Columbus Crew

Okay, first things first: Giants Stadium is huge and terrible for soccer.

Red Bull Arena can't open soon enough. I'm sure the Meadowlands is a great place to go watch throwball, but for footie, not so much. It's cavernous, it's empty, the pitch is tiny, and the surface is almost comically hard.

Now, about the game. Neither team played well, which was to be expected from RBNY, but the Crew really should have come away with the win. Plenty of chances, superior talent, better coaching—the Crew wins this game on paper any day of the week.

But that's why they play the game.

I was impressed with the "never say die" attitude New York showed. Those guys know they're just playing for pride at this point, and they did everything they could to make sure Columbus didn't walk all over them. I think it's called "mental toughness" in the biz.

As for the Crew, it was one of the least-inspired games I've seen them play in the last two years. They were literally just going through the motions, merely looking forward to a night on the town in Manhattan.

It was obvious that not a lot of heads were in the game.

They could have put on a clinic and won by four goals, but they didn't.

They could have taken first place in the league (Houston lost earlier in the day), but they didn't.

There were about fifty things they could have done to leave New Jersey with three points and first place, but none of them happened, for whatever reason.

They say every team has its off days, and I think that holds true here—to a point.

But at the same time, I just didn't see any fire in the eyes of the Columbus squad on Sunday night. I don't know if the guys didn't care, or were looking past RBNY, but in the end it showed on the scoreline: they got beat by a team that flat-out wanted it more.

Let's hope that was a fluke, and not an indication of things to come.

What if there was a promotion/relegation system in North American football?  The rest of the world does it.  Why couldn't it be done in Canada and the United States.

I doubt it will ever become a reality, but I am going to take a look at what the top three leagues would look like if there was such a system in America.

Current tables:

MLS W-L-T Points

1. Houston 11-7-7 40
2. Columbus 10-4-9 39
3. Los Angeles 9-4-11 38
4. Chicago 10-6-8 38
5. Seattle 8-6-10 34
6. New England 9-6-6 33
7. Colorado 9-7-6 33
8. Chivas USA 10-9-3 33
9. Real Salt Lake 9-9-6 33
10. D.C. United 7-5-11 32
11. Toronto FC 8-8-7 31
12. FC Dallas 6-7-5 23
13. Kansas City 5-10-6 21
14. San Jose 5-12-5 20
15. New York 4-16-4 16

USL Division 1 W-L-T Points

1. Portland 14-1-10 52
2. Carolina 14-5-7 49
3. Charleston 12-4-10 46
4. Puerto Rico 12-5-8 44
5. Rochester 9-8-8 35
6. Montreal 9-10-6 33
7. Vancouver 8-9-8 32
8. Miami FC 7-14-4 25
9. Minnesota 5-12-8 23
10. Austin 4-13-8 18
11. Cleveland 3-16-7 16

USL Division 2 W-L-T Points

1. Wilmington 12-5-3 39
2. Richmond 11-3-6 39
3. Harrisburg 9-7-4 31
4. Charlotte 8-5-7 31
5. Real Maryland 8-10-2 25
6. CP Baltimore 6-9-5 23
7. Western Mass 6-9-5 23
8. Pittsburgh 6-10-4 22
9. Bermuda 4-12-4 16

11.06 EDT.  Robbie Rogers blows by Mexican international Corrado Torrado.  US players continue to show their mettle against top Mexican players.  Still, unshockingly, MLS Big Wednesday in the Champions League is still heading down the tubes. 

DC United has already lost 3-1 to Toluca in RFK.

The Columbus Crew, down a man and three goals, are fighting Cruz Azul valiantly after a halftime break full of commercials geared toward nervous middle aged Americans.  Data and Hair loss solutions were both offered, as usual.

Now the commentators are talking about saving the MLS from embarrassment—and the players should take head:  Their paychecks come direct from the Manhattan League office. I wonder if Commissioner Don Garber sign them?

Is Garber watching?  Looks to me as if about 138 Mexicans are, even in soccer crazy Ciudad de Mexico—even against us crowd drawing gringos.  At the corner kicks, security guards in riot gear protect US players from projectiles thrown from the crowd, though not a single fan is visible in the stands within throwing range.  

