Just as promised, even if it is a day behind normal schedule here. Plenty of solid goals this past week in Major League Soccer. I particularly love some of the combinations in plays like the Columbus game between Jason Garey and Steven Lenhart.

By the way, what was with Rob Stone’s Max Bretos call on the DeRo goal? That was just plain annoying.

Order of video: Kheli Dube, Steve Ralston, Steven Lenhart, Jason Garey, Patrick Nyarko, Blanco, Bryan Namoff, Dwayne De Rosario, Alecko Eskandarian, Landon Donovan, and Eddie Lewis.

Claudio Lopez and Kansas City hope to change their luck this weekend. (Brian Stevens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

Sometimes the number 13 can mean unlucky and sometimes people use that number to try and make it into luck. What does that mean for our MLS clubs this week? Well week 13 could mean staying in playoff contention or falling out.

So far we’ve already had one game under our belts this week with the game in Houston on Wednesday. I didn’t talk too much about that game but after looking back on some of the tape and highlights Houston deserved to win the game. For the most part the play was very even and I believe I read a quote out there from a few Dynamo players saying Chivas was the best squad they’ve faced this season. Let’s hope that these two meet again in the western conference finals this season. Home field advantage will go a long way between those clubs I can tell you that much.

Chivas does return to the pitch this weekend, as do most fo the clubs except for Colorado who has another week off here. Mostly we have conference battles this weekend with one exception in Columbus when Chivas squares off against the Crew.

As always feel free to leave your game predictions below. Continue Reading…

I think week 11 was one of the more memorably weekends in the 2008 season. It was a long and stretched out week with games every night from Wednesday all the way to Sunday. Thought that Wednesday night game was washed out in DC, it showed us something that this was going to be one wild weekend. I mean, when was the last time we had a MLS game postponed due to rain?!

Anyways, as far as the interconference battles went this weekend. The west is showing they can back up their play against the east. The two sides split their five matches going 2-2-1 on the weekend. The one match that would have fixed the split was that washed out match on Wednesday night.

Let’s start out with some points from around the league before diving into each match:

• Yes, I know the Crew fans went against league policy on the streamers. Please spare me the fact that they ignored it and what not. I know they did but it was only on one occasion and all it did was slow down the game. Pay more attention to this when Toronto has their next home game.
• By the way, those Crew fans were well behaved other than the one streamer throw.
• Something that needs to stop more than the streamers is this random fans that decide to run out on the field during the game. We’ve seen it in Toronto a couple times but now in LA. Folks that has to stop, more so than the streamers. Let’s see now if MLS Rumors attacks those LA fans like they have with Toronto and Columbus fans. Yeah, I doubt they will too.
• Funny to see Beckham laugh it off and Chris Klein tackle the dude though.
• The officiating was very questionable for the most part this weekend. One thing this league has problem with is sub-par officiating. Too many times they dictate the play, that has to change.
• Attendance was a typical so-so here. DC would have had solid number if the rain hadn’t come. New England will boost the numbers with the Brazil friendly. Other than those two the week was a typical so-so. But I say that with LA and Chicago posting near sellouts. That is a so-so in the form of its typical and highly expected of those two clubs.
• Three clubs still undefeated at home right now. We all talk about Toronto and Salt Lake, mainly because of the turf but look at Houston. They sit at 3-0-2 on the year at Robertson Stadium. That place is a great venue, too bad it isn’t their own.
• The west still has one club above .500 (LA), while the east has five (NE, Columbus, Chicago, Toronto, and NY).
• Still no draws for Colorado. I don’t think I’ve ever see a club go 11 games into the season without a single draw. Remarkable and sadly impressive on the fact that they are so inconsistent.

Now on to the weekend’s games. Continue Reading…

Another month down here in Major League Soccer, but yes I know there is still one day left on the calendar with games on it. But for the most part this list is basically going to be fine no matter what happens tomorrow. Even if someone drops six goals in a game tomorrow, it really won’t do a lot for me to change this list, though they might get bumped into the Best XI if they aren’t already there.

In other words, May is pretty much over and its time to look back at what was good about it now that we are nearly a third of the way through.

WVH Player of the Month: Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Chicago Fire – With two goals and five assists on the month, its hard not to look over Blanco for the month’s award. He gobbled up the player of the week award last week and has been really consistent all month. Despite the one loss at home to Houston, the Fire have been on a roll as of late, winning three out of four in the month of May. Blanco has been a key element in that play that has put the Fire near the top of the MLS table. Continue Reading…

Time to put week seven in the books here. A few guys had solid weeks but this week one guy jumped out at me more so than anyone else. Columbus Crew’s youngster Robbie Rogers netted two goals to help guide the Crew from behind against San Jose.

Thanks to those two goals, Rogers is my vote for MLS Player of the Week.

Other guys with solid weeks included: Steve Ralston, Blanco, Kyle Beckerman, and Juan Pablo Angel.

Rogers also has a goal of the week nominee from the league. However his goal wasn’t my pick for goal of the week. That nod goes to Kenny Cooper of FC Dallas. His goal just edged out Blanco’s blast in my books because of the slight degree of difficulty of striking the ball at that weird angle on the turf against RSL. Unlike last weekend, the goals were much better looking this weekend.

Judge for yourself!

I guess maybe all along we were completely wrong about DC United. So far this season they haven’t looked at all like the Supporter’s Shield winners of the last two years and I think now more than ever we can stop throwing out the age old excuse of the CONCACAF Champions Cup hangover as to why this club is doing so poorly.

Let’s face it, Chicago looked like the better side last night and in the end they walked away with the three points after another stellar effort. Not to mention the fact that they OWN DC in RFK Stadium like no one else in this league. The 2-0 win looked easy for the most part.

It wasn’t anything special either. The first half, Chicago created chances and in the later stages of the half they were rewarded with a Justin Mapp goal. By the way, that was Mapp’s first goal since 2006. As for DC in that first half, they failed to create any real chances against Chicago. It wasn’t a defensive stranglehold on DC by the Fire defense, it was merely a United team that didn’t look at all comfortable on the pitch with one another.

There it is, this club still hasn’t come together this season as a team.

Continue Reading…

Another primetime clash in the eastern conference tonight. The big boys of Chicago against the boys who should be big of DC. Both clubs are in opposite ends of the spectrum here going into week number seven of the 2008 campaign.

The one thing that may be going for the homeside is the fact that they have a new sponsor in VW. But seriously, we have the league’s best defense (Chicago) against who should be one of the better offenses in the league (DC). But let’s not forget, Chicago’s got a pretty decent attack and DC’s defense hasn’t been anything worth bragging about yet this season.

One thing we know too, Chicago isn’t afraid of DC these days. Last fall they eliminated the Supporter’s Shield winners in the first round of the playoffs. I’m sure Fire fans remember those two games that made DC look like the lower seed and not the top seed.

Something has to give for DC though here this season. The attack looks worse than it should be and the defense isn’t living up to the expectations. Maybe its a bit of the talent brought in wasn’t as good as we though and keeper Zach Wells is still playing like a backup and not a starter. Let’s also look at the offense too for United, Luciano Emilio isn’t playing like a Golden Boot winner right now. Maybe its due to no Ben Olsen in the midfield. Or maybe its due to him being more of a one-hit wonder rather than a superstar in this league. Continue Reading…