Yes it was unfortunate but there was some good out of it. SoccerAmeria just posted a great article on the 80 seconds of silence that Glenn Davis and Kyle Martino did at the start of the broadcast when the game was finally shown on ESPN2. Looking back on the tape of that game I saw and heard those 80 seconds. Boy it was pretty neat to say the least.

Aside from the ESPN fail on Wednesday this week and weekend are pretty big. We’ve already seen Toronto FC blow away Montreal last night in the final game of the Canadian Cup to advance to this year’s edition of the CONCACAF Champions League tournament. MLS will now field five teams with Toronto now to take on Puerto Rico in the preliminary rounds with a chance to be grouped in with the Columbus Crew.

We also have another competition starting up for a few clubs this weekend as well. The 2009 edition of SuperLiga comes at a good time for teams like Chivas USA and Chicago Fire. Both clubs play on Saturday in their opening matches of the tournament. Kansas City and New England will see their first games on Sunday. All SuperLiga matches can be seen live on the SuperLiga website.

But let’s get down to business as far as the MLS weekend slate goes. Plenty of decent games on the menu for us including one that I am very interested in out in Colorado between the Rapids and DC United.

As always feel free to leave your score predictions below.

Saturday:

LA Galaxy – at – San Jose Earthquakes:

Oddly enough we get another game on ESPN2 this weekend with the Galaxy and Quakes. While it won’t be nearly as good as it could be it should still be a decent western conference showdown between these two old California rivals. LA looked listless last week against RSL at home and now without a key leader in the midfield in Eddie Lewis (suspension). Not to mention the loss of Landon Donovan to the Confederation Cup with the US national team.

I think LA can shut down San Jose a little bit but with Darren Huckerby back and healthy right now I just don’t see LA shutting him out for the entire match. Huckerby has looked very good since his return and I think he will help lead the Quakes out of the cellar here with a win over their rivals.

WVH Prediction: San Jose 2, LA 1

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Seattle Sounders FC – at – New York Red Bulls:

I won’t lie, after Wednesday’s performance against DC and now having to travel across the country to face New York I do worry about this Sounder side. Thing is they are facing the league’s worst club in New York who haven’t look good all season. Danny Cepero did look good in goal last week in Toronto but I just have low hopes of him going back-to-back in quality games here. I think this one will be close but Sigi Schmid did take out his key offensive players early on Wednesday (Nate Jaqua, Fredy Montero, Freddie Ljungberg), possibly saving them for this trip. That should pay off in a win for Seattle as long as they figure out a way to close out a game on the road. This is a big time road game for Seattle and their confidence moving forward.

WVH Prediction: Seattle 2, NY 1

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Real Salt Lake – at – Houston Dynamo:

Congrats to RSL, you got your first road win of the year last week. Your reward is to go back on the road again and play the league’s best club, the Houston Dynamo at Robertson Stadium. Hooray Beer!

Big thing to RSL’s success last week was their midfield. Javier Morales finally returned to quality form and that will go a long way with this club and their playoff hopes this season. Also the play of guys like Will Johnson and Yura Movsisyan looked much better a week ago. Thing is I just don’t see RSL’s midfield stacking up well against the hot group from Houston in Houston. Brad Davis, Stuart Holden and company have been more than impressive and when they are at home they are even tougher to beat. Houston should roll here in this one.

WVH Prediction: Houston 2, RSL 0

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Columbus Crew – at- FC Dallas:

Another national TV game in Dallas. Sigh. The two HSG owned clubs square off Saturday night, probably in front of a crowd of 6-7,000. Unlike last week against Houston there probably won’t be that many Crew supporters there in Dallas for this one. Dallas hasn’t been able to shutdown quality attackers all season or even sub-par attackers all season. I just don’t see a way they contend with Guillermo Barros Schelotto. In a game that comes down to a lot of midfield play, Columbus still own one of the best midfields in the league while Dallas continues to own one of the worst. The Crew should leave with three points.

WVH Prediction: Columbus 2, Dallas 0

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DC United -  at – Colorado Rapids:

Probably the game of the week for me here. DC has always struggled at Colorado or anywhere west of Texas for that matter but the draw on Wednesday in Seattle should have given this side a big lift going on the road. I’m curious to see how Pat Noonan works out with the Rapids. He should be filling in for Conor Casey here this weekend. This game will come down to who can hold a lead better than the other. In a way I kind of think it will be a lot like the Wednesday night clash in Seattle for DC. They go down early to only come back late. Colorado is good but the lack of Casey does worry me up top for them in this one. DC should also get Ben Olsen back, which is good given the fact that the midfield is a bit spent after Wednesday’s game. I think a draw is the best way to go here in this one. As mentioned before DC typically struggles in Colorado but I think they will do enough to get a point out of this game.

WVH Prediction: Colorado 1, DC 1

Kansas City fans have been pretty good so far. (Brian Stevens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

Typically I do a version of this kind of thing for all MLS clubs but this time around I wanted to do something a little different with the typical Good, Bad, and Ugly column. Instead I will be looking at things in the league as a whole that I have liked, disliked and have absolutely hated thus far in the early going of the season.

Most of this is stuff I’ve been keeping track of here since the start of the season. I may ramble on a bit but you are always welcome to do the same below.

