Sacha Kljestan is one of the key players for Chivas who needs to step up in 2010. (Getty Images

Its a new week and a new month. Last week we started a new series that looks at the current state of each Major League Soccer club. First we took a gander at the expansion club in Philadelphia and then we began a look at the rest of the league starting with the Chicago Fire.

Today we shift west to look at Chivas USA.

The offseason has been an interesting one in Chivasland. From a new coach in MartinVasquez to a decent SuperDraft. The AmeriGoats are hoping they can find a way to put together a club that finally gets out of the first round of the playoffs and possibly into the MLS Cup.

Keeper:

Who they have: Zach Thornton, Dan Kennedy, Jon Conway, and Lance Parker

Notes: A lot depends on the health of Thornton. He’s he is as fit as he was the majority of last year the AmeriGoats have absolutely nothing to worry about here but his age is a bit of a concern. I do like Kennedy but honestly I haven’t seen nearly enough out of him in goal to tell you if he is a legitimate starter in this league. I won’t even go into what I think of Conway, never been a big believe in him as a number one starter. I doubt this is an area of concern for Vasquez though and right now it really shouldn’t be.

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Defense

Who they have: Jonathan Borenstein, Yamith Cuesta, Carey Talley, Claudio Suarez, Ante Jazic, and Kevin Tangney.

Notes: I like parts of this defense and the rest needs a massive and I mean a massive upgrade. Suarez and Talley are old and likely on their way out (I want to say I’ve read somewhere that Suarez is definitely retiring here but couldn’t find it…maybe he’s playing again this year?)

If Vasquez even wants to compete in the highly competitive western conference he will have to improve this area of his team. Looking at clubs like Houston, Seattle, LA and even Dallas and RSL there are too many good clubs with talent in the back. Chivas has a couple good players like Bornstein but we know he’ll be gone most of this season with the national team. Improvement has to be made to get younger and better.

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Midfield

Who they have: Mariano Trujilo, Marcelo Saragosa, Jesse Marsch, Sacha Kljestan, Sasha Victorine, Jorge Flores, Gerson Mayen, Michael Lahoud, Cesar Zamora, Blair Gavin, and Osael Romero.

Notes: Not sure if Marsch really will be with this group this season or not but I think this group is still pretty underrated. I do see Kljestan having a better season than last year, he’s too talented not to bounce back this year. With young guys like Gavin, Lahoud, Flores and Mayen I see a lot of promise from this bunch.

One thing I do still worry about is who will create the offense for this bunch. A playmaker is still really needed here and I’m sure that has to be on the top of Vasquez’s to-do list here this winter. He’s been around that club long enough to know that they need some sort of stability in the midfield or else they’ll get passed up easily out west.

I am eager to see the development of those young guys under Vasquez. With someone like Christian Gomez likely on the market who he be worth a look at? Maybe if he comes in with his head on right for a change. I wouldn’t mind seeing this club look south to Mexico for a playmaker.

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Forwards

Who they have: Ante Razov, Jesus Padillia, Maykel Galindo, Justin Braun, Macion Santos, Chukwudi Chijindu, and Eduardo Lillingston (currently on loan to Tijuana).

Notes: A pretty interesting bunch. On paper they should be set in this department but a closer look makes to think otherwise. First of all Razov will likely be gone at some point. I just wonder if they can ever get him back to his level of play and get a Jeff Cunningham type of renaissance out of him.

I like Padilla, Galindo and Santos but I don’t particularly love them all. If Padilla can step up and be the scorer that we think he should be and Galindo stays healthy long enough then they will be fine.

I think one more addition here may help them out.

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Overall:

Chivas got out to such a hot start last year with very minimal talent doing so. They were gritty and found ways to win that most clubs couldn’t figure out. By the summer it fizzled out and the scoring dried up. Luckily enough guys like Santos came in and they were set straight enough to reach the post season.

For another good season this club still needs a lot of patching up in the back and in the midfield. They’re young enough to be dangerous yet old enough at the same time to get passed up by clubs below them.

