Have a happy and safe 4th of July everyone!

See you all on Monday.

A move that I absolutely will pay off for Sigi Schmid has just become official from what I am hearing out west. Seattle Sounders FC have signed Costa Rican defender Leonardo Gonzalez. Gonzalez’s signing will be finalized upon receipt of his P-1 work permit and International Clearance.

Why do I like this move for Schmid and the Sounders? First of all the club does need defensive help if they even want to think about a deep playoff run. Schmid knows that and his move brings in a veteran defender with plenty of experience. He’s been capped by the national side 59 times (including three at the 2006 World Cup) and is at the prime age of 28-years old.

It may take a couple weeks before he gets use to playing in MLS but I really have a good feeling for the Sounders if he pays off like I think he will.

Do you like this deal for Seattle?

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal Pairings

July 7 Harrisburg City Islanders (USL-2) at D.C. United (MLS) 7:30 p.m. ET
Maryland Soccerplex; Boyds, Md.

July 7 Wilmington Hammerheads (USL-2) at Rochester Rhinos (USL-1) 7 p.m. ET
Rochester Rhinos Stadium; Rochester, N.Y.

July 7
Houston Dynamo (MLS) at Charleston Battery (USL-1) 7:30 p.m. ET
Blackbaud Stadium; Charleston, S.C.

July 7 Kansas City Wizards (MLS) at Seattle Sounders (MLS) 7 p.m. PT
Starfire Sports Complex; Tukwila, Wash.

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Possible Semifinal Pairings

July 21 Rochester Rhinos (USL-1) / Wilmington Hammerheads (USL-2) at D.C. United (MLS) 7:30 p.m. ET
Maryland Soccerplex; Boyds, Md.

July 21 Harrisburg City Islanders (USL-2) at Rochester Rhinos (USL-1) 7 p.m. ET Rochester
Rhinos Stadium; Rochester, N.Y.

July 21 Wilmington Hammerheads (USL-2) at Harrisburg City Islanders (USL-2) 7:05 p.m. ET Skyline Sports Complex; Harrisburg, Pa.

July 21 Charleston Battery (USL-1) / Houston Dynamo (MLS) at Seattle Sounders (MLS) 7 p.m. PT
Starfire Sports Complex; Tukwila, Wash.

July 21 Kansas City Wizards (MLS) at Charleston Battery (USL-1) 7:30 p.m. ET
Blackbaud Stadium; Charleston, S.C.

July 22 Houston Dynamo (MLS) at Kansas City Wizards (MLS) 7:30 p.m. CT
Shawnee Mission North H.S.; Overland Park, Kan.

After a couple weekends of SuperLiga play breaking up the flow of the season schedule the majority of the MLS clubs are back in play this weekend. Only Chivas, Seattle, and Toronto are out of action this week. Gotta love that unbalanced schedule the league has, I don’t see why a club like Toronto is off this week but oh well.

Anyways, time to get down to business. Feel free to send your game predictions as well.

Friday:

San Jose Earthquakes – at – Real Salt Lake:

The Quakes have been turning things around but so have Jason Kreis’ club. Last week RSL absolutely dominated another club at home. It was a result that I am sure was good to see for Kreis because his club needed a bounce back after giving up points to Houston on the road prior to that. This one will be big for RSL, three points at home should be a given with the way Yura Movsisyan and Clint Mathis are playing. I do wonder how they will play without Will Johnson (Canada) and Kyle Beckerman (USA) who are both with their respecitve countries for the Gold Cup. San Jose will need a big performance from Ryan Johnson and Darren Huckerby to get anything from this one. I think the difference will be the venue, San Jose hasn’t been very good on the road and RSL is still one of the best home clubs over the last two seasons. RSL needs this win to stay in playoff contention, another stumble against a club like San Jose would not look good at this point in the campaign.