I guess a couple of Mexicanos have good enough arms to hurl a nine volt battery eighty yards, so maybe the efforts of the guards are not too absurd.

Frankie Hejduk—giving his all, as usual. One of the real storied players in the history of the USMNT. So many memories.

Restricted in salary, squad size, and squad compostion, every MLS club is at a severe disadvantage in international competitions, so there's really no drama here. The days of DC United winning the Interamerican Cup and the LA Galaxy winning the Champions Cup are now over a decade old. 

International competitions that include MLS clubs have become relatively predictable. 

Maybe our southern neighbors are weathering the recession better than the MLS  franchisers. Or maybe the sparse Mexican crowd is on to something: Maybe they see, like most US soccer fans, that we're not making our best efforts to create a league that can represent us on the international stage.

Another good play from Robbie Rogers. Gotta get that kid out of the exhibition league that stands in for our first division—though as a college draftee, he's already older than the vast majority of American exports.

FSC commentators are now promising hordes of angry Crew supporters on the return leg. I hope so.

And as I write this—PK awarded to Cruz Azul,

4-0

If you read my other stories, you may think I'm happy about this result.  After all, it serves my argument for the disenfranchisement of the MLS and USL. To open our leagues like every other major soccer nation. To put clubs in front of leagues.

If that's true, why does it suck watching this?

Ugh.

Now it's 5-0.

Ugh.

Now the game is over, and to add insult to injury—Peyton Manning is there on the first commercial out, promoting the DirecTV NFL package.

Brutal.

Tomorrow night, the Columbus Crew will take on Deportivo Cruz Azul and try to do something no Major League Soccer team has ever done: Win a game in Mexico.

MLS All-Time Record in Mexico:

1998—Leon vs. Colorado 4:2

2001—Santos vs. Kansas City 4:2

2002—Pachuca vs. San Jose 3:0

2002—Morelia vs. Chicago 2:0

2002—Santos vs. Kansas City 2:1

2002—Morelia vs. Kansas City 6:1

2003—Morelia vs. Columbus 6:0

2003—Necaxa vs. LA Galaxy 2:1

2005—Pumas vs. DC United 5:0

2007—Chivas vs. DC United 2:1

2007—Pachuca vs. Houston 5:2 AET

2007—Chivas vs. DC United 1:0

2008—Pachuca vs. DC United 2:0

2008—Cruz Azul vs. DC United 2:0

2008—Pumas vs. Houston 4:4

2009—Atlante vs. Houston 3:0

16 Matches = 15 Losses and 1 Draw

Wednesday's game is the first leg of a home-and-home series between the two powerhouse clubs who are currently wrapped up in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Most believe that the winner of this series will advance to the tournament final, and possibly the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.

I'm not going to go into a lot of statistical analysis. I'll leave that to others. What I will say, without any shadow of a doubt, is that this Columbus side has a better chance than any MLS club before it of winning south of the border.

Not to sell any of the other American clubs short, but they just weren't as Massive as we are.

Look at it this way:

• Columbus is stocked full of South Americans. The hardest things about playing in Mexico are the crowds and the altitude, both of which are nearly identical to what these guys—Schelotto, Padula, Moreno—played in growing up. And the guys on the Columbus roster who aren't from the southern hemisphere will have had a crash course in how to acclimate to the outside forces. 
• The Crew refuse to roll over. These guys, all 21 who made the trip, hate to lose and will do whatever it takes to win. That's no different from any other team that's ever taken a field, except for when you look at what these guys have done this year—eight straight games without a loss (five of those without their leading scorer) while playing through injuries, national team call-ups and god knows what else—to stay at the top of the league. 
• Columbus knows that they have a lot to lose. Everyone that flew to Mexico City with the Crew, from the coach down to the equipment manager, knows that winning in Mexico is a lot harder for the Crew than winning in Columbus is for Cruz Azul, and bringing the series back to Ohio with an advantage is going to be huge. Crew Stadium will be much more welcoming if we have a cushion. 
• Three championship letters: GBS. Guillermo Barros Schelotto, one of the winningest Argintines ever to play soccer. The guy has nine League Championships, 11 International Titles, and is the most dangerous attacker this side of the Atlantic. He will, if needed, put this team on his back and carry them to victory. He once scored three goals in the second half for Boca Juniors in a Copa Libertadores match. Guillermo will save the day. 

