Brian Ching will be called to lead the Dynamo yet again. (Getty Images)

The 2010 season presents a challenge for Dominic Kinnear and the Houston Dynamo. First of all their top two stars from a year ago are now gone to Europe. Stuart Holden and Ricardo Clark left a big hole in the midfield and some would even argue that the club is still recovering from the trade of Dwayne de Rosario from last winter.

Today we take a gander at where they are right now going into the new year. So far the Dynamo have shifted some players around drafted a couple guys that may never see time on the field and for the most part done very little in terms of player movement this winter. We’ve actually heard more news surrounding this club’s potential stadium deal than new players joining the roster this winter.

Let’s take a look at who the Dynamo have and where they still need to go before the new season starts next month.

Keepers:

Who they have: Pat Onstad, Tally Hall, and Tyler Deric.

Notes: As long as Onstad remains healthy this isn’t an area of concern for Kinnear. Big thing will the the development of Deric who has to be in some way the future keeper of this club. My bet is they will loan out Deric this season to a USSF Division II club or even a USL-2 club. They have to get him some playing time to get any sort of progression out of their first academy signing.

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Defense:

Who they have: Bobby Boswell, Eddie Robinson, Ryan Cochrane, Craig Waibel, Mike Chabala, Wade Barrett, and Andrew Hainault.

Notes: Getting a healthy Robinson back this season should be a big thing for the Dynamo. This group will still be solid with all the talent they still have in the back. One thing though will be getting some depth and some youth here.

I still believe if this group stays healthy they won’t have too many issues this season. I kind of see Kinnear trading for a defender to add depth at some point this season.

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Midfield:

Who they have: Kevin Harmse, Geoff Cameron, Brad Davis, Daniel Cruz, Erik Ustruck, Richard Mulrooney, Brian Mullan, Corey Ashe, Samuel Appiah, and David Walker.

Notes: Big change here will be seeing Cameron slide into the midfield. Honestly from knowing Cameron and seeing him play he’s probably better suited for the midfield than in the defense anyways. Houston will be looking for him to really step it up this season and carry the load in the midfield. Thankfully he does have some quality offensive players like Brad Davis to help out in the assist department.

Big thing here will be if guys like Ashe can step up play on the wings. If Houston’s wing play is weak this season so will their offense. Ashe, Davis, and Cameron have to step it up in order to keep the Dynamo near the top in the west.

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Forwards:

Who they have: Brian Ching, Dominic Oduro, Luis Angel Landin, and Cam Weaver.

Notes: We know this, Ching will have to carry the load once again…that is if Landin doesn’t finally step up and play to his DP status. Those are two guys that will have to score the goals this season we know that but don’t sleep on Oduro or Weaver here. Oduro and his speed along with Weaver’s size are big parts to this groups offensive output. How Kinnear uses them this season will be key.

Landin, Weaver and Oduro will likely have to step up production though if Ching does make it to South Africa with the USMNT this summer. Should any dip in goals happen while Ching is gone this club will be in trouble.

More than likely we’ll see a trade for this group though at some point in the season. It seems like once a year Kinnear makes a trade for a striker within the league. I look for that to happen yet again this season towards the middle part of summer.

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Overall:

The questions always surround this club each year about their offense and where it will come from. Now the question will be can they improve from losing two important players in their midfield. They can replace one with Cameron and they’ll get away with guys like Mulrooney filling in for Clark but will that be enough? I honestly doubt it.

Funny thing is we always doubt something with this club each year and yet they still show up when it matters. Kinnear knows what he is doing more than most coaches in this league do. He works his system well and always knows how to find the right parts for it. They won’t be flashy this year but they’ll get by. I think adding a couple more parts in the midfield on the wings and maybe a defender or two in the back for depth purposes will suit them well.

Houston had another strong season behind Brian Ching. (Getty Images)

Dominic Kinnear teams always compete, always and the 2009 edition of the Houston Dynamo looked very similar to the ones we’ve seen win league titles over the last few years. Even though the Dynamo lost their big star in the midfield in a trade to Toronto before the season started everyone knew this team would still compete.

