Kyle Beckerman and RSL have a tough road ahead in 2010. (Getty Images)

We only have a few more clubs to go in our preseason look-ins. Now we’re getting in the home stretch with RSL today and hopefully closing out the rest of the week San Jose, Seattle and Toronto.

Today we take a look in to see how the defending Major League Soccer champs are doing this winter. Jason Kreis and company have started to really get into building up a core group of players to work around. That was key to their late run and success last year in the playoffs.

Now it becomes a question of do they have the depth to deal with a bigger and tougher schedule in 2010? They lost a few key players this winter like Clint Mathis to LA, Yura Movsisyan to Europe and Chris Seitz to the expansion club in Philadelphia. They did however pick a couple guys off waivers, which has been their bread and butter these last couple years along with drafting pretty well in January’s SuperDraft.

Lets see how well RSL is doing this winter and what pieces of the puzzle that they have left to build on. (Note: I’d like to thank Randy Davis from Keepin It Real for helping me out with this preview) Continue Reading…

Real Salt Lake took home their first hardware. (Getty Images)

I decided not to write a recap last night after the game finished up. Mainly I was exhausted from watching the game that went into penalties. MLS Cup 2009 wasn’t the very best game of the year but it definitely provided plenty of drama. From key injuries to key goals the game was compelling and exciting.

The PKs were kind of expected of this game after things were tied up going into overtime. Both teams were totally gassed on the field and just looked like they’d rather get it to the penalties rather than make something happen in the extra frames.

Injuries played a huge part in this game. Javier Morales’s knee injury really hurt RSL’s momentum in the first half, which the Galaxy did an excellent job of taking advantage of. The Galaxy found great space with Landon Donovan and David Beckham which lead to Mike Magee’s goal late in the half. The first half really was controlled by Bruce Arena’s squad.

But some halftime switches by Jason Kreis really turned things in RSL’s favor. Either it was the right halftime speech or the move to get the sick Will Johnson out that paid off but whatever was said or done by Kreis fueled his club. RSL came out with more energy than before and really caught the Galaxy off guard with Yura Movsisyan and Robbie Findley. Once the attack got going for RSL it was only a matter of time before Findley put away a goal. Continue Reading…

Will David Beckham and Landon Donovan be celebrating on Sunday? (Getty Images)

This is a game I’ve gone back and forth with all week. Two western conference squads meeting in the league final is going to be interesting. Not many had picked both the LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake to make it this far back at the start of the season. I know some had RSL going far in the playoffs but not the Galaxy. Then again I knew some who had an idea that LA could be good this year as well.

But a RSL-LA matchup was not expected yet I do think the league is welcoming it a bit. It’s not quite a David vs. Goliath type of match but its close to some degree. But these two squads weren’t separated by much in the points column this season. Just eight points was the difference between the top seed in the west from the bottom seed in the east (or eighth seed in this year’s case).

I do see this game going either way though here. In one regard LA looks like they should easily win it but you can’t count out Jason Kreis’ club right now with the way they’ve been playing lately. Both are hot going into this game which should yield a good match.

I have a few points in my preview to go over then I will give you all my score prediction for the final time this season. Hard to believe that this season has blown by so quickly here. Continue Reading…

The Cauldron will be loud tonight with DC in town. (Brian Stevens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

Two midweek games for week eight. A big night in general if you count Toronto FC’s game in the Canadian Champion tonight against future MLS side Vancouver. But I’ll just stick with the MLS games for the evening to preview.

RSL returns home to host the Galaxy who just scored their first win of the year. And in Kansas City, DC comes to the CAB for a big time clash of two up and coming eastern clubs.

DC United – at – Kansas City Wizards:

1. First place on the line, who steps up for DC on the road?

No Ben Olsen, Marc Burch, or Fred tonight for the boys in black. Guess the need to lead will come on Jamie Moreno who easily stepped into that role last week against Dallas. As long as the offense is rolling fine for DC they could be fine on the road here. Just remember DC only has a single loss on the season here so far and it was at Salt Lake (a place DC and no one else wins at). Also KC is a play DC typically sees success in as well. As long as guys like Moreno step up on the road they should be fine. Continue Reading…

Jesse Marsch and Chivas USA continue to roll. (Getty Images)

Another week down in Major League Soccer and a lot of things remain the same around the league. Week seven is in the books here Chivas USA still remains the league’s top club. Other things that are still constant in the league include:

- New York still struggling
- Columbus still struggling to win
- Chicago still drawing games, yet still undefeated
- Dallas still losing games
- Salt Lake still losing on the road
- Attendance still so-so across the league

And a little sidebar that a couple of you pointed out to me, I picked every game correctly this past week. Some of the scores weren’t right on but I did have all the winners correct and all the draws be 1-1. Yeah, sorry to toot my own horn but sometimes it is nice to be right. Continue Reading…

I know, I know, I skipped last month in the monthly awards here but we are back at it when a new twist. I’m mainly going to concentrate on the Player of the Month and the best XI. In the past I did a bunch of other ones but for right now I just don’t have the time to do those. Maybe if there is some extra time later on this evening I will get to them.

Anyways, let’s get down to business here. Lots of candidates for WVH Player of the Month. You have Guillermo Barros Schelotto from Columbus, Kenny Cooper from Dallas, Nat Borchers from RSL, Luciano Emilio from DC, and Brian Ching from Houston. You could make a case for those netminders like Nick Rimando and Jon Busch or go old school with Kevin Hartman.

To me I will go defensively here with a keeper. I agree with the league who just posted their player of the month, Nick Rimando.

Why the former DC United keeper? Because he (along with a nice defense) has lead RSL to the top of the western standings and more importantly to a winning record for the first time in club history. Rimando posted three shutouts in four matches, folks that is good enough in any month for me. RSL is undefeated in their last nine of their last ten.

So Rimando, congrats, you’ve earned it. Now go buy your defense a drink or three for their hard work as well!

Continue Reading…