Jason Kreis and RSL need a win tonight to stay in playoff contention. (Getty Images)

While there is an important US game tonight in Washington DC, there happens to also be a MLS game tonight. Yay for MLS scheduling a game right during World Cup qualifying season, in the middle of the week no less.

Still tonight after the US beats Costa Rica (oh yeah, calling a 2-1 win tonight), turn your television sets to ESPN2 to watch even more soccer (at least that part is good!). Real Salt Lake hosts New York Red Bulls tonight in a must-win game for the home-side. Oddly enough the last time these two squared off at Rio Tinto Stadium it was for the right to go to MLS Cup 2008.

Its win or be pretty much be eliminated for the Lakers tonight. RSL sits 34 points with three games left. The mission is to keep winning and survive another game of being in contention. Anything less just won’t cut it for Jason Kreis’ bunch. Interesting thing is out of all the clubs that have struggled at Rio Tinto or in Salt Lake for that matter, New York has never lost to RSL in Salt Lake.

RSL has to get their key offensive guys involved early and break the rust off from their long 18-day layover (thank God we will have balanced schedules next season and no more weird layoffs for clubs). Robbie Findley is one guy that has to be involved early. He tends to be hot and cold too often and this is a game that he has to heat up for here. New York’s defense is the worst in the league and when on the road they are just flat out pathetic. They have to pressure the backline with Findley and Yura Movsisyan.

The thing is I believe RSL will come out a bit flat in this one due to the layoff between games. New York oddly enough probably stands a good shot at getting at least a point out of this game as these two always seem to play to a draw (six draws in nine meetings all-time). I see Juan Pablo Angel and company putting enough pressure on RSL in this one to get a draw. I just don’t see them doing enough to get their first road win of the year here though.

Something about this game screams a draw and that’s what I am going with tonight. I haven’t been high on RSL all season for a reason but I wouldn’t mind seeing them actually show up for once tonight and remind me how good they can be. Angel gets one for New York early and Movsisyan ties things up in the second half for RSL.

WVH Prediction: RSL 1, New York 1

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

Its kind of weird to see the Cotton Bowl hosting MLS once again but tonight it happens. The New England Revolution travel to Dallas to play part of a double header that will pretty much only boost Dallas’ dreadful season attendance figures.

New England comes into town on a fairly hot streak despite the fact they just lost one of their key players Steve Ralston for the rest of the year to a knee injury. The loss of Ralston shakes up their midfield a bit and could put a damper into their offense. Thankfully for Steve Nicol, his club has done well recently defensive wise in slowing down teams like Seattle.

Dallas however will pose a bigger threat offensively that New England hasn’t faced in a few weeks. The hot streak of Jeff Cunningham and company leads many to wonder if Dallas is on the way up even though their playoff hopes henge on going undefeated from here out.

Look for Dallas to press hard in this one early as they cannot afford to even drop points with a draw in this one. New England will have to rely on a swift counter with MVP candidate Shalrie Joseph leading the way.

I think this one ends in a draw tonight with the way New England plays defense and the fact that they always seem to find success against Dallas in Dallas. I don’t know if the Cotton Bowl site will really have any affect on the game but it will be a nice turn back the clock kind of night for the boys in the red stripes.

WVH Prediction: Dallas 1, New England 1

Plenty of MLS clubs will be interested in tonight’s mid-week clash at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park as the Colorado Rapids host the San Jose Earthquakes. Plenty of clubs want Colorado out of the playoff picture while San Jose is hoping to not just play the role of spoiler but go on a crazy run of wins to get them back into the playoffs for the first time in a few years.

San Jose has the most games left of any clubs right now with seven and the Rapids are hoping to use this home game as a springboard up the western standings. A win tonight at home would put the Rapids for at least the next couple days above Seattle in the standings and just a point back of LA for the second automatic bid in the west.

The Quakes have to come into this game and slow down the attack of Conor Casey and Omar Cummings. They did a good job last week in San Jose of not allowing them to use their speed and physical play to score goals, that is until the end of the game when the Quakes gifted Colorado a late PK that Casey scored easily to send the game home in a draw.

I think at home the Rapids find a way to get the three points. They don’t give up much at home and San Jose just flat out doesn’t win on the road (0-8-2) and doesn’t score on the road (8 goals all year away from Buck Shaw Stadium).

Look for Casey and Cummings to pace the offense into three points tonight.

WVH Prediction: Colorado 3, San Jose 1

Sasha Kljestan leads Chivas USA tonight into Rio Tinto Stadium to face RSL. (Getty Images)

Old expansion mates square off tonight in what could be said is a must-win situation for the home side. Real Salt Lake enters tonight’s game at Rio Tinto Stadium with Chivas USA just three points behind the last playoff spot. A win tonight would help get them in the discussion for the playoffs this year while a loss would spell doom for their chances.