Just as in years past the Dynamo started out strong on the year. Brian Ching, Stuart Holden and up and coming stars like Geoff Cameron lead the way for the Orange. Pat Onstad had yet another stellar season in front of the net thanks to another strong defense in front of him.

And just like in years past Kinnear pulled all the right strings in trades by getting parts on his roster that were missing like speed up front when he got Dominic Oduro from New York or some extra size when he got Cam Weaver from San Jose. Yet again we asked questions like “why are clubs even going into business with Kinnear and the Dynamo?” We knew the results would be the same as before as Kinnear would get something out of nothing and lead his club to the top of the standings again.

But then the ladder part of the summer hit. Ching, Holden and Ricardo Clark missed buckets of time with the US national team and that seemed to be when things got a little dicey. They brought in Luis Angel Landin as their DP, and while that should be a good move for 2010 it didn’t pan out all that much for 2009. Also for some reason the club’s discipline kept shooting themselves in the foot. August and September saw more cards, particularly red cards than most would want to see.

By the end of things the Dynamo lost on a weird night in LA in the playoffs. They may have been the better team on the night but moving forward into 2010 will certainly be interesting.

What Went Right In 2009:
A lot of good did happen in Houston this season. Ching produced, Brad Davis continued to be completely underrated, Cameron emerged like most had figured he would and Holden showed he could very well be the real deal. The Dynamo continued to have strong depth that kept them afloat despite all issues they had late in the season with suspensions and what not.

What Went Wrong In 2009:
As mentioned before the lack of discipline they showed late in the season was a real bummer to see. They went from being one of the most consistent clubs in the league on the year to a wildly inconsistent bunch. Offensively they still lacked a punch when needed and Landin didn’t step into the role as a DP like most would have liked this year.

What’s Next:
Well we know Ricardo Clark is out and its possible Stuart Holden could join him. Should that happen this bunch will go from being one of the deepest teams in the midfield to just a mid-level team. Kinnear will have to do his best to find replacements if that happens. They have to find a way to retain Holden and improve their roster on offense. But at the same time they do need to find some depth in defense behind Bobby Boswell and Cameron.

Great run of play goal. Its a shame Pat Onstad didn’t get an assist credit for it. Houston showed last night that they are definitely the top dog right now, even though they are three points back of Chivas in the overall standings.

Here are the notes I jotted down from this weekend’s action. If you have any comments from the games this weekend feel free to post below.

- Chivas continues to roll here. The AmeriGoats get another win at home, improving to 7-1-1 on the year. An eight point advantage in the standings right now. Wow. At this rate they will clinch a playoff spot by mid-July. I’m just wondering when the flame will go out and this club will cool off for real here. They have a tough stretch coming up with hosting DC, at KC and then home again against Chicago. I wouldn’t be shocked to see them either roll through those at their current pace right now. I mentioned their fast start in comparison to other fast starts in league history. Right now they are tied for the second best start behind the 2000 KC club and the 1999 Miami club. Interesting fact that Steve Goff mentions is the common fact is Preki. He played for those two clubs and is coaching this Chivas club.

Just how are they doing this though? The cast of no-names and what nots are just getting the job done no matter what. They clean up on sloopy defending and are very tight in the back. They are showing that they don’t need to be flashy to win or be well anything great to win.

- And speaking of the club Chivas beat on Saturday, Real Salt Lake continues to be unimpressive on the road. Let’s hit reality for a second. This club has always been terrible on the road. The fact that they don’t score on the road this season only makes it worse.

Jason Kreis has a lot of work to do with this club still. Right now they aren’t a contender. Kreis will probably make a change up top soon by placing Fabian Espindola up top instead of Yura Movsisyan who has been rather poor so far this season (one goal and one assist in eight games).

- Columbus FINALLY won a game. Good thing too because they couldn’t afford to stay out of the win column for much longer. Getting Robbie Rogers and Frankie Hejduk back and healthy really made a difference with this club. A big reason that few are talking about here is the play of Emmanuel Ekpo in the midfield for the Crew. His play has been really impressive lately.