It will be interesting to see what Vasquez and company do with these next couple months to prove people like me wrong. Right now I just wonder if they have what it takes to be a playoff club again. If the right parties step up (Kljestan, Padilla, etc.) then playoffs should be no issue but its getting those guys to step up that seems to be a challenge sometimes.

Chivas USA was a surprise early on in 2009, but they faded quickly in the summer months. (Getty Images)

It seems like every season or so we get one club that comes out hot to start the season then to only fade in the summer. In 2009 it was Chivas USA who was just that club as they went 7-2-3 to start the first couple months of the season. Nearly half of the season total 45 points came in that stretch of time. Preki had plenty of issues with injuries but this lineup kept plugging away at wins after wins.

But just like clubs before Chivas, the summer was a rough patch for Preki’s group. June hit and so did the schedule as the AmeriGoats had a super fall in SuperLiga. Stars like Sacha Kljestan never seemed to show up with the club needed them most and scorers like Maykel Galindo never stepped up at the right moments.

After the rough patches in June and July, Chivas saw themselves passed up by a few clubs in the standings and things got a little dicey for their playoff hopes. But some key wins in August and September faded those worries away and this club looked like one that could contend for the Supporter’s Shield again after guys like Galindo, Kljestan and Eduardo Lillingston starting to step up again.

By the playoffs Chivas was once again bounced in the first round, just like they’ve been done in the past couple of seasons. What hurt this time was it was to their Home Depot Center rivals the LA Galaxy.

What Went Right In 2009:
For the most part a lot of things did go well in 2009 for Preki’s side. He looked like a Coach of the Year candidate early on with the way Zach Thornton turned back the clock and became a rived player again in goal. Thornton’s season was stellar too as he won both the Comeback Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year honors this season. Other things that went well was certainly that quick start to the year. Grabbing 24 points in the first couple months really set the pace for the season. We also learned of some new names that we will certainly see for years to come like Gerson Mayen.

What Went Wrong In 2009:
Obviously the summer months caught up to this club. Offensively they were one of the worst in the league even though mid-season moves to get Jesus Padilla in didn’t pan out quick enough. Padilla will be good in a year or so but he wasn’t enough to revive an offense that didn’t have enough punch. Also the whole year was a large disappointment for Kljestan who never looked good after his pre-season trail with Celtic. After not getting a transfer to the Scottish power, Kljestan really fell from grace.

What’s Next:
More than likely we will see Preki leave this team in the coming weeks. I have a feeling now more than ever he will join Bob Bradley with the national team rather than go to another MLS club. Should he actually stay in MLS he will probably do to Toronto. After that will be the likely departure of Jonathan Bornstein and possibly Kljestan. If they lose both of them look for this club to endure a serious make-over in the winter months. This group has talent they just need some offense and a couple younger parts on defense to really become a MLS Cup contender in this league.

Add another award for Zach Thornton on the season. Today the league named Thornton it’s Comeback Player of the Year. At the same time the league also announced Fredy Montero as the Newcomer of the Year.

Montero was one of the league leaders in goals scored this year. His 12 goals on the season blew away any other newcomer in that category. While he didn’t win a Golden Boot award he did gain a lot of attention for his flashy play and sometimes questionable diving. Still there was little doubt for the majority of the season that Montero wasn’t going to be the Newcomer of the Year.

As for Thornton, last week he won the Goalkeeper of the Year and now is the Comeback Player of the Year. Thornton was considered a lost cause last year when he came to Chivas from New York to fill in for the departed Brad Guzan. Most expected he wouldn’t be back for 2009 because of his weight issues but Thornton got himself into top shape and his play this season spoke for itself. He led Chivas USA to a 13-11-6 record and posted a career best 12 shutouts and 0.87 goals against average.

It seems like the clock had been turned back to 1998 this year as a revival for Chivas USA keeper Zach Thornton took place. It was just 11 seasons ago that Thornton won his first keeper of the year, now he has two as the league announced today that he was named the 2009 Goalkeeper of the Year.

Thornton took home my vote and plenty others from the rest of the media thanks to his lean-mean goals-against average of 0.87 (the second-lowest in league history). He also allowed just 23 goals in 27 games and has amassed 12 shutouts. Not bad considering he was nearly dead in the water in some folks eyes just a year ago.

Thornton took over toward the end of last year when he came over from New York to replace the departed Brad Guzan. Most people figured Chivas was in big danger this year of falling off the wagon with Thornton in goal but in the offseason Big Zach became a much leaner and healthier Zach, which saw his production go way up.

Congrats to Zach, he certainly earned it this year.

Now I’m not saying Richie Williams should be the next New York coach, because let’s face it the Red Bulls front office brass aren’t smart enough to hire him for the full-time gig anyways. They didn’t do it before when they took over a few years ago and they won’t do it now.

Sad too since Williams should be a head coach in this league and will eventually get his chance to someday soon.

But you want some fun perspective about Williams? He is the club’s best coach in the history of the club. I’m not even kidding. Brad Lewis wrote this yesterday about William’s return to the main seat and the proof is how they say in the pudding:

Williams coached the team to a 4-3-2 record in all competitions after Mo Johnston got sacked in 2006, including 3-3-2 in eight league games. It’s a sad indictment of this woebegone club that now, with 14 points in his nine league games, that’s statistically the most successful tenure ever as coach. No, seriously.

Only Carlos Queiroz (34 in 24 for 1.42 ppg) and go-for-broke Octavio Zambrano (who eschewed ties and amassed 131 points in 85 games for 1.54 ppg) come close. With today’s win, Williams jumped up to 1.55 ppg and leapfrogged both of them by getting this dysfunctional and dispirited team to band together and work for each other for 90 minutes.

I love when things are like that for a club that just can’t seem to figure it out. The answer is right in front of them and yet they still will screw the next coaching hire up.

More on the Red Bulls Future

Link

SBI got a big long interview with Red Bull front-man Erik Stover about the state of things surrounding the club. A lot of usual management speak out of Stover here. But still worth a read to see what he has to say about the club’s future going forward here. All I can say it is a long and bumpy road ahead for this club.

Houston Stadium Getting Closer

Link

There has been a lot of money and tax hold up in the Houston Dynamo stadium situation but it is getting closer and closer here. The Houston Chronicle says the deal is in the home stretch and that can only mean we are closer to seeing some shovels in the ground.

Thornton’s 2009 Successes

Link

Zach Thornton’s successes this season have been well documented and talked about on here and other places this season. Hard to believe Thornton has eight shutouts this season! If you had told me at the start of the season that he would have done that I would have thought you were crazy!

I have to say thought he is easily on the fast track for Comeback Player of the Year and possibly Goalkeeper of the Year this season.

Jozy Experiment Going Well So Far

Link

Not a bad start to his EPL life for Jozy Alitdore. He comes in late in the game for Hull and quickly helps his club to a game-winning goal. I like this Big Soccer post because of the fun Twitter comments from Jozy. Its a decent read.

Today Garber selected two RSL players (the game is at Rio Tinto Stadium): Kyle Beckerman and Javier Morales.

Good picks, especially since I highly doubt either would have been picked by Kinnear and since they are the home town favorites.

Good to also see Garber not go with David Beckham. However I do have three other guys that I was kind of hoping to see in these two spots. (I’m picking three because I am assuming Dominic Kinnear may do one of the picks)

Those three are: Chivas USA keeper Zach Thornton, RSL midfielder Clint Mathis, and DC midfielder/forward Santino Quaranta.

I kind of see Quaranta getting picked by Kinnear but I was kind of hoping to see The Don go this way in his selections. I put Thornton up there since he is having a stellar comeback season this year. Mathis I thought is a little more deserving than both Beckerman or Morales here if he wanted to go with a RSL player.

What do you make of The Don’s picks? Good or bad?

Guillermo Barros Schelotto got the best of Claudio Lopez on Saturday in KC. (Brian Stevens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

If you blinked this weekend you may have missed some changes in the standings this weekend. A couple clubs continues to fall down the standings while a couple more continue to rise. Also we saw the western race (and the overall race for that matter) tighten up a bit with a Chivas win and a Houston win this weekend.

I believe the groups I’ve mentioned a couple weeks ago in the standings are still shaping up though one or two teams may have shifted around in the groups. The bottom of the barrell is still what it has been for a while now this year.

