New England's troubles continued this past week. (Getty Images)

Let’s just say it, week four in Major League Soccer had plenty to offer. From the entertaining, yet frustrating Whitecaps-Revolution game on Wednesday all the way to the controversial finish in D.C. between United and the Galaxy.

Below are some items I took away from this past week in MLS.

1. Revs have long way to go. I saw a few folks around the league thinking that before last week the Revs were a top ten team. Hell, I had them at eight in my power rankings last week but I’ll admit I didn’t feel at all comfortable with that spot for them. The two games for them this week confirmed what I had suspected about them going into the year. They’d be decent but not nearly good enough to hang with most clubs. Going up to a two-man advantage Wednesday in Vancouver showed a lot about how little depth they have in their offense right now. Also, look at Saturday’s game with a mostly reserve squad for RSL. They couldn’t hang with them even. I know they have a new striker on the way and if he can produce then that will be one thing, but if things continue the way they are right now it will only make this season longer in New England.

2. Dallas earns some redemption. A few months of frustration finally boiled over for FC Dallas last Friday in their 3-0 win over Colorado. It was the first time all season that Dallas actually looked like their 2010 self. Offensively Dallas totally controlled the game from start to finish and MVP David Ferreira had little problems creating space in the Rapids’ defense. Biggest thing was seeing the Dallas defense finally show up, a lot had to do with Ugo Ihemelu and George John being paired in the center again like most of last season while Brek Shea stayed in defense but was moved out wide. That is a dangerous thing folks, as Shea looked really good on the left side for Dallas Friday night.

3. Giving Colorado a little bit. Gary Smith couldn’t be pleased with the loss in Dallas but he had to expect some of it. He knew Dallas had more emotion going into this game and with some injuries to Conor Casey and Pablo Mastroeni, the Rapids didn’t look like themselves in the midfield or in the attack. I’m sure Mastroeni would have made a huge difference in this one as his replacement Joseph Nane looked completely lost out on the field. The Rapids have very little time to bounce back as they travel to Salt Lake this Wednesday for a Rocky Mountain Cup battle.

4. Seattle inks first win. This one was exciting in the first half, both the Sounders and Fire traded goals early before Steve Zakuani put away the game-winner. Seattle continues to improve here as Zakuani and O’Brien White show they are a good pairing out there. I love watching Zakuani play, as he continues to mature out there, his play continues to progress. As for White, I knew going to Seattle would be a good move for him and it is starting to really pay off here. He’s had a couple goals in the last few weeks and is really helping drive the offense while Fredy Montero is out.

5. Ream’s mistake proves costly. Give Philadelphia credit, their feisty nature is proving to be a headache for a lot of clubs here this season. I got a feeling they may be that kind of club that just wins 1-0 games here. All their wins so far are from that mark and even their lone loss was a 1-0 game. Either way you look at things right now the Union are a contenter and if their offense ever really explodes like it should with Danny Mwanga, Carlos Ruiz and Sebastien Le Toux, then this could be a tough team to handle later on in the season. Consider this as well, they don’t have the USOC to deal with, nor any CCL games. They could easily make a run late in the year if they remain healthy.

6. Reserves do dirty work for RSL. This game was a bit physical, mainly because New England had to do something to get in it. Real Salt Lake continues to show how deep they are by fielding mostly backups in a 2-0 win at New England. Yes, on the road, which makes this more impressive in my mind. Many believed they’d let their emotions of moving on to the CCL finals get the best of them here but Jason Kreis should be praised for getting his team ready for this one and getting the points to move into first place.

7. Dive or no dive. I’ve watched the Charlie Davies PK replay over and over again. On one angle it is a dive, the next its a shove by Omar Gonzalez. No matter which way you spin it, it was a game saving PK from Davies. D.C. went from looking at zero points against a much more superior Galaxy team to getting a point. While it wasn’t sexy it was good enough. Bigger question is how many of you think it was a dive?

8. TFC secures rare road point on West Coast. Color me surprised here. Toronto FC showed up at San Jose and came away with a vital road point. The biggest thing may have been the halftime adjustments out of Aron Winter to secure that point. For the most part that first half was dreadful out of Toronto, except for the Alan Gordon goal.

9. Dynamo make most of chances. There is the Dynamo squad I expected to see earlier in the season. Sure it came against a Whitecaps team that was beat up by injuries and red cards. Either way it was great to see the Dynamo offense finally get off the mark for a change. For Vancouver, you have to wonder what the game would have been like with Frenchman Eric Hassli, who has red carded earlier in the week for what some are calling the dumbest red card in league history. To me, he wouldn’t have factored in as much as the Dynamo completely handled the makeshift midfield out of Vancouver.

10. Down to one and two. At this moment we have one club left that is undefeated (RSL, no surprise) and two clubs that are still winless (Chivas USA and Portland). The Timbers possibly have the best shot at winning their first game this week, as they finally have their first home game this Thursday against Chicago (they also host Dallas on Sunday as well). Chivas is away to Vancouver this weekend, which could end up being an interesting game if Vancouver doesn’t get any red cards.

RSL dominated LA in a week 2 showdown. (Getty Images)

One thing we should probably stress right now is that it is still very early in the season. I bring that up right out of the gate so some fans don’t go nutty when they realize their club is two games in with zero to one point, or if their club just got hammered this past weekend, yeah you know who I am talking about.

The season is only two weeks old but we’re finding out quickly who’s really going to be contenders and who still have a little bit of a ways to figure this whole thing out. Here are some notes I had from this past week.

1. Real is for real. Sure LA was missing Landon Donovan but would that really have made that much of a difference Saturday night at Rio Tinto? I doubt the scoreline would have been 4-1 but I’m fairly confident that the result would have been close to that line as RSL absolutely dominated LA from start to finish. Javier Morales showed why I dubbed him as a MVP candidate to start the season with his two goals. RSL rattled LA from the first whistle to the last, and really gave a full proof plan on how to handle LA.

2. Seeing Red. After great debuts for Vancouver’s Eric Hassli and Sporting Kansas City’s Omar Bravo, both saw early baths this past weekend. For the second straight week Chicago striker Gaston Puerari caused a red card on his way to goal. In week one he fell to the ground after a slight bump from FC Dallas defender Brek Shea and in Chicago against KC he did the same when Bravo came in on him.

As for the other card, Hassli was frustrated all afternoon by Philly’s Danny Califf. The game was physical and the Union gave a proper blueprint on how to handle the big Frenchman for the Whitecaps. Get him frustrated early, foul him a bit, get him to foul you in a stupid action away from the ball and get him sent off shortly after. Hassli let his frustrations with Philly’s defense get the best of him Saturday, which definitely played into the Union winning 1-0.

3. Six points in Union-land. I’m sure plenty of Union fans would agree they saw this number in the standings after week two but most around the league did not. Good for them and their club. Right now Philly is sitting on top of the Eastern Conference standings. Yes, you read that correctly, the Philadelphia Union are setting atop the Eastern Conference standings. Yeah, typing twice still seems odd but it is definitely true. Kudos on Peter Nowak’s side for gutting out another tough three points Saturday. Two games, two goals, but two wins. The offense still needs to come alive though before more folks take them serious. With Danny Mwanga, Carlos Ruiz and Sebastien Le Toux up top, they will. It is only a matter of time before one of those three (hell or all three of them) get hot and this club really takes off.

4. 20 Minutes from Hell for D.C. If you watched the opening 20 minutes in the D.C.-New England game you saw two crazy goals for the Revs. Two that probably should have happened the way they did. Two PKs in this one, 31 fouls, five cards and one red card. Not a great day for either club actually but for United, those opening 20 set the tone for the long evening in New England. United spent just as much time fighting with the Revs as they did fighting with the refs. The first goal was a clear handball on Zak Schilawski and the second was a debatable penalty on Dax McCarty.

At least Charlie Davies got on the scoresheet again with a late PK for the Black-and-Red. Three goals in two games for Davies. Not bad folks. Not bad at all.

5. Rapids Quietly Move Forward. Not surprisingly the Colorado Rapids went to Chivas, did their work and came away with another three points. I know the Rapids have still yet to beat anyone big (they knocked off Portland, then Chivas…yeah not world beaters there), but this club showed grit and toughness that you want to see out of a defending champion. Gary Smith was without Omar Cummings (call-up with Jamaica) and had Conor Casey on the bench to start the match (still working out an injury I think). Still, the Rapids controlled this game with their midfield like one would expect. They got a goal and continued to dominate Chivas at the possession game.

6. Wondo is no one-hit wonder. I nearly called this 20 minutes of hell for FC Dallas but I’ll get into them in a moment. Chris Wondolowski proved to me on Saturday that he is a total pest for any club. Why? Take a look at both of his goals against Dallas and you’ll see why. The man moves through the offensive third without a care in the world if someone is marking him, and for some reason even if he is marked he finds a way to get free of that mark. His first goal was pure class. A beautiful first touch, turn and bam! The second one was vintage Wondo. Think of this for a moment, he has scored his club’s last 12 regular season goals (dating back to last year). Yeah, last 12. That is absolutely sick…but it also shows, you stop Wondo, you stop San Jose.

7. Trouble in Big D? No exactly, but close. The defense that most here in Dallas expected to be strong yet again in 2011 has really been anything but at moments so far this season. The three goals given up by Dallas so far this season were all miscues of some sort. Still, the club possesses the ball better than most teams in the league. The trouble really comes down to their lack of finishing. Time and time again against San Jose, Dallas had the chances, the space and the ball to do damage but no dice in the goal scored column in the stat sheet. Give credit to Jon Busch though in goal for SJ, he was a beast at times on Saturday night.

One bright spot though was seeing both newcomer Fabian Castillo and Ruben Luna on the pitch together. That is the future of this club folks. Those two in the offensive third are going to be electric together, in time.

8. Reds find offense. Again, it is still early and Toronto did just face an expansion side for the second week in a row (how the hell did they manage that in their schedule?). Toronto found two brillant goals from newcomer Javier Martina. Yeah Martina is just one of the several newcomers to this Toronto side. I must say he looked to be one that could very well work out nicely in MLS this season for Aron Winter. He was confident in space and took chances when they were needed. That’s what you want out of a striker and Toronto could be lucky to have him if he can keep it up.

9. Still no power in Sounder offense. Three games in and the Sounders have one goal to their name. Yeah just one. But one thing is certain to me, they are close to breaking through and maybe that late Steve Zakuani goal against Houston was what they needed. The Sounders dominated in the possession game against the Dynamo but just failed to see any results with it until Zakuani’s late heroics. I got a good feeling we’ll see more out of them in the coming weeks.

