Jeff Cunningham is now the all-time goal scoring king in MLS. His PK against Seattle was number 134. Just a crazy number considering how young the league is. Congrats Jeff.

Other winners this week were of course the Seattle Sounders, who won large at home against Columbus. Dallas made a remarkable come back in KC and don’t look now but the Chicago Fire may not be dead just yet.

Congrats Jeff!

Juan Pablo Angel is heading west to be with the LA Galaxy. (Getty Images)

Much like last week’s stage one, if you blinked you missed something. Stage 2 of the MLS Re-Entry Draft went by in a flurry over Twitter earlier today. With every club and nearly every other fan following along to the draft the tweets made it nearly impossible to keep up. But the dust has settled and the draft is over.

There were only a couple real shockers in this draft. A total of 11 picks in two rounds (I had no idea there would be two round) saw some big names move across the MLS landscape.

Round 1

• D.C. United: Josh Wolff
• Chivas USA: Jimmy Conrad
• New England Revolution: Ryan Cochrane
• LA Galaxy: Juan Pablo Angel
• Chicago Fire: Cory Gibbs
• Sporting KC: Frankie Hejduk
• Seattle Sounders: Chris Seitz
• Columbus Crew: Jeff Cunningham
• LA Galaxy: Luke Sassano
• Colorado Rapids: Tyrone Marshall

Round 2

• New England Revolution: Fred

Philadelphia, Portland, Vancouver, Dallas, Houston, New York, RSL, San Jose and Toronto all passed on picks.

Pick-by-pick Thoughts:

DC takes Wolff - First thought was why Wolff? Getting two decent strikers in the Re-Entry draft (they took Joseph Ngwenya in Stage 1) shows they got a lot of work still to do here. Wolff has a connection to manager Ben Olsen which is fine but its funny that DC continues to take former Curt Onalfo guys from KC.

Chivas takes Conrad – As long as Conrad signs this deal is great for Chivas. He’s a proven leader and someone that can instantly improve their chances in 2011.

New England takes Cochrane and Fred – A defensive pick, not bad but at the same time not great. He’s what they are looking for in cheap, experienced defenders though.

As for the Fred pick, I had no idea there was a second round to this as the Revs were the only club to pick in that round. I guess this is a decent pickup for them as they do need some upgrades in the midfield. I’m just not so sure this is the right fit.

LA takes Angel and Sassano – LA trades away a 4th rounder in 2014 (haha 2014!) to Houston and takes JPA. Their search for a second striker is over with that pick. If he does sign it will easily put LA in the discussion for MLS Cup contenders again in 2011. Getting him signed under the cap won’t be easy though as I’d imagine he’ll have to be a third DP.

As for the Sassano pick, don’t sleep on it. Its a very solid pick by Bruce Arena. He gets some fairly cheap, experienced defensive cover to help build up their depth in the back.

Chicago takes Gibbs – With Wilman Conde out of the way now this pick made perfect sense for the Fire. Gibbs is signed and ready to go to the Fire according to the club. Now if he can only stay healthy it will be a very solid steal for the club.

Sporting KC take Hejduk – A pick I love as long as they are able to agree on terms. Hejduk adds some veteran leadership to their backline now that Conrad is gone and you know the fans there will love him.

Seattle takes Seitz – There was some pre-draft speculation that he’d be going to Dallas today. That made little sense to me as does him going to Seattle. I feel this is more trade bait than anything else though if he signs he will be a decent backup in waiting behind Kasey Keller.

Columbus takes Cunningham – I told a couple people around here today that if Cunningham didn’t get picked in the draft he’d stay in Dallas however if he did get picked it would be by the Crew. Cunningham heads back to the place where it all began for him. Got a feeling the locals there will be fairly happy with this pick too.

Colorado take Marshall – Could be one of the most underrated picks of the draft. Marshall adds to their defensive depth and adds even more veteran leadership to the club.

It is finally here, the game we’ve all been waiting for since March. The 2010 MLS Cup is here and honestly I couldn’t be any more excited for this one (yes having my local side being in it helps). Having two clubs in this game that have yet to win a MLS Cup is pretty cool to see as well. They out lasted everyone this season to get to this point. We know who the favorite is (Dallas) and who the underdog (Colorado) but in all honesty these two clubs are very evenly matched.

