Yes, week 23 changed a decent bit of things in the rankings. Chivas USA and New England continue to be the big movers here while Toronto and DC continue to find themselves falling down and out here.

The top remains nearly the same as last week while the bottom five seem to have no where to go right now (though San Jose did swap places with KC for a change).

Feel free to leave your thoughts below about this week’s rankings.

Team	Rank (Last Week)	Record (W-L-T)	Comments
	1 (1)	10-3-9 39 pts.	They won their opening game in the CCL this past week. Now for the fun, travel to Mexico on Wednesday followed by a trip to New York on Sunday.
	2 (2)	11-6-7 40 pts.	Also won their opening CCL group stage game this past week. This week they travel to Panama to play some club no one has ever heard of, CD Arabe Unido.
	3 (3)	10-4-8 38 pts.	Great come back against Colorado, maybe have given them new life going into the stretch run. Is a Supporter’s Shield run still in line without Bakary Soumare and Brian McBride? We will have to see.
	4 (5)	8-4-11 35 pts.	A four point week always looks good when they are all on the road.
	5 (3)	8-6-9 33 pts.	Very well should have had three points against New England and could have easily gotten three in Houston. This past week they ended up with just a single point. Too many blown chances by this club.
	6 (9)	10-7-3 33 pts.	And just like that, in two games Chivas has new life and very good hope for a playoff run. By the way, anyone notice Sacha Kljestan come back from the dead this week?
	7 (6)	8-7-6 30 pts.	Could have bumped them further down for blowing a 2-0 lead but didn’t due to those below them. Omar Cummings continues to prove to me that he is one of the most underrated players in the league today.
	8 (11)	8-6-6 30 pts.	Those games in hand are starting to come in very handy as the Revs move up the table here. They went from out of playoff contention to in with two big wins this past week.
	9 (7)	8-8-6 30 pts.	The playoffs just won’t happen for this club if they can’t find a way to win on the road.
	10 (8)	6-5-11 29 pts.	Should they have won against LA? Probably. Fact is this club is just dropping games left and right. It is too late in the season to be doing such a thing.
	11 (11)	7-9-6 27 pts.	Defensive struggles once again on the road as this club continues to prove to me they don’t have what it takes to be a playoff team this season.
	12 (12)	6-11-5 23 pts.	Just embarrassing for Dallas to lose to a team as pathetic as New York.
	13 (14)	5-11-5 20 pts.	Finally a result late in the game for this bunch.
	14 (13)	5-9-6 21 pts.	This club is gonna need a big overhaul this off season. Too bad there are still plenty of games left to go this season.
	15 (15)	3-16-4 13 pts.	With seven games to go, the question still remains…will they get to 20 points?

Order of video: Geoff Cameron, Nate Jaqua, Kheli Dube (hat trick), Juan Pablo Angel, Dax McCarty, Dane Richards, Chris Wondonlowski, Sacha Kljestan, and Landon Donovan.

EASTERN AUTOMATIC BERTHS
Columbus 10-3-9, 39 points
Chicago 10-5-8, 38
WESTERN AUTOMATIC BERTHS
Houston 11-6-7, 40 points
Los Angeles 8-4-11, 35
NEXT FOUR IN
Chivas USA 10-7-3, 33 points
Seattle 8-6-9, 33
New England 8-6-6, 30
Colorado 8-7-6, 30
BOTTOM SEVEN OUT
Toronto 8-8-6, 30 points
D.C. United 6-5-11, 29
Real Salt Lake 7-9-6, 27
Dallas 6-11-5, 23
Kansas City 5-9-6, 21
San Jose 5-11-5, 20
New York 3-16-4, 13

Note: tiebreakers here go to teams with the fewest games played

Furthermore this weekend say the bottom two clubs (San Jose and New York) win games. For New York it snapped a 13-game winless streak.

This year’s race continues to prove to be one of the tightest races in recent memories. The 40 point mark, which is usually the magic number for reaching the playoffs. This year it may go up to 42 or 43 with the way things are going.

Weekend Thoughts:

Tough to pick out a best player of the week. Kheli Dube scored a hat trick, Juan Pablo Angel got his season back on track with Richie Williams as interim coach, Sacha Kljestan finally showed up for the first time this season for two goals, and Omar Cummings did all he could to get points in Chicago with his two goals.

Player of the week has to go to Dube for the three goals and just overall impressive performance against Real Salt Lake.

MVP Look:

Right now we have three or four real quality candidates for MVP this season.

- Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)
- Fredy Montero (Seattle)
- Chad Marshall (Columbus)
- Omar Cummings (Colorado)
- Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto)

What no Guillermo Barros Schelotto? His mid-season injury kind of killed his MVP momentum. Before his injury he was easily the MVP of the league. If he returns to that form from earlier in the year now that he is back you can bet he will quickly move up the MVP track.

Surprised with Cummings? You shouldn’t be, just look at his stats and see just how important he is to the Colorado Rapids. He is on his way to a 10-and-10 season. Currently his eight goals and 10 assists may be the most underrated I’ve ever seen.

Landon Donovan leads LA against DC this weekend. (Getty Images)

So far the week has not been kind to my predictions. In two midweek games both road sides have gone out and upset some seemingly strong sides on their own turf. Both LA and New England played solid matches this past week and earned three big road points in the process.

This is a big weekend for most MLS sides. A handful of teams get double-dips in either league play or both league play and CONCACAF Champions League. This week will certainly shed a little more light on what looks to be an excellent playoff race now that New England looks to be joining in on.