10. Crew waste chance. With New York missing so many key players you would have thought Columbus would have broken through and made the most of their chance against them to get three valuable points. But they did not. Instead the Crew wasted most of the chilly afternoon in the midfield. I know they had plenty of new faces to work in the offense and part of the defense but at some point you do wonder if all the change this offseason really did any good. If the Crew can’t muster up some offense next week, I think it will be a sign that this will indeed be a long, long season for the boys in gold.

11. Cold hits attendance. Should have known the second week of the season we’d see more empty seats. Can’t blame folks in Chicago or even in Toronto too much for not filling the stands. Yes, you read that right, Toronto did not fill BMO for their opener, marking the first time in club history that they failed to sellout their season opener. To be fair, Toronto had sub-zero temperatures for game time and they still did manage a reported gate of a shade over 20k.

PPL Park was sold out though, as was Rio Tinto Stadium which saw a record crowd against LA. Columbus and Chicago had chilly weather and each got 10k and 12k respectively. Dallas was back down to their old numbers with just a shade over 11k at Pizza Hut Park. New England also saw their season opener with around 12k as well.

League wide average after two weeks is still a cool 19,225. That is about three thousand more than last year’s average.

Colorado opened their season up with a nice win over Portland. (Brian Stevens for WVHooligan)

I’ve been watching Major League Soccer since the league started back in 1996 and this may be the first time since that opening week that the league had such an amazing First Kick. While some games didn’t have as much meaning to some folks as others did, I will say there was a certain electric feel to this weekend in MLS.

Just look at each of the games on Saturday, from the Vancouver-Toronto game, to Dallas-Chicago and DC-Columbus. Some matchups weren’t sexy but in the end the First Kick for 2011 was something special.

1. Davies gets emotional. This was something that was great to see. As I mentioned earlier in my post on the newcomers taking over, Davies had one special opening night in MLS. You would have expected rust or some form of it in his first competitive league match in nearly two years but he didn’t have any of that. He stepped up with his first touch of the game and hammered home a PK shot for his first MLS goal. But his poise and skill really showed through on his second goal.

2. Stadiums full. Take out the San Jose game because a temporary venue is tough to gage how a club really would do in this sort of weekend. But all the stadiums were nicely filled for the opening weekend. I know folks complained a bit about New York and rightfully so, that one should have been sold out. But it was nice to see Colorado and Dallas do well on the opening weekend.

Consider Dallas for a moment here, last year they opened the season with just a shade over 8,000 against in-state rivals Houston. And most of that crowd was probably Houston fans too. Fast forward to this season and they sellout the place to begin the new season. There was plenty of buzz around Pizza Hut Park. A new march to the match and scarfing tradition was formed and while I don’t think we’ll see these kinds of numbers this coming weekend when San Jose comes to town, they should still get between 12-16k this season at their games.

3. The buzz in D.C. – I don’t know if it was just Charlie Davies scoring but something about the game Saturday made me feel like that special buzz was back in D.C. with United. The stands were filled pretty nicely at RFK and I don’t know, but it just felt like D.C. was at least back for a night. Will it continue this season? Maybe. But I think having D.C. back in the discussion for a top side is a positive thing to see, one that hopefully can help spark a positive stadium discussion from the local government again.

4. Chicago and KC aren’t half bad. Seeing the Fire in person made me realize that the Fire won’t be half bad this season if they don’t use a 3-5-2 formation. When Carlos de los Cobos switched his club to what appeared to be a 3-4-3 from the press box, the club actually came more alive. Sure being up a man didn’t hurt their chances either but newcomers Gaston Puareri and Diego Chaves nearly made the most of their chances in this one.

That being said they will still get burned badly by teams with speed. As much as I like their defense, they were lucky to get away from Frisco with just a single point on the night. Dallas had loads of possession and teams with better finishers than Dallas will make this Fire team pay for it. Speaking to some Fire reporters Saturday night, they feel it will be a long season if de los Cobos doesn’t do something about how their defense handles the outside speed of some clubs.

Switching over to KC, they looked good on the night. Omar Bravo certainly played well and their attack was exactly how I expected it to be this season. But they still gave up two goals to Chivas USA, a club that I really think will be at the bottom of the Western Conference again this season. Chivas has some decent attackers but clubs with better scorers will eat away at this KC defense.

5. LA struggles but Juninho shines. Looking back at my fantasy MLS squad, I really wish I had picked up Juninho, who was relatively cheap.  Two goals in one week, both amazing shots. While he did well for LA, the rest of the attack was missing. Not having a healthy Juan Pablo Angel didn’t help them out either, seeing as how in the two games he only got about a half hours work in. Landon Donovan will have to step up more in games like this, and so will David Beckham. It is still early but LA did look pretty decent this week. I just wonder how they would have fared had they not played two straight games in solid rain like they did.

6. Welcome to MLS, Vancouver. The “whiteout” was special to see at Empire Field. I know we talk a lot about the Pacific Northwest rivalries but this Canadian rivalry will be pretty special for the league as well. Vancouver was all over Toronto in this one and really packed on the pressure. Being up 4-1 at one point in the game showed this club is indeed for real. Their defense though does worry me a tad bit, if a club like Toronto can score two goals on them in the run of play, then what will a team like Colorado or New York do to them? I have to say I expected more out of their defense Saturday.