I know they let in the late goal to KC on Saturday but they really dominated the better part of that game and finally proved to not only the rest of the league but to themselves that they CAN close out games again. This side still has the talent to do some damage and with as tight as the eastern conference is right now they are by no means out of it here.

- Kansas City looked okay in the loss to the Crew. Let’s face it this club has some heart but lacks the talent to really be dangerous in the eastern conference. They’ll come close to a playoff birth but in the end they just lack the talent to get the job done.

- New York finally looked good. Then again I don’t know if it was San Jose playing so poorly for 45 minutes or what. In all seriousness though we finally saw the offense out of New York that we all really expected to see this season. Albert Cedades was a big factor in this game just like many had hoped for. With three straight home games coming up they could reel off more points if they play like they did on Friday. It won’t be easy with a hot Houston club coming to town this week followed by rivals Chicago and a Colorado club that always plays tough in New York. In three weeks the Red Bulls could either be where they are now or near the top of the eastern standings. In all reality though I see this club only getting five points out of the next three at best. They still have a lot to prove to me here.

- Seattle proves yet again they can play down a man. I thought they should have easily won the game with LA yesterday but sometimes games just don’t go your way. For the most part though Seattle controlled the pace of the game like I thought they would and really took it to LA. The red card to James Riley did become a factor in this one. It was a stupid card for Riley, who will probably get another game tacted on to his suspension by the league.

- Speaking of LA for a moment. Anyone even realize they haven’t lost in six games here? Seriously, six games but the thing is they don’t look great in doing so. And maybe Landon Donovan has finally cooled off here too. He hasn’t been apart of the last two LA goals. What’s up with that?

- How about that Toronto-DC game? Six goals, loads of action, and a wild finish. Dwayne De Rosario may have had one of the best goals of the season so far (more on that later). Lovely to see the TFC fans on Saturday in support of DC’s stadium march.

- Most surprising result of the weekend for me had to be the New England-Chicago game. I really and truly expected the Fire to roll in this one. Maybe the Fire just aren’t that good. Maybe Dennis Hamlett needs to start Chris Rolfe instead of bringing him off the bench. I do know one thing, I like I have found a new favorite defender in Revs’ Emmanuel Osei. That kid is a beast. One other thing it was fun to see Shalrie Joesph run all over the place on Saturday.

- Houston once again handled their in-state rivals with ease. Dallas is just pathetic, they really are. There is no other way to put it. Houston on the other hand is really starting to turn the heat up here. Four straight clean sheets for Pat Onstad. Dominic Kinnear isn’t going to wow anyone with this club but he will still more than likely find ways to beat everyone with this club.

- Lastly, the butts-in-seats look for the week was okay, everyone except for one club got at least 11,000+ to their game. New York brought in the low number (8,000+) with Seattle having their usual 29,000+. Everyone else was pretty much expected though I would say DC showed a lower number than I would have liked to have seen.

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.

Chivas Still In Front

Some how, some way this club continues to lead the pack. Another gritty win without the help of Sasha Kljestan. But what they are getting is loads of good defense (they lead the league in goals-against). Only three goals against in eight league matches. Not bad at all my friends, not bad at all. And you know what they say, defense wins championships.

Anyways, I’d say a big reason is right now Preki is getting a lot out of his back four and even more so out of Zach “Turn the clock back” Thornton. The big guy between the pipes is making me think it is 1998 all over again.

Scary part is this club is slowly getting healthier by the week. Justin Bruan is starting to get more involved with the attack and as San Jose found out that is not a good thing. Plus with more guys coming back like Sacha Victorine and Maykel Galindo it just shows how deep this club is going to be for the long run.

As for the Quakes, the winless streak is at six. May be time for Frank Yallop to redo some of his line up to make up for the defensive issues going on. But then again the offense isn’t looking any better right now either.

Salt Lake Falls In Colorado

Again, it was hard to get so hyped up about last week’s 6-0 win for Salt Lake when you knew they had to turn around this week and go on the road to rival Colorado.

RSL continues to show they are missing a piece or two when it comes to playing on the road. For a team that was suppose to contend this season, they sure don’t get me thinking they will with the way they play on the road right now. Teams who win championships and contend find ways to win on the road.

It didn’t help to be a man-down for the entire second half either. And that they lost keeper Nick Rimando early in the game too. But in all the offense never got going for RSL.

The Rapids controlled the pace of this one early and really never let the visitors in this one. It was good to see this club finally take a real ownership of their home field. Sometimes it takes a rivalry game to do that too. Plus this club really starting to get interesting. With the way the west is playing this year this club could very well contend for one of those two auto-bids into the playoffs.

Seattle Looks Strong In Draw

For an expansion club Seattle goes on the road in Chicago against the league’s last undefeated team and comes out looking very good despite playing a man-down for a good chunk of the game. Seattle showed some serious grit after going a man-down and trailing shortly after in the second half when Chicago’s Marco Pappa put the Fire on top.

Some how, some way the Sounders placed a call to Tyrone to get them level in this one. Tyrone Marshall’s game tying goal gave the Sounders their first draw of the season and at the same time giving Chicago it’s forth straight tie (fifth of the season too). Freddie Ljungberg’s corner kick to Marshall was just poor marking on the Fire’s part. To be a man up and leave a guy like Marshall that open was pretty bad to see.

I don’t know what it is about the Fire but at some point they are going to lose one here. While some clubs aren’t good enough to win the Fire are playing just good enough not to lose at the moment. Hey, whatever gets you by but at the same time they get starting to get passed in the standings. Draws look good for only so long.

As for Seattle goes, they lost Fredy Montero to the red card on a bad elbow to Gonzalo Segares, who had a pretty rough game overall. I really felt even though the Sounders played a man-down they really out-played the Fire late in the game. Chicago had the possession and shots early but just like most clubs this year they were unable to get anything by Kasey Keller.

DC Continues To Roll

Look at DC here. Hard to believe they are sitting atop the eastern standings now and only have a single loss on the year. Credit those veterans for stepping up and credit that defense for really putting a clamp down on guys like Kenny Cooper.

What can you say about the two goals by Jamie Moreno too? Too calm and cool goals got United the three points after dropping an early goal to Dallas’ Andre Rocha (nice corner by the way for Dallas).

Dallas really never got solid possession in this one and that was due to DC stepping up their midfield play. DC pressed early and often in this one behind Moreno, Luciano Emilio and rookie Chris Pontius.

Defensively for Dallas they are still struggling. Schellas Hyndman can’t seem to get a grip on who to put in the middle of his defense and until he does his club will continue to give up easy goals down the middle of the pitch like they did on Saturday.

DC is improving each week here folks. Rookies are stepping up due to quality play of veterans and Tom Soehn’s club may be one to contend with here this season.

LA Gets First Win

Someone told me the other day that the best thing to happen to Chicago in the past two years was not landing Blanco or McBride but it was losing Juan Carlos Osorio. For some reason his club is still a mess despite new players starting to get playing time on a regular basis.

This one was pretty boring for the most part anyways. LA had the better chances overall but there weren’t that many to begin with. Neither club was holding possession too long but neither was creating many scoring chances either. LA lead the way with six attemps (five on goal) but New York only mustered up three shots and only one of those was on frame.

LA got their first win but this club still doesn’t look like a winner to me. Once they lose Landon Donovan this summer to Gold Cup and other national team duties they will easily stay near the bottom of the standings.

New York on the other hand is more confusing by the week. Osorio-watch may be in full force since his high-speed offense couldn’t even get more than one shot on goal against a club like LA. It wasn’t like the Galaxy defense stepped up their game for once it was more like New York couldn’t get their game going. While the Galaxy may not be a big winning club this season New York is quickly playing themselves out of playoff contention here before summer hits.

Crew Still Winless

Watching this game I made the classic mistake of walking away for a few minutes and missed both goals (left the room to see the news on the Cowboys training facility collapse). Anyways, Columbus again handled the Reds but were unable to get the three points again.

The Crew dominated the first half and had plenty of good chances on goal. Stefan Frei came up big for the Reds time and time again but early in the second half Emmanuel Ekpo’s sweet finish gave the Crew the lead for a few minutes. Chad Barrett got the homeside on the board no more than 10 minutes late to level the game.

The second half really was owned by Toronto after the Barrett goal. Mostly I think it was due to the subbing out of Guillermo Barros Schelotto midway through the second half. Without GBS the Crew weren’t holding possession well and weren’t getting the best passes in the offensive third of the field.

Columbus near got the lead back with Pat Noonan late in the second half but once again Frei came up big for Toronto.

A win for Columbus is coming though. You can sense it as they continue to improve each week here. The toughness that wasn’t there early on this season is starting to come back and once they get fully healthy the wins should start coming. Thing is before long it could be too little too late with the way some clubs are playing so far this season.

Toronto on the other hand is playing well. Another solid draw keeps them in the thick of things in the eastern conference. Now they have to turn their attention to the Canadian Cup this weekend when they host Vancouver on Wednesday.

Houston Starts To Catch A Break

Once Stuart Holden realized he was the man to lead Houston this season things started to click. That was the case yesterday as Houston finally caught a break and got out of their regular season funk against the Revs.

New England again failed to generate any sort of offense this week with only three shots in the game. The Revs’ only shot on goal didn’t come until just after the hour mark when Jeff Larentowicz header failed to do anything more than to give Pat Onstad something to do for once. Houston really controlled this one from start to finish with Holden and Brian Ching.

Once again it came down to a young defensive line in front of Matt Reis that caused New England to fall in this one. They weren’t able to handle any sort of pressure that Houston put on them as the Dynamo registered 14 shots in the game.

Until New England can get healthy again here this season they will continue to play this way. A bright spot though was seeing Taylor Twellman on the bench for this one as a sub. Apparently he isn’t too far from coming back which is something New England really needs to have at this point.

Houston is starting to really look good here. They still have some catching up to do out west but as we’ve seen out of them before, sometimes slow and steady wins the race.

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

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

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

Good:

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

Bad:

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

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

Ugly:

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

Good:

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

Bad:

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

Ugly:

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

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

Good:

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

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

Bad:

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

Ugly:

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

Good:

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

Bad:

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

Ugly:

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

Good:

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

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

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

Bad:

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

Ugly:

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

If you think I missed a goal, just let me know.

Chad Barrett:

Bryan Jordan:

Brian McBride:

Josh Wolff:

Juan Pablo Angel:

Ben Olsen:

Save of the Week:
Pat Onstad:

Over the weekend I jotted down a few thoughts while I was watching all the action. Some of you may have noticed some random twitter updates over the weekend, I’ll try to keep up with that in the coming weekends as well. I won’t however be doing too many live blog/chats though, enough folks are doing it and probably at a better rate than I’d do.

Anyhow, if you have a comment from the weekend that was week five, please post below.

Fire Can’t Hold Lead

I’ve been saying for a while that Kansas City needed Josh Wolff to be the striker that they can go to for their scoring needs. Well, after a terrible first half he and his club came out of the locker rooms at Toyota Park and really took it to the Fire. It wasn’t a matter of the Fire blowing the toughest lead in soccer (2-0) but it was the manner in how Kansas City faught back.

It was with speed and wing play that did it. Quality service into the box where Wolff was able to not score once but twice to get his club back into the game.

As for the Fire, defensively they turned it off for a half and it cost them dearly. Yet at the end of the day they are still undefeated, though I think anyone around that club would tell you that Saturday night’s result was more of a loss and a draw.

Brian McBride, Marco Pappa, and Blanco really carried this club early on. I have to say I love that trio in the midfield of Pappa, Blanco, and John Thornington. Something about that group just makes me think it could be one of the best midfield trios in all of MLS.

Chivas Could Very Well Be For Real

The cast of no-names does it again. In front of a very quality crowd for a Chivas game in the HDC, the AmeriGoats got an early own-goal and a late finish from Chukwudi Chijindu (who scored his first MLS goal) over visiting Seattle.

Preki’s club continues to plug away and after this many games of proving themselves I think people will finally take notice after this big win.

Funny how the Sounders were holding clubs scoreless with Kasey Keller but in a game and a half without him (due to a red card suspension), the Sounders have now given up three goals. I guess it will be interesting to see how the club handles this loss.

And speaking of the loss, which is now two straight, have the Sounders just cooled off or are they just hitting a dry spell here? I thought the offense would run more through Fredy Montero and Freddie Ljungberg but the tough defense from Chivas put an end to the attack rather quickly.

RSL Road Struggles

One thing I’ve been saying for a couple weeks about Real Salt Lake is that I want to see them do well on the road before I rate them high on any sort of rankings. Yes, they are good at home, no doubt about that. On the road is another story though.

RSL is now winless in 10 games all-time in New York. Then again the road hasn’t been a friend to the club it’s short history. Looking back the club only has eight wins all-time on the road. If there is one thing that this club needs to make sure of this season to become a legitmate contender is they have to win on the road and win consistently.

New York Comes Alive

About bloody time is what some were thinking. Two minutes into the game and the Red Bulls finally got their first real goal of the season. Still history is against this side even with the win on Saturday. I don’t know if it was a combination of poor road play on RSL’s part, New York’s midfield actually looking decent for once or maybe even a slight boost of having Jon Conway back from suspension that did it for New York.

Speaking of Conway, maybe the suspension did him some good. He actually made me think he was a decent MLS type of keeper. Before I really never felt he belonged in MLS as a starting keeper but maybe I will change my mind on that. Just maybe.

Also, Macoumba Kandji and Juan Pablo Angel…did it really take Juan Carlos Osorio this long to figure out that they’d be a good match or did it just take this long for those two to figure it out? Either way it worked. They looked like a very good duo together.

Pat Onstad to the Resuce

Houston goes up early with a Brian Ching header. And first of all let me be clear, even as good as Houston is that offense still doesn’t scare anyone like some may think it could. Ching is still good in and around net but they still need some scorers on their roster. But saying so they could be the best club at placing balls in the box for headers and what not.

But to the real point here, Colorado tried to mound the come back yesterday. Conor Casey stepped up and did his thing too to lead the charge, which still gives me a glimmer of hope for this club going forward. Casey drew the PK (good call too), but Pat Onstad came to the resuce not only once but twice with the rebound shot after the PK was taken. By far one of the best two saves I’ve seen all season.

Had Casey scores it would have been another late road point steal for the Rapids. Instead Houston got their first win of the season. Where have we seen this before folks, the slow start leads to a gritty win, which leads to the Dynamo winning the west right? They still have work to do to catch Chivas but there is no reason to count this club out yet.

Benny Leads The Charge Like Old Times

One thing I love is a good story, and Ben Olsen is definitely that. Finally healthy enough again in 2009, Olsen could be the single best thing that DC had happen to them in the offseason. Getting him back and healthy was probably more of a boost offensively and defensively than getting someone like Christian Gomez. Now not to knock Gomez, he brings plenty to the field but not the same toughness that Olsen does.

New England nearly looked as if they would steal three points in DC on Friday night but in extra time Olsen heads home what could end up being a saving grace for the Black-and-Red early on this season. I honestly believe that could be the kick in the butt that DC needs to get going here. And like I’ve said before they needed Olsen to lead that charge. As long as Olsen is doing that, DC will continue to improve this season.

Dallas Finally Looks Decent

While on Sunday the FC “Please don’t call us Hoops” Dallas finally looked like a side that wanted to win. While I thought the late PK call was a bit crappy Dallas did earn three points. The first half was all Dallas as Kenny Cooper and Drew Moor lead the club with two first half goals. However former Red Stripe Adrian Serioux put his new club Toronto on the board just before halftime, and only a couple minutes after Cooper’s goal.

I thought Toronto controlled a lot of the pace in the second half. They got their attack more in gear and even came even with Dallas after a nice goal by Chad Barrett. I told you all to keep an eye on Barrett, it was a must score-game for the Wayne Rooney look-a-like.

What does it mean for Dallas? It could mean things are slowly starting to turn around for them here. While I am still holding on to the belief that it was a series with Toronto these last two weeks it was still four points for the North Texas club. Four points that they really needed.