WVH Prediction: RSL 2, San Jose 1

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Saturday:

DC United – at – Columbus Crew:

Probably game of the week material here folks, good thing too since it will be on ESPN2 for a primetime affair. Both will be missing their fair share of guys to the Gold Cup, while each look to remain at the top of the eastern standings (one a point separates the two right now). I want to see exactly how DC is set to stop Guillermo Barros Schelotto here this season. Last year he was a handful for the Black-and-Red and seeing how DC will be without Dejan Jakovic (Gold Cup) it could be a little more interesting this time around. DC needs a big game out of rookie Chris Pontius and veteran Christian Gomez if they want the three points. I think with what each club will be missing makes this game smell like a draw. I think Columbus has the chance to win this one but I’d like to see their offense click a little more than what I’ve seen out of them recently. Plus I know DC is always good for a late goal.

WVH Prediction: Columbus 1, DC 1

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Chicago Fire – at – Colorado Rapids:

Let’s face it both clubs need some points right now, especially the Fire who haven’t looked well in league play for a month or so. Colorado looked to be getting hot before last week’s cool-down in Seattle. The Fire have been one of the better road sides this season while I’m still waiting on Colorado to figure out their stadium there in suburban Denver. I’ve said before that I like the Rapids and what they have with Omar Cummings, Colin Clark and so on. But this is still a young team that hasn’t shown up enough and it is going to hurt them. I think SuperLiga refueled the Fire a bit and they will win this game due to some solid play from guys like Brian McBride and Blanco. This could be one of those go either way kind of games but the Fire have more confidence right now (even with the reserves losing in the Open Cup this week).

WVH Prediction: Chicago 2, Colorado 1

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Houston Dynamo – at – Kansas City Wizards:

KC is another club in need of points right now. As tight as the eastern conference is they cannot afford to drop more games at home here. They may have some luck though as Houston comes to town missing a few key players due to the Gold Cup. Houston will have to bank on play by veterans Brad Davis and Brian Mullen to get through this one. KC will be lacking a strong veteran in their defense in Jimmy Conrad which makes me believe this one could end up on level terms. If Houston can find a way to get their offense to go through Cam Weaver like they did a couple weeks ago I’d be all over the Dynamo winning this one. I just feel like KC will keep them honest in this one and hold them to a draw.

WVH Prediction: KC 1, Houston 1

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New York Red Bulls – at – FC Dallas:

I seriously feel bad for the Red Bulls. This is game number 19 on the season for them while most clubs are at 15 or 16. Crazy. Anyways I’ve seen the Red Bulls in town each year for the last couple of seasons and sadly enough I won’t go this year (family obligations folks). The Red Bulls continue to stink up the place and on the road it’s hasn’t been a good thing to see in a while. Dallas is slowly turning the corner and a few guys will get a bigger chance this weekend with Kenny Cooper gone with the US national team. Word has it Jeff Cunningham looked really good in practice this week and so did a few others. I think the Red Bulls will keep it close but Dallas will pull through due to another mental lapse from one of the Red Bull defenders.

WVH Prediction: Dallas 1, New York 0

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New England Revolution – at – LA Galaxy:

Speaking of weird scheduling this is the Revs’ 13 game of the season. Weird how that works but anyways, I did think the Revs were like Chicago and used SuperLiga to turn things around a bit. LA is full of confidence though as they get Landon Donovan back for this one. Even though I like the Revs and how they play I just see an energized Galaxy in this one that takes the three points. LA can’t lose momentum right now in the west and three points will certainly make things more interesting. Usually I’m not as quick to make a selection in LA’s favor like this but I just feel good about them for once.

WVH Prediction: LA 2, NE 0

Here is the list:

Jozy Altidore
Jonathan Bornstein
Conor Casey
Ricardo Clark
Benny Feilhaber
Brad Guzan
Sacha Kljestan

These seven players will not be traveling with the 23-man U.S. Gold Cup squad, but will join the team for specific games during the tournament. I honeestly don’t know how that will work but I am guessing some of the west coast guys will join the team when they play in Seattle and others will join when they are in the east coast playing in DC or in Boston.

Are you happy with these additions or wish some other guys got a shot at this tournament?