An early goal will likely help vult whomever to a win here. Colorado is likely the club that needs to score first to win this one though as Dallas has no issue with coming from behind to win a game.

Position Breakdown

Keepers: One side of the field you have Kevin Hartman, the other Matt Pickens. Both are very solid and have made their defense in front of them miles better in 2010. Hartman should have won the Keeper of the Year award from Donovan Ricketts but that doesn’t mean Pickets isn’t worthy of the discussion either. The thing that sets these two apart at least by looking at the playoffs is that Hartman practically stood on his head a few times to get Dallas where they are at while Pickens only real big win was in the PK shootout in Columbus where the only stop he made was one that sailed over the bar to win the series.

Edge: Dallas

Defense: Honestly from the start I see this as a Push. You have a couple former FC Dallas defenders mixed in with guys like Marvell Wynne and Julien Boudet and you get a defense that has really made a nice turnaround in 2010. On the flip side what FC Dallas has done defensively this year is pretty impressive considering their defense has always been their biggest weakness over the last few years.

Dallas began giving up more goals late in the year when George John and Ugo Ihemelu went down with injuries. Both with both in the lineup they’ve been able to slow down high power attacks like Real Salt Lake and the LA Galaxy.

Colorado is interesting on defense, and a lot deal with the fact that their midfield is so good in front of them. They have to be careful on the wings though with Anthony Wallace and Kosuke Kimura. If one gets out of position Dallas will make them pay similar to what Robbie Rogers did to them in Columbus.

Still this one is to close for me to call here.

Edge: Push

Midfield: I really believe had it not been for the trade to get Jeff Larentowicz, Colorado would not even be in this game. That’s how big of an addition he was this season to the Rapids. He made the midfield and defense collectively better. The mid-season pickup of Brian Mullan did help bring some grit and better passing through the wings.

That said the rest of the midfield for the Rapids isn’t as good as Larentowicz has made them. On the wings they can get beaten if players are out of position and Dallas does a good job of spreading their attack through their wings like we saw against LA. Dallas’s five-man attack is balanced and well thought out. Guys like Dax McCarty and Daniel Hernandez are the cog in the midfield that really keep things going and allow David Ferreira to get in space and create for himself and whomever is playing up top. The wings are speedy with Brek Shea and Martin Chavez and are able to find holes in the defense.

Edge: Dallas

Forwards: This one is fairly simple to go into. Dallas has gone with a number of strikers all season long, mostly a lone striker in the form of Martin Rodriguez or Jeff Cunningham, or in the case of last week in LA in the form of Atiba Harris. Either way you spin it Dallas doesn’t really have the best go-to scorer up top the way that Colorado does in Omar Cummings and Conor Casey.

Dallas flows their offense through and with Ferreira in hopes to spring a free Cunningham or Rodriguez. Colorado on the other hand is fairly simple as they go wide with Cummings and he sends balls into the box for Casey; or they find diagonal balls in space for Cummings to run on to with his speed; or they hope for odd plays to accure.

Still the edge goes to the Rapids on this one based on Cummings and Casey.

Edge: Colorado

Bench: Dallas is fairly deep, probably a tad bit deeper than the Rapids when you consider they can bring on a Eric Avila, or even a Cunningham at anytime. Or if they have the lead they can bring in defensive help like Eric Alexander.

Edge: Dallas

Coach: You have the MLS Coach of the Year in Schellas Hyndman and on the other side a guy that is pretty underrated in Gary Smith. I’d lean towards Dallas due to the award but really this one is even considering both did an excellent job of finding guys that fit their systems for this year. Though I doubt Smith has a cool enough jacket to spark a huge Twitter frenzy like Hyndman did.

Edge: Push

X-Factors: Shea (Dallas); Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado) – Shea is a bad match-up on the wings for the Rapids. Sure they were able to contain a smaller Bobby Convey last week but Shea works around the ball is such a frustrating way for opposing teams. Mastroeni’s leadership has to be a factor in this one, how he handles himself will set his club up for this game.

Outlook: This game will come down to who cracks first really. Dallas knows how to hold onto leads in big situations if you consider how they played in Salt Lake and LA these past two weeks. The ability of Ihemelu and John to contain Casey and Cummings is an important element in this one. The better they contain the better chance Dallas has in this one.

Considering how these clubs tied their season series I think its safe to say we can just throw those two games out of the way here for this one like we’ve done all playoff long.

The biggest factor in this game comes down to the wing play and that’s where Dallas should come up big with Shea and Chavez. Also for me the Cunningham factor against one of his old clubs is out there, not to mention playing at BMO Field for him has to be huge. Colorado may have the edge in historical meetings in the playoffs but those were different times. Dallas has yet to lose at BMO Field and I see that trend continuing in their biggest win in club history.

WVH Prediction: FC Dallas 2, Colorado 1

Dax McCarty and FC Dallas battle Juninho and LA for the right to play in this year's MLS Cup. (Getty Images)

In a perfect world this would be more fitting of a MLS Cup final rather than just a western conference final. The number one overall and number four overall teams from the season square off in a battle to see who gets the trip to Toronto next week. FC Dallas knocked out the defending champion Real Salt Lake last week while LA was the lone top seed to move on to the conference finals.

Not to knock San Jose or Colorado here but it is a shame that this isn’t the MLS Cup. Two of the best teams from this season battle for the league’s top prize. Dallas hasn’t been in this far in the playoffs in over a decade (1999 to be in fact) while LA has a history of going to and winning the MLS Cup.

One side of the pitch you have a collection of players that most didn’t imagine would be able to pull off the type of season that they did. MLS Coach of the Year Schellas Hyndman was able to patiently get his club where they are at today by making the right choices around the pitch like placing Kevin Hartman in goal and putting the captain’s armband around Daniel Hernandez’s arm.

On the other side of the pitch you have the Supporter’s Shield winners in LA. Their hot start thanks to Edson Buddle and Landon Donovan set up their season. Things cooled off in the summer like we figured they would even with Buddle and Donovan back in uniform after the 2010 World Cup. The Galaxy managed to close out the season on top of the league thanks to some strong midfield play by Juninho and David Beckham.

This one could end up being a defensive battle. Both were near the top in goal-allowed this season with Kevin Hartman and Donovan Ricketts playing very well in goal for each club this season. LA proved last week against Seattle that their defense can hold up to speed with the move of A.J. DeLaGarza into the middle of the defense. Dallas may not have the speed that Seattle has but they do have some playmakers that can cause some issues. LA though has the advantage here having beaten Dallas twice this year, in fact half of Dallas’ losses this season came from LA.

Players to watch: Ferreira, Dax McCarty, George John (Dallas); Beckham, Donovan and Ricketts (LA).

X-Factors: DeLaGarza – His ability to shut down speed for LA was big in the Seattle series but it will be put to the test even more against a savvy offense like FC Dallas has with Cunningham and Ferreira. If he or the rest of the backline cracks any bit against Dallas you can expect the visitors to move on in this playoffs.

Outlook: Which defense cracks first will be the story here. Both are solid but have issues at times. LA did manage to beat Dallas a couple weeks ago but that was a Dallas team without a lot of their main guys. Having Hartman, Hernandez, Brek Shea and Ugo Ihemelu back will make a world of difference from the Texan side. LA still has home field on their side a place that Dallas does not do very well in when playing the Galaxy (Chivas USA may be another story).

Both clubs will counter attack very well, so mistakes in the midfield and defensive-third will be a key thing to watch. LA will likely come out with loads of pressure like they did against Seattle and force Dallas into defensive mistakes.

Part of me wants Dallas to win, obviously since I’ve been covering them for a couple years now. But I know LA will present a big challenge that could be too much for them to over come. At the end of the home field factor and the way LA plays Dallas just leads me to lean towards the Galaxy. After seeing both play in the first round I think LA just looks more dominate. Not to knock what Dallas did against RSL here but I just see LA moving on, possibly in penalty kicks.

WVH Prediction: LA 2, Dallas 1

David Beckham is back to his old tricks. (Getty Images)

Smell that? Its the smell of October which means playoff soccer is right around the corner. Only three weeks left in the season and already we know of five clubs going to the post season dance. Three spots remain with really four clubs going for them. Sorry Toronto and Chicago you know your chances are longshots at best at this point in the season.

Hard to believe we are down to this, the final couple weeks of the season. Some things still remain the same way they’ve been all season long though, LA is still on top with RSL and Dallas closely behind and New York and Columbus continue to battle it out in the east. Week 27 is in the books for now and boy was it a great weekend of action even with a couple ho-hum draws on the table.

Becks is Back

Add me to the list of folks playing the hype here for the Galaxy now that David Beckham is scoring on free kicks again. Lets just say that LA looked very good in their win last night against Chivas USA. Edson Buddle returned to his scoring form adding to his league-leading tally. But how about that kick from Becks? Classic David Beckham if you will but the important thing here is that Beckham is starting to look good for the Galaxy at the perfect time for his club.

I do think this goal will serve as a bit of notice that Becks is back but then again so should be the Galaxy. With three games remaining the Supporter’s Shield remains theirs to lose here. Sure Dallas could catch them but that’s far off I think even with their amazing unbeaten run they have going on. RSL could catch them as well, which remains the most likely but I’ve said before their schedule isn’t nearly as favorable as LA’s.

Tying Marks

Boy it was a big night in the Big D. I know FC Dallas pulled out their usual 10k crowd at Pizza Hut Park but on a OU-Texas weekend in Dallas that number is actually fairly impressive. But the story in Frisco is the tying of two records, the league’s unbeaten streak number (18) and for Jeff Cunningham the league’s all-time scoring mark.

I always said this season would be special for Cunningham in that regard. After last year it just seemed like Cunningham was destined to at least tie Jamie Moreno for the all-time mark in goals but it looks more and more like this will be the year he breaks the record. With three games remaining and the way he’s been scoring lately you have to figure he’s good for at least one more this season.

Kudos for Jeff too. Earlier this year he wasn’t having the best of times again but after sticking with things he slowly turned his dud of a season into one that he’ll never forget. Kind of hard to believe he’s at 11 goals on the season too at this point. Back in June we wouldn’t have guessed he would even hit seven or eight on the year.

Now as for that club record for FC Dallas. The 18-game unbeaten run is pretty darn special. One more win or draw and they’ll at least have the chance to go down as one in league history for fewest losses in a season. I believe San Jose a few years back may have lost only four or five but in a slightly different era in MLS only losing a handfull of games in a season is pretty impressive.

Dallas still has to close the year out at home to Colorado and then on the road to RSL and LA. It won’t be easy getting to 21 games here but if any club can do it I do think it would be this one.

Mile High Shocker

The biggest result of the weekend was also the biggest shock of the weekend in Denver. I don’t think anyone, even die-hard D.C. United fans would have predicted their club winning in Dick Sporting Good’s Park this weekend but some how, some way they did shocking the Rapids 1-0.

Yea, let me say that again D.C. United beat Colorado in Colorado 1-0 this weekend. Writing it once just didn’t do it justice enough considering D.C. hadn’t won there since 2000.

Furthermore Ben Olsen has now tied his predecessor Curt Onalfo in wins for the year with three. Onalfo was 3-12-3 with United before he was let go. Olsen has done a decent enough job since taking over and grabbing three more wins, two in places I’d never dream of them winning at this season in Colorado and Toronto.

MVP Update

I may do this as a separate post later on today or this week but the MVP race for this season continues to remain one of the toughest in recent memories. But for now I believe its down to four guys; David Ferreira (Dallas), Sebastien Le Toux (Philadelphia), Landon Donovan (LA), and Fredy Montero (Seattle).

You could make an argument for someone like Omar Cummings in Colorado or Guillermo Barros Schelotto in Columbus. But those four continue to remain my top picks here and at this point in the season its hard to really decide who deserves the nod.

If you go on goals and assists in the year it has to go to Le Toux who leads the combo with 13 goals and 10 assists on the year. But then again Ferreira also has seven goals and 13 assists. Montero has 10 goals and nine assists while Donovan leads the league in assists with 14 and has also bagged seven goals.

Its anyone’s guess at this stage really. Le Toux will be pressed hard by the Philly faithful and deservingly so. Some folks unfortunately will have problems with voting in a guy who didn’t at least get his team into the playoffs. I say that’s BS. Without Le Toux Philly would possibly be the worst expansion club of all-time as he’s been apart of 23 of their 32 goals this year.

I hate going homer on you but Ferreira may be my selection if I had to vote today. But again I’ll go more into that later on.

Hanging By A Thread

Kansas City has only themselves to blame at this point. They gave New York all they could handle last weekend and yet nothing was able to go in for them. Peter Vermes’ side continues to still look like the biggest threat to Colorado, Seattle and San Jose for that final playoff spot as their schedule remains the nicest of the four.

But the thing is I wonder if its already too late for the Wizards. At this point they’ll need to at least go 3-0-1 in their final four games. A tall task considering they still have Seattle at home coming up and then a Tuesday-Saturday swing as they travel to Chicago and to New England before closing out the year at home to San Jose.

Again it won’t be easy. Their hope stating out is to catch a tired Seattle squad at home. The Sounders have the USOC final this week. You have to figure they’ll have some tired legs in this game.

Juan Pablo Angel will battle rookie Zac Loyd tonight in Dallas. (Getty Images)

Could a streak come to an end this evening in Frisco? FC Dallas hosts the star-studded New York Red Bulls tonight at Pizza Hut Park. FCD is hoping to keep their 14-game unbeaten run going here.

FC Dallas is hoping to get revenge tonight on one of the two clubs that have beaten them this season. The Red Bulls were able to get a 2-1 win on FCD back in April at Red Bull Arena.

Tonight’s match should be slightly different as both clubs look fairly different than the ones back in April. New York has a couple high profile guys now with Rafa Marquez and Thierry Henry. Also the Red Bulls should have newcomer Medhi Ballouchy who was just traded there from Colorado.

The guy New York will have to key in on tonight is Jeff Cunningham who has 13 goals and seven assists all-time against them. New York will hope to score against a Dallas defense that has not given up much at home, shutting out five of their last six opponents at Pizza Hut Park.

The battle in the midfield should be interesting to watch as well with Marquez and Joel Lindpere going against Brek Shea and David Ferriera. Who wins the battle on the wings in and in the middle will get the points tonight. I think this one will end on level terms as New York is really starting to gel nicely and FCD just looks tough to break down these days.

WVH Prediction: Dallas 1, New York 1

FC Dallas battles Seattle tonight on ESPN2. (Getty Images)

A Thursday night game in Frisco, TX, boy let’s hope the locals come out for this one since it is on national television. The Seattle Sounders FC come into town tonight to face one of two remaining clubs in Major League Soccer without a win on the year in FC Dallas. Both teams coming off late goals with different outcomes in their last games, Dallas could have seen road points in New York while Seattle gobbled up three points on a very late goal at home against Kansas City.

Dallas is hoping to get their first win and not go April winless, something they haven’t done since 2003 when the Burn went 0-1-1.

Tonight’s contest will be all about who’s offense finally gets going here. Dallas has yet to really see Jeff Cunningham be the Golden Boot winner of last year just yet. Then again this time last year it was a similar effect for him as he really didn’t come alive last year until the summer. Seattle on the other hand is hoping to find more offense than Fredy Montero and to find some sort of consistency on offense.

It won’t be easy though as both club’s defenses are solid. Some may not think Dallas’ defense is any better than before but I’m seeing a tougher group out there and one that is getting loads more possession. If Dallas continues to control the possession in the game like they have in each game so far this year they will eventually work out the kinks in their offense in the process.

Seattle must find ways to spread out FCD with Steve Zakuani and get Freddie Ljungberg involved as early as possible. Dallas usually does a decent enough job clogging the middle of the field so Seattle must rely on their wing play in this one.

Dallas must also find a way to keep a lead, they’ve gotten leads in their last two games but failed to get more than a single point out of them. Its not just the play in the back that has given up those goals but the play in the midfield.

Part of me wants to pick Dallas in this one to get their first home win of the year but I see a draw. Seattle will go up early and hold back as much as possible as they have another road game this weekend in Toronto on Sunday.

Player to watch out for: George John – He’s a Seattle local but he’s also hoping to go the full 90 for the first time against his hometown team. He’ll be called on to handle Montero and the other Sounders coming down the middle of the field.

WVH Prediction: Dallas 1, Seattle 1

Anyways we are a month into the season now with most clubs having four games under their belts (only one has two – Columbus). My list below is not just players but coaches, GMs, stadiums, fans…pretty much anything I felt was relevant here.