Still, it was pretty cool watching this one. Gotta give it up to Steve Nash for sitting in the middle of the stands with the fans.

7. Welcome to MLS, Portland. On the flip side of things, you have Portland. Yikes. I knew their defense was going to get exposed but Colorado basically opened the flood gates early in this one and never looked back. At least Kenny Cooper got on the boards late for the Timbers to at least give their fans hope that their offense will indeed be fun to watch.

We shouldn’t be too shocked by the result though, while Vancouver was facing a Toronto club that is going to be in a rebuilding mode for the next year or so, Portland faced a loaded defending champion to open the year. Colorado dominated this one from start to finish in my opinion. How about that goal from Jamie Smith too? Pow!

8. Agudelo is magic. I cannot say this enough, I hope for the life of me that the league and New York slowly market the success of Juan Agudelo. Why? Just look at how things were handled with Jozy Altidore and you may be able to catch where I am going with this. First of all I want nothing but success for this kid. He is magic on the ball as we saw against Seattle. He split the defense with his speed and beat a veteran keeper like Kasey Keller with ease. He drew a PK early in the game too that showed he is able to do serious damage in this league.

But why do I want him to be marketed slowly? Basically it is a selfish reason. I don’t want him to be sold too early here. This kid is so much fun to watch that I would rather see him do it here in MLS than go ride the pine on some European team like Altidore has been doing these last few years.

9. Hartmand trade to Dallas now a steal. When Kevin Hartman was traded to Dallas before the start of last season we all knew it was a bit of a steal for Dallas but look at how he played on Saturday and you will realize it was indeed a robbery on the part of FC Dallas. I know KC didn’t want Hartman anymore and were looking else where (plus Jimmy Nielsen is a pretty solid keeper too), but the proof is in the pudding here. This deal was a steal.

10. Long throw does Houston in. The difference maker in the Houston-Philly game wasn’t just the Danny Califf tap in but it was the long throw in that set it up. How come more club don’t rely on the long throw in? Its as good as a set piece for some clubs. On the flip side I know there are some clubs that use this feature in their offense a little too much to the point that it is obvious. For Philly it was perfect against Houston, and enough to get three points to open the season.

11. RSL still has plenty to offer, San Jose not to much. Its new year and another one that saw RSL open up the season with a win over San Jose. It was wet and nasty in San Jose and once again RSL handled the game with ease I thought. Kyle Beckerman’s goal was pretty nice as well. Watching parts of the game had me question, will San Jose really be able to keep up with things in the West this season? I think they’re good, don’t get me wrong, but they still lack a certain punch that will keep them in the discussion this season.

12. Western dominance? Try Eastern. I know we spoke a lot this winter about how good the Western Conference would be this season but look at the results head-to-head between the two conferences this weekend and the Eastern clubs actually came out on top. Only Vancouver won against an Eastern side. Eastern clubs with 3-1-2 in the opening weekend. I know it was one week but not a bad way for the Eastern sides to start off things this season.

(Note: this piece is the start of a new weekly recap series that I will be doing as a part of my new season additions on here. )

Colorado showed how to beat LA once again. (Getty Images)

We know who are in and who are out, that is really all we know after week 29. Kansas City failed to win in New England which immediately gave the Colorado Rapids a nudge into the playoffs for good, though their performance at the Home Depot Center showed it really didn’t matter in the end.

Eight teams are in while eight teams are now really left with just a game to play (or two if you’re Chivas USA). For those clubs its all about setting your rosters up for the next year and planning for the upcoming drafts, both Expansion and SuperDraft. As we saw this past week the clubs on the bottom sure made the most of spoiling the fun for the clubs near the top.

Two In The East, Six In The West

We’ve known about this for a while now, six teams from the western conference made the playoffs this year while only the top two from the east were able to join in on the fun. Since the league changed their playoff format to include wildcards we’ve seen this sort of thing happen were one conference dominates the other but not like this. The west has owned the east nearly all season and will likely set up an all western conference final yet again this season.

Only Columbus and New York can do anything about that. The Crew haven’t looked great in about a month in league play while New York just dropped a game to the expansion team from Philadelphia. I think the Red Bulls are clearly the better eastern conference team at this point but if things remain the same after this coming weekend we’ll see them paired up with San Jose in the playoffs. A matchup that could cause problems for them.

The Crew on the other hand will likely end up facing the Colorado Rapids. I honestly believe that could very well be the most interesting match-up in the playoffs. Yes even more so than the potential LA-Seattle or RSL-Dallas ones. Something about two struggling teams facing one another in the playoffs seems interesting. Not to say this series will be better to watch than those two western conference ones but a Columbus-Colorado series should allow one of the two involved to get some momentum and make a run.

A Lot Could Change

This final week coming up will and can change those potential playoff series. RSL is within a point of LA for the Supporter’s Shield trophy and for that top spot in the west. Flip-flopping with LA would mean the Galaxy would get Dallas and Seattle would go to RSL. Either way those will be two crazy good series.

Columbus could sneak on top of New York in the east this week while San Jose has the chance to move up to fifth with two wins in their final two games. If they were to leap over Seattle the Sounders would end up with New York or Columbus. Honestly Seattle isn’t a team either of those want to face right now.

