Elsewhere there was plenty of movement. DC fell further down the list after a listless performance in Toronto. Speaking of the Reds they gained a lot in that win in the standings and in the rankings here. Seattle found a road win which helped move them back up.

Dallas had a nice couple weeks but their 10th loss of the season stung a good bit, they are back down in their old spot at number 12.

Feel free as always to leave your thoughts below on this week’s rankings.

Team	Rank (Last Week)	Record (W-L-T)	Comments
	1 (2)	10-3-9 39 pts.	Finally giving them their due at the top. When you got five straight while missing some of your best talent it really speaks to as how good this club really is.
	2 (1)	11-6-6 39 pts.	I’m not knocking how the Dynamo have done this season but lately they have been slipping. The road point in Salt Lake will prove to be big later on I think though.
	3 (4)	9-4-8 35 pts.	Best road team in the league without a doubt. Just wonder if this bunch will realize just how good they really are here though.
	4 (6)	8-5-8 32 pts.	Sure LA was down a man for most of the match, even down two at one point but it was good to see Sigi Schmid’s group find a way to win a tough road game here.
	5 (3)	7-4-10 31 pts.	You can’t win with nine men on most days. Still this was one of those chances the Galaxy stumbled on.
	6 (7)	8-6-6 30 pts.	This group always seems to get a buy week after a big win, let’s see if they can carry momentum this time around into their next game at Chicago.
	7 (8)	8-7-6 30 pts.	TFC finally gave me a reason to think they’d be in the playoffs this season with that win over DC.
	8 (5)	6-5-10 28 pts.	Starting to get the sense that this could be a very long two month stretch for Tom Soehn’s club.
	9 (10)	9-7-3 30 pts.	Nothing like a trip to New York to cure the blues of a two month skid.
	10 (9)	7-8-6 27 pts.	Dropping points at home this late in the season is not an option for this club.
	11 (12)	6-6-6 24 pts.	No games but got the nod back up the list. Big 10 day stretch ahead with three games.
	12 (11)	6-10-5 23 pts.	Hello double-digit loss column.
	13 (13)	5-8-6 21 pts.	New coach, same old story.
	14 (14)	4-11-5 17 pts.	At least this club is trying to make changes to get better. They’ve added a couple more parts over the last couple weeks.
	15 (15)	2-16-4 10 pts.	Only eight more games left.

Order: Chris Rolfe, Mike Banner, Steve Zakuani, Fredy Montero, Maykel Galindo, Eduardo Lillingston, Chad Marshall, Eddie Gavin, Dwayne de Rosario, and O’Brien White

Chris Rolfe and Chicago are inching their way up the league standings. (Brian Stevens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

Week 22 in Major League Soccer had two things, results with 2-0 scorelines and red cards. Nealy just as many red cards as there were goals this weekend. Big names saw red while big names scored big goals. The standings are a little different this Monday morning as well which make this year’s playoff race one of the best we’ve ever seen.

While the 2-0 scorelines and red cards were all over the league some things remain the same. Columbus continues to dominate, Kansas City continues to show they aren’t a playoff team, and New York continues to be one of the worst, if not the worst club in league history.

Houston Picks Up Road Point In Salt Lake

This result for Houston was a good one, going on the road in one of the toughest stadiums in the league and picking up a big draw against a club that really needs three points in every home game from here out. Real Salt Lake stumbles against a quality club again at home and it makes their run to the playoffs this year that much harder this morning.

Thing was RSL dominated this game in terms of shots of goal, possession and everything else. They should have gotten three points in this one but give credit to Dominic Kinnear’s bunch for doing whatever it takes to get a vital road point.

Finishing continues to be an issues for Jason Kreis’ bunch. I don’t know if it was the physical nature of this match that made it tough on RSL but seeing chance after chance go away for guys that do know how to finish like Will Johnson just makes me wonder if this club has the mental toughness to reach the playoffs this year.

Chivas Returns To Winning

Leave it to New York to give a struggling club a boost. Chivas USA hadn’t won a game in nearly two months and hadn’t been scoring that much in that time as well. A trip to the Big Apple changed just that as early goals from Maykel Galindo was more than enough to beat the Red Bulls.

Chivas used a weak New York defense to kick start their offense yet again.