The Shifting Crew

The biggest move though may be one few noticed due to their game being on at the same time as the US national team’s game on Saturday (yeah, genius plan to schedule it like that). Columbus notched another win in typical Crew fashion this week in Kansas City behind two goals from their MVP and probably current league MVP front-runner Guillermo Barros Schelotto. With GBS scoring instead of setting up the goals this season we are seeing a slightly different Crew side this season but one that is starting to get results.

Sometimes it takes a club a while to get use to a new coach but if you didn’t notice the Crew are back in playoff contention right now. They also have a game to spare on those above them in the east.

Weird part may be though that this club still isn’t healthy here in the least bit this season. But as always good teams figure out a way to get results no matter the lineup. Columbus was still a good team at the start of the season but now they are finishing out games and getting points rather than struggling to get draws. Its hard to keep in mind that they’ve only lost twice this season.

One more thing, when I look at KC I still see a quality team here but I’ll keep saying it, they are missing one to two key elements to make them really good here. I think keeping their attack through Josh Wolff and Claudio Lopez can help but the playmaking in the middle just isn’t there enough. Also the defensive mistakes are really hurting this club. The U-8 style defending on the first goal just won’t get it done. I know Jimmy Conrad is already taking the blame for that goal.

Chivas Rolls Yet Again

It didn’t seem to take much but Chivas USA continues to stay at the top. Give credit once again to Preki for finding the bunch to get it done this week after his lineup was changed a bit due to Sacha Kljestan and Jonathan Bornstein’s US callups and Jesse Marsch’s suspension.  Still the lineup produced what it needed to to get the three points against the Sounders.

Once again give a lot of credit to Zach Thornton in the back for keeping Fredy Montero and company off the boards. He showed some true MVP form in goal Saturday night.

While the Chivas attack isn’t fancy they get the job done. Eduardo Lillingston, Maykel Galindo and Paulo Nagamura combined on the game’s lone goal. I loved the heart those three showed on the play, they pressed hard and got the result. Too many times clubs aren’t pressing enough on goal and that could be a reason why we see so many draws.

I’m also wondering about Seattle now. Is the early success coming to a head and we are seeing this expansion side be an expansion side? Sigi Schmid could use some healthy players to cure that but this group is falling a bit. Maybe a visit from San Jose coming up will help.

Toronto Continues To Stumble

Talk about a bad stretch of play for Toronto FC. A blowout loss a week ago in Houston followed by an embarassing loss in Vancouver in the Canadian Cup. Most thought a home game against a LA squad that would be without Landon Donovan would be the answer to get them back on the winning ways. Instead Edson Buddle made sure his former side didn’t get the three points.

I still don’t know what to make of this win for LA. While it is good I still don’t beleive they have the depth to stay like this without Donovan this summer. Still a win is a win and I am sure this bunch will take it even if it is only their second one of the year.

Toronto on the other hand dips back down into the territory that they shouldn’t be in. The place below the top group of clubs and right in the middle pack that could go either up or down here. Right now they are falling fast though. Maybe this is their usual summer slump too. I still believe this club has plenty of talent to be good in this league but they lack a finisher up top. Until they get a true go-to scorer they will continue to be middle of the pack here.

Houston Rising

Don’t look now but Houston is up there in the standings with Chicago and Chivas. Stuart Holden and company jumped all over Chicago early and held on with their strong defense late to keep Chicago off the board.

Houston continues to impress with their defense, which is the best in the league at the moment in terms of goals against. I think we are also seeing their offense click a good bit here with the play of Holden. He knew he ahd to be a leader this season and he is definitely showing it.

What’s with Chicago at home here this season? Just like last year they struggle at home while playing very well on the road (league best road record 4-0-3). They tend to give up a lot of easy goals at home for some reason and defensively make me question just how deep this club really is.

Yeah, Colorado May Be That Good

I know it was a draw but the fashion the Rapids scored their game-tying goal late in Salt Lake gave me the impression that this club probably can compete without the services of Conor Casey up top. Good thing too since they will be missing him a decent bit this summer.

Omar Cummings was a good go-to filling if you will for Colorado. It’s exactly what the Rapids need out of him when Casey is gone. His speed is there and right now is finishing is starting to be there more for him. If that keeps up the Casey-Cummings duo could be a really fun one to watch this season.

I know RSL had the bulk of chances in this game but finishing continues to ruin what could be a really good club this season. I think once the summer transfer window opens up in a few weeks we will see this club change up a good bit. Jason Kreis has to make some moves to get this club back to where many expected them to be here at the start of the season.

Bottom Clubs Are There For A Reason

I wasn’t at all about to get excited over the recent play of Dallas and San Jose here. While both are starting to slightly come around here this season they are both still not very good. Its sad too since both have the potential to be good but just can’t get over the hump on a few items.

Both San Jose goals were just a product of terrible defense by Dallas here. More of the same if you will from the back four for Dallas, bad give aways in terrible spots.

But for Dallas both goals were very good to see. Great build ups by Jeff Cunninham on the first after a quick restart by David van den Burgh. David Ferrierra bags his first MLS goal (finally) on the play. Brek Shea helped set up the game-tying goal to Kenny Cooper. Just the kind of build up you need from this side, which makes me want to see more of Shea in the lineup here for Dallas.

Still I do like Dallas shifting their lineup a bit by moving Jeff Cunningham to the wing. His pace on the wing is much needed on a hot day like yesterday. The thing though about a guy like Cunningham is he isn’t always there for you out there. Too many times he gives up on plays but at the same time he could have been more involved at times.

The man of this match for me though had to be Ray Burse. For Dallas fans I think it is easy to say Burse has claimed his spot as the starting keeper for the club, even when Dario Sala is healthy again.

New England Lays Into New York

For a while we’ve said that New England will be good once their offense gets going. Well after a four goal effort yesterday I wonder if everyone else is still having doubts about this club like they were a few weeks back. Thing about this club is they’ve seemed to get over the hump a bit in terms of the amount of injuries that they had early on this season and are finally seeing results on the field that we’ve come to expect out of Steve Nicol’s bunch.

Kudos to Taylor Twellman for becoming joining the 100 goal club. No doubt his play on the field is sparking this club in a big way. I still have little doubt that he will go into the books before long as the all-time leading scorer in league history.

So what can we make of New York here? Six goals against in two road losses this week. They still haven’t found the back of the net here and most are certainly calling for Juan Carlos Osorio’s head now. Would it even be the best move for this club going forward? Maybe and maybe not. All I can say is the moves that were made by Osorio haven’t worked and that may be enough for a dismissal. It’s just gone from bad to down right sad there.

Other Notes:

The butts-in-seats look this weekend wasn’t all that bad. Everyone had at least 11K except for the lowly figure in Dallas yesterday. No way in hell there was even 5700+ at Pizza Hut Park. You’d have to count for all the workers at the stadium and the folks playing on some of the other fiels in the area to make that number. Now I know that is technically the number of tickets sold but its a pathetic number nonetheless.

Best crowd this weekend may have been at Rio Tinto Stadium for the Rocky Mountain Cup match between the Rapids and RSL. A near sell-out according to the final attendance numbers.

I’ve met Thornton a couple times and he’s a cool guy to listen to so this interview was nothing short of what you’d expect to get out of him.

Have a listen!




Jesse Marsch and Chivas USA continue to roll. (Getty Images)

Another week down in Major League Soccer and a lot of things remain the same around the league. Week seven is in the books here Chivas USA still remains the league’s top club. Other things that are still constant in the league include:

- New York still struggling
- Columbus still struggling to win
- Chicago still drawing games, yet still undefeated
- Dallas still losing games
- Salt Lake still losing on the road
- Attendance still so-so across the league

And a little sidebar that a couple of you pointed out to me, I picked every game correctly this past week. Some of the scores weren’t right on but I did have all the winners correct and all the draws be 1-1. Yeah, sorry to toot my own horn but sometimes it is nice to be right.

Chivas Still In Front

Some how, some way this club continues to lead the pack. Another gritty win without the help of Sasha Kljestan. But what they are getting is loads of good defense (they lead the league in goals-against). Only three goals against in eight league matches. Not bad at all my friends, not bad at all. And you know what they say, defense wins championships.

Anyways, I’d say a big reason is right now Preki is getting a lot out of his back four and even more so out of Zach “Turn the clock back” Thornton. The big guy between the pipes is making me think it is 1998 all over again.

Scary part is this club is slowly getting healthier by the week. Justin Bruan is starting to get more involved with the attack and as San Jose found out that is not a good thing. Plus with more guys coming back like Sacha Victorine and Maykel Galindo it just shows how deep this club is going to be for the long run.

As for the Quakes, the winless streak is at six. May be time for Frank Yallop to redo some of his line up to make up for the defensive issues going on. But then again the offense isn’t looking any better right now either.

Salt Lake Falls In Colorado

Again, it was hard to get so hyped up about last week’s 6-0 win for Salt Lake when you knew they had to turn around this week and go on the road to rival Colorado.

RSL continues to show they are missing a piece or two when it comes to playing on the road. For a team that was suppose to contend this season, they sure don’t get me thinking they will with the way they play on the road right now. Teams who win championships and contend find ways to win on the road.

It didn’t help to be a man-down for the entire second half either. And that they lost keeper Nick Rimando early in the game too. But in all the offense never got going for RSL.

The Rapids controlled the pace of this one early and really never let the visitors in this one. It was good to see this club finally take a real ownership of their home field. Sometimes it takes a rivalry game to do that too. Plus this club really starting to get interesting. With the way the west is playing this year this club could very well contend for one of those two auto-bids into the playoffs.

Seattle Looks Strong In Draw

For an expansion club Seattle goes on the road in Chicago against the league’s last undefeated team and comes out looking very good despite playing a man-down for a good chunk of the game. Seattle showed some serious grit after going a man-down and trailing shortly after in the second half when Chicago’s Marco Pappa put the Fire on top.

Some how, some way the Sounders placed a call to Tyrone to get them level in this one. Tyrone Marshall’s game tying goal gave the Sounders their first draw of the season and at the same time giving Chicago it’s forth straight tie (fifth of the season too). Freddie Ljungberg’s corner kick to Marshall was just poor marking on the Fire’s part. To be a man up and leave a guy like Marshall that open was pretty bad to see.

I don’t know what it is about the Fire but at some point they are going to lose one here. While some clubs aren’t good enough to win the Fire are playing just good enough not to lose at the moment. Hey, whatever gets you by but at the same time they get starting to get passed in the standings. Draws look good for only so long.

As for Seattle goes, they lost Fredy Montero to the red card on a bad elbow to Gonzalo Segares, who had a pretty rough game overall. I really felt even though the Sounders played a man-down they really out-played the Fire late in the game. Chicago had the possession and shots early but just like most clubs this year they were unable to get anything by Kasey Keller.

DC Continues To Roll

Look at DC here. Hard to believe they are sitting atop the eastern standings now and only have a single loss on the year. Credit those veterans for stepping up and credit that defense for really putting a clamp down on guys like Kenny Cooper.

What can you say about the two goals by Jamie Moreno too? Too calm and cool goals got United the three points after dropping an early goal to Dallas’ Andre Rocha (nice corner by the way for Dallas).

Dallas really never got solid possession in this one and that was due to DC stepping up their midfield play. DC pressed early and often in this one behind Moreno, Luciano Emilio and rookie Chris Pontius.

Defensively for Dallas they are still struggling. Schellas Hyndman can’t seem to get a grip on who to put in the middle of his defense and until he does his club will continue to give up easy goals down the middle of the pitch like they did on Saturday.

DC is improving each week here folks. Rookies are stepping up due to quality play of veterans and Tom Soehn’s club may be one to contend with here this season.

LA Gets First Win

Someone told me the other day that the best thing to happen to Chicago in the past two years was not landing Blanco or McBride but it was losing Juan Carlos Osorio. For some reason his club is still a mess despite new players starting to get playing time on a regular basis.

