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.

Saturday:

Chicago Fire – at – DC United:

Some how Chicago is the best road side in the league and DC is actually one of the better homesides in the league. So something will have to give right? Honestly the Fire haven’t been playing that great these last couple of weeks, most of that can be due to international call ups hurting their starting XI. Some of the heat in this game is already out though with Luciano Emilio and Bakery Soumare out on suspension. Even without Blanco in the middle for the Fire I still believe they have enough to get on the board at least once. But their defense will let DC back in late. United is always good for a goal in the final 15 minutes of the game.

WVH Prediction: DC 1, Chicago 1

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New York Red Bulls – at – Toronto FC:

One has to wonder if this could be the last game for Juan Carlos Osorio if his club is to lose another game on the road. Not to mention this is game number 15 on the year and if you are this much out of it halfway through, who is to say that your second half of the season performance will get better enough to reach the post season. This isn’t the MLS of old where you can stumble your way into the playoffs.

Thankfully for the Red Bulls the club they face isn’t doing too well these days either. Though Mo Johnston is trying to make sure there is a turnaround here with bringing in Nick Garcia to help the defense out. With the way New York plays on the road (0-6-1, 0 goals for and 12 against) I think Toronto should win this one. Look for Chad Barrett or Danny Dichio to be there to score for the Reds in this one.

WVH Prediction: Toronto 2, New York 1

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Houston Dynamo – at – FC Dallas:

Another I hope to be at but even so it should be a good game considering the rivalry built here between these two sides. Houston is on a crazy run of nine straight unbeaten games, with four wins in a row here. I just don’t see that trend ending after the way I saw Dallas play this past Sunday against San Jose. Sure the Red Stripes got a late draw but Houston has a quality defense that just pressures the heck out of you. Dallas doesn’t have the midfield to keep up with Houston’s and defensively FCD is just not on the same level. I think Stuart Holden is on impressive form and that will continue tomorrow in Frisco. Dallas just doesn’t have an answer for him.

WVH Prediction: Houston 2, Dallas 0

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New England Revolution – at – Kansas City Wizards:

The Wizards are one of those clubs that needs a break right now and not an unlucky kind of week. One could say they have already caught that break with Taylor Twellman missing the game and trip for the Revs. It is easy to say that the Revs are a completely different club with him in the lineup. Without him they will have to go back to just making it work with guys like Shalrie Joseph up top. Kansas City will need to rely a lot on Josh Wolff and Claudio Lopez here for their offense. I think the Wizards will catch a break this week in the end and get some much needed points. However it will only be a single point as New England will sneak out with a draw.

WVH Prediction: Kansas City 1, New England 1

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San Jose Earthquakes – at – Seattle Sounders FC:

Seattle is another club that needs to catch a break here and with San Jose coming into town that may just been good enough. The Quakes traded one of their better defenders this week to Toronto so one has to wonder what exactly they will do to fix their defense that is still letting in a bunch of goals each week. Sure Seattle won’t have Nate Jaqua or Jhon Kennedy Hurtado to suspensions but I think a weak defense and a struggling midfield may just be what Fredy Montero and company need to get back on track here. Look for Sigi Schmid’s group to control this game from the start.

WVH Prediction: Seattle 2, San Jose 1

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Real Salt Lake – at – LA Galaxy:

Hard to believe the Galaxy are unbeaten in ten games but they are. And after last week’s game in Toronto one has to think this club may actually be ok without Landon Donovan for a few weeks. It surely doesn’t hurt when you get one of the worst road clubs to come visit you either. RSL really needs a break here but I just don’t see it happening with their recent play and with the loss of Robbie Russell (suspension) in the back and the potential of no Robbie Findley (ankle). Donovan Ricketts should come up big when needed tomorrow night and somehow the Gals will squeeze out another three points.

WVH Prediction: LA 2, RSL 1

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Sunday:

Chivas USA – at – Columbus Crew:

The league leading Goats may not be leading the league for that much longer if they don’t break out of a slight funk here. It’s a typical midseason funk for those who race out quickly like Chivas did this season. Just ask the Crew, they did the same last season and hit the wall a bit in June as well. Aside from the breif history lesson these clubs square off in Columbus on Sunday. They may have a bit of a break with the Crew missing Chad Marshall to suspension and Brian Carroll to injury. Those two losses for the Crew are big time down the middle of the defense. Chivas is good enough to figure out how to pressure the Crew. Thing is I am worried they are running out of steam here right now. Guillermo Barros Schelotto will probably make sure the Crew stay in this one with another goal. A draw sounds likely here with the players missing for each side.

WVH Prediction: Columbus 1, Chivas 1

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.