Good:

Quality crowds in Seattle, Toronto and even in smaller venues like San Jose or Kansas City. I believe there is a reason why San Jose and KC want smaller soccer stadiums for their future. It doesn’t all have to do with money and not being able to consistently fill those stadiums, it is because they have the fans that create good atmosphere (I think both clubs have underrated supporter’s groups). The same sort of thing you see in Seattle and Toronto. Passionate fans equal a good time at the park.

Bad:

So-so numbers in places like LA for Galaxy and Chivas games, Chicago for Fire games and DC for United games. For those clubs it doesn’t really deal with a lack of advertising or even the clubs being bad on the field. Its honestly an economical thing in my eyes.

Still seeing bad numbers in Colorado and Columbus too. Thing about the Rapids is though they’ve only played one home game so far. With the club doing pretty well so far this year things could change in their favor in terms of butts-in-seats.

Ugly:

Numbers we see in Dallas are just terrible. The fact that the club has gotten a shade under 12k for their last two home games is pathetic. Marketing around Dallas is nearly non-existent, and people just can’t get excited about this club. It has little to do with the performance on the field I think (because the town supports baseball’s Rangers decently enough each year and they are largely just as bad if not worse), but it deals more with a lack of knowledge about the club in the local community.

Good:

Impressive starts from clubs like Chivas and New England. Let’s be real honest, did anyone expect either of these clubs to be undefeated after five weeks of play? If you did then you are probably very rich.

Bad:

Not-so-good starts from clubs that we expect to be good like Houston or to a lesser extent Real Salt Lake. We know of Houston’s typical early season slowness but RSL is on a different path with how bad they play on the road in the early goings this season.

Ugly:

Until this past week, the ugliness that was New York’s start of the new season. While LA and Dallas were pretty ugly in the early going, they at least were able to find the back of the net in a consistent manner. New York saw four games with no actual goals. The one that was marked in the score column in the 1-1 draw to New England was an own goal by New England’s Jay Heaps.

Things are starting to turn but the Red Bulls dug themselves a decent-sized hole to start the season, not to mention that no club (correct me if I am wrong) has reached the playoffs after going scoreless in their first four games.

Good:

Surprising starts for players like Kasey Keller (who still has it), Conor Casey (who is showing he can lead), and Davy Arnuad (three sweet goals).

Other quality starts to the year include play out of Ben Olsen, Luciano Emilio, the Freds from Seattle, and nearly most of the Seattle lineup (even with the two game slump), Kenny Cooper, Javier Morales, and Dwayne De Rosario.

Bad:

Slower than normal starts from Juan Pablo Angel, Darren Huckerby, Sasha Kljestan, and Robbie Rogers. Some are due to injuries and others who knows.

Ugly:

I think maybe the start from the Columbus Crew as a whole could go here. I know I have higher expectations for this club. Offensively they should not have Guillermo Barros Schelotto as their leading scorer. He needs to be leading the assist category for this club to be success. Maybe the club owners needed to open their wallets a bit more in the offseason to upgrade the offense.

Good:

Rookies have started off particularly well this season in comparison to last year. I think it may be even safe to say that this year’s class has already out done what last year’s did.

Bad:

New additions barely making a mark on their new clubs, that even that is slowly starting to turn around positively. I look at guys like David Ferriera, who up until this past week hadn’t made a dent into the Dallas offense. Hopefully for the Red Stripes, that assist was the first of many to come this season. Also, other guys like Santiago Hirsig for Kansas City are still (slowly) getting use to the MLS game.

Ugly:

No real ugly in talks with the rookies/newcomers but let’s talk about the amount of red cards so far this season. Referee Tim Weyland comes to mind from the Galaxy-Chivas game. He had a bad night to say the least by handing out 11 cards, including three reds. I don’t care if this was a derby game you just shouldn’t have to do that. Let the boys play!

Good:

Veteran keepers leading the pack, along with a couple surprises like New England fill-in Brad Knighton. Mainly it seems like Keller in Seattle, Pat Onstad in Houston, and a blast from the past in Chivas’s Zach Thornton.

I know I’ve killed Chivas for not finding a better keeper than Thornton but at least the big guy is making me eat my words so far this year. Five games in, two goals against with three clean sheets. Not bad, not bad indeed.

Lastly, is it me or does LA keeper Donovan Ricketts seem like a possible saving grace for that club? Two games and only one goal against. So far I have ben impressed with his play.

Bad:

Keepers you’d expect to be doing fine each week like Columbus’s Will Hesmer or San Jose’s Joe Cannon. Its been part sloppiness and weak defensive play for Hesmer and for Cannon just an overworked backline that is aging quicker than most thought.

Ugly:

I look a couple games this season with really ugly keeping. A couple New York games came to mind with Danny Cepero. Boy you could tell they wanted Jon Conway back in a hurry.

The league released the five candidates for the Goal of the Year. I have the clips below for you to decide. My vote is still for Robbie Rogers’s goal back in week 26, but Blanco and Cameron both had nice finishes as well. Should have known the Danny Cepero free kick would reach the final five. Amazingly no David Beckham from 80 yards out.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco vs DC United
Danny Cepero vs Columbus Crew
Robbie Rogers vs New York
Will Johnson vs FC Dallas
Geoff Cameron vs FC Dallas

Cuauhtemoc Blanco vs DC United

Geoff Cameron vs FC Dallas

Will Johnson vs FC Dallas

Robbie Rogers vs New York

Danny Cepero vs Columbus Crew

Could this possibly be Goal of the Year quality though? I doubt but it is definitely taking the cake for Goal of the Week.