This one was pretty boring for the most part anyways. LA had the better chances overall but there weren’t that many to begin with. Neither club was holding possession too long but neither was creating many scoring chances either. LA lead the way with six attemps (five on goal) but New York only mustered up three shots and only one of those was on frame.

LA got their first win but this club still doesn’t look like a winner to me. Once they lose Landon Donovan this summer to Gold Cup and other national team duties they will easily stay near the bottom of the standings.

New York on the other hand is more confusing by the week. Osorio-watch may be in full force since his high-speed offense couldn’t even get more than one shot on goal against a club like LA. It wasn’t like the Galaxy defense stepped up their game for once it was more like New York couldn’t get their game going. While the Galaxy may not be a big winning club this season New York is quickly playing themselves out of playoff contention here before summer hits.

Crew Still Winless

Watching this game I made the classic mistake of walking away for a few minutes and missed both goals (left the room to see the news on the Cowboys training facility collapse). Anyways, Columbus again handled the Reds but were unable to get the three points again.

The Crew dominated the first half and had plenty of good chances on goal. Stefan Frei came up big for the Reds time and time again but early in the second half Emmanuel Ekpo’s sweet finish gave the Crew the lead for a few minutes. Chad Barrett got the homeside on the board no more than 10 minutes late to level the game.

The second half really was owned by Toronto after the Barrett goal. Mostly I think it was due to the subbing out of Guillermo Barros Schelotto midway through the second half. Without GBS the Crew weren’t holding possession well and weren’t getting the best passes in the offensive third of the field.

Columbus near got the lead back with Pat Noonan late in the second half but once again Frei came up big for Toronto.

A win for Columbus is coming though. You can sense it as they continue to improve each week here. The toughness that wasn’t there early on this season is starting to come back and once they get fully healthy the wins should start coming. Thing is before long it could be too little too late with the way some clubs are playing so far this season.

Toronto on the other hand is playing well. Another solid draw keeps them in the thick of things in the eastern conference. Now they have to turn their attention to the Canadian Cup this weekend when they host Vancouver on Wednesday.

Houston Starts To Catch A Break

Once Stuart Holden realized he was the man to lead Houston this season things started to click. That was the case yesterday as Houston finally caught a break and got out of their regular season funk against the Revs.

New England again failed to generate any sort of offense this week with only three shots in the game. The Revs’ only shot on goal didn’t come until just after the hour mark when Jeff Larentowicz header failed to do anything more than to give Pat Onstad something to do for once. Houston really controlled this one from start to finish with Holden and Brian Ching.

Once again it came down to a young defensive line in front of Matt Reis that caused New England to fall in this one. They weren’t able to handle any sort of pressure that Houston put on them as the Dynamo registered 14 shots in the game.

Until New England can get healthy again here this season they will continue to play this way. A bright spot though was seeing Taylor Twellman on the bench for this one as a sub. Apparently he isn’t too far from coming back which is something New England really needs to have at this point.

Houston is starting to really look good here. They still have some catching up to do out west but as we’ve seen out of them before, sometimes slow and steady wins the race.

Kansas City fans have been pretty good so far. (Brian Stevens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

Typically I do a version of this kind of thing for all MLS clubs but this time around I wanted to do something a little different with the typical Good, Bad, and Ugly column. Instead I will be looking at things in the league as a whole that I have liked, disliked and have absolutely hated thus far in the early going of the season.

Most of this is stuff I’ve been keeping track of here since the start of the season. I may ramble on a bit but you are always welcome to do the same below.

Good:

Quality crowds in Seattle, Toronto and even in smaller venues like San Jose or Kansas City. I believe there is a reason why San Jose and KC want smaller soccer stadiums for their future. It doesn’t all have to do with money and not being able to consistently fill those stadiums, it is because they have the fans that create good atmosphere (I think both clubs have underrated supporter’s groups). The same sort of thing you see in Seattle and Toronto. Passionate fans equal a good time at the park.

Bad:

So-so numbers in places like LA for Galaxy and Chivas games, Chicago for Fire games and DC for United games. For those clubs it doesn’t really deal with a lack of advertising or even the clubs being bad on the field. Its honestly an economical thing in my eyes.

