Every team has that one guy that will either help lead them to the MLS promise-land or be partly the reason why they are stuck at home in November instead of seeing the playoffs. These are you X-Factor players.

I have one (maybe two) guys for each MLS team that are those X-Factors for this new season. Some guys are really no brainers while others may surprise you a bit. Its safe to say that each club needs a big year out of their X-Factors.

If you think I’m way off base on someone or think I missed a sure-fire X-Factor please list it below. Continue Reading…

How will the Fire fare going forward in 2010? (Getty Images)

Today is the start of a new series. As teams get into training camp and new players come on board its worth looking into each club to see how they are stacking up and what else they need to do to get ready for the 2010 season. I got this idea from the post I did a few days back on how the Philadelphia Union were looking. I figured it would be good to do something like that to all the clubs.

I’ll go in alphabetical order here with this series. Now I don’t know if it will be a daily thing or what yet, it all depends on my current work schedule but I do plan on getting each club by the end of February.

Keeper:

Who they have: Jon Busch, Sean Johnson (GA), Andrew Dykstra Continue Reading…

Expect a new look Fire in 2010. (Getty Images)

The 2009 season for the Chicago Fire was expected to be a big one. Talks of MLS Cup and Supporter’s Shield were all the rage to begin the season. Early on this year it looked like the expectations were being met as the Fire lost a single game in the first three months of the season.

Then came the summer where sometimes good teams go to waste. The Fire found some injuries got in the way of a dream season as Brian McBrdie went out with a shoulder injury while head coach Denis Hamlett struggled to keep a locker room happy. The Fire defense, which was once one of the best in the league started to come up short and even more so once Bakery Soumare left town.

Down the stretch the Fire kept coming up short as injuries piled up and their home play was anything less than stellar. In the final 12 games the club only won four games while never really finding any sort of consistent play.

In the end PKs did the club in against Real Salt Lake in the eastern conference finals. Their home play at Toyota Park was still a weakness and now they head into an offseason with a load of questions.

What Went Right In 2009:
When things were clicking and all parties involved were healthy this was one hell of a club. The depth early on was there for this bunch but towards the end even that depth wasn’t enough to push them towards a MLS Cup. McBride and Blanco were still a force to deal with and guys like Wilman Conde in the back were still some of the best in the league. On any given day the Fire could beat you any way around the field they wanted to with Blanco leading the attack.

What Went Wrong In 2009:
Let’s just say expectations were not even close to being met in the Windy City. Sure they reached the conference final but this bunch had better things expected out of them to start the year. The injury to McBride was a real killer in the middle of the year as the offense really never found it’s punch even though guys like Chris Rolfe were still tough to hold up around net. Once the word got out about Hamlett and Soumare and the locker room issues there the club really never was the same again. Questions surrounded whether or not Hamlett would return and they still will for the coming weeks.

What’s Next:
A lot of changes are going to take place over the next few weeks. Blanco is going to Mexico as we know. Rolfe is out to Europe and I’d expect a few more changes to come after that. No word yet on if McBride is coming back for another year and I would imagine a lot of that comes down to who will be coaching this club next year. Hamlett may still come back for the 2010 season but one has to wonder if he really is the right man for the gig. I’d imagine we will hear about his status over the next week or so before the expansion draft. After that expect some moves to happen and some player to leave.

The second half of the season is getting under full swing this weekend. Plenty of good games all over the place to discuss as we head closer to the All-Star break later this month. Some very important clashes in each conference this weekend could really reshape the standings after Saturday night.

Most of the 15 clubs are in action except for RSL, DC and New York. I think most Red Bull fans are excited to see the club actually get a weekend off for once here. Still we have six big games to talk about, all on Saturday. Don’t forget about the Gold Cup this weekend too, the US has one more group game left before heading on to the quarterfinals.

Feel free as always to leave your predictions and thoughts below. Continue Reading…

EDIT: Currently experiencing some issues with this video…check back later to see if it is work! Sorry for the hassle!

A decent amount of goals this week. I’ve once again put together the usual list of my favorites. I may have missed a couple others though but these are the ones I thought were the better goals out there scored this weekend. Lots of goals scored off set pieces this weekend or just sloppy goalkeeping.

Order of goals: Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus), Marco Pappa (Chicago), Christian Gomez (DC), Danny Dichio (Toronto), Freddie Ljungberg (Seattle), Richard Mulrooney (Houston), Cam Weaver (Houston), and Stuart Holden (Houston).

Marco Pappa and Chicago face Carey Tally and Chivas USA tonight. (Getty Images)

This seems to be a running theme as of late, conference leaders clashing each weekend. Oh wait, that is because Chivas USA continues to play clubs from the east when they are at the top of the east. Okay, I get it now. Anyways this should be a real interesting game tonight when the league leading Goats host the Fire in a prime-time clash on ESPN2.

The game kicks off a little late for you east coast folks (10:30ET). I haven’t decided if tonight will be a twittering during the game kind of night like last night or not here. All depends on the amount of time that I have later on this evening. I may just enjoy the game without the use of a computer in front of me.

Anyways, if you have a score prediction for tonight, leave it below.

1. Is Chivas starting to slide?

One has to wonder with their last two results if the AmeriGoats are starting to hit a wall. They’ve given up goals in spots that they weren’t at the start of the season and aren’t putting away clubs like we had seen. Then again it is almost expected for that kind of thing to take place when you get this big of a jump on everyone to start a season. The thing is there is one club that is starting to get real close to the Goats in the standings, and that is Chicago.

The Fire are still undefeated here and are really picking things up these days on the field with a couple wins lately. Guys like Chris Rolfe have been the big part of that so I would expect Chivas to play a bit tighter tonight defensively to slow down the Fire attack.

2. What does the Fire have to do to stay undefeated?

Its is as simple as playing their game and controlling the midfield with guys like Marco Pappa and Blanco. Lately the Fire have done everything right in terms of controlling the game and keeping as much pressure of their defense as possible. It also hasn’t hurt that their defense has really come together a good bit in recent weeks to now allow as many goals as they were earlier in the year.

Chicago also has to spread Chivas out. The AmeriGoats do well in controlling tight spaces but when you spread them out they can tend to get exposed a bit more. The Fire are excellent at using the wings and sending balls into the box for Rolfe and Brian McBride.

3. Player to keep an eye out for.

Sacha Kljestan has to be the big factor in this game for Chivas. We know he has struggled so far this season but this could be a great time to showcase his talents and get back into the spotlight for his club.

Quick Thoughts:

We really have an excellent matchup tonight on our hands. The league’s best defensive club (Chivas) against the best offensive club (Chicago). While Chivas doesn’t score as many goals they have scored a bunch at home this year. I have a feeling it will be a tight game with loads of fouls (Chivas leads in fouls committed and Chicago is near the top if fouls suffered).

In the end it does scream a draw with the way things are going this season but I like the Fire here to continue on their winning and inch closer to Chivas in the standings. Something out the last couple weeks with Chivas worries me a bit about this club and I think the Fire will expose that a bit more tonight. Then again I could be totally wrong and see Chicago’s undefeated mark end tonight but I’m going with my gut feeling here.

WVH Prediction: Chicago 2, Chivas 1

Slowly putting a cap on this week. I have some more thoughts on the weekend and the season as a whole later on. I wanted to put up my favorite goals from this week. As always if you have a goal that I missed that you think is worthy just let me know.

Sorry for some of the crappy announcing in the Rapids game and even in the Crew game. “Ekpo was his name-o.” Seriously…wow.

Anyways, order of goals this week: Nick LaBrocca (Colorado), Kosuke Kimura (Colorado), Marco Pappa (Chicago), Tyrone Marshall (Seattle), Emmanuel Ekpo (Columbus), Chad Barrett (Toronto), Jamie Moreno (DC).