To put it more simply: a lot could change by the end of this week.

Hesmer’s Goal

If things weren’t bad enough in Toronto, they then get scored on by their rival’s keeper. Yes, Will Hesmer scored a last second goal against Toronto on Saturday. It was really one of those things that you had to see to believe. I missed it live but saw that he scored on my phone later that day and thought it was a typo. Sure enough it wasn’t as Hesmer snuck in on a corner kick to score his first career goal.

I know the Crew have been down a bit lately but that could very well be the thing that lifts them back into MLS Cup contention here. Sometimes a wacky goal like that does a lot more than just put a number on the scoreboard for a team.

For Real In Salt Lake

We knew the FC Dallas unbeaten run had to end eventually and that it would likely end in Salt Lake. One thing is certain RSL looks like a team that is destined to repeat as MLS Cup champion this year. Just something about their play on Saturday made me realize it, not that I haven’t noticed it before.

The one thing I do wonder is if they’ll end up with the Supporter’s Shield or not this season. With only one point between them and the Galaxy it is all to play for this weekend.

50 Or More

Hard to believe last year, yes just last year, that the Columbus Crew were the Supporter’s Shield winner with only 49 points. This year we have a chance to see six clubs break the 50 point barrier. LA, RSL and Dallas are already at 50+ while New York, Columbus and Seattle can all join the club.

Crazy.

RSL and NY battled to a 0-0 draw this weekend. (Getty Images)

The MLS Playoff picture is extremely clear now and only one more spot is open. All the Colorado Rapids need to do to earn that spot is just grab one single point in their final two games or hope that the Kansas City Wizards fail to get nine points in their final three. In all likelihood it will be the Rapids in the post season dance meaning we’ll have six western conference clubs to the two from the east.

What’s happened this season is the usual parity show that we have in Major League Soccer is going out the window. In the past two season we’ve had a below .500% team make the playoffs in the eighth and final spot and make a run at the MLS Cup with one of those teams (Real Salt Lake) winning it. This year however we won’t have that.

All teams in the playoffs this year will be above .500% marking what probably should be the first time that will happen in the league history.

The parity has shifted towards the top of the table really with it being anyone’s guess who will actually come away with the MLS Cup this year. You could give reason for any number of teams in the playoff picture to win it all right now. Dallas is riding a 19-game unbeaten run, RSL looks like a strong defending champion, LA has been at the top or tied for the top spot all season, NY is coming together, Seattle is finding their groove and so on.

Really the only clubs most of us would be shocked with at making a run here in the playoffs would be Columbus, Colorado or San Jose. I throw the Crew in there because of their recent form where they haven’t won in five games in league play and really haven’t looked strong since the middle part of August. Colorado gets the same mention due to some inconsistent play that has lead them to the eighth and final spot.

The Quakes to me are the toughest wild card team to predict. Part of me things a run by them would be shocking but the other part of me things it would just fit their season. They’re a team that can sneak up on anyone and yet get crushed by anyone.

Wondo On Fire

I guess we should have thrown San Jose’s Chris Wondolowski in the mix for the MVP race last week. His brace against D.C. United over the weekend put the Quakes back in the playoffs for the first time since the club rejoined the league. His form has been so impressive this year and such that makes me wish the league had a “Breakout Player of the Year” or “Most Improved Player of the Year” award.

But the story will go into the playoffs that as Wondo scores so will the Quakes win. Of his 14 goals this season eight of them are game-winners so you have to lockdown Wondo to beat the Quakes.

The Double? Really?

Wednesday night the Seattle Sounders FC did something that hadn’t been done in a couple decades. Won back-t0-back US Open Cups. I didn’t go into it much, actually I didn’t touch on the win at all last week but it showed that this club is going to be one tough out for whomever they face in the playoffs later this month. As it stands right now they’ll get the LA Galaxy. Talk about an opening series there.

But the talk around the Emerald City is about the Sounders going for the double. Yes The Double. Winning the USOC and the MLS Cup in the same year. They hope to be the fourth MLS team in history to do the USOC–MLS Cup double, after D.C. (1996), Chicago (1998) and Los Angeles (2005).

I can just say right now that Seattle is one dangerous side that is clicking on all the right places. Defensively they’ve come together nicely while their offense continues to get stronger. Their speed will give a team like LA trouble but they have to find a way to erase the memory of their last meetings with the Galaxy, I’m sure that beaten the Galaxy gave them at Qwest Field earlier this year is still fresh in their minds.

For Next Year

The cellar-dwellers this past weekend began the fun treck into the post season months this past week. Kudos to New England and Houston for actually playing with some fire and vigor yesterday. Their slightly heated 2-1 battle in favor of the Revs had a little bit of frustration mixed in with some old playoff intensity too. Very nice.

Same can be said for Chivas USA who played strongly against Toronto FC in their 3-0 win on Saturday night.

What is happening for these clubs is the push for next year. Some guys are playing for next year while the clubs look to see who they want to keep in the expansion draft and who they’re okay with dumping here. Speaking of the expansion draft I’ll begin going through each team’s rosters here soon enough.

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 and New York proved they can hang with the best of the league. (Getty Images)

Color me not surprised by this past weekend. I don’t mean to be negative or anything here but this weekend nearly went like I expected it to. Sure I missed plenty of my predictions on Friday but nothing shocked me about the way things played out really.

