Right now we have a solid top four or five clubs, followed by a middle pack that is more confusing to watch each week, and then a bottom pack that is actually inching closer to that middle pack (more on all of that in a bit).

Week 20 was a short one but definitely a dominate one by the eastern conference. All four games went to an eastern side. The west continues to struggle but then again they only had two clubs going this past weekend.

Let’s see how it did in the rankings here.

1. New England Revolution (33 pts., same) – A loss but honestly, it would have been vastly different had Shalrie Joseph not been red carded. I firmly believe the Revs would have finished off the Fire 1-0 but sometimes things just don’t happen that way. I will give this club the benefit of the doubt for the time being, but another slip and we could see some questions being raised. But in all reality I think they will be fine.

2. Chicago Fire (32 pts., same) – Some will put the Fire on top of the Revs after this week, but I am not one of them. Why you may ask after they’ve dominated the Revs all year? Simple, I want to see these two play a game with no involvement by the official (two games with two big red cards against New England), both sides fully fit and both sides free of international callups. I still think in the end I would give the edge to New England. However, the gap is definitely closer than it has been in a LONG time here this season. And it should only get better with Brian McBride on board in a few weeks.

3. Houston Dynamo (26 pts., same) – No change from me with Houston. They didn’t play this past weekend but you can bet they are ready to redeem themselves after their SuperLiga stumble to New England. Come on they were due to finally lose a game to the Revs in a final. Hell of a game though.

4. Columbus Crew (31 pts., same) – No play this past weekend, no change from me. Once their Olympians return from China I think this club will pick things back up. I like the addition of Pat Noonan though, he should really provide a spark for this club down the stretch, not to mention he has the experience in the playoffs that this club needs.

5. Real Salt lake (27 pts., same) – Are they seriously going to take Clint Mathis back? I guess so, that will either be really wise or just another waste of money out of this club. What’s weird is these guys haven’t played in a while and I think they are starting to dip into that “out of sight, out of mind” area.

6. FC Dallas (25 pts., up 1) – Hey nothing like benefiting from another clubs fall here, while NOT playing this past weekend. Honestly there was no one else to move up but the Hoops. They did make headlines this past week by taking on the always problematic Jeff Cunningham. Luckily for them it could only be just a two-month rental.

7. Chivas USA (22 pts., up 2) – Oh to lose and still rise in the rankings. I know some Wizards fans won’t like this but Chivas gave them a real run for it without a majority of their best players. That isn’t good for KC but it is great for Chivas and their head coach Preki. I think if they had at least Sasha Kljestan out there on Saturday it would have been a different result to the Wizards. Health is still a major concern for this club but if they can get their act together here soon they will make some noise in the forgiving west.

8. DC United (25 pts., down 2) – What’s more surprising right now, the fact that DC is almost as inconsistent as Colorado or the fact that they have the same amount of losses as San Jose (9)? Yeah, rack your brains around that one. At 8-9-1, I really am beginning to wonder which club will show up next out of this bunch. That defense has some major issues right now too, but not too many people are quick to talk about it.

9. Toronto FC (25 pts., up 1) – Maybe a lucky win on the road to Colorado but at this point I’m pretty sure anyone with this club will tell you that they will take it. Greg Sutton and that Toronto defense came up big a few times and what a goal from Chad Barrett. I guess a move wasn’t so bad for him after all. They still need some work done but right now its all fair game with them and about six other clubs for those wildcard spots.

10. Kansas City Wizards (25 pts., down 1) – Don’t get me wrong, they are playing much better these days (2-1-2 in last five). Still, I cannot get behind that defense and again they proved to me why I can’t against Chivas. They were lucky to win that game in the end because the Goats put on some serious pressure late. Had it not been for Kevin Hartman, KC could have seen some points slip away from them.