All in all, this is going to be a classic matchup that will go largely under the radar. Not a lot of people follow this Champions League, opting for the European version instead.

But I'm here to tell you, our games are just as good, and though they may not have the name recognition, our players are just as dedicated to proving that they are the best on the continent.

Last night, the Columbus Crew hosted its first-ever CONCACAF Champions League match, taking on the Puerto Rico Islanders. It was the first meaningful international match the Crew has played since 2003.

The Islanders came in and immediately bunkered, hoping to take a tie and a point back to the island for the second leg of this home-and-home, total-goals series. But the Crew showed how massive it is and played through the defense—taking shots, pressuring, and waiting for the Islanders to get tired or make a mistake.

It took 58 minutes of grueling—and sometimes violent—soccer, but the goal finally came. Steven Lenhart took a crisp pass from Chad Marshall and buried it in the net, giving the Crew a solid 1-0 lead.

Twenty minutes later, Robbie Rogers doubled the Columbus advantage, gathering a loose ball in front of the net and poking it home. The game was as good as over at that point, but the Crew continued to press and nearly scored a few more times, while Puerto Rico kept right on bunkering.

To his credit, Islanders goalkeeper Bill Gaudette endured the Crew onslaught better than most thought he would. The Crew took shot after shot, 15 in all, and the former Crew netminder saved all but two. Gaudette was also treated to his fair share of heckling from a raucous Nordecke—who chanted "Columbus reject" and "dig it out Billy" more than once.

The Nordecke, the infamous section of Crew stadium that is home to the Crew's three largest supporters groups, treated the 6,000 in attendance to a pregame serenade when it sang the Star Spangled Banner before kickoff. It was completely spontaneous, and a little muddled at first, but we sounded good after everyone realized what was going on.

It was a quality win for the Crew, who with the victory took the lead in the so-called "group of death" and need to win as many home game as possible to advance in this tournament.

We can all agree that, as an organization, Columbus is taking the Champions League very seriously.

Last night a handful more than 19,000 people crammed into Crew Stadium to watch the hometown side extend it’s home unbeaten streak to 20 games and it’s overall winning streak to five against FC Dallas.

There really isn’t much to say about this game, The Crew played like champs (again) and dominated a Dallas team that many people thought was making a late-season playoff run. Dallas, led by forward Jeff Cunningham, had exactly zero shots on goal in the entire first half. For those of you who are new to the game: Our goalkeeper, Sir William Hesmer, didn’t need to make a save for 45 straight minutes.

Of course, the FC Dallas goalie didn’t make a save for the entire game, but that’s because all of our shots on goal went into the net.

It was one of those games that was both fun to watch yet excruciating to endure. Columbus had chances all night long—on breakaways, crosses, pass combinations into the box—but they were mostly a few inches off the mark, leaving the crowd stunned and wondering why we didn’t finish.

I don’t want to be a downer, but I’m going to rant for a second: We had a horrible touch all night long. there were many times when a nice, easy pass was needed but the ball was sent sailing. There were at least three times (probably more) where the ball was given away because our guys didn’t cradle an incoming pass, and more often than I’d like to admit we simply sent the ball way off it’s mark. In short, we got lucky a lot last night.

Rant, part two: Why did no one, except Eddie Gaven, take the ball to the net and put it away? There were multiple times when Robbie Rogers, Alejandro Moreno, or Emmanuel Ekpo would break open a run down the sideline, get into the box, and then pull up and look for a pass.

I think I can speak for a lot of people when I say that our guys need to start taking people on. There is nothing wrong with going one on one, fellas. We’d much rather you take the shot than pull up and then give the ball away. All it takes is some cojones.

Ok, thanks. Rant over.

Chad Marshall’s score in the 10th minute was another automatic goal from a guy that has a big red “X” on his back. Opposing teams try and stop him but he just keeps putting the ball in the net and he’s not going to stop embarrassing MLS defenses until he finally makes the jump to Europe.

And then there was Eddie Gaven. In the 87th, Eddie broke off at midfield, ran down the middle, made four FCD players fall over, and then scored. It was as simple as that, he just took the ball to the goal and beat the keeper. You know, like soccer players are supposed to do.

For their part, Dallas ran around the field aimlessly for the better part of 90 minutes. They had a few chances, the most worrisome was in the 72nd, but Sir Willie denied Jeff Cunningham and they remained scoreless. The Hoops did a great job of proving that their two-game “winning streak” wasn’t as big of a deal as everyone thought.

Everyone’s favorite MVP, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, entered the game in the 90th minute to a standing ovation. He was put in for one reason and one reason alone: to log a minute in a game so that one of the yellow cards he accumulated would come off of his record.

It was a quality win for The Massive, though there are some things that we need to work on before we get too deep into Champions League play. The Puerto Rico Islanders come to town on Tuesday night to get that little party kicked off, and I hope that the reason for our foibles on Saturday was the guys taking it easy on Dallas so they can unload on PR.

I hope. [Photo by Studio 79]

That ugly little blurry cam photo up there was taken last night at the 2009 Columbus Crew Supporters’ Summit. It was a chance for we the fans to come out to the stadium and have an open forum with the management and a few players from the only thing we love as much as breathing: The Massive.

I won’t go into specifics since Kristina has a pretty good write up over on The Offside, but I will tell you that, for a bunch of sports executives and minor celebrities (except Frankie, he’s played in the Olympics and World Cup, therefore he’s a certified BFD), they were pretty candid and open.

Everyone had a beer in hand, jokes were told, Danny O was made fun of, and we the fans got to vent. The honchos may have even been paying attention.

I’ve chatted with General Manager Mark McCullers a number of times in the past, and he’s a really nice guy—always quick to buy your drink or listen while you tell him how he should be doing his job. Last night was no different, he and the rest of the gang sat and took our questions comments and criticisms in stride.

Comments from the peanut gallery were all over the spectrum, from strategic questions for Coach Warzycha to where Brian Carroll is going to tailgate during his one-game suspension this week.

Some people should have kept their mouth shut because they were just wasting oxygen with their questions (I swear one guy said he couldn’t hear the National Anthem from his seat), but most of us added to a lively discussion and made suggestions that really should (and probably will) be implemented—McCullers was most impressed by the suggestion to have signs by the gates reminding exiting fans when the next home game is.

You would have been amazed, as I was, at the quality of questions and suggestions about increasing attendance and turning Columbus into a real soccer town.

I was most pleased to hear that the front office recognizes that in order to grow the team’s popularity in central Ohio the emphasis on marketing to youth soccer teams, and their mom’s, is not really the way to go.

McCullers was quick to point out that he and the rest of the organization are working hard to tap into the market at and around Ohio State and draw from it’s students, faculty, staff, and fans.

He acknowledged that to put the most “butts in seats” the demographic that needs to be captured is the young professionals and college students—but he also admitted that they’re the hardest to bring in.

All in all it was a candid discussion between to very different groups of people who are whole-heartedly invested in the same goal: making the Columbus Crew the most successful MLS team, both on the field and off.

We are massive.

The Columbus Crew have officially shown the world that winning the 2008 MLS Cup wasn't a fluke. The Crew traveled to San Jose to play the Earthquakes in the early half of a day/night doubleheader that also featured CD Guadalajara and FC Barcelona.

After a first half which was at times painful to watch, Columbus coach Robert Warzycha decided it was time to change things up. A 60th minute switch of Alejandro Moreno for Jason Garey followed by Emmanuel Ekpo for Eddie Gaven in the 63rd proved to be just the shot in the arm that the team needed.

Moreno opened the floodgates in the 69th when Ekpo swung the ball in to Robbie Rogers, who then headed it to Moreno for the goal. It was a perfect example of patient soccer, as the good guys just waited for an opening and then took the shot.