Many wonder if Sacha Kljestan can turn it around this year. (Getty Images)

Editor’s Note: Geoff Reid appears on WVHooligan.com each week. Today he is back with his defense of a guy that has been kicked around quite a bit lately, Chivas USA and US national team midfielder Sacha Kljestan.

I wrote a piece a few months ago defending Bob Bradley because I thought he was getting an unfair rap from some fans. So out of everyone in US Soccer after the eventual success of the Nats in the Confederations Cup, I was most happy for him.

Now I turn my focus to Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan.

It just seemed like yesterday that the California native scored that spectacular hat-trick against a Sweden B team which came just after his trial at Celtic. Since then, his form has dipped tremendously for his club and country. It was only a year ago that he was tearing it up in league play and was voted an MLS all star and was unfortunate not to take part in that mach against West Ham due to the Olympic U-23 side.

What’s his biggest criticism at the moment? Not being able to complete simple passes on a regular basis. Some folks think he’s not good enough for international football which is mind boggling because it was completely the opposite just 12 months ago. When players give away possession easily and make silly mistakes, you know confidence is down, it’s a given. We saw that with DaMarcus Beasley recently and his club situation no doubt has contributed to that the most.

It actually reminds me of Bobby Convey’s situation earlier this decade after his failed transfer from DC United to Tottenham. His form dipped for a while before getting back his competitive edge and eventually landed at Reading. I see something similar with Kljestan. Call it a Celtic hangover if you will. After the trial he said all the right things in that he was fully focused on Chivas USA and getting them to MLS Cup in 2009 while playing with the national team. However, he just got done from a successful trial with one of the most famous clubs in world football (although the league is pretty poor) with a fan base more passionate then most. The club makes MLS and the AmeriGoats an offer and essentially turn it down. Nobody can say that wouldn’t have an effect on any of us if we’re in that position. He could still be snapped up this summer although now it looks more unlikely with his performance in South Africa considering and that might not be a bad thing for now.

Kljestan’s game has improved greatly under Preki the last two years. If what we read is anything to go by, Preki has focused his time and energy in trying to polish Kljestan’s all round game and also Preki could possibly see a little of himself in Sacha. We remember Preki as a talented attacking midfielder who was unpredictable and one of the few American players who could pull a rabbit out of a hat for his club and country when needed. He also had that temperament being a Serbian and can anyone see this in Kljestan?

What is happening with Kljestan right now is he is going through his first challenging stage of his career, all players go through rough patches and their form dips from time to time. A lot of it is down to confidence. A good portion of it can be personal life as well. I don’t know him personally so I can’t answer that one, but what I do know is he’s only human.

I still remain a big Kljestan fan. I think he has the potential to become one of the best US players of his generation. For his sake and for national team and Chivas USA fans I hope he turns around his form the second half of the league season. With the World Cup just around the corner and the US looking to have the most depth in midfield, his position, he could be out of the running to make one of the 23 spots for next summer. He’s in the best environment playing for Preki and a team that suits his style of good, attractive attacking football. Preki will push him, we know that much. One thing we also know for sure is Bob Bradley knows how good he can be, after all it was Bradley who drafted him at Chivas USA in 2006. It’s up to Sacha now.

Hear it for yourself.

Thing is does Toronto really need another defensive midfielder? Sounds like they could be lined up to make a trade or two if that deal is true.

Makes me want to fast forward a bit to 2011 to see this rivalry in Major League Soccer.

Apparently Chivas had been shopping their strikers around and Esky was the guy that happened to be brought up in most of the discussions. Chivas has quite a long list of strikers that needed to get moved and sadly enough Esky was going to be the first to go. Don’t be at all shocked if Chivas ships off another striker before the end of the summer.

In the process of bringing Esky in the Galaxy also waived Josh Tudela.

We could see a couple more moves announced today. Today does mark the day that MLS contracts become guaranteed, but clubs can designate two players into a non-guaranteed mode after July 1st. Either way we may see one or two more waived players by the end of the day. I’ll keep ya posted on that if we do.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Is it Time to Care About Soccer?
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum

We also can’t leave out the interview he did with Alexi Lalas:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Is it Time to Care About Soccer? - Alexi Lalas
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum