Yes the LA Galaxy are my new number one club. Their recent form is rather impressive and I will continue to say what I’ve been saying about them for the last month or so, I can easily see them winning the Supporter’s Shield crown here this season.

The middle of the pack continues to get more jumbled up by the week. New England is starting to look like they may crash the automatic bid party in the east, probably taking over Chicago for that spot as I still believe Columbus will get one of the two auto spots from that conference.

The bottom remains the same from last week. Even though Real Salt Lake won twice last week I just need to see more than a win at home and a road win in KC (who can’t score these days). They do have two slumping teams ahead (at home with Chicago and on the road in Houston). Those two games would certainly prove to me that they are playoff worthy if they win them. Big if though.

Feel free to post your thoughts below on this week’s rankings.

Team	Rank (Last Week)	Record (W-L-T)	Comments
	1 (4)	9-4-11 38 pts.	Amazing that the Galaxy are 7-1-2 since June. Before that they were tying every game they played and looked nothing like a Supporter’s Shield contending club.
	2 (1)	10-4-9 39 pts.	Rough week but then again no American clubs win in Mexico and apparently no Crew teams win in Giant’s Stadium. Still they should have at least gotten a point in New York.
	3 (2)	11-7-7 40 pts.	Colorado is never an easy place to win but Houston just looked gassed in the 1-0 loss to the Rapids.
	4 (3)	10-6-8 38 pts.	Just when you think this club is going to start getting on a roll they forget to show up yet again. Why can’t the Fire score at home too? In 12 games they’ve only gotten 11 goals, that has to change in a hurry.
	5 (5)	8-6-10 34 pts.	Yes a point is a point but this club cannot drop points at home. They need wins at this point at Qwest, not draws.
	6 (7)	9-7-6 33 pts.	So the way things are going the next game will be a loss? This win, then lose, then win pattern that this club gets themselves in has to stop sooner rather than later.
	7 (8)	9-6-6 33 pts.	I think Steve Nicol’s club has the best chance to crash the automatic bid race in the east.
	8 (6)	10-9-3 33 pts.	Nine losses now after such a promising start. If they hit double-digit losses on the year I just don’t see them reaching the playoffs.
	9 (10)	7-5-11 32 pts.	Too bad DC can’t play in Toyota Park for all their games here out.
	10 (9)	8-8-7 31 pts.	It really should have been three points in Seattle but when you are unlucky like Dwayne DeRosario was on that open-goal miss of his, that just explains a lot on how things are going for a club.
	11 (11)	9-9-6 33 pts.	Great week for this club and I know I will get hammered for not moving them up at all. But this club still has a long, long way to go here to reach the playoffs.
	12 (12)	6-11-5 23 pts.	No game this past week and now they get DC coming into town this weekend.
	13 (13)	5-12-5 20 pts.	You know decent play just isn’t good enough.
	14 (14)	5-10-6 21 pts.	Now this club isn’t scoring under Peter Vermes. I guess they are just waiting things out before they begin an actual coaching search?
	15 (15)	4-16-4 16 pts.	Well congrats, they got over the 15 point mark with another solid win at home. Sad to say I just don’t see this club being smart enough to remove the interim lable from Richie Williams’ job title.

My favorites were Beckham’s and Richards. What did you all like?

Order of goals: Dane Richards, Julien Baudet, David Beckham, Pablo Campos, Bryan Namoff, Steve Ralston, Wells Thompson, Ramon Sanchez, Pablo Campos (Chivas game), Fabian Espindola, and Robbie Findley (1 and 2).

Just how tight is the race? Let’s have a look. For our purposes in tiebreakers we will use the teams with the most remaining games as the higher team.

—SUPPORTER’S SHIELD RACE—-
Houston 11-7-7, 40 points
Columbus 10-4-9, 39 points
Chicago 10-6-8, 38
Los Angeles 9-4-11, 38
—AT LARGE BIRTHS—-
Seattle 8-6-10, 34 points
New England 9-6-6, 33
Colorado 9-7-6, 33
Chivas USA 10-9-3, 33
——-NEXT IN LINE——–
Real Salt Lake 9-9-6, 33
D.C. United 7-5-11, 32
Toronto 8-8-7, 31
—–ALL BUT ELIMINATED—–
Dallas 6-11-5, 23
Kansas City 5-10-6, 21
San Jose 5-12-5, 20
New York 4-16-4, 16

Right now it is a true dead heat for the Supporter’s Shield crown as LA inches closer to the top with a win over their rivals Chivas USA. Houston, Columbus and Chicago all dropped games this weekend. I still feel that LA has the best shot out of the four to win the Supporter’s Shield crown this season. Chicago doesn’t look like they have the right mix of things to do it and Columbus’ and Houston’s schedules are too packed in the final months of the season. LA has plenty of win-able games left and it makes sense to see them continue on their current form.

Now the bigger fun is really in the at-large section of the race. Four spots with seven clubs in contention to grab them. Real Salt Lake really helped their playoff position this past week as they won two straight including a rare road win in Kansas City. Looks like Jason Kreis has his club playing very well right now. I still think they are the biggest long-shot of the seven clubs. I just don’t see them having a winning record at the end of the year, same goes with Toronto.