Toronto on the other hand really needs to quickly get their stuff in gear here. This was to be the first of eight games in a few week stretch that most Reds fans are calling the main part of their season. Stumbling out of the gate in that isn’t the way to start. They need to get their act in order not only offensively but defensively. They just looked a bit out of sync yesterday evening.

Finally the butts-in-seats look

Yeah, not very good this weekend I am afriad. No Toronto, Seattle or LA home games to speak of. DC gave us a usual 14k+ on Friday and Chivas put up a surprising 15,463. The San Jose-LA game in Oakland only drew a weak 15,862. Not bad considering the lack of David Beckham for that one.

The worst however was New York, Chicago and Dallas. I don’t think we will see great numbers in New York until next year anyways. The 8,000+ on Satuday wasn’t any bit of a shock to me as the terribly low figure in Dallas last night (6,000+…which looked more like 2,000). But Chicago’s number of just a shade over 10,000 was definitely sad to see. I guess the economy is now to blame since the weather was nice.

A lot of end-of-season awards in Major League Soccer are just as tight as the playoff race. I’ve been tracking the Rookie of the Year and MVP races for some time now but I figured I would weigh in on all the awards for once since we are in the final few weeks of the season.

MLS MVP Award:

1. Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Columbus Crew: His club may be playing well without him but his numbers still make a serious case for MVP this season. He should be back soon, which can only mean his soccer IQ on the field will enhance the Crew even more here.
2. Landon Donovan, LA Galaxy: 19 goals in just 21 games. I think that may be all I need to say here. Earlier I thought his production wasn’t enough for the MVP this year but I am thinking otherwise now.
3. Shalrie Joseph, New England Revolution: He and his club may be stumbling but that should all work itself out once the Revs clinch a playoff spot.
4. Darren Huckerby, San Jose Earthquakes: If this were a half-season MVP I would probably have a tough time picking between Schelotto and Huckerby. Both have been stellar in the second half of the season. Huckerby has only been here for a half season, just think what he can do for a full year.
5. Juan Pablo Angel, New York Red Bulls: He’s forth in goals this season in the league but I don’t think that will be enough to get him this award this year.

Others in the discussion:

Javier Morales, RSL; Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Chicago; Kenny Cooper, FC Dallas; Jamie Moreno, DC United; and Sacha Kljestan, Chivas USA.

Newcomer of the Year:

1. Darren Huckerby, San Jose Earthquakes: No doubt that Huckerby will win this one. In nine games with the Quakes, he has scored six goals. Not to shabby.
2. Andre Rocha, FC Dallas: A bit of a homer pick for me but I’ve loved Rocha’s play on the field this season. At times it’s been tough to watch but most of the time he has been a solid addition to the Hoop’s midfield.
3. Rohan Ricketts, Toronto FC: There has to be a bright spot in a dark season for the Reds, that bright spot is Ricketts.
4. Jorge Rojas, New York Red Bulls: Let’s face it, since the addition of Rojas the Red Bulls have looked like a whole new club. He’s a big reason for that.
5. Emmanuel Ekpo, Columbus Crew: This Olympian has given Sigi Schmid a nice addition on the wings.

Others in the discussion:

Jamison Olave, RSL; Louis Crayton, DC United; and Francisco Lima, San Jose Earthquakes.

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Rookie of the Year:

1. Kheli Dube, New England Revolution: Some think that Dube isn’t the front-runner anymore, I think otherwise. Then again, this year’s award may be anyone’s guess at this point.
2. Andy Iro, Columbus Crew: I still like Iro could sneek in and win this award. But will the voters feel the same way?
3. Geoff Cameron, Houston Dynamo: Expect to see more of him in the final weeks of the season.
4. Justin Braun, Chivas USA: He’ll get more minutes as well which could really help him out in this award race.
5. Sean Franklin, LA Galaxy: Some have him as the front-runner but I think he played himself out of that a while back. Could he sneak up again though is the question?

Others in the discussion:

Roger Espinoza, KC Wizards; Stephen King, Chicago Fire; and Steven Lenhart, Columbus Crew.

