As much change as there could have been this weekend we didn’t shift around too many clubs. One did manage it’s way to the top thanks to a stumble by the previous top dog (New England). The Revs held that top spot for a while here so it is weird to see them elsewhere again. It almost feels like April again when you think about how things are going here.

Okay, its not that crazy but its pretty damn close.

1. Houston Dynamo (29 pts., up 2) – Top dog indeed. Sure they gave up some goals (3) to RSL at home over the weekend but in my mind they are returning to that championship form with each game. Plus I feel more confident in their offense’s ability to come from behind when needed now, they did it twice against RSL.

2. New England Revolution (33 pts., down 1) – Its almost a benefit of the doubt here for New England. I still have trouble believing that scoreline against San Jose but I know it would have been vastly different had Shalrie Joesph been on the field and not suspended. They should be fine defensively once Michael Parkhurst returns and if this Gabriel Badilla deal finishes up here.

3. Columbus Crew (34 pts., up 1) – Again they showed to me that they are the toughest team to close on in the league this season. Down a goal to Dallas, they battled back thanks to the play of Schelotto and Moreno. With Pat Noonan in the fold and Robbie Rogers back from the Olympics this club will be tough to beat again. Oh yeah, their other Olympian (Emmanuel Ekpo) is still in China with his country, once he returns I expect even more out of this club.

4. Chicago Fire (32 pts. down 2) – I don’t know what it is but Toyota Park is just not the fortress that it should be with the Fire. Its a great place but the Fire continue to stumble there from time to time. Why is that? I did like what I saw out of Brian McBride though, that is a deal that will prove to be big in the end.

5. Real Salt Lake (27 pts., same) – They stay the same because they went on the road in one of the toughest stadiums (Robertson Stadium in Houston) and got three goals. Tough part was those three goals weren’t enough to win. They look great at times but they tend to lose themselves at the wrong moments, and that’s what scares me about them.

6. DC United (28 pts., up 2) – Nice gritty win on the road by DC. But this up and down crap can’t continue. At 9-9-1 they look great one game and terrible the next. I know I gave Colorado and sometimes KC crap for being inconsistent but DC is right up there with them in that boat. I did however like new keeper Louis Crayton in goal. I take it Zach Wells is out of the picture for now thanks to Crayton’s clean sheet on the road.

7. FC Dallas (25 pts., down 1) – Tough break not to at least come away with a draw against Columbus. The two new additions seemed to work out alright, I want to give them a bit more time before I really put my stamp on them. Plus I need to see more of Kenny Cooper and Jeff Cunningham together, at least Cunningham got the monkey off his back (finally) and scored his 100th. I do think this team has improved so much from a month ago. Going into this final ten games it couldn’t have come at a better time.

8. New York Red Bulls (28 pts., up 3) – Big movers this week were the Red Bulls. Can you believe its the first time they’ve posted back-to-back wins this season? Good time to do it. I guess Juan Carlos Osorio can feel okay for now about his job situation there in the Big Apple.

9. Chivas USA (23 pts., down 2) – Gritty and unlucky at this point. Too many injuries though are just killing this club and my MLS Cup prediction (some of you have pointed out that I had Chivas and New England in the final). Some people will have this club lower and I totally understand. I still feel like this club is better than what we are seeing.

10. San Jose Earthquakes (21 pts., up 3) – Another big mover. You make a lot of moves and before long they should pay off. Right now things are certainly paying off for this club. Seven goals in their last two. And with that I’d like to welcome them in to the playoff race. Yeah, they are definitely in the discussion now.

11. Kansas City Wizards (25 pts., down 1) – Couldn’t figure things out on the road. Then again they haven’t won on the road since April so it wasn’t a huge shock even though I thought they’d pull it off. I’m not going to lie, even with how close things are in the league their playoff hopes don’t look great at this point.

12. Toronto FC (25 pts., down 3) – Big movers on the wrong side this week. Their midfield looked lost and their offense had no juice. With Maurice Edu gone I wonder just exactly how this club will be in the defense because he certainly made them a better defensive club.

13. LA Galaxy (24 pts., down 1) – Another week, another coach. Can Bruce Arena turn things around in a hurry? I think the short answer is no. At least he has control over this club in the GM sense of things. That is good because at least Arena knows how the MLS works, unlike Alexi Lalas and any other yahoo that has ran that club for the last few years.

14. Colorado Rapids (24 pts., same) – Nice win, but it was about freakin’ time you did something positive at home. Too bad no one was there to see it. Also, nice to see Conor Casey score a couple. Just too bad it is too little too late here.

You had a guy like Ronnie O’Brien score two goals in a winning effort over New England, Conor Casey and his two goal effort over Kansas City, two or three different Dynamo players had a solid effort in their wild 4-3 finish with Real Salt Lake.

But in all honesty, none were better than Guillermo Barros Schelotto two assist effort for Columbus over Dallas.

Schelotto showed why he is the MLS assists leader, notching his 11th and 12th of the season in a three-minute stretch of the second half that helped turn a first-half deficit into a 2-1 Columbus victory before the largest crowd this season at Crew Stadium.

That kind of MVP performance gets the job done over a couple of two-goal efforts in my mind. So for another week its GBS winning the Player of the Week award.

Goal of the Week is a tough subject this week. You have a nice strike from Ronnie O’Brien, a game-tying goal by Alan Gordan, a break-away by Mike Magee, Jeff Cunningham’s 100th career goal, and just about any one goal from the seven-goal game in Houston.

The one that stood out for me was one of those goals from Houston. Ricardo Clark’s to be exact. His turn and shoot bomb from distance to the upper-90 was a thing of beauty.

What was also amazing was probably the goals too, loads of sweet shots all over the fields.

But at the end of the weekend, each conference wasn’t just tighter in the standings but they both had a new leader. New England and Real Salt Lake entered the weekend on top of their respective conferences but after Saturday night Columbus and Houston found themselves in the lead positions.

So let’s see just how interesting and crazy this weekend actually was:

Columbus Crew 2 – 1 FC Dallas:

• Solid crowd at Crew Stadium for this one, a mean 17k+ for this one on what looked like a very nice evening in Columbus.
• Jeff Cunningham made his mark early for Dallas, finally scoring on his former club and FINALLY scoring his 100th career goal. I think the monkey is off his back now.
• Some great play in the second half by Columbus to get the win. Give loads of credit to MVP-candidate Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who’s two assists set his club up for the win.
• GBS still leads the league in assists with 12 now. I said before the season for the Crew to be successful they need Schelotto to be in the 15 to 18 assist range, right now he is well on pace for that.
• This one was pretty fun to watch for the most part. Lots of good action from each club, a little frustrating at times because each had issues putting the ball home.
• Nice to see Brian Carroll on the score sheet. Solid finish from a very nice play that started with Alejandro Moreno.
• Pat Noonan made a pretty solid impact for the Crew in 55 minutes of work. He helped create a couple chances in this one for the Crew. Another week or so with him in the line up and we should see some goals out of him.
• Same should be said about Dallas and their two new players, Cunningham and Victor Sikora.

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DC United 1 – 0 Chicago Fire:

• I don’t know what is more confusing here right now, DC from game to game or how Chicago plays at home. Neither is consistent.
• A very solid game from end to end though, both teams created plenty of chances but in the end it was DC who spoiled Brian McBride’s debut with the Fire.
• Louis Crayton debuted for DC in this one as well. I suppose this means he will probably start the majority of games for the rest of the season over Zach Wells. Can’t agrue against a clean sheet in his first game. It took Wells like 17 games to get a clean sheet.
• Solid goal by Fred. It wasn’t that it was so early in game by Fred (27th minute) it was the fact that DC held on for their second clean sheet of the season.
• Chicago had one of those frustrating home games again here where they had loads of chances but were unable to put them home.
• I like what I saw out of McBride in this one. He didn’t play the whole game but once he gets use to his new teammates he will be dangerous again in th box. He nearly was in this one too.
• You knew this one would be physical, seven yellow cards for the two clubs.
• What can you say about the Chicago crowd, nearly a sellout from looking at the numbers. I have to say it again but Toyota Park may be one of the most underrated venues in the country right now.

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Houston Dynamo 4 – 3 Real Salt Lake:

• For two of the best defenses in the league, they sure did come up lame in this one. Six goals in one half and seven over all is not a defensive effort.
• For RSL its another disappointing road loss. They put three in the back of the net so that is promising but seeing their defense come up that lame is not going to be good for this club considering they have six more road games here this season.
• Give the Dynamo loads of credit for fighting back (twice) in this one. The early goal by RSL could have been deadly but their attack really looks sharp now with Nate Jaqua and Brian Ching going again.
• To me Houston may be playing the best right now in MLS with the way things are going around the league.
• What can you say about Ricardo Clark’s goal? Just wow. Beautiful upper 90 strike to the far post. Nothing Nick Rimando could do about it.
• Nice string of pass by the Dynamo to set up their goals. Ching to Jaqua was fun to watch. Davis to Mullin was a nice threw ball for the Dynamo’s first goal of the game.
• I wonder if the layoff hurt RSL. They haven’t played in a couple weeks and at the start it looked like it didn’t hurt at all but defensively there are some issues right now. Anytime you give up four on the road it shows some defensive issues.
• RSL will probably still reach the playoffs but more games like this one won’t help them out anymore. Especially with how the rest of the league is going right now.
• I also wonder if Houston is starting to think three-peat here. They look well on their way to do so right now.

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Colorado Rapids 2 – 1 Kansas City Wizards:

• This one probably the one game I saw very little of. I saw the three goals and for the most part that was about it (plus the MLSnet.tv feed was having issues…anyone else have that?)
• Ugly night in Colorado. I think some rain was in the area and it made for a fairly sloppy game. Plus only 10k or so in the stands.
• After two straight home games where the Rapids held possession and the shooting edge, they finally make the most of things thanks to Conor Casey.
• Think Rapids fans will be calling for Gary Smith to become head coach after Fernando Clavijo was gone for a family situation in Uraguay? I’m sure they will.
• KC looks to have cooled off a bit here. Being on the road doesn’t help but with the amount of home games left they should still have a chance at the playoffs.
• As inconsistent as the Rapids have been they are only 5 points behind Houston for the western lead. That’s how close things are this season in MLS. I just don’t see the Rapids making a run for things here though. Casey is good but it just doesn’t give me confidence as a number one striker for this club.
• I’m having a few doubts about KC’s playoff chances too with how tight things are in the league. They’ve looked good recently but results like this don’t help at all. They need to bounce back quickly in their next game.

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San Jose Earthquakes 4 – 0 New England Revolution:

• Just wow. I wasn’t shocked at 1-0 San Jose in this game but ending up seeing it be 4-0 was a total shocker.
• Ronnie O’Brien had his best game in a couple years here with two goals. Probably a player of the week effort.
• New England just looked out of sync in this one. Not having Shalrie Joesph in the line up didn’t help either. I hate making excuses for a club but things would have been vastly different had Joseph been in this one.
• Add some insult to injury here as Matt Reis went down in this one for New England. Not a sight Revs fans wanted to see.
• San Jose can think playoffs with results like this. At 21 points they are sitting just outside the playoff line. Amazing what a few moves will do for ya. Even if they don’t reach the playoffs they are set up in a big way for next year.
• Nice goals by Ryan Johnson and Scott Sealy.
• Seven goals in the last two games for the Quakes. Let’s see if they can keep that up on the road next week against Chivas.
• How New England bounces back will be interesting. I suppose that loss to Chicago was in the back of the mind and it still stung a bit. They had their chances but never took care of them and took the most out of them in this one.
• Loads of credit to San Jose’s defense. They were under pressure for a while in this one but held on for a clean sheet against one of the league’s best clubs. Not an easy task.