The weekend ended nearly the same way it started, LA on top in the west with Columbus on top in the east. The only real difference this Monday is that the gap is closer for Salt Lake, Dallas and New York to catch them. The same can nearly be said about the gap at the bottom of the playoff picture as San Jose, Seattle and Colorado all made positive pushes this weekend while those trying to catch them (Kansas City, Chicago and Toronto) all stumbled at home no less.

New York Shows Its Class

There was nothing too pretty about Friday night’s dubbed “Game of the Season” and in fact it of course didn’t live up to that hype. The game was bogged down in the midfield and the passing wasn’t anything special. New York basically used the template that others have found successful against LA: hold them in the possession game, beat them on the wings with speed and put bodies on Landon Donovan.

But let’s be honest, LA wasn’t at their best on Friday and should in no way be an indication of more things to come out of them. They were missing their two best defenders and they’re still figuring out how to get this David Beckham guy in the lineup again.

New York had loads of time on the ball but really lacked the finish in the final third to really put this game away. A two goal win is a nice one but really they could have done much better with the time they had on the ball in this one. But in all the Red Bulls did gain one big thing besides the win on Friday night, a huge psychological boost that they can compete with the big boys of the west.

Home Issues For Eastern Clubs

Home field advantage pretty much went away for all eastern conference clubs this weekend. Toronto stumbled in their 3-2 loss to San Jose, basically ending their hopes for a playoff run. The same could be said about Chicago’s late loss at Toyota Park to Seattle. Kansas City’s hot run was put to bed quickly against FC Dallas.

In all the three teams that needed the most out of this past weekend gain nothing but another loss. For all three it comes at the worst possible time too. I may go more into the final four (or five or six depending on the team) games on the schedule for each club later today. But really with the four western conference clubs in the wild card spots winning games this weekend it put more pressure on those three once again to get points.

Kansas City is still close with five games left for that eighth and final playoff spot but being five points out now is rough and their schedule isn’t too kind from here out. The same is said about Chicago who may have six games on the slate left but sitting at 26 points on the year and 12 points back I’d be willing to put that the Fire are more done than they think they really are at this point.

And as for Toronto, stick a fork in them because their playoff hopes are dead.

Streaks Extend for RSL and Dallas

Well for Dallas we thought the end was near for their current run this week. After nearly dropping a game to the now eliminated New England Revolution the boys in stripes went to KC and quickly made easy work of the Wizards who looked more gassed than anything. I had said it was a big week for the Wizards with three games in seven days but Dallas made sure their streak wasn’t going to end on the road, a place they’ve had little trouble finding results all year.

For RSL it wasn’t as easy at home extending their unbeaten run at Rio Tinto. Colorado matched them blow for blow and gave what was easily the weekend’s best game. The Rapids nearly held on to the 1-0 win but a late hand ball in the box changed the game. The PK was weirdly waved off and a drop ball was given but shortly after RSL was able to find an answer in Nate Borchers.

Signing the Check

I’m going to end here with my thoughts on the weekend with Dwayne De Rosario and his goal celebration against San Jose. Let’s just say DeRo isn’t happy right now. Who can blame him as he’s had an MVP type season with the Reds but Toronto’s recent issues are causing some serious frustration with it’s best player. He’s vastly underpaid by his standards and really everyone else in the league would likely agree that he’s worth a DP status with the way he plays.

But his normal DeRo strut after the goal was changed to him signing an imaginary check to the crowd. If I’m Toronto’s management I’m talking to him today about that celebration. Get him to air out his frustrations and get to work on changing it.

The thing is the celebration isn’t the way to go when showing your frustration with the club and your contract DeRo. You know he wants paid better and he wants to be back in the playoffs but something has to be changed there to get both sides on the same page for next season.

Right now if I’m Vancouver I’d be watching this situation like a hawk with my checkbook ready to go if Toronto can’t come to an agreement with the Canadian star.

Colorado is on the rise. (Brian Stevens)

I hate to say my thoughts and notes for this week will be kept rather brief. I honestly wasn’t able to view a lot of this past weekend’s action other than highlights though I did jot a few notes down that I did gather from what I did see.

Seattle’s Hot Feet, Columbus Struggles

I don’t know what is bigger, Blaise Nkufo going from near-bad DP status to solid all in one game OR the fact that the Columbus Crew have been dominated in league play for two straight games giving up seven goals in that time. I may side with the Columbus side of the two though but I’ll get to that in a second.

Seattle with Nkufo’s hat trick was simply dominating and surprising to see in Columbus. I said in my weekend previews that the Sounders could easily win in Columbus since they were able to last year so I wasn’t shocked by their win but I was shocked by the way they did win. I never once expected four big goals on the Crew in Crew Stadium. To see a Supporter’s Shield candidate get dismantled like that in their own building spoke volumes to me.

The Crew have to go back to the drawing board. They rested plenty of regulars last week in the CONCACAF Champions League and won while having their main guys get beat all over the place by a tired Seattle team who had to travel in the midweek to Costa Rica.

Something has to change in a hurry in Columbus with that defense who went from one of the best this season to just middle of the pack. Middle of the pack won’t cut it in the playoffs, which is looking more and more like it will be against this same Seattle team.

