1. New England Revolution (30 pts., same) – No need to move the Revs, their home dominance over Toronto clearly showed that they aren’t ready to give up the top spot. Oh yeah, and Taylor Twellman returned to action. So does that mean this club will continue to play well? We will see.

2. Columbus Crew (26 pts., up 2) -Easily had to move the Crew back to the two-spot. This club is really impressing me here lately. Big test coming up in Chicago, who is hungry for a win and a goal. Columbus knows all about streaks like that.

3. DC United (22 pts., up 2) – Another strong showing at home. Unbeaten in their last seven, 18 goals in that span. Yikes, look out everyone else…okay mainly look out New England and Columbus. Also getting Ben Olsen back is a huge thing for this club.

4. Toronto FC (21 pts., down 2) – Tough show on the road. Though losing at New England right now isn’t a terrible thing. They just have to find that consistent play on the road. Once they do that they will be fine. Still a playoff contender in my mind though.

5. LA Galaxy (21 pts., down 3) – I knew the game with DC would be a high scoring one but I figured the offense would have come to play a bit more. Their defense was torn to shreds and looked like maybe we over thought this club a bit too much here recently. They still have time to grow but could easily need some help with the transfer window opening up soon.

6. Houston Dynamo (19 pts., same) – No where else to go for the Dynamo. They probably should have won their game with Dallas this past week but luckily for them everyone else around them or below them didn’t fair too well this week. We still know about their offensive struggles though. Hard to believe their record is 4-4-7 right now.

7. Chivas USA (18 pts., up 1) – Probably should have won as well at home against New York. Anytime you hold the possession like they did, you should win. I wonder what they would be like offensively with Maykel Galindo right now. Though there is some talk that they may make a move to get Carlos Ruiz off of LA’s hands here soon.

8. Chicago Fire (19 pts., down 2) – No goals in 333-minutes. No wins since the end of May. Not beating an expansion club at home shows off more problems than we want to probably admit with this club though.

9. New York Red Bulls (20 pts., up 1) – Nice road draw. Still shows some offensive struggles as well as some defensive mis-cues. They clearly need a healthy Juan Pablo Angel here, maybe against Colorado that will happen.

10. Real Salt Lake (19 pts., down 1) – Should have known this was too good to be true for RSL. The own-goal was a huge momentum killer as well.

11. FC Dallas (17 pts., same) – Kenny Cooper continues to do it on his own. But more importantly Dallas showed some signs of life in the second half against Houston to win the El Captian for the first time.

12. Kanas City Wizards (16 pts., up 1) – Moved up but not by much despite the win. But a win is a win for this club right now. They will take any points (and goals) that they can get.

13. Colorado Rapids (16 pts., down 1) – Clearly missed Christian Gomez in the middle for this one, but even he probably wouldn’t have been enough to hold off Columbus on Saturday. This club just doesn’t look hungry for points these days. Why more people aren’t talking about the sacking of Fernando Clavjio is beyond me.

14. San Jose Earthquakes (12 pts., same) – Defensively they looked great at Chicago. Offensively they looked like a PDL team. One shot on goal just doesn’t get it done.

But aside from catching up I was able to jot down some good notes from this weekend. I saw a couple eastern sides continue to barrell their way through their competition. Other western sides continue to struggle against eastern clubs and just quality competition in general.

The usual look at the butts-in-seats was no too shabby this past weekend. DC of course lead the way due to a Beckham-game. New England had some surprisingly decent numbers this past weekend. Aside from that it was still pretty so-so. KC sold out their baseball stadium like normal; Chicago posted a good but kind of low number against San Jose; Columbus was low but I think that is starting to be the norm with them anymore; and Chivas posted a better number for once.

So let’s get into the meat of the weekend.

Columbus Crew 2 – 1 Colorado Rapids:

• Slightly boring first half. Really nothing worth mentioning other than a couple defensive stops on either side and a couple saves.
• Second half was were it all got going. All three goals happened in the second 45.
• Emmanuel Ekpo is starting to be one of my favorite pick-ups of this past winter. He continues to show exactly why Sigi Schmid went out for him. His pace on the wings lead to the game winner and he nearly had another in that half.
• Conor Casey finally showed some decent play for the Rapids in this one. But again, just like his club he is too cold and then hot for my liking.
• Colorado just isn’t a playoff contender right now. I know Christian Gomez was out due to a shin injury before the game, but he even hasn’t put this club over the top like we all expected.
• Fifth straight road loss for the Rapids, 1-6 overall this year away from the Dick.
• Columbus looks legit this season. Even though they’ve hit a cold spurt this season they got over it with flying colors. Eight goals in the last three games has convinced me enough about this club.
• I loved the back line Schimd used in this one. The twin towers of rookie Andy Iro and Chad Marshall. That’s a hell of a lot of height back there and it’s working well right now.