11. New York Red Bulls (25 pts., up 3) – Juan Pablo Angel may have saved Juan Carlos Osorio’s job with that two-goal effort against DC on Sunday. Still question if their defense can hold it up for the final 11 games. They could see some momentum as Toronto comes into town this weekend.

12. LA Galaxy (23 pts., down 1) – Can Cobi Jones turn this club around and back into that form we saw earlier in the year? From a media standpoint I hope he does because it will create a lot of good buzz for the league and it will make for some interesting playoff scenarios.

13. San Jose Earthquakes (18 pts., down 1) – Sorry Quake fans, you got the bump this week. Don’t worry if you all play anything like you have in recent weeks you will easily continue your climb back up and more importantly into the playoff picture.

14. Colorado Rapids (21 pts., same) – Most losses in the league, on pace to get even more before it is all said and done. I don’t think they’ve mailed it in just yet but boy they sure look close to it with no movement this summer and no buzz surrounding them. Hell, even the fans have noticed because they aren’t coming to games anymore…which is a total bummer if you ask me.

While few had solid weekends, only one guy really stood out amoung the rest and that man was New York’s Juan Pablo Angel. His two-goal effort lifted the Red Bulls over DC United 4-1.

Angel not only wins the WVH Player of the Week award but also the Goal of the Week as well. His free kick blast over the wall and into the near post against DC was just pure class. He did have more competition for that award but his classy strike was just a little better than a pair of headers, a knuckle ball and another free kick. See for yourself below.

Okay, so was Angel your player of the week? And was this strike the best of the week or did Barrett’s free kick do it for you? Let’s hear it.

The biggest story had to be Chicago’s come-from-behind win over New England. The best game of the weekend for sure had a nice crowd of almost 20k in New England. Again that game was probably decided on a red card (more on that in a few).

But with only four games there was obviously more focus on the Olympic team and how they were doing. Tough draw really, felt more like a loss to me. As tough as a result that it was I was still very impress with a few MLSers out there for the US.

Anyways, let’s not focus too much here on the Olympic teams here so let’s figure out what happened this weekend in MLS.

Toronto FC 1 – 0 Colorado Rapids:

• Did anyone get the memo about this game? Just boat loads of empty seats in Dicks Sporting Goods Park. Maybe its all because of the terrible stadium security issues that are going on there. Either way it just looked bad on what looked like a beautiful Colorado evening.
• What a goal by Chad Barrett. Definitely did NOT see that coming out of him. Six goals on the year now for Barrett, another thing we didn’t see coming but I must say I am hoping for more out of him.
• Colorado just couldn’t buy a goal in this one. Loads of chances but all wasted for the most part or Toronto keeper Greg Sutton came up big.
• Speaking of Sutton, nice saves all around in this one. Ten on the night.
• What was with that indirect free kick by Toronto? From six-yards out they should have done better with that. But I suppose professionals don’t practice the indirect freebies too often.
• Terrible foul by Colin Clarke. He gave the ref little reason to not red card him on that check into the ad boards.
• So the Rapids are the first club to 10 losses on the year. Yup, the first. Let’s put this into perspective here, each of the last three years the Rapids had 13 losses in each season. So with 10 right now they are well on their way to increase that number. Can that put the pink slip on Clavijo’s desk any quicker here?
• Give credit to Toronto here though for this win. As much as they shouldn’t have won they over came a lot to get it done on the road for the third time in club history. They still need to make some moves here before the transfer window closes up.
• Speaking of making moves, I wonder if Colorado will wise up and finally sign a striker here. They are top dog on the allocation list so it would make sense to make something happen right?