New England Revolution 2 – 1 FC Dallas:

• Again, a great first half for New England. Early goals are always a killer in this game. But they couldn’t put it together for a full 90 for the most part. But a home win is always nice and they are still top dog, even though they have a game or two advantage on everyone else.
• Dallas still looks in trouble but that last 25 minutes of play was really promising out of this young club. To pull within a goal and looking ever dangerous throughout has to give Marco Ferruzzi and his club some confidence.
• I think the two defensive midfielder system for Dallas has to go. Marcelo Saragosa and Pablo Ricchetti are practically the same type of player and the two together just don’t work that well at the same time. Either one is fine on their own I think but it may be time to move to a system in the midfield that poses more of an attack than a defense. Either one can help the defense out more.
• Some questionable reffing on Friday night, a couple calls that really could have gone both ways for either club. One or two probably could have favored Dallas late and one or two could have favored New England early.
• Matt Reis had another stellar night. Quickly moving up the MVP charts and the player of the month charts in my books.
• I ragged on Juan Toja early in the game but those last 15 minutes were the Toja we got use to last season. Something must have clicked, or at least Dallas fans hope so.
• Is New England really the best club in MLS right now? I think so, they don’t win pretty each time but they still win. They still need a killer mentality though, that was certainly lacking in the late stages of the game.

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San Jose Earthquakes 2 – 0 Columbus Crew:

• Another solid road shutout for the Quakes. Let’s be honest though, aside from the two goals they had practically zero other real chances in this game. Fact of the matter is the took their chances and made the most out of them.
• Columbus did not. They had the chances and just couldn’t muster up enough quality behind those shots or headers to find the back of the net. It wasn’t that Joe Cannon had a great night, it was just Columbus didn’t make it hard enough on him I think.
• Ronnie O’Brien was easily the man of the match. Two textbook assists on the night. When he is on, so is his club. Just too bad he has more off-nights than on-nights.
• Very poorly officiated game though. A few calls that really should have gone the Crew’s way didn’t happen. I thought James Riley should have had a straight red for the two footed slide into Robbie Rogers. The ref ignored it and gave a yellow to Eric Denton for the tackle from the side on Rogers. Still both deserved a card for the play. No one should go in with both feet up like that into someone.
• The red card to Brad Evans was a terrible call. A yellow card, yes, but certainly not a red.
• Speaking of the calls, sadly enough in the second half the ref dictated the play and not the players. That just shouldn’t happen. But that’s what happens when Ricardo Salazar is in the middle of a MLS game. He tends to do that.
• The two subs before half for Columbus clearly hurt them. Sure Andy Iro was fit and ready to go but losing both Chad Marshall and Ezra Hendrickson early in the game put a damper on how Sigi could sub in the second half.
• I still like where San Jose is going here. Very solid defensively, once their direction goes on offense they could do some serious damage to some clubs late in the year. Not a playoff club yet but one of those that will do more damage and not be in the mix in those final weeks of the season.
• Columbus continues to not score. A long, long spell of no goals now at four games. Sometimes dry spells happen but they are still very much in the thick of things with Chicago and Toronto losing this weekend. But still you have to wonder when they will get fit again and hit their stride. They definitely need another scorer though.

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DC United 2 -1 Chicago Fire:

• Thank you FSC for using Dave Johnson as your play-by-play for this one. Very refreshing to hear a good voice on your channel.
• I’d like to continue to welcome Luciano Emilio back to this season. Very solid effort in this one. Goal and an assist, might give him the player of the week nod by the media.
• What happened to Chicago’s defense on both goals? Starting to see some cracks on this club here? Jon Busch was really a bit out of position on that stoppage time goal. Shouldn’t have gotten beat near post like that.
• Crazy game though, a few red cards, a couple goals. Gotta love this rivalry here between these two sides.
• Wild week for DC, washed out on Wednesday and a tornado warning on Saturday. Yikes!
• Some iffy calls by the center official but I think the red cards were justifiable. Though I have to wonder if replay helped out.
• Think Blanco was distracted by the Mexican national team being in Chicago, he didn’t look like his usual self against DC. Then again neither did his entire club.
• Its about high time I update the coaching hot seat here. Tom Soehn has found a way to bounce his club back into the fold here and out of the cellar in the east. They still have a ways to go to catch up to the front three and four in the east though.
• Chicago stumbles, Columbus stumbles and Toronto stumbles. No loss in ground but the third home loss of the season by a late goal makes you wonder about this Chicago side. Do they have the ability to close a game out in a strong fashion? At home you’d think they would but I’m starting to question it.

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Kansas City Wizards 0 – 0 Real Salt Lake:

• Honestly didn’t get to view this one. Saw highlights. And from that I gathered that KC is happy their two month roadie is over, RSL is still tough on turf, and neither club will make the playoffs this year.
• Give KC the credit though for battling better than some do on the turf in Salt Lake. But the winless run now extends to five games for the Wizards. A home game can’t come soon enough.
• Kevin Hartman had a solid game. Lots of good saves.
• Lots and lots of chances on goal for RSL. Findley and Deuchar each had plenty of shots but weren’t able to hit it home.
• KC had only a couple chances with Davy Arnaud, both were solid. One even hit the woodwork.
• KC’s defense is still shaky. I know they are mostly young but before long they have to step up and play better. Too many times they leave their man and allow easy shots on goal. Plus the midfield has to possess the ball better.

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LA Galaxy 3 – 2 Colorado Rapids:

• LA proved yet again they have to outscore everyone to win because of their defense. The I really felt that had there been another five or 10 minutes to this game Colorado would have drawn even.
• This club is still clearly better with Beckham though, had Donovan been out there I think they would have scored five or six on the Rapids.
• Give credit to Colorado for battling back in this one though, they easily could have given up the same scoreline that they had beaten the Galaxy on earlier in the season. But they didn’t because of the two Gomez and Colin Clark. Solid final 15 out of the Rapids.
• But saying that it still shows how inconsistent Colorado is. A club that can’t put a stretch of wins or losses together is tough to get behind. Even if they make the playoffs they won’t do much in them.
• Again, Clarke finds a way to make Abel Xavier look stupid. Why Rudd Gullit continues to go with this guy in defense is beyond my level of thinking these days.
• I must say Edson Buddle is looking better this season than the last two or three. He’s really looking comfortable with Beckham. Then again Beckham easily makes the worst of strikers look good with his services.
• LA continues their lead in the west, and they go visit San Jose next. That isn’t fair. You know they can put like four on that club and San Jose won’t be able to keep up. Then again the LA defense still makes the worst offenses look good.

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Houston Dynamo 3 -1 Toronto FC:

• Very nice to see Brain Ching and Dwayne De Rosario lead this club again here. Both are really coming on strong for their club as of late. Now the Orange are tied at the top with LA in the west. Which one has a better chance of beating the other in October? Hmm…I’m leaning with Houston.
• Give credit to Toronto for battling in this one despite lacking some very key elements to their roster. No Maurice Edu or Amado Guevara. Both clearly were missed on both offense and defense for Toronto. Just shows how important each are for this side.
• I would write off Toronto a bit because of this performance on the road as a legit contender but I will have to wait again until they play on the road at full strength. Just not fair to this club but still they didn’t look horrible.
• Plus as mentioned above, they didn’t lose any ground this week but it would have been big had they won this game. They could have been sitting in second place with a win. Instead they slip a little due to Houston and LA being at the 17 point mark on the season like them.
• Jeff Cunningham is at 99 career MLS goals. I guess we will see his 100th very soon.
• Amazing stat, this marks the first western club to beat Toronto this season. The Reds had previously swept LA and beat RSL.
• Houston looked very dangerous on offense tonight, Ching and De Rosario along with Stuart Holden really put the pressure on the Reds from the start of the game.
• I think the toughness is coming back to this Houston side. They clearly remember how to put away a side here.
• Pat Onstad had one of his typical solid nights. A few key saves kept this game out of reach for Toronto.

Well, what else did I miss? Let’s hear it.

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.

Others in consideration: Dominic Odoro, FC Dallas; David Beckham, LA Galaxy; and Danny Dichio, Toronto FC.

WVH Goalkeeper of the Month: Matt Reis, New England Revolution – The Revs played solid in May and largely due to the goalkeeping of Matt Reis. I pretty much had made my mind up between Reis and Chicago keeper Jon Busch for this before last night’s game against DC. While Reis doesn’t have the stellar numbers in the goals-against category as Busch (thank the Fire defense for that) but Reis is up near the top in most goalkeeping categories.

Others in consideration: Jon Busch, Chicago Fire.

WVH Defender of the Month: Gonzalo Segares, Chicago – When your club has six goals on the year and you are getting some national team recognition from your home country because of it, its time to get honored. Segares has been one of the key members of the Fire defense this season and his play has been stellar as the Fire have given up only six goals, six goals…yeah in the first third of the season the first have given up six goals. Not bad at all.

WVH Youngerst of the Month: Dominic Oduro, FC Dallas – A little homer pick on my part but the Birdman has really come through for the Hoops as of late with three goals off the bench. He finally made his way into the starting lineup against Houston this past Wednesday and probably will be on Sunday against Colorado. The late game-winner against RSL was really enough for me to put him here in this position.