Toronto is down but not out

Very gutsy performance out of Toronto down in Houston this weekend. I said going into the game it was one the Reds could and would win and thanks to Dwayne De Rosario I was not wrong about that prediction. DeRo regained his MVP form in his old stomping grounds and helped lead his team to a rare road win.

With five big games to go and a couple of those at home its still not out of the question that Toronto will make the playoffs this season. Five points off the pace doesn’t seem like a lot but with only five games left it nearly a miles away for the Reds.

After gutting their coaching staff last week Toronto got back to basics and it seems the players are a little looser which is going to payoff down the stretch. If anything I see Toronto making it interesting here, which we should all be happy to see.

Western Leaders Continue Rise

First it was RSL with a gutsy win at home against the Chicago Fire then it was the LA Galaxy who fought their way back from 1-0 down with two Landon Donovan goals to beat D.C. United.

Each team seems level to me at this point. I know LA has three more points at this stage in the season but its near level in terms of play on the field. Times like this I wish the league’s playoff structure was a 1v8, 2v7, etc. instead of this east versus west nonsense. To think that the league’s two best clubs may not face each other in the MLS Cup this season makes me upset but at least there is hope for a big western conference final from these two.

LA’s schedule plays nicely for them with four (well three if you count the “road” game against Chivas) of their last five at home. RSL pretty much needs to win out and get maximum points from here out to get home field advantage which at this point is obviously huge for them seeing as how they’re on a league record 23-game unbeaten run at Rio Tinto.

Can KC Make it?

We can’t write off KC just yet. I said going into the weekend that this would be a big week for the Wizards. Three games in a span of seven days with two of them being at home. KC took care of business last night in LA as they beat Chivas USA 2-0. Getting both Kei Kamara and Teal Bunbury on the scoresheet was nice to see. That’s a one-two punch that should improve in the coming years for them.

KC has a couple games in hand against everyone right now (except San Jose and Chicago). They have to make the most of it obviously if they want to reach the post season. Kamara and Bunbury are doing their part but its got to improve as KC continues to have one of the lowest scoring attacks in the league. At least their defense seems to be holding strong as Jimmy Nielsen is making a strong case for Keeper of the Year and for Newcomer of the Year.

Don’t Sleep On Colorado

Right now if I’m LA or RSL I would not want to face Colorado in the opening round of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The Rapids continue to get hotter each week (though you could  say their last three home games that they’ve won big were against really weak defense). The big thing here is seeing Conor Casey and Omar Cumming scoring, and doing it a lot. Both just added their 10th of the season. With the recent additions to their roster this Colorado team is going to be very tough at beat at home come playoff time. They could very easily be a sleeper pick to make the MLS Cup.

Stefan Frei and Toronto FC are running out of gas and time. (Getty Images)

It appears that the closer we get to the 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs the more the top eight in the league are breaking away from the rest of the pack. As of today LA is mathematically “in” while Columbus, Dallas, RSL and NY are all just points behind joining the Galaxy in the post season dance.

So that just leaves three spots. Colorado, Seattle and San Jose currently have those three spots and look like they aren’t going to give them up anytime soon. Currently the tie for seventh place between Seattle and San Jose is five points ahead of the next team in line Toronto FC. Kansas City and Chicago aren’t far behind TFC while teams like Chivas USA keep a very slim hope of getting in this year alive.

Galaxy Get Their Mojo Back

I thought a week ago after the Galaxy got a late Omar Gonzalez goal to tie the Chicago  Fire at Toyota Park would be a huge lift. Boy I was even underestimating that lift. The Galaxy poured on three goals against the east leading Columbus Crew Saturday night and really never looked like once giving up that lead.

Edson Buddle finally added to his season leading tally and put even more distance between himself and the rest of the pack. As new WVH writer Chris Thomas talked about yesterday evening it midfield duo of Dema Kovaenko and Juninho is working off very well right now for the Galaxy.

Oh and some guy named David Beckham returned to action this weekend. Hey, with their schedule and the way they played against the Crew its very possible we could see the Galaxy return to that early season form that dominated everyone else. Should they win out the rest of their games they could sit at 65 points on the season, not a bad year at all.

TFC Fading

Right now the Reds won’t be in the post season dance for the forth straight year. A couple months ago they looked all but in but now the club just can’t seem to catch a break. Losing 1-0 to a team like D.C. United at home has to raise questions for everyone in charge.

Since the MLS All-Star break TFC has the fewest points per game average of anyone in the league, even worse than clubs like D.C., Philadelphia and Houston.

Preki cited fatigue for the loss to D.C. and the tight schedule they have right now isn’t helping anything out. Toronto has just two wins in their last 14 games in all competitions. I’d imagine if Preki isn’t on the hot seat this winter with Toronto fans that Mo Johnston will most certainly be, if he isn’t already by nearly all of them.

Dallas Continues Impressive Streak

Getting points on FC Dallas isn’t easy but when they’re on the road it seems like all you can expect these days is a draw. Even with injury issues and concerns over lack of scoring Schellas Hyndman’s team continues to get results even if its just a point here and a point there. They’re 3-1-8 on the road in 2010, just the fact that they’ve only lost once this season away from Frisco is impressive in it’s self.