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Chicago Fire 2 – 1 New England Revolution:

• Nice to see Taylor Twellman start…and score for New England.
• Yet another red card decided this game between these two clubs. We saw it earlier in the season in Chicago when a red card pretty much ended New England’s hopes on the road. The red to Shalrie Joseph (for knocking the ball out of Blanco’s hands) was a game changer in my mind.
• Nice come back by Chicago here. Are they now the best club in the league? I don’t know but if they aren’t they’ve definitely closed the gap between them and the Revs.
• What happened to Matt Reis on that first goal? Great knuckleball by Gonzalo Segeras.
• Was Wilman Conde offside on that second goal? Nope. Had he touched the ball first on the cross then yes but since he didn’t he was able to get back onside and knock it home for his first of the year.
• Aside from the two late goals and the one early goal…and the one red card this was an extremely even game. I just wonder what kind of series this will be in the eastern conference finals later on in the playoffs.
• Just New England’s second loss in two months in all competitions. Wow. Impressive to say the least even with the loss.

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Kansas City Wizards 3 – 2 Chivas USA:

• Pretty much the result I expected out of the Wizards this weekend but what I did not expect was a strong come back by Chivas. They could have easily tied this game up had it not been for Kevin Hartman.
• Some crazy goals by the Wizards though but you know what they say, a goal is a goal. And with the way the Wizards’ offense is going these days a three goal day is a good thing no matter how weird the goals were.
• Give loads of credit to Chivas for fighting back in this one. They were missing Razov, Suarez, Bornstein, Galindo, Eskandarian and Kljestan. That’s a bulk of their roster right there and they still made this one interesting.
• With those two late goals from Chivas, KC is still giving people reasons to doubt their defense. They have to fix some things back there to make a playoff push here.
• Man of the match for me, at least late in the game was Kevin Hartman. He should have had another shutout on Saturday but his defense let him down.
• I still believe if this Chivas club was healthy we would be talking about them near the top of the table. Its amazing what injuries can do to a club in a single year.

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New York Red Bulls 4 – 1 DC United:

• Best result of the season and all-time against DC for the Red Bulls. Honestly did not see this one coming so to those who did congrats.
• Boy did DC lay an egg in this one. Had the early lead with Jamie Moreno’s 120th career MLS goal. At least I got that part right saying he would impact this one.
• As good as Barrett’s goal for Toronto was I think that free kick by Juan Pablo Angel was just a little bit better.
• New York beats DC for just the third time in the last 21 meetings in all competitions. Finally making the Atlantic Cup interesting again.
• Ugly defense by DC here, after a solid game a week ago they came out and pretty much did the opposite in this one. That back pass by Marc Burch  was tough to watch as it lead to Angel’s second.
• Speaking of Angel, if he is fully fit here that can only mean good things for the Red Bulls. Their offense finally looked alive for once and their defense was able to hold for once.
• DC has to find a way to keep their energy up for a full 90 here. I liked the way they started the game but not too long after the Moreno goal it looked as though they took the foot off the pedal. You just can’t do that in a rivalry game.

Just when I thought the league was going back to their normal weekend routine, they throw another curve at me in the schedule. After no Thursday night game we are only left with four games this weekend. What gives?! Well, I won’t complain too much here since the Olympics have started up (gotta love me some swimming and gymnastics!).

With that said, four matches and mostly eastern clubs involved. How did Dallas, Columbus, LA, RSL, Houston, and San Jose score the weekend off? I think that’s two weekends in a row for clubs like RSL.

So three games tomorrow and one lone one on Sunday (thankfully NOT on TeleFutra).

Toronto FC – at – Colorado Rapids: Both teams struggling to find themselves lately. Hell a lot of people are totally against each club for various reasons. Toronto has little offense as of late and looks terrible on the road. Colorado just has their inconsistent play to contend with making us wonder which version will we see tomorrow night.

Both clubs are desperate for points at the moment. Each have only one win in league play in their last eight games. Yikes, this one just sounds ugly after reading that stat. Just how desperate each are is the question.

Toronto hasn’t won since April on the road and I honestly don’t see that happening again this weekend. Too many big names on their roster are out with suspensions (Guevara, Velez) or Olympic duty (Wynne, Edu). Let’s not forget the health of Danny Dichio is still in the air.