————————————————————————————-

New England Revolution 2 – 1 Toronto FC:

• Yeah, Toronto just can’t get over the hump on the road yet. Even with most of their key players in the lineup they just can’t seem to find any luck on the road.
• New England continues to impress. Already with 30 points after 16 games, they are clearly the club to beat right now (no duh!). A supporter’s shield doesn’t seem too far off the table right now.
• With Steve Ralston, the Revs are clearly better offensively and rookie Kheli Dube continues to show that he is now the front-runner for the Rookie of the Year award. Those two combine so well.
• Probably one of the best goals of the week in that second Ralston goal.
• Another positive sign for the Revs and their fans, but not for the rest of the league, Taylor Twellman returned to action for the first time since early May. Yeah with the way the Revs have played in recent weeks, a healthy Twellman is not what people what to hear or see.
• The one thing though about the Revs that worries me is their ability to close out games. The final 15 or so was not a comfy-time for Revs fans. Matt Reis had to come up big again a couple times late in the game.

————————————————————————————-

Kansas City Wizards 1 – 0 Real Salt Lake:

• Talk about a way to crush a good thing for Real Salt Lake. Tony Beltran’s own goal with a couple minutes to go has to kill some confidence that had built up with this club over the past few weeks.
• And talk about a weird way to get over the hump for KC. If you are going to end a long winless drought, do it in the weirdest possibly way if nothing else is working for you offensively.
• We talk about how bad San Jose’s offense but I honestly believe now KC is taking that cake. We may have expected too much out of this club from the start of the season.
• I want to be a believer with RSL but something still isn’t there for me. It wasn’t that Kevin Hartman came up big in this one for KC, I think it was RSL’s lack of finishing that was too much to overcome.
• I just don’t believe either club are a contender here yet this season. RSL is a maybe since the west is so weak but KC is in a very tough conference and way too much space to overcome already here. Blame the schedule all you will but at some point you have to start winning. Maybe this is that point for the Wizards.

————————————————————————————-

Chicago Fire 0 – 0 San Jose Earthquakes:

• Put the goalless streak for the Fire up to 333-minutes. Yikes. This club just hates playing in months that begin with a “J”. I believe The Fire is 3-8-1 in its last 12 June games. The Fire is 4-9-7 in its last 20 July games. Not good news for Fire fans.
• Chicago hasn’t won a game since the end of May.
• Great game out of Joe Cannon. Probably one of his best games in a while really. A lot of key saves reminded me of just how good he is. Hard to believe he has five shutouts this season for a club that sits at the bottom of the table.
• Still some offensive struggles for San Jose. I though getting Kai Kamera back in the lineup would be a good thing but his lack of finishing continues to show through more than anything. Also rookie Shea Salines continues to struggle finding the net. But unlike KC, San Jose at least has a fallback here, they are an expansion club. We weren’t expecting great things out of this offense this season.
• Chicago is clearly struggling here with Chad Barrett up top.  
• This game reminded me of the Colorado-Houston game from a week ago. Not a lot in it, especially offensively. Both keepers came up big when they needed to, especially Cannon.
• Chicago just needs to suck it up and trade whatever they need to get Brian McBride on the roster here.
• Nasty fall by Andy Herron early in the game. Pretty scary moment really if you ask me.

————————————————————————————-

Chivas USA 1 – 1 New York Red Bulls:

• Crazy sort of game when you talk about each goal. What Brad Guzan was thinking on the New York goal was just weird.
• Jon Conway made some huge saves late in the game to keep the draw. Something about the Home Depot Center brings out some better play from the Red Bulls. Their two trips there this year have gone better than expected with four points against Chivas and the Galaxy.
• Great goal line clearence from Hunter Freeman in this one.
• We talk about the lack of offense surrounding New York but Dave van den Bergh continues to be really the only good thing going for this club. When he isn’t in the line up this club looks terrible offensively. With him they at least have some fight.
• Though, also for New York, Dane Richards is looking better and better here for them. But apparently some reinforcements are on the way which should not only help out Richards but the entire club.
• Chivas does what they normally do at home, control possession. Too bad their possession didn’t lead to more chances on goal.
• Loads of fouls in this one. Anyone notice New York rack up 31 fouls and Chivas with 21? Daaaammmn that’s a lot of fouls.