Now I’ve been saying for a couple weeks that Chivas hasn’t looked at all like a playoff team since their fast start to the season but even though they were playing one of the worst clubs I’ve ever seen in New York this Chivas group did look like their former self from earlier in the season. Offensively they were clicking and holding possession and defensively they were holding New York off the scoreboard.

New York had their chances but again terrible offenses just fail to score. Chivas didn’t have to do anything special to hold New York from scoring on Saturday. Some are saying this New York side may be worse than that 1999 bunch, from what I’ve seen they may very well be setting record this season for worst record ever. Getting to 20 points is something I’ve mentioned a bunch with this Red Bull club this summer but it just doesn’t look like they have any sort of desire to get to that mark.

KC Continues To Struggle

Even with a week off after a 6-0 beating in Dallas, Kansas City hosted Chicago with a new coach in Peter Vermes. Turns out the Fire who hold one of the league’s best road records didn’t care about the new coach in KC as Chris Rolfe was all over the place for the Fire yesterday afternoon.

Rolfe’s early goal set the tone for the Fire who held possession well and controlled the pace of the game like most would expect them to. Some saw this as a place for KC to possibly step up and get back into the playoff discussion here but from what I saw yesterday there is no way this bunch reaches the post season in 2009. The eastern conference is too tight to begin with and this club just isn’t that good.

Chicago on the other hand looked comfortable in winning yesterday. Defensively they did their best to slow down Josh Wolff who actually stepped up well for the Wizards. Chicago just gave us a reason yesterday to believe they could get into that Supporter’s Shield race now that both Columbus and Houston have some heavy schedules ahead of them. The Fire sit only four points out with games in hand on both the Crew and Dynamo.

DC Stumbles In Canada

Don’t look now United fans but your club isn’t sitting in the top eight of the league right now. That means the season ended today they’d be on the outside looking in for the playoffs. I know I caught some comments over saying DC has some depth issues but if you didn’t see their lack of depth in this one against Toronto then you are too close to the fire.

Toronto played one of their best games this season on Saturday. Had they not I think their season would have been close to being over but now they sit back in playoff contention and look good in the process. I know Chris Cummings bunch knows they have to pick up points at home like this and while teams like RSL struggle to do so, they took care of business when they needed to.

The one went back and forth but possession wins games and TFC did a great job at controlling the pace of the game early. Goals mid-way through each half were more than enough to kill momentum that DC was getting. It seemed that each time DC started to get some possession, TFC would return the favor with a big break on goal or a set piece in a dangerous spot.

Beckham Tossed In Big Loss To Sounders

We’ve been talking for a while now that Seattle needs a big road win to make them look like a playoff team here and this weekend Sigi Schmid’s bunch got just that. A huge road win against a quality team like the LA Galaxy. Sure LA was down a man early with the nasty challenge from David Beckham on Peter Vagenas but Seattle controlled this game like I haven’t seen them do on the road this year.

I think it came down to wearing the road blues for once. I need a Seattle fan to tell me the last time they wore those blue kits, because I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I saw them. They may need to start sporting them more often on the road.

Seattle really dominated this one due to the man-advantage for the majority of this game. LA really showed their lack of depth being down a man in this one plus their offense really never got going with Landon Donovan not a 100%.

Fredy Montero and Steve Zakuani were all over the place and both had solid goals.

It was weird seeing this game go down to a 10v9 when Seattle lost Tyrone Marshall in the 76th minute and Eddie Lewis in the 79th minute to red cards. Not every day you see that many red cards in a game. Then again Ricardo Salazar has been known to show red from time to time.

Columbus Moves Into Supporter’s Shield Tie With Win

While Houston found a way to get a draw on the road in Salt Lake, Columbus took care of business at home against lukewarm FC Dallas. Some thought this would be a game that Dallas would be able to surprise Columbus based on their resent form but going back on the road proved to be a difference for Dallas in this one.

It’s never easy to go down 1-0 after a minute of play but Dallas did just that when Chad Marshall scored another goal to start the game off. Eddie Gaven added one late for insurance purposes. Dallas proved yet again why they are near the bottom of the table due to their set piece defending. They had done well against Houston in the previous week but Marshall’s quick strike showed they are still a long way off from being where Schellas Hyndman wants them to be.

The win for the Crew not only put them in a tie with Houston for the top spot in the league but also extended their home winning streak to 20 games.