That means a win for the Rapids right? I think so actually, you see, its one of those games that will put a glimmer of hope back in the eyes of the Rapids’ fans and give Fernando Clavijo one more reason to not get fired right now. It won’t be a pretty win but it will be enough to give people reason to knock the Rapids out of the bottom of their rankings.

With no midfield Toronto is cut up by the likes of Christian Gomez and Colin Clarke.

WVH Prediction: Colorado 2, Toronto 0

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Chicago Fire – at – New England Revolution: Easily the biggest match-up of the weekend. Can New England over come the Fire and finally beat them, much less score on them? Can the Fire add to their impressive total against the Revs (currently have outscored the Revs 7-0 this season in two meetings). It should be another classic.

Need an interesting number to look at here? How about 11-1-5? Okay that is more of a record than anything but that’s New England’s record over the last three-or-so months in all competitions. Yeah, the lone loss was on the road a while back in Salt Lake City. Think the Fire want to end that impressive mark with another dominating victory? You bet.

I honestly don’t know which way to predict this one. The last two have been blowouts, even the last one in New England. But with the Revs recent form and their win in SuperLiga you have to think that this game will be vastly different than the last two (which were much earlier in the season).

The Fire have loads of confidence against New England, something not many teams have right now when facing the Revs. I see that carrying over early in this game with some early attacks. But don’t count out the Revs defense in this one just yet. Matt Reis has been a total beast lastly and is on an MVP-type form right now.

This one will be tighter and more phsyical than the last two. I don’t expect a blow out either way but I do think it will be entertaining to watch. I’m calling a draw because of how well Chicago plays against the Revs and because how well the Revs have been as of late. It seems fair but I just don’t want to go either way right now and then see a blow out like before.

WVH Prediction: New England 1, Chicago 1

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Chivas USA – at – Kansas City Wizards: I don’t know which interconference match-up is better this weekend, this one or the Toronto-Colorado one. Each look pretty bad but I think this one will prove to be the better of the two because at least these two clubs are playing fairly well now days.

Chivas has yet to see success in Kansas City and I honestly think that will continue this weekend. No Sasha Kljestan will be a tough thing again to overcome. They did look good last weekend in Chicago with Maykel Galindo coming back but I just don’t know how effective he will be just yet.

The Wizards have to get their offense rolling here though. This sounds like a good game for that but my big question is the health of Josh Wolff. If he isn’t good to go in this one I can’t see them winning this game that easily. If he plays I think they win, if he doesn’t I see nothing more than a draw. I want to be confident about Chivas right now too, don’t get me wrong, but they just aren’t healthy enough on the offensive side of the ball for me to do so. Thus, I am left to go more with the Wizards in this one.

Sometimes the healthier team wins. Just ask the Wizards and the Goats about their playoff meeting last year. I think we all remember how that one went.

WVH Prediction: KC 1, Chivas 0

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DC United – at – New York Red Bulls: Another edition of the Atlantic Cup this weekend. What will New York take from their blowout loss this past week to FC Barcalona and will DC continue their solid play from a week ago are my questions here. We are still waiting to see New York make some moves to improve their offense right now, they did add another defender this week I believe, so that may be good.

Both clubs are jammed in the middle of the standings right now. Just three points seperating the two clubs and for some reason it seems like there is more space between them than just those points. DC has won five of their last six in league play and I think that form will continue this weekend. New York just hasn’t impressed me at all recently, even with their new players (though Jorge Rojas is as solid as they come).

DC has pretty much owned New York in recent years at Giants Stadium. I think Luciano Emilio continues his form and pushes his way up the Golden Boot standings with a goal. Based on what I saw last weekend it wouldn’t shock me to see Jamie Moreno score one or assist on one again. If he goes blank in the stat line then don’t expect DC to win this one but I doubt that will happen.

WVH Prediction: DC 2, New York 1