The club is doing it right with their chemistry. Its a tight bunch that just seems to work very well together. And while the scoring isn’t there all the time things could be looking up as academy star Ruben Luna is starting to get more and more playing time each week. After seeing this kid play over the last couple years its going only be a matter of time before he starts lighting up the nets in MLS play. Right now he’s the spark Dallas needs off the bench to put teams away.

Schedule Slows KC Down

The Wizards were suppose to host the Houston Dynamo this weekend but due to their current stadium situation where they share a facility with a minor league baseball team the game had to be moved. The baseball team made the playoffs and well that happened to be taking place this past weekend.

Now the Wizards have a bit of an issue, they’ll have three games in a matter of seven days starting this Sunday at Chivas USA then home on Wednesday to host Houston and home Saturday against FC Dallas. Now Peter Vermes team has been solid lately with 11 points since the All-Star break but this bit of a road block may be tough to overcome.

One has to wonder had the baseball team that they share a stadium with not made the playoffs and the Houston game was played as originally schedule where the Wizards would be in the standings today, likely ninth place and only three points out of a playoff spot.

LA continues their slump with a recent loss to Kansas City. (Getty Images)

A few clubs took a step forward this past weekend while others were taking two steps back. For the first time nearly all season the standings appear pretty tight in various spots. Up top is becoming increasingly closer as LA drops points yet again while RSL, Dallas, Columbus, and New York all sneak up on the Galaxy.

The final three spots for the playoffs still remain pretty open too. Seattle did their part getting three points this weekend, as did Colorado. The gap between 6, 7, and 8 is there but that last playoff spot is slowly starting to be anyone’s game between San Jose, Chicago, Toronto, and Kansas City.

Week 22 is in the books folks but its weird to think that we can actually say a handfull of clubs are nearly out of the running this year. Yes done. Before September. That’s how things go as the league expands.

Below are some other nuggets of thoughts I had on this past week in MLS.

1. LA continues to sink.

Speed kills and LA has little of it to show for. With Edson Buddle and Landon Donovan now producing on the same level as earlier in the season the Galaxy have gone from unbeatable to very beatable in a matter of two months. Since the World Cup ended the Galaxy have lost their way. In all competitions since July they are 3-6-1. See that middle number? Yeah its growing against teams they should beat, like Kansas City at home. No way on earth the Wizards are better than the Galaxy right now (no disrespect Wizards fans your club is getting much better) but the fight and hunger isn’t there from Bruce Arena’s team.

But back to my main point on the Galaxy. Their lack of speed continues to be an issue as it was a year ago and a couple years before that. Yes they’ll get David Beckham back in the lineup soon enough and I do believe that will be a nice spark to their lineup but speed wise they have none to burn while other clubs are burning all over them. You want to beat LA, just pull a quick counter on them and see what happens.

Its the age in the back and in the midfield that is hurting this side. Its the weakness that has been there all season long that we just ignored because they couldn’t stop winning early on in the season. It also doesn’t help that the quality young players like rookie Michael Stephens that they have are hitting that late summer wall.

2. Montero is the talk of the town.

Right now the MVP race is a two horse thing between Seattle’s Fredy Montero and Dallas’ David Ferriera. Why those two Colombians? Simple really, they both just get results for their clubs. Montero definitely had the upper hand this weekend as Ferriera and Dallas just looked a bit lost in Columbus in the 0-0 draw to the Crew. Montero and the Sounders hosted their old mate Freddie Ljungberg and the Fire this weekend and came away with a big time win, mostly due to Montero.

Seattle should get into the playoffs with the way Montero is playing right now. He, like his club, are peaking (in league play, not CCL play for the moment) at the right time here. Yes they had a bad slump in the early-to-middle part of the year but that appears to be over for now. Montero’s ten goals and nine assists are simply staggering to see.

Another name to consider in the MVP race is still Philadelphia’s Sebastien Le Toux. I just worry that folks won’t give him votes considering how he plays for one of the worst sides in the league right now.

3. New York and Dallas closing the gap?

Both clubs stand a good chance still at winning either their conferences or even the Supporter’s Shield this season. At 37 points they both sit six points back of LA and their overall league lead. Dallas has a game in hand against the Galaxy too.

New York has really started to grow on me lately, something that some of you thought would never happen. Basically it comes down to their recent additions paying off in a big way. Are they a title contender this year? You have to think so. No one wants to play them at Red Bull Arena right now and they have enough talent to get results on the road for a change.

But let’s look at Dallas for a moment too. They now have the league record for unbeaten games on the road at 10 and a club record for unbeaten games overall at 12. Its hard to think that their only losses this year are at home to LA back in May (their most recent loss) and all the way back in the beginning of the year in New York (a game that really should have been a draw).

Could Dallas and New York be headed for a trip to Toronto this November? Right now I wouldn’t bet against it.

4. End of an era

Lets go ahead and put New England and Houston with the bottom tier clubs for this season. As I see Philadelphia, D.C., Chivas all not making the playoffs I see the same out of New England and Houston now too.

Hard to believe the staple of consistency over the last six or eight years is coming to an end with these two. This year just wasn’t in the cards for either of them really as they continue to stumble in games that they probably could get results in.

I know both had red card issues in their games this weekend that definitely changed the outcomes a bit but looking at how the two played in those games they were never going to win them anyways.

New England needs around 20 points in their last nine games to have a shot at the post season while Houston needs about 17 in their final eight games. Doesn’t sound likely now does it folks?