Has San Jose done enough to improve on their dismal 2009 campaign? (Getty Images)

Forgive me for a second for this coming out as late as it did. I had every intentions earlier in the week to get this one out on Wednesday but a certain clash in Holland kept me from finishing it until yesterday.

Anyways, we continue on with out look at each Major League Soccer club’s preseason happenings here. We’re in the final stretch with just San Jose, Seattle and Toronto to go. Up first today is San Jose, a club that is hoping to rebound after a dismal effort in 2009. Frank Yallop has made some moves this winter to shake things up by the Bay but will it pay off is the key question.

I thought going into the winter that Yallop and GM Frank Doyle would do a lot of work on this roster that only won seven games in 2009. Reshaping an offense that only scored 36 goals was also another issue but the biggest may be redoing a defense that gave up a league-high 50 goals.

So let us dive into the Earthquakes to see who they have going into the new campaign and where else they need to go to get back into the playoffs. Continue Reading…

Ryan Johnson was one of the few bright spots for San Jose in 2009. (Getty Images)

It’s hard to decline as a club after being an expansion team in 2008 but the 2009 version of the San Jose Earthquakes did just that. They became the first team to lose more in their second season than in their expansion season.

The only difference is this version of the Quakes are actually improving. After a load of failed mistakes in player pickups over the offseason manager Frank Yallop and GM John Doyle bucked the criticism and did start to bring in talent that not only produced but was able show that this club has the potential to actually contend in 2010 if the chips fall in the right order.  Continue Reading…

Time once again for another Jared Montz interview. This week’s guest on the Jared Montz Soccer Podcast is Ryan Johnson. If you haven’t checked out any of Montz’s previous interviews with MLS players be sure to check them out because they are always a good listen.

Enjoy!

Jeff Cunningham will have to continue his MVP form tonight in San Jose.

You want some playoff type drama? Good because tonight’s midweek clash between San Jose and Dallas offers just that. Win and continue on in a the little hope of reaching the playoffs, lose or tie and you season is pretty much over.

Dallas won’t completely be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss tonight but you can pretty much put a good dollar or two on the long list of things that need to happen for them to get in to only grow with another loss. A win certainly makes all things that much more interesting as the Red Stripes continue up the standings here thanks to the boot of Jeff Cunningham and the helping hand (or boot for that matter) of David Ferreira.

Unlike their current place in the standings these two should put on a good game tonight based on their current runs. Dallas is 3-1-1 record in its past five matches, scoring 14 goals in those games. San Jose is on a very impressive run, posting a 4-0-2 mark since the All-Star break.

Dallas will need to find a way to get Cunningham involved early and in space. On a smaller field like Buck Shaw Stadium it could be tougher for them to do so. They’ll also have to keep a close eye on the always sneaky Ryan Johnson. Should Johnson get the proper space in the box he will certainly put away a goal or two for the Quakes.

I think this could be a draw but I am going with the more desperate of the two teams wanting points for a playoff run right now and that is Dallas. The Quakes have been quietly impressive as of late but Dallas just looks like a club possessed to get into the post season again here. While I think their chances are slim to do it a win will certainly get them closer here with a couple games left to go. Cunningham continues his remarkable run with another goal.

WVH Prediction: Dallas 2, San Jose 1

Just as the playoff race gets hot, the goals of the week get hotter. Something about a playoff race that makes the goals just a little bit better if you ask me.

Order of goals: Jamie Moreno, Ramon Sanchez, Ryan Johnson, Sacha Kljestan, Juan Pablo Angel, Dwayne De Rosario, Chad Barret, Brian McBride, Jeff Cunningham, Eddie Gaven, Fredy Montero, and Shalrie Joseph.

Eddie Gaven and Emilio Renteria are leading the charge for the Crew. (Getty Images)

And just with one weekend the playoff race really cleared up in my eyes. I may end up being wrong about a team or two but for the most part I have a pretty good feeling about six of the clubs that should be in the playoffs this season. The last two spots I am still going back and forth on but I will get into that shortly.

First of all we do know something new about the playoffs. The Columbus Crew are all but officially in if you do the math (The league finally updated their site to say the Crew clinched a spot). Even if they lost their last four games (which I wouldn’t bet on after this past weekend) they would still be at worst the sixth place team this year. Not bad. As for their Supporter’s Shield chances, well it really comes down to that game in hand I think. They took care of business this weekend against LA but really it is all down to how they handle these last four games. I think we’ll see a repeat Shield winner though, they just need two more to at worst tie for first though I believe they do hold a tiebreaker with Houston should that happen.

But let’s move on to see the current standings after this weekend’s set of games. Again for my purposes I use the give the first tiebreaker to the club with the most games remaining. After that its down to head-to-head and then goal differential. Continue Reading…

We had plenty of goals scored in week number 19 in Major League Soccer. A few PKs, own goals and a lot of nice one touch shots. The best in some folks eyes will probably be the midfield bomb by KC’s Claudio Lopez though. I would be shocked to see another goal pass that one up for goal of the week.

Here is the order of goals: Jacob Peterson, Mehdi Ballouchy, Ryan Johnson, Claudio Lopez, Ali Gerba, Jason Garey, Jeff Cunningham, and Yura Movsisyan.