FC Dallas
Santino Quaranta, D.C. United

Defender (Nov. 6)
Jimmy Conrad, Kansas City Wizards
Chad Marshall, Columbus Crew
Bakary Soumare, Chicago Fire
(I actually voted for Gonzalo Segares, Chicago Fire)

Rookie (Nov. 13)
Geoff Cameron, Houston Dynamo
Kheli Dube, New England Revolution
Sean Franklin, Los Angeles Galaxy

Coach (Nov. 11)
Dominic Kinnear, Houston Dynamo
Sigi Schmid, Columbus Crew
Frank Yallop, San Jose Earthquakes

Most Valuable Player (Nov. 20)
Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Chicago Fire
Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy
Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Columbus Crew

Newcomer (Nov. 11)
Darren Huckerby, San Jose Earthquakes
Claudio Lopez, Kansas City Wizards
Andre Rocha, FC Dallas

David Beckham finally gets the loan to AC Milan finalized. Yippie. I still don’t see how this deal works out well for the Galaxy and MLS but if he stays healthy through it and comes into next year at 100% then it is a good deal for both sides.

An agreement has been reached between the L.A. Galaxy and AC Milan for the loan of Galaxy midfielder David Beckham effective in January 2009. Beckham remains under contract to the Galaxy of Major League Soccer and will return to the club for training and the start of the 2009 MLS season. AC Milan and the Galaxy have additionally agreed to a technical partnership that will provide great benefit to both clubs. Terms of the agreement will remain confidential.

A wait and see until then however…

It’s just what we’ve been waiting for, playoff soccer. For the next two weeks we get a Thursday night contest with two of the league’s best with Chicgo and New England squaring off in the first round of the playoffs. This rivalry has been one of the best in the past few years as these two have met several times since 2000 in the playoffs.

The Fire were totally dominate in this series between these two clubs. Three games three wins and nine goals to the Revs one. But New England does own history on their side in the playoffs against the Fire. Thing is they will need more than history tonight as they will be without Taylor Twellman (concussion related injury), Gabriel Badilla and Khano Smith (both serving suspensions).

It will be a big task for some young guys from New England to step up tonight. They’ve been virtually cold on the pitch since early August. Not the best time to go cold either as they look for the forth-straight MLS Cup apparence.

I like what I saw out of Chicago last week against New York and I think that will carry over on the road against the Revs. Chicago is one of the few (Columbus probably being the other) clubs that isn’t scared to face the Revs in the post season. I look for Blanco and Chris Rolfe to have big games. Rolfe is Mr. October anyways so look for him to have a good game.

Revs battle to a close one here but the Fire pull away and head home with a nice advantage for next week’s return leg.

WVH Prediction: Chicago 2, New England 0

This will probably be the last of the expansion draft list until after the first round of the playoff concludes, when at that time I will go through the next four clubs that will be in prep mode for the draft in late November. Hard to believe it but MLS Cup is less than a month away kiddies.

Anyways, today we shift our foucs to the last of the playoff-less clubs, the Colorado Rapids. So far we have gone through DC, Dallas, LA, San Jose and Toronto.

And of course, as always, to recap about the rules, go here.

The Protected: Continue Reading…

Some news out of the league from office today. Major League Soccer revealed its newly redesigned MLS Cup trophy, named for soccer visionary Philip F. Anschutz. The sterling silver trophy, created by Tiffany & Co., was unveiled this morning in a ceremony at the jeweler’s New York flagship store on Fifth Avenue. The Philip F. Anschutz Trophy will be presented at this year’s MLS Cup on Sunday, November 23.

Honestly, I want to see the trophy in person and compare it to the old trophy which I always felt worked well for the league. I will let you all be the judge of it though about if the change is too much or just right.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of the two trophy’s, which the new one of the right and the old one on the left (the Alan I. Rothenberg Trophy)

Who can forget the very first MLS Cup trophy:

Time once again for another list here in our Expansion Draft coverage. Today we shift focus to one of the more disappointing clubs this year, DC United. We have already gone through Dallas, LA, San Jose and Toronto.

DC went into the season with loads of expectations and ended up falling short of the post season with their 1-0 loss at Columbus on Sunday. They still have a CONCACAF Champions League game left but their season is pretty much over here. With a US Open Cup in their back pocket, they will return to the CCL next year so the offseason rebuild will be on starting with this expansion draft. How they protect will be an interesting thing.

As always to recap about the rules, go here.

The Protected: Continue Reading…