————————————————————————————-

DC United 4 – 1 LA Galaxy:

• A great showcase game for national television. Sure the Galaxy didn’t really come to play in this one but they did make it interesting at times.
• DC is looking very dangerous right now, I wouldn’t be shocked if before long they are fighting with Columbus and New England atop the eastern standings.
• Luciano Emilio continues to do what he does best, clean up junk around goal. Sloppy defending out of LA lead to nearly all four goals for DC.
• Excellent crowd for this one too, I know it was a Beckham kind of crowd but I think even had he not been playing this place would have still been fairly packed.
• Great to see Ben Olsen come back. That my friends is probably the highlight for DC right now this season, getting him back and healthy again.
• I know a lot was said about the start time to this game, but to me that is a bunch of BS. These guys should be able to play no matter what time of day it is.
• LA is leading the west but they continue to struggle against the east. 1-4-1 this season against eastern competition. Hell they even lost to Toronto at home in that stretch.
• Ugly play out of Marcello Gallardo, smart yellow card on the elbow to Landon Donovan.
• Speaking of Donovan, gutzy offside call on the potential go-ahead goal for the Galaxy early in the game.
• What can you say about Edson Buddle, that goal was a bunch of solid work and hustle. Had that been last year or early this season he wouldn’t have scored it.

I know its mostly due to their light schedule next month during SuperLiga.

Anyways, week 14 folks, week 14. I look at the five games this weekend and just see one thing across the board for most of these clubs. This is a statement kind of weekend. Nearly every match-up has a “statement” kind of feel to it for me. Either one club is in need of making a push or one club is looking to continue their current form.

As we near that actual half way point this season, these kind of weekends will only help know just a little bit more as we go along here. Half way home will easily give us the clearest of pictures this year of who is a contender and who is not.

Now to the games…the usual kind of set up but thankfully, oh thankfully we are saved from Telefutra on Sunday as ABC is doing a wonderful double-header with the Euro 2008 Final. They got a good one too to lead off that coverage.

Colorado Rapids – at – Columbus Crew: First of two meetings this year between these two sides. Columbus has shown in recent weeks that they never say die in any game. Last week really proved that to us. Colorado on the other hand still lacks any sort of consistent play this season. They hope a trip to Columbus will help them find it.

Its been a couple years (nearly four) since the last Rapid win in Columbus. The Crew have held their own at home in recent years against the Rapids. I think that will continue this year as well. Colorado hasn’t shown me much on the road this year other than a lucky road win in New England back in April.

Columbus has bounced back from a rocky patch a few weeks ago to play some pretty good soccer away from Crew Stadium. I think a return home can only improve their chances of playing even better after that double come from behind draw against LA last weekend.

The Crew have slowly worked themselves back into decent health here and with no international call-ups for this one I would have to think Sigi Schmid will pull out the big guns in this one. They’ve only lost twice at home all year and I just don’t see Colorado being that third club to make a dent in the Black and Gold home slate.

Too much Robbie Rogers and Guillermo Barros Schelotto in this one to control the pace of the game for Columbus.

WVH Prediction: Columbus 2, Colorado 1

——————————————————————————————-

Toronto FC – at – New England Revolution: Something will have to give this weekend. Will Toronto be able to get over the hump against a good team (hell against anyone really) on the road? Or will New England figure out it isn’t so bad to be in first place at this point in the year and to get another three points at home would be wise?

After last week, I’m not so sure which will happen. The Revs are still number one in the league standings and in most power rankings. Though they slipped a bit in some minds after their 2-1 loss against Real Salt Lake. I can see that and understand it though. Its almost like the curse of being number one this year. Its knocked down quite a few clubs actually. New England is trying not to be another one.

Toronto, uh…let’s face it they have to show us something here. They must get a road win if we really, truly want to believe they are a contender this season. Toronto has yet to win in New England (and in most places) so one has to believe a win against a club like New England would ease the minds of some doubters. It know it would for me.

Both clubs should be relative full strength. No international call-ups to deal with for either side should make this an entertaining game.

Toronto should have some confidence going into this one though based off of their recent home play. Sure its different to go on the road, especially to a place that you’ve never won in or scored a goal in. But I think this Toronto club is a bit different than last year’s. Does that mean they will win this one? I don’t know.

To me with the way the Revs played last week and with how Toronto is on the road I just can’t see this going anywhere. More than likely each get on the board and that’s about it. It may come down to which keeper comes up bigger. If that is the case, then bet on New England in this one due to Matt Reis. But I still think it will end in a draw.

WVH Prediction: New England 1, Toronto 1

——————————————————————————————-

Real Salt Lake – at – Kansas City Wizards: One club needs a home coming (and not in a 3-0 loss home coming kind of way) and the other needs to continue it’s impressive run. Hard to believe RSL is on a nice streak right now and are a game away from their first winning record in club history. Yeah.