Jeff Cunningham leads Dallas into Columbus this weekend. (Getty Images)

A fun weekend ahead for MLS clubs. The playoff races are heating up like a wild fire and at this point the majority of the league is still in the running for a playoff spot. While this week may not ultimately determine who goes into the playoffs and who is hitting the links early this fall it will indeed help us all know how is getting closer to clinching said playoff spots.

No San Jose, Colorado or New England this weekend. Just love these unbalance schedules this season, cannot wait until we get to next year when things are balanced again.

Due to a fairly busy Friday I have I will get right down to business here with the weekend picks. Feel free as always to post your predictions below.

Saturday

DC United – at – Toronto FC:

Big game for DC if you ask me. They have a huge stretch of games ahead and they need to find ways to continue to pick up points on the road. Toronto is a good place for them to do so I think with how inconsistent TFC can be at times. Then agian DC’s defense isn’t the most consistent thing in the league either. I expect Toronto to get an early goal in this one from either Dwayne De Rosario (an United killer of some sorts) and even possibly a second from Chad Barrett or Ali Gerba. But I do see DC coming back even if it is two goals down to tie things up and go home with a draw from this one. DC is always dangerous late in games and I see them pushing back into this one thanks to Luciano Emilio and company.

WVH Prediction: Toronto 2, DC 2

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Chivas USA – at – New York Red Bulls:

A couple months ago this would be an easy pick for anyone. Chivas would be all over New York no matter the venue but now with the poor play that we’ve seen out of Chivas these last two months I really wonder if they are any better than New York at this moment in the season. Preki has to find a way to get his side believing in themselves again, getting Sasha Kljestan to be himself again will go a long way in that. New York is still full of injuries and this looks like a game they could actually win. However I just cannot pick them to win a game at this point. A draw actually sounds like the logical pick here for these two. Should be an ugly game.

WVH Prediction: New York 1, Chivas 1

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FC Dallas – at – Columbus Crew:

I thin this will be the test to see if Dallas is for real again with the play of Jeff Cunningham or if they are just playing with everyone’s emotions down in Dallas. The Crew have been on an absolute run as of late that gives people in Columbus confidence going into a game like this. Dallas will pick their spots in this one with Cunningham but I just see too much depth in the Crew to pick against the homeside in this one. Even without Guillermo Barros Schelotto they are tough to handle and that home winning streak will continue. Steven Lenhart and Jason Garey have been huge lately and will be tough for a weak Dallas defense to handle.

WVH Prediction: Columbus 2, Dallas 1

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Houston Dynamo – at – Real Salt Lake:

This one is a big one folks. Not just for the homeside but for the visitors as well. Houston needs a good road showing in this one to restore some confidence that is a little shaky right now. RSL just needs as many points as possible going forward, a win in this game could get them into the playoff discussion for good here but a loss would definitely put a black eye on the run. I see this game meaning a lot more to RSL which is why I am going with them here. I want to pick the Dynamo but with many of their key players (Stuart Holden, Brian Ching, Ricardo Clark) being a bit gassed from their trip to Mexico in the mid-week I just see RSL being a little fresher, which will prove to be a big difference.

WVH Prediction: RSL 1, Houston 0

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Seattle Sounders FC – at – LA Galaxy:

Probably game of the week material here. Seattle needs to start showing up on the road but honestly this is a tough place to start doing so with how the Galaxy are playing these days. I could really see this one going either way or even to a draw but something tells me the road struggles for Seattle will continue here and LA gets a big win that gets them closer to the top of the league tables. Even if Landon Donovan isn’t good enough to go the full 90 minutes I think LA just has too much going for them right now to not pick them.Seattle will keep it close but their defense will let them down late in the game.

WVH Prediction: LA 2, Seattle 1

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Sunday

Chicago Fire – at – Kansas City Wizards:

How will KC be under Peter Vermes? We will find out this weekend. I just don’t think a big turnaround is going to happen though. Their defense is still shaky and you have to wonder if they have really gotten over their last result (6-0 loss in Dallas). Chicago is one of the best road teams in the league and I think they will at least get a point if not three this weekend. I’m going with the Fire in this one as they will want to avenge their last road game, where they should have gotten a draw in Houston.

WVH Prediction: Chicago 2, KC 1