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New York Red Bulls 2 – 0 Toronto FC:

• Kind of an expected result. New York didn’t seem to have a lot of problems in this one. Early goal and a late goal was probably more than enough.
• Interesting fact though, its the Red Bull’s first two-game winning streak of the year. Good time to do it I guess.
• New York controlled the pace of this game from start to finish, even being a man down at times.
• Juan Pietravallo looked good in the defensive part of the midfield for New York. I’m starting to like that signing a bit more.
• Johann Smith needs more times with his new Toronto teammates, he did look pretty good late in this one for TFC.
• Tough break for Toronto and striker Danny Dichio. He came at the start of the second half and left shortly after thanks to an elbow. It was precautionary for Dichio as he missed a month of action due to a concussion. I’ve been down that road before with concussions, they are no fun!
• The red card to Cichero was justified though, anytime you elbow someone like that it gives the ref little doubt about what card to show.
• Toronto had no one to create chances with Maurice Edu’s transfer to Rangers and the suspension to Amado Guevara. They looked out of sync in the midfield and they also had little touch for theit attack.
• Which of these two clubs could reach the playoffs if a big question right now. New York is looking better with Juan Pablo Angel scoring and the new additions producing. Toronto still needs some help here.

We are finally back to the normal weekend schedule, five games on Saturday and one lone Sunday contest. I love it too because all games can be seen either on TV (FSC or local) or online with MLSnet.tv, which is a great service if you aren’t already signed up for it (come on it was $20 for the whole season, but now just $10…great deal!!).

Two inter-conference battles this weekend and four conference clashes. If last night’s game in LA is any indication for this weekend we could be in for a real treat.

Let’s get down to business shall we? Feel free to post your game predictions below as well. Those are always welcome.

FC Dallas – at – Columbus Crew: I would love to be up in C-bus with some of my mates for this one but I will be stuck in the Big D instead. These two clubs have had some time off recently to get healthy and bring in some new faces. I think the moves each have made though I would have liked each to have signed some defensive help as well.

But moving on to this game, expect Dallas to bring in two new faces to the lineup with Jeff Cunningham and Victor Sikora and I wouldn’t be shocked to see Pat Noonan either on the bench or in the lineup for Columbus. Who will make the biggest impact will be the biggest question out of those three. Columbus looks to be the healthier of the two clubs with no reported injuries to talk about. That is a positive sign for Sigi Schmid’s bunch going down the stretch.

These two always put on a good show when they face on another. Dallas on the season series last year but had problems doing so in games with lots of goals (a 3-2 win and a 2-1 win). I see this game being just as close since the two clubs will play one another twice in a short span this month (Columbus comes into Dallas at the end of the month).

Both need momentum going forward but I see them drawing even here this weekend. I’d love to see Cunningham get the monkey off his back and score his 100th goal in the league, against a club he’s never scored against. It should still be a fun one though to watch.

WVH Prediction: Columbus 2, Dallas 2

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DC United – at – Chicago Fire: This lovely rivalry heads north to the Windy City. My big question is whether or not DC will bounce back from their terrible loss to New York last week or return to their usual self’s and play well. I have a feeling it won’t be the ladder of the two though.

Chicago lucked out last weekend in New England but a win is a win and they could see themselves win this game and move to the top of the standings (depending on what New England does tomorrow night though). So the motivation is certainly there for this club. DC has to be careful here, another loss (especially bad) and people will start to raise questions yet again about this club and about Tom Soehn as head coach.

This is the rubber match of the season series too. Chicago took it to United early in the season in DC but United came back in June to beat the Fire at Bridgeview thanks to a late Luciano Emilio goal.

As said both clubs have motivation in this one but I see Chicago pushing out on top in the end. No word if Brian McBride will be back to play in this one or even be on the bench but it would be exciting if he was in the lineup. If not, the Fire should still be able to hold off DC and in the process break down their defense. It won’t be pretty but it will be extremely physical.

WVH Prediction: Chicago 2, DC 1

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Real Salt Lake – at – Houston Dynamo: Top two in the west collide this weekend down in Houston. Probably one of the more underrated matches of the weekend. Houston has been very impressive as of late while RSL has been sitting on their butts. Seriously, they haven’t played in a couple weeks so I kind of forgot how they were doing (oh yeah one loss in their last 10 games…not to shabby).