Out of the seven that could actually sneak into the top four in the Supporter’s Shield race is actually New England. With the games in hand I could see them making a slight run to the top of the east if Columbus and Chicago continue to drop games to clubs that they should beat.

Landon Donovan and Paulo Nagamura battle in the third and last SuperClasico of the year. (Getty Images)

We have another loaded week of soccer ahead of us. Week 24 got off to a bang earlier in the week in Salt Lake as Real Salt Lake got their playoff chances back on track with a resounding 4-0 blowout of expansion mates Chivas USA. One has to wonder if this is more to come for RSL and if Chivas can bounce back.

Other games this week with MLS clubs didn’t go as well as three teams played in CONCACAF Champions League play. Only the Houston Dynamo made it out of this week with a point, though it came at a price with a few red cards. Both the Columbus Crew and DC United were pounded in their respective games. No need to go into how each of them lost, its a simple math problem facing MLS sides against teams from Mexico and other countries with money. These smaller rosters and low budgets will continue to kill MLS clubs in these competitions.

Anyways, we have too many games to discuss and not enough time to go into why the league needs higher salary caps and what not today. Nearly every club is in action this week with games on both Saturday and Sunday for your viewing pleasure.

Saturday:

Toronto FC – at – Seattle Sounders FC:

A must win really for both sides at this point as we get closer to the end of the season. Toronto typically finds ways to not play well on the road, especially in the west coast so this game should favor Sigi Schmid’s bunch who gets Fredy Montero back from suspension. I think Seattle has to win this game as their road play has been shaky at best this year. TFC will also be without a couple key defensive players with Carl Robinson and Adrien Serioux both out with suspensions. I see that being all that Seattle needs to get their offense going with Montero and Nate Jaqua.

WVH Prediction: Seattle 2, Toronto 0

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San Jose Earthquakes – at – New England Revolution:

San Jose could be riding high after the late goal to beat Kansas City last week at home but New England is playing really well right now and are looking good to get into the playoffs. A win for the Quakes could keep them from the elimination block for another week but I see New England pushing on with guys like Kheli Dube who is fresh off a hat trick in last week’s win over RSL. Even with the predicted nasty weather in the area (Tropical Storm Danny) it should be a game that New England gets three points.

WVH Prediction: New England 2, San Jose 1

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DC United – at – Chicago Fire:

DC is on some terrible form right now and playoffs look to be more unlikely by the second. But there is hope as Chicago is one of the worse home teams in the league and will now officially be without defender Bakary Soumare who transferred to a club in France this week. DC however just hasn’t looked good no matter where they’ve played lately which gives me reason to pick Chicago in this one. The Fire stormed back from two down in last week’s game against Colorado and I think they will find a way to control the pace of this one from the start. Its gonna be tough for DC to get a point in this one, picking the Fire should be an easy call here.

WVH Prediction: Chicago 2, DC 0

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Real Salt Lake – at – Kansas City Wizards:

KC hasn’t found their stride under new boss Peter Vermes but will a visit from one of the worst road teams in the league help? On a short field I think it could actually. KC has to find some offense (one one goal in the last few games) and hold RSL’s streaky offense in the process. RSL will be without Will Johnson, which could help the home side out a bit. The visitors will also need to carry over the big performance of Robbie Findley from this past mid-week game against Chivas. Thing is Findley is too hot and cold and his form this year indicates he will probably go cold again for a couple games after scoring a brace this past Wednesday. I think this one looks like a draw, as it is tough to pick RSL no matter the location.

WVH Prediction: KC 1, RSL 1

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Chivas USA – at – LA Galaxy:

The third and final Superclasico of the regular season is here. LA has the edge after beating Chivas earlier this summer 1-0. Bruce Arena’s club is on good form picking up two straight shutouts last week. Chivas was looking good until they forgot to show up to Salt Lake City this past Wednesday. Look for them to bounce back better in this one as LA always brings out the best in them. Expect this to be a physical match, with loads of action in the midfield. I want to pick LA but something tells me this one will be a lot like the 0-0 battle back in April.

WVH Prediction: LA 0, Chivas 0

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Sunday:

Houston Dynamo – at – Colorado Rapids:

Colorado may be one of the most inconsistent bunch this year. Then again they were like that last year so we really shouldn’t be shocked that it carried over this year. Anyways, after blowing a 2-0 lead last week in Chicago look for the Rapids to try and bounce back as they try to stay in playoff contention. They need this win more than the Dynamo do at this point. Houston will be a bit tired from the trip to Panama that saw more cards than it was worth for the Orange. Look for a sluggish Dynamo team and a Rapids side that is desperate for points. Conor Casey and Omar Cummings run all over the Dynamo in a win.

WVH Prediction: Colorado 3, Houston 1

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Columbus Crew – at – New York Red Bulls:

Yeah it was ugly on Wednesday in Mexico for Chad Marshall and the Columbus Crew. Down right ugly. You can bet they will be ready to put that game behind them in a hurry and thankfully they get the New York Red Bulls right after it. I do worry about the travel taking a toll on the Crew but I think they will bounce back in this one, even with recent win the Red Bulls enjoyed last week over Dallas. New York has enjoyed a good run over the Crew in Giant’s Stadium as of late (6-0-1) but I think the Crew get at least a point here in this one.

WVH Prediction: New York 1, Columbus 1