Robbie and Ale Mo both showed great presence as they played off each other, with Alejandro stuck between two defenders and just waiting for the ball. It was truly a "smart" goal.

Rogers got his first goal of the year just four minutes later after taking a through ball from Ekpo. Robbie received the ball in the corner of the penalty area, juked two defenders, dribbled one more time and then hammered it home with his left to give Columbus the two goal lead.

Robbie really showed his speed and skill on this one, doing all the work himself and manufacturing a goal where there shouldn't have been one. If the 2009 Columbus Crew could be summed with one goal, it would be this one, simply because Robbie played tough and never gave up until the ball was in the net. God, I love that kid.

Coach "Polska Bob" Warzycha hadn't seen enough, though. An 84th minute sub of Adam Moffat for Steven Lenhart was, maybe, his best coaching decision of the game. It was in the 86th minute that Gino Padula took a corner and Adam Moffat put the ball in the net with authority for his first goal of the year and only the third of his injury-plagued MLS career.

There have been some people this season who've said that Moffat isn't worth the trouble because of all of his injuries. I know it's only one goal in one game, but I think they can all shut up now, as long as Adam continues to play like he has the last couple of games.

Coach Bob knows this, and therefore putting Adam in was a stroke of genius.

After the game Coach Warczycha and the players agreed that the game was a lot closer than the scoreline indicated. I would tend to concur here, as San Jose had plenty of chances and gave us all a few scares, but were unable to convert on any of them.

The entire game was a simple case of one club waiting for goals to come to them and the other club making the goals happen. That's how championship-caliber teams perform week in and week out: they make things happen.

And that's why Columbus is proving that they actually are a championship team. Columbus has had five shut-outs in its last ten games, winning four in a row and going undefeated in its last seven, and has not allowed a goal on the road in three straight games.

Seattle may claim to have the best fans in the league, but the Crew is the best team.

Columbus faces some interesting challenges as it enters the CONCACAF Champions League, with 11 games over the next eight weeks, but they are proving that depth may not be quite as big as issue as we thought earlier in the year. The Bash Brothers are coming into their own, Alejandro and Adam are healthy again, Frankie Hejduk and Guillermo Barros Schelotto are working hard to get back from their injuries, and everyone else on the team is competing hard every day for a starting spot.

There really isn't a guy on our senior roster that can't come in and positively impact a game.

The only thing that may cause problems are national team call-ups but we've proven all summer long that we can put any 11 of our guys on the field and still win games.

All in all, this game may have not been the prettiest to watch, but it served to put the league on notice that the road to the Cup this year most certainly will go through Columbus.

Highlights here.

[IMG via Center Line Soccer]

On Saturday the Crew squared off against Toronto FC, and the result was nothing short of spectacular.

Some are saying that Saturday's Real Salt Lake/FC Dallas game was the best of the year so far in MLS. I beg to differ (I am a little biased): The Crew and TFC went toe to toe and threw everything they had at each other—they would have thrown the kitchen sink but it was out injured—and took the game down to the wire. 

No, really, it was decided in the 92nd minute. Feast your eyes on some highlights.

The game was monumental in many respects: The Crew were trying to hold onto the Trillium cup and break San Jose's 19-game home unbeaten streak. Toronto was trying to win its first game ever against Columbus and take home the Cup. Additionally, the winner would capture first place in the Eastern Conference. Needless to say there was a lot on the line.

It gives me great pleasure to report that Toronto has still never beat Columbus. 

As wonderful as that is, and as great as it was to kiss the cup after the game when Frankie Hejduk held it up to us in the Nordecke, and as satisfying as it was to send both of the TFC fans home with another loss to Columbus, there was one thing that gave me more joy than all of that: a full 93 minutes of Crew soccer.

This was the first game all year in which everything clicked for the entire game. The Crew put together a truly complete game, playing both ends of the field, following every ball, not giving up, and working their tails off to get the win. 