As always feel free to leave your score predictions below.

Saturday:

LA Galaxy – at – DC United:

DC looked battered and beaten in their midweek clash in the group stages of the CCL. They headed down to Honduras to only then get smacked around 3-1 by Marathon. LA on the other hand won their midweek game in Chicago, in pretty convincing fashion. Without a few of their best players the Galaxy went into Toyota Park and controlled the pace of the game against the Fire. Now getting veterans David Beckham and Eddie Lewis back I think it would just as fitting to see them do it again in RFK. I have a hunch that LA will come out a little flat but I do look for them to carry three points away from DC. Something just tells me DC is going to continue to slip here. Plus I don’t see anyone on DC’s backline that can handle Landon Donovan at this point.

WVH Prediction: LA 2, DC 1

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Toronto FC – at – Chivas USA:

Chivas got the cure for all long midseason blues in a trip to New York last week. Their offense woke up and now they should have youngster Jesus Padilla in lineup. I’m curious to see what he really brings to the table here. TFC needs points here to remain in playoff contention but I have doubts that the momentum from last week will carry over. They face a big road test here and historically they have not played well against Chivas. I think both teams come back down to earth from last week’s results and its a draw. Dwayne De Rosario is on MVP form that should be good enough to get a point for the visitors.

WVH Prediction: Chivas 1, Toronto 1

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Kansas City Wizards – at – San Jose Earthquakes:

Two teams really with little or no playoff chances left this season face off. San Jose is at least trying to make changes to what they have right now, KC just changes coaches and sees the same results. KC should get some playmakers back this weekend but how well will Davy Arnuad and Claudio Lopez really be for them? I have my doubts to say the least based on this club’s recent form. San Jose just seems like they will pick up three points here but this won’t be a pretty one at all.

WVH Prediction: San Jose 2, KC 0

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Sunday:

FC Dallas – at – New York Red Bulls:

New York finally has a new coach in interim boss Richie Williams but how will one day of practice without Juan Carlos Osorio really make a difference with this bunch? Its hard to tell but you got to believe it may inspire this bunch a little more to pick up some points. Dallas has a very slim hope left for reaching the playoffs so they have to make this game count in a big way. I wouldn’t be shocked to see a draw but based on what New York will be missing in this one in terms of quality players being out I have no way of picking them to win this one. Dallas just has more manpower than the Red Bulls at this point.

WVH Prediction: Dallas 2, New York 0

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Colorado Rapids – at – Chicago Fire:

The Fire were distracted to say the least the other day against LA but they cannot slip up yet again at home. Not having Bakary Soumare in the middle of the defense poses a lot of issues going against a strong offense like Colorado has with Conor Casey and Omar Cummings. The speed of Cummings worries me after seeing Landon Donovan burn the Fire defense the other night. I think the Rapids come in to Toyota Park and get the upset here. Got to remember that even before the issues in the Fire locker room with Soumare the Fire weren’t the best home team in the league. Plus I like a rested Colorado team rather than a tired Chicago side.

WVH Prediction: Colorado 2, Chicago 1

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Real Salt Lake – at – New England Revolution:

New England didn’t do anything special last night to beat Seattle at Qwest Field. They were packed in defense, held possession well and attacked when needed to. RSL will be without two very key players in Clint Mathis and Jamison Olave. We could see New England be tired a bit from having to go cross country but I’m sure Steve Nicol will get his bunch ready to go for this one. I just have trouble picking RSL on the road still and I think the Revs will be out for revenge for that 6-0 beaten they took back in the spring at Rio Tinto Stadium.

WVH Prediction: New England 1, RSL 0

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Seattle Sounders FC – at – Houston Dynamo:

Seattle did all they could to get a goal last night against New England but it wasn’t enough. Defensively they are shaky and offensively they don’t always click. Seattle showed they missed Freddie Ljungberg in the middle a lot last night and without him on the road in a big game like at Houston I just have trouble going with the expansion club. Houston will also possible have new DP Luis Angel Landin on offense. I don’t see him making the impact right away on Sunday but I do think he will cause some headaches for the Sounders defense. This should be the best game of the weekend but look for Houston to grab the three points.

WVH Prediction: Houston 2, Seattle 0

Blanco and Wilman Conde look to shutdown the Galaxy tonight. (Getty Images)

Week 23 in Major League Soccer gets started a little early. Tonight we get a primetime clash on ESPN2 as the Chicago Fire host the LA Galaxy. Now of course this game has lost a little appeal with David Beckahm (and Eddie Lewis) being suspended for a red card in last week’s game against Seattle. But it should still promise to be a good game between two of the league’s upper level clubs making a push for the Supporter’s Shield.

The Fire are on good form right now as they have only lost once in their last seven matches. LA on the other hand as we just mentioned stumbled a bit last week at home in the loss to Seattle, but even that was their first loss in a while.

Tonight’s game will be without David Beckham and Eddie Lewis but the Fire will also be missing Bakery Soumare.

I think tonight’s game will get bogged down a bit in the midfield but look for Chicago to control the pace there. LA will get a little lucky as the weather has been raining there today in the Windy City from what I’ve been told. If the rain can slow down things it could be to the visitor’s advantage.

Chicago will do well to slow down Landon Donovan and company. All the Fire need to do is get on the board and camp on the lead. They do well with the lead and holding teams to little offense. I look for them to do just that as Blanco and company look to inch their way up the standings. Chicago wins a nasty midfield battled game tonight thanks to Chris Rolfe and Blanco.

WVH Prediction: Chicago 2, LA 1