KC is hoping this home coming is better than the one two weeks ago when they got pounded by the Crew. First as foremost they have to figure out how to score. That’s something RSL is doing pretty well these days. It seems like they’ve found a decent balance between Robbie Findley and a couple others.

RSL has yet to win in KC though. Three meetings in their short history in KC have not gone well with two losses and one draw.

I think this game could go either way really. KC looks like they could use this game to get out of their current funk and RSL could blow this game wide open based on their recent form. I just don’t know how sold I am on RSL yet though. I don’t know if another road win will do it in a place like KC. Thing is, I’m not sold on KC getting the job done at home right now.

So what’s a guy left to do. Go with the hot hand. Pick the mild upset if you will with RSL on the road. Kyle Beckerman seems to be in good enough form to get one by an aging Kevin Hartman and that young KC defense.

WVH Prediction: RSL 1, KC 0

——————————————————————————————-

San Jose Earthquakes – at – Chicago Fire: Most will view this game as a pair of clubs that deperately need a win right now. San Jose needs a win because they are an expansion club and wins are just too damn hard to come by. Chicago needs a win because they’ve lost that luster that they had early on in the season.

The two side met earlier in the year, seeing a 1-0 Chicago victory. Not the best of games but certainly not the worst for the Fire in that one.

The Fire should have it in them to bounce back from some shaky play as of late. But this also means the Quakes are in good position to get their third road win of the year if Chicago isn’t careful. San Jose has a weird way of winning against clubs that start with a ‘C’ (Colorado and Columbus), just so you know.

I’d have to think Chicago will win this one. A game against San Jose seems like the time to get back in form after the way the Quakes have played on the road as of late. Their game in DC last week did not give me any hope for them on the road anytime soon. And that reason alone is why I am going with the home side in this one. I’m nearly leaning towards the Quakes in the upset but something tells me Blanco, Chad Barrett, Chris Rolfe and Justin Mapp are going to come out on all cylinders in this one.

WVH Prediction: Chicago 2, San Jose 0

——————————————————————————————-

New York Red Bulls – at Chivas USA: It has to be kinda weird to play two different Chivas clubs in one week if I am New York. Sure they got the nice (meaningless) win against the Mexican flavor last night in Phoenix but will that translate into more road success in Carson against the US version?

These two faced off just a couple weeks ago on MLS Primetime Thursday in a 1-0 Red Bull win. It wasn’t the best of games out of either side but the late Juan Pablo Angel goal proved to be the difference. New York needs some Angel magic on the road this time around. He should be able to go if he makes the trip (he didn’t travel to Phoenix with the club yesterday).

That’s the thing right now for New York. Their two DPs (Angel and Claudio Reyna) are almost nowhere to be seen but in the training room and not on the field (that is unless the field is in Chinatown, but more on that in a bit).

Chivas is about to start a nice little home stretch here in league play and SuperLiga. I think New York is a good kickoff for that.

The big thing with Chivas right now is they are finally getting healthy again. That’s been their issue all season, they just haven’t been fully healthy enough as a team to play consistently. Kind of similar to New York (but I felt they had other issues) but now things are turning around. Last week’s win against Chicago seemed to prove that.

I think the Goats get some revenge for that 1-0 loss from a couple weeks ago. I think Ante Razov nets one against his former side in the win.

WVH Prediction: Chivas 1, New York 0

——————————————————————————————-

LA Galaxy – at – DC United: Yeah I think everyone is looking forward to this one now. Both clubs are playing at a pretty high level right now, mostly on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively this could be kind of ugly. Both are at the bottom of the league in goals allowed this season (DC last and LA second to last).

I think this will be a good game on a day that a lot of people should be watching soccer because of the Euro 2008 Final between Germany and Spain. That should give the league some quality exposure with David Beckham, Landon Donovan, Marcello Gallardo and Luciano Emilio.

This game could very well end up like the LA-NY clash from a year ago. Lots of goals and little defense. The Galaxy do hold a winning record against the Black-and-Red so they possibly could walk with the three points due to the way their offense scores.

I honestly don’t know which club to pick from here. I think DC for the reasons that they’ve been home for a while and I’ve never been too sold with LA on the road over the last couple years.

Emilio should continue his push towards Donovan’s scoring mark here and really heat up that Golden Boot race. Though Edson Buddle could have a word in that one as well for the Galaxy.

I think in the end it will be a draw after a lot of wild goals. It should be a very entertaining game.

WVH Prediction: LA 3, DC 3