Columbus opened the scoring in the 32nd minute when hometown heartthrob Danny O'Rourke dribbled his way into the Toronto box and found Eddie Gaven for a goal. Toronto answered just three minutes later when Dwayne De Rosario cleaned up some garbage for his seventh goal of the year. 

Then, just as we were returning to our seats from half-time, Toronto pulled ahead via the foot of rookie Ali Gerba. Gerba should send a thank you note to Crew defender Andy Iro, who practically passed him the ball and then watched as the goal was scored. 

As we fans fell silent, stunned, we were all thinking the same thing: "I can play defense better than Andy Iro." The guy is big, sure, but he's also slow and is about a second behind with his decisions. And, at this level, one second is long enough to give up a goal. Thank God Chad Marshall is coming back from national team duty this week. 

But if Andy wants to keep playing on Saturdays, my rec league team needs a center back. We play at two o'clock in Dublin and I think we have a couple of jerseys left.

Steven Lenhart made up for Andy's mental lapse and tied it at two in the 76th minute with a scrappy goal that made the Toronto back line look like they're the ones who need to join a rec league. 

However, a tie would not be good enough this time (when is it really? No one likes to kiss their sister). If the game were to end in a tie, Toronto would clinch the Trillium Cup, based on fouls against of all things, and neither team would advance in the standings. Sure, Columbus would still break the home undefeated record, but we wanted it all. Besides, we've had enough ties this year, we want wins. 

Emmanuel Ekpo, who subbed in for Duncan Oughton in the 64th, did everything he could to put the ball in net, but to no avail. Adam Moffat, our Scottish savior, came in for Gino Padula in the 73rd and made a huge impact as a third striker. It scared the crap out of us fans to only have two guys playing defense, but what do we know?

As the clock neared 90, we all had a sinking feeling that it would end all square and Toronto would take the Cup for the first time in their (short) history. But the Dude always abides.

In the 92nd minute, our California surfer dude Frankie Hejduk, took a pass from Brian Carrol at a dead sprint and willed the ball onto the head of the other Bash Brother Jason Garey who placed it securely in the back of the net.

Game over. 3-2 to the Crew. Thanks for coming, folks.

The only thing I remember after Jason's ball found the net is thinking that I was going to die at the bottom of the dog-pile that had formed in the front row of the stands. I think there were a thousand people on top of me, all screaming and yelling and hugging each other. Did you know it's nearly impossible to high-five from a prone position? Well it is.

If last week's win was a miracle, this was like Christ rising from the dead. We went absolutely mental. 

And so it ended, this Battle Royale. Our foes from the great white north traveled home empty handed, again, and we celebrated long after the stands cleared. I wasn't kidding, by the way, I really did kiss the Cup. Not as cool as holding the MLS Cup, but still, pretty stellar.

Later that night the win got a little sweeter when, as though they weren't mad we broke their record, San Jose came back to tie DC United, giving the Crew sole possession of first place in the East. Thanks a lot 'Quakes, that was real swell of ya. 

The Crew heads off to Denver this week to face the Colorado Rapids. If we win that game, and Houston loses or ties against DC United, Columbus will regain their rightful place in the world: first place in the league.

Bring it. 

What is a “trillium,” anyway?  Perhaps MLS just made up the flower so they could figure out a way to sell their newest manufactured derby. 

But I won’t be too hard on Columbus since Joe G. is back to defend his one-point lead as guest prognosticator.

Week 19’s showpiece is the Trillium Cup, an Eastern Conference derby between the Columbus Crew (27 pts/18 GP) and Toronto FC (26 pts/18 GP).  As the Reds travel down to Crew Stadium, one must note that this is the first time the oddly-named Flower Cup actually means something to both teams and the league.

After two long years of expansion-team mediocrity, Toronto FC has finally emerged from the doldrums to become a significant contender to top the East.  They are neck-and-neck with their Ohio-based “rivals” for the first time since the Trillium Cup was instated last year.

As both teams have relatively equal schedules for the rest of the year, this match could be the difference for home-field advantage in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

Both teams will look to win, but the Crew will do it without their Gold Cup stars for a third consecutive week: defensive anchor Chad Marshall and prolific winger Robbie Rogers. 