Real is hoping to cash in on their home unbeaten streak that dates back to May. Thing is they’ve dropped some valuable points lately in draws at Rio Tinto due to poor discipline and sloppy defending.

RSL manager Jason Kries needs a big time game tonight out of Robbie Findley. We’ve seen time and time again where Findley can step up and become of the the better strikers in the league this season but some how he continues to find ways to stay out of the spotlight with poor finishing. I think this could be a game where he could get his chances though.

RSL should look a little better in defense with Jamison Olave back in the lineup. You can tell a big difference when he is out of action for this club.

Chivas has been a thorn in RSL’s side winning the last six of seven between these two sides. Preki will look for another big game out of Sacha Kljestan who seemed to finally wake up from the dead in the last game, scoring two goals in a winning effort. I’m also curious to see if Chivas can get more out of newcomer Jesus Padilla. We really didn’t see him do much last week against Toronto since he had to deal with Dwayne De Rosario so much.

I think this is one of those games that RSL steps up well early on and puts plenty of pressure on Chivas to defend. Thing is I also feel that RSL just doesn’t defend well enough when they need to most sometimes. This game looks like a draw which could mean bad things for Kreis and his club’s playoff hopes. Chivas should leave with a solid road point thanks to Maykel Galindo and Kljestan.

WVH Prediction: RSL 1, Chivas 1

Blanco and Wilman Conde look to shutdown the Galaxy tonight. (Getty Images)

Week 23 in Major League Soccer gets started a little early. Tonight we get a primetime clash on ESPN2 as the Chicago Fire host the LA Galaxy. Now of course this game has lost a little appeal with David Beckahm (and Eddie Lewis) being suspended for a red card in last week’s game against Seattle. But it should still promise to be a good game between two of the league’s upper level clubs making a push for the Supporter’s Shield.

The Fire are on good form right now as they have only lost once in their last seven matches. LA on the other hand as we just mentioned stumbled a bit last week at home in the loss to Seattle, but even that was their first loss in a while.

Tonight’s game will be without David Beckham and Eddie Lewis but the Fire will also be missing Bakery Soumare.

I think tonight’s game will get bogged down a bit in the midfield but look for Chicago to control the pace there. LA will get a little lucky as the weather has been raining there today in the Windy City from what I’ve been told. If the rain can slow down things it could be to the visitor’s advantage.

Chicago will do well to slow down Landon Donovan and company. All the Fire need to do is get on the board and camp on the lead. They do well with the lead and holding teams to little offense. I look for them to do just that as Blanco and company look to inch their way up the standings. Chicago wins a nasty midfield battled game tonight thanks to Chris Rolfe and Blanco.

WVH Prediction: Chicago 2, LA 1

Today is expected to be quite a day for American soccer. The US face Spain in a big time clash in the Confederations Cup over in South Africa. While I won’t be doing any formal preview of that game (I’ll let those who are better at covering the US to do that) I will say that I am very eager to watch it.

Aside from the big game across the pond we do still have two MLS games to talk about today. Colorado hosting Dallas and Toronto hosting once again New York. Since today is a double dip of games the preview is going to be cut a little short on the fact that I have a lot to do today in very little time.

Feel free to leave your game predictions below.

New York Red Bulls – at – Toronto FC:

Its been only a week and a half since their last encounter at BMO Field but the result should be close to the same as last time. New York looked better at home against Seattle last week and I would imagine there could be some let down from Toronto’s emotional high from winning the Canadian Cup last week in Montreal. The thing is I know Toronto is still a quality side and they are improving on all ends right now. The Nick Garcia trade will continue to be a good one for this club and I think he will help clamp down the Red Bull attack.

I think in the end Toronto just has too much talent and New York just sucks something awful on the road. Its going to take a lot for them to event get a draw on the road at this point but I think Toronto will have a little more energy in their tank and that will be more than enough for this one. Dwayne De Rosario and Amado Guevara should have another big night at BMO as the locals welcome home their Canadian champions.

WVH Prediction: Toronto 2, New York 1

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FC Dallas – at – Colorado Rapids:

I have to say that Dallas is starting to play well, it’s just too bad that it is too little too late here. They, like New York and San Jose have nearly played themselves out of contention here already. Colorado on the other hand has a bunch of games in hand on everyone and in those games at hand most of them coming up are at home. After the way they handled a quality DC side a week ago I would imagine they should do a similar thing to Dallas, who’s defense is a lot weaker than what DC has.

Omar Cummings is proving to the league that he is the real deal here and that once Conor Casey returns to the line-up, they will be one tough duo to stop here. I think Cummings and the play of Colin Clark will be a lot to handle for Dallas. I do see the Red Stripes getting one in this one but it won’t be enough.

WVH Prediction: Colorado 3, Dallas 1