Anyways, Houston has a chance to overtake RSL in the western standings with a win at home. As we all know RSL isn’t the best road team in the league (in fact some would say they are the worst) but they are getting better. If they want to prove something to the folks around the league a win in Houston would be the best place for that. They’ve never won in Houston in three meetings with the Dynamo.

We know RSL’s defense has carried them a lot in recent weeks but their offense has to get on the board here. Only four goals on the road all season is  not going to get them far in the playoffs and in a place like Houston where goals are tough to come by they need to get on the board early here to gain some momentum. I just don’t think they have that killer finishing touch down here just yet and that Houston will be able to put this one away.

I see guys like Nate Jaqua or Kei Kamera having an impact on this one late in the game. It could be a sloppy game with rain that is in the area tomorrow, which will help RSL more than Houston. But I think Houston will play through the weather (like they have times before this season in DC and other places).

Houston wins and goes to first in the west.

WVH Prediction: Houston 1, RSL 0

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Kansas City Wizards – at – Colorado Rapids: The Rapids are hoping to put an end to the bleeding at home with this final game of a three-game home stand against the Wizards tomorrow night. Colorado has pretty much out played their last two opponents but have come away with two bad losses to Toronto and Columbus.

You’d have to think KC is in a better position right now coming into this one. There is a lot of weird buzz going on surrounding Fernando Clavijo and his coaching position with the Rapids. Stuff like that can draw some serious attention away from the task at hand on the field if they aren’t careful. With the way KC has played recently (2-1-2 in their last five) I think they will come into this one and be able to walk out with at least a point, if not three.

The Rapids haven’t lost to Kansas City in the last five meetings in Colorado, with two of those victories. The last Wizards win in the Mile High City came June 9, 2004. I think that trend will end this weekend with another gritty KC win. It won’t be pretty as we’ve seen in recent weeks out of this bunch but a win is a win no matter what. And for a club that needs points right now to stay in the playoff hunt, they will take them no matter what.

KC wins another wild one with the Rapids.

WVH Prediction: KC 3, Colorado 2

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New England Revolution – at – San Jose Earthquakes: The late game of the evening on Saturday. The Revs travel west to visit the expansion Quakes. One club is on top of the standings and the other is at the bottom, so a cake walk for the Revs right? I don’t think it will be nearly as easy as their last meeting earlier this season.

New England has to bounce back from last week’s disappoint loss to the Fire. If they can come out and prove that it was a fluke and down the Quakes people won’t think twice about that weird loss. But look for San Jose to pounce of this club early at home. With some new faces they will believe they can take the Revs down in this one.

The thing is I just see New England coming out on top in this one though. Darren Huckerby and company will make it interesting but I just see the Revs bouncing back in convincing fashion here. I know they let that game slip last weekend and that should fire this bunch up who haven’t seen defeat all that much this season. Having Taylor Twellman back in the lineup once more should be more than enough.

WVH Prediction: New England 2, San Jose 0

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Toronto FC – at – New York Red Bulls: Big time match for both clubs. Right now each club is at that 25 point mark in the standings along with a few other clubs. A win would put some daylight with the others but a draw would just make things more difficult to view here.

Lots of new faces on the New York side of things are starting to pay off for Juan Carlos Osorio, or at least judging by last week’s result over DC they are. They have to keep it up though in order to stay on pace to reach the playoffs this season. With a health(ier) Juan Pablo Angel right now they are definitely on pace to do so.

I was hoping to see what kind of reaction Amado Guevara would get back in New York but he’s suspended for this one from that red card he got a couple weeks ago against FC Dallas. Too bad because that would have been a great storyline to follow in this one.

Even with Toronto’s road win last week I just don’t have the confidence go with the Reds this weekend on the road. Two straight road wins may be a stretch for this bunch right now. If they had signed a striker by now I would feel a little more comfortable about picking them.

Angel continues his impressive form.

WVH Prediction: New York 2, Toronto 0