League-leading goal-scorer Guillermo Barros Schelotto more than made up for their loss in a 3-1 thumping of RSL at Crew Stadium last week, a win that should tell the viewer that the Crew have learned to play without their stars.

Though with RSL’s repulsive road form, perhaps they were just given a pass.

Prolific road warriors, TFC will come in wanting to win after a disappointing home draw to a short-handed Dynamo last weekend.  They have lost no one of consequence to the Gold Cup, and while Dwayne DeRosario has orchestrated a fine attack force of Vitti, Barrett, and Serioux, all three players hiccupped against Houston.  They’ll have to regain their form if they wish to regain their position on top of the log.

Result: TFC 2-1 Crew (Joe says Crew, 2-1). TFC for the upset.  The Reds’ attack is too potent for the Crew’s reserve defense to handle, and the game is too important for Toronto to let the road affect them. But GSB should never be counted out for a goal.

As for the rest of this week’s fixtures:

FC Dallas (17 pts/17 GP) at Real Salt Lake (20 pts/17 GP) – Thursday night’s fixture features an overachieving underdog against an underachieving Western Conference contender.  RSL beat Club America without Kyle Beckerman, but felt their captain’s absence in a 3-1 road defeat to Columbus.  FCD has found ways to perform well without Kenny Cooper.

Result: FCD 0-1 RSL (Joe says RSL, 2-0). That hasn’t stopped them from losing, though. Expect that to continue with a fixture against RSL at Rio Tinto, the only place where RSL can perform well.

Chicago Fire (28 pts/17 GP) at Seattle Sounders (28 pts/17 GP) – ESPN’s Game of the Week, and rightly so. The last time the Fire and Sounders met, there were (soft) red cards, bruising hits, and four goals, the last two coming late from Seattle; goals that earned them a deserved road draw after dominating possession for most of the second half.

But that was in Chicago. This is in Seattle, where the fans will be euphoric and en masse despite the 2-0 loss to Chelsea last weekend.  Did you hear them screaming? I sure did.  From my window in California.  Expect that, and the absence of Brian McBride, to be the difference.

Result: Fire 1-3 Sounders (Joe says Sounders, 2-0).  The Sounders attack had corner kick practice against Chelsea. Expect that to pay off against the shorthanded Fire.

Los Angeles Galaxy (27 pts/18 GP) at Kansas City Wizards (20 pts/16 GP) – The Galaxy dominated the Red Bulls last week, but that’s easy one.  Curt Onalfo’s boys pose a tougher test for Landybecks and Co.  But with Becks shaking off the rust against Milan last Sunday with two amazing passes that led to goals, this should be a test they pass.

Result: Galaxy 3-2 Wizards (Joe says Galaxy, 2-1). The Galaxy’s defense is finally good enough to preserve points, but they must give up three howlers a game. That should be enough for Claudio Lopez and Herculez Gomez to do well, but they’ll still lose. 

Houston Dynamo (32 pts/18 GP) at New England Revolution (20 pts/15 GP) – Have the Revs finally hit their form? A home win against stumbling Chivas suggests so.  But can they do the same against a team who has maintained excellent form despite being shorthanded?  Short answer: yes, but probably not.  Result: Dynamo 1-1 Revs (Joe says Dynamo, 2-0)

DC United (27 pts/18 GP) at San Jose Earthquakes (13 pts/17 GP) – The Quakes finally have a chance to shake off their poor run of form against United this Saturday.  Even with a great win against Colorado, United still needs to find consistency on the road. That doesn’t mean they lose. Result: United 2-2 Quakes (Joe says United, 3-1)

Red Bull New York (10 pts/20 GP) at Colorado Rapids (24 pts/17 GP) – The Rapids lost a big game at United last week.  No matter. They’ll take it out on a team who could only threaten the goal if the defense gift-wraps for them a penalty kick. Result: Red Bulls 0-3 Rapids (Joe says Rapids, 2-0).

Matt: 3-3, 6 pts

Guest Prognosticators: 3-3, 7 pts