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Goalkeeper of the Year:

1. Jon Busch, Chicago Fire: Best stats in the league, to his credit though his defense in front of him is pretty darn good too.
2. Joe Cannon, San Jose Earthquakes: Cannon is a very close second right now for me in this race. Should the Quakes get in the playoffs he will earn a bunch of votes for this in the process. And rightfully so.
3. William Hesmer, Columbus Crew: Hey his club is still top dog in the league, and he is a reason for it.
4. Matt Reis, New England Revolution: I still think Reis is one of the best keepers in the league. From time to time he isn’t able to show it because of faulty defense.
5. Pat Onstad, Houston Dynamo: Onstad is in that same category as Reis. Solid every year.

Others in the discussion:

None, really outside of Busch and Cannon there isn’t much of a race going on here.

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Defender of the Year:

1. Gonzalo Segaras, Chicago Fire: There’s little doubt in my mind he will win this award this season.
2. Michael Parkhurst, New England Revolution: We know what Parkhurst can, but can he work his way to the top of this list?
3. Wilham Conde, Chicago Fire: People love Segares and hate Conde at the same time. Its a shame too because Conde is a beast.
4. Chad Marshall, Columbus Crew: Speaking of a beast, Marshall is one of those guys that probably is due for a National team call-up.
5. Bobby Boswell, Houston Dynamo: Think DC is wishing they hadn’t traded Boswell before the season?

Others in the discussion:

Jimmy Conrad, KC Wizards; Bakary Soumare, Chicago Fire; Jamison Olave, RSL; and Wade Barrett, Houston Dynamo.

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Coach of the Year:

1. Sigi Schmid, Columbus Crew: Once the Crew wrap up the Supporter’s Shield so does Sigi wrapping this award up. Or has he already done so? Maybe.
2. Preki, Chivas USA: His club may have had a rough year but you cannot deny how well Preki has handled it all this year.
3. Frank Yallop, San Jose Earthquakes: Can Yallop get his club to be the first expansion club to reach the playoffs since Chicago did so back in 1998?
4. Dominic Kinnear, Houston Dynamo: Two MLS Cups and possibly one more on the way? Simply remarkable if you ask me.
5. Steve Nicol, New England Revolution: Nicol has navigated his club through a heavy schedule.

First up some All-Star news, we all know who the first XI are for Major League Soccer in this month’s game against West Ham United. But now we are hearing a couple more names that will be added by All-Star coach and New England boss Steve Nicol.

Soccer America is reporting on it’s website this morning that New York’s Juan Pablo Angel, Houston keeper Pat Onstad and Rev’s midfielder Steve Ralston will get all-star calls from Nicol. Onstad and Ralston are not surprises but Angel’s inclusion is a bit of a surprise considering Angel has only recently returned from a hamstring injury. Maybe Nicol is giving the 2007 All-Star MVP the benefit of the doubt on a season filled with injuries. Still, its a shock and hopefully not true as I can think of about three or four strikers that would be more worthy based on this season alone than Angel.

The way this all works from my understanding Nicol gets a few picks of his own to round out the roster and MLS Commissioner Don Garber gets one or two “Commissioner Picks” to finish up the team. No word yet on who Garber is going to select.

In other news, to follow up on the Scott Sealy trade to San Jose I was passed down some numbers that are quite shocking to see in regards to this trade.

We all know why Kanasa City pulled the plug on this deal, they needed some cap space for Josh Wolff and so they traded for some allocation. A source tells me the Quakes gave KC an allocation larger than $125,000 for Sealy. Yeah, that’s a lot of money for a guy that doesn’t even make half that amount in a year.

Also, that’s more than $60,000 for each of the two goals he has scored this year. That’s just a bit too much for a forward who is planning to leave MLS after this season and is likely to miss time due to World Cup qualifying with Trinidad & Tobago later on this fall.

I think this move falls into the same category as another move the Quakes did this season with striker Peguero Jean-Philippe.

Other related Quakes news, San Jose has waived midfielder Joe Vide yesterday. Vide didn’t impress the Quakes all that much this season and thus was cut. Tough break for a guy that showed a lot of promise a season ago in New York. I honestly wouldn’t be shocked to see him back in New York, word has it assistant coach Richie Williams is a big fan of Vide, so he could get a look there. Though with all the new players coming into New York that may not happen.