WVH Coach of the Month: Preki, Chivas USA – I give it to Preki over a couple other coaches because his club has found a way to work through the injuries and post a decent month (2-1-1, with one game left tomorrow). Its Preki’s way of figuring out who to play in place of injured stars on defense. Anytime you post an above .500 month when your club has upwards of nine guys out to injury you are doing something right as a coach.

WVH Goal of the Month: David Beckham’s 70 yard striker against KC. – Look even though I thought it wasn’t the goal of the week I have to give credit where it is due because this is what Beckham was brought in for, to make amazing goals like this happen. Sure, if someone else in the league had done this I would be putting them here too but this is the kind of stuff we expected out of Becks and its is what we are getting.

WVH’s Best XI for May:

Keeper:
Matt Reis, New England – see above

Defense:
Gonzalo Segares (Chicago) – see above
Sean Franklin (LA) – one of the biggest reasons why LA is doing so well right now
Gonzalo Martinez (DC) – After further review, he and Gallardo were this club’s best pickups in the offseason.

Midfield:
David Beckham (LA) – Still getting what we paid for out of Becks.
Blanco (Chicago) – see above
Kheli Dube (NE) – three goals this month, all at key points in the game for the Revs.
Andre Rocha (Dallas) – second in the league in assist, and no one knows about it.

Forwards:
Kenny Cooper (Dallas) – second in the league in goals, biggest reason why Dallas is second in the west.
Danny Dichio (Toronto) – Torched DC in two games for three goals.
Chad Barrett (Chicago) – Believe it or not Barrett is having a good season this year.

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!

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.

Chicago on the other hand has. Seven games in and this club is sitting atop the entire league with 16 points, one ahead of idol Columbus.

DC remains the cellar dweller of the east with six points. Ouch. I know they had a slow start a year ago but this may take the cake.

Let’s drop some credit where it is due. Fire boss Dennis Hamlet may easily be the front-runner for this season’s Coach of the Year award. Whatever magic he throws out there seems to work. Seven games and only three goals against. That my friends takes a lot of effort. An effort that only the Fire are putting out right now.

Oh an by the way, the Fire also are tied for the lead in goals scored this season with LA. Major kudos going out right now to that Fire offense who really impressed me last night. The header by Chad Barrett to set up Mapp’s goal was simple and great to watch. As for the goal, it was just something that all you kiddies need to learn how to do out there. Stay calm, cool and collected in front of net. Mapp did just that. It wasn’t a power shot but one that saw placement with some pace. Very nice work.

We talk about how designated players work in this league, well one that continues to shine is Blanco. He scored his third goal of the season and for the most part was the reason why the Fire had the chances that they did last night.

DC on the other hand has a DP who sat out with an injury (Marcello Gallardo) and now another one that still couldn’t make anything happen (Luciano Emilio). But I will say this, there was a couple players for DC who did at least make the effort on the offensive end. Both Jamie Moreno and Fred at least tried to make things happen in both halves of play. Neither really connected on goal but at least someone was trying in a Black-and-Red kit.

I must say the more I see Chicago, the more I am impressed with them. And the more I see DC, the more I continue to question what’s going on with them. Maybe we need more time with them or something but right now things just aren’t what they should be in DC.

Tom Soehn has a lot of work to do. To say that they’ve been here before may start to get old but I think now we are seeing just how much passion this team doesn’t have out there. Sure they miss Ben Olsen a lot but even more so they miss the intensity that he always brought. Right now, they are missing it in a big way.

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.

I don’t know really what to make of DC these days but I do know that Chicago is the real deal this season. It’s not all Blanco either. Their defense is doing some amazing work so far in the early goings of the season. Not once have they let in more than one goal, in fact they’ve only given up three all season. Jon Busch is a big reason for that, as he continue to surprise me here.

Offensively speaking, the strikers and midfielders are carrying the load quite nicely too. Eleven goals to start the season, most of those coming against New England (seven to be exact) have people thinking this could be a very tough team to beat come October.

This game comes down to how DC handles Blanco in the middle and how effectively the wing play is for both sides. The team that presents the best attack from the wings will win the game. I think right now Chicago has the ability to do just that. DC should win this game at home but with the way they’ve played this year I’m not too sold on that notion just yet.

Its not that their defense needs to be lock-down on Blanco and company, its their offense HAS to get on the board first here in order to win this game. I just don’t know if they will be able to do that against a defense that has a few shutouts already this season.

I’m going with the visitors here tonight, as they move into a tie with Columbus atop the tables. And this is  due to their defense and not their attack. This will could blow up in my face. But what the hell, why not huh, DC hasn’t given us a real reason yet this season to feel confident about them.

WVH Prediction: Chicago 2, DC 1