Still seeing bad numbers in Colorado and Columbus too. Thing about the Rapids is though they’ve only played one home game so far. With the club doing pretty well so far this year things could change in their favor in terms of butts-in-seats.

Ugly:

Numbers we see in Dallas are just terrible. The fact that the club has gotten a shade under 12k for their last two home games is pathetic. Marketing around Dallas is nearly non-existent, and people just can’t get excited about this club. It has little to do with the performance on the field I think (because the town supports baseball’s Rangers decently enough each year and they are largely just as bad if not worse), but it deals more with a lack of knowledge about the club in the local community.

Good:

Impressive starts from clubs like Chivas and New England. Let’s be real honest, did anyone expect either of these clubs to be undefeated after five weeks of play? If you did then you are probably very rich.

Bad:

Not-so-good starts from clubs that we expect to be good like Houston or to a lesser extent Real Salt Lake. We know of Houston’s typical early season slowness but RSL is on a different path with how bad they play on the road in the early goings this season.

Ugly:

Until this past week, the ugliness that was New York’s start of the new season. While LA and Dallas were pretty ugly in the early going, they at least were able to find the back of the net in a consistent manner. New York saw four games with no actual goals. The one that was marked in the score column in the 1-1 draw to New England was an own goal by New England’s Jay Heaps.

Things are starting to turn but the Red Bulls dug themselves a decent-sized hole to start the season, not to mention that no club (correct me if I am wrong) has reached the playoffs after going scoreless in their first four games.

Good:

Surprising starts for players like Kasey Keller (who still has it), Conor Casey (who is showing he can lead), and Davy Arnuad (three sweet goals).

Other quality starts to the year include play out of Ben Olsen, Luciano Emilio, the Freds from Seattle, and nearly most of the Seattle lineup (even with the two game slump), Kenny Cooper, Javier Morales, and Dwayne De Rosario.

Bad:

Slower than normal starts from Juan Pablo Angel, Darren Huckerby, Sasha Kljestan, and Robbie Rogers. Some are due to injuries and others who knows.

Ugly:

I think maybe the start from the Columbus Crew as a whole could go here. I know I have higher expectations for this club. Offensively they should not have Guillermo Barros Schelotto as their leading scorer. He needs to be leading the assist category for this club to be success. Maybe the club owners needed to open their wallets a bit more in the offseason to upgrade the offense.

Good:

Rookies have started off particularly well this season in comparison to last year. I think it may be even safe to say that this year’s class has already out done what last year’s did.

Bad:

New additions barely making a mark on their new clubs, that even that is slowly starting to turn around positively. I look at guys like David Ferriera, who up until this past week hadn’t made a dent into the Dallas offense. Hopefully for the Red Stripes, that assist was the first of many to come this season. Also, other guys like Santiago Hirsig for Kansas City are still (slowly) getting use to the MLS game.

Ugly:

No real ugly in talks with the rookies/newcomers but let’s talk about the amount of red cards so far this season. Referee Tim Weyland comes to mind from the Galaxy-Chivas game. He had a bad night to say the least by handing out 11 cards, including three reds. I don’t care if this was a derby game you just shouldn’t have to do that. Let the boys play!

Good:

Veteran keepers leading the pack, along with a couple surprises like New England fill-in Brad Knighton. Mainly it seems like Keller in Seattle, Pat Onstad in Houston, and a blast from the past in Chivas’s Zach Thornton.

I know I’ve killed Chivas for not finding a better keeper than Thornton but at least the big guy is making me eat my words so far this year. Five games in, two goals against with three clean sheets. Not bad, not bad indeed.

Lastly, is it me or does LA keeper Donovan Ricketts seem like a possible saving grace for that club? Two games and only one goal against. So far I have ben impressed with his play.

Bad:

Keepers you’d expect to be doing fine each week like Columbus’s Will Hesmer or San Jose’s Joe Cannon. Its been part sloppiness and weak defensive play for Hesmer and for Cannon just an overworked backline that is aging quicker than most thought.

Ugly:

I look a couple games this season with really ugly keeping. A couple New York games came to mind with Danny Cepero. Boy you could tell they wanted Jon Conway back in a hurry.