Major League Soccer Match Picks, Week 8, Weekend Edition

Missed on my Wednesday night pick. Thought that the New York Red Bulls would scratch out a draw with Sporting KC at home, but Sporting got the 1-0 win.

My pick for the weekend matches:

Winners: Colorado Rapids, New York Red Bulls and FC Dallas

Picking draws for the balance of the matches.

Major League Soccer Match Picks, Week 8, Wednesday Nighter

Last week I was 3 for 9, maintaining my 33% pick rate for the season. Dartboards beware!

Going to drop my Wednesday night pick now, with the rest of my match predictions coming later in the week.

The New York Red Bulls will manage a draw against Sporting KC at home.

Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Week 12, 5/30/12

Since Major League Soccer is on an International break, this will be the last Power Ranking for a couple of weeks.

The New York Red Bulls maintain the top spot this week and the Columbus Crew and Seattle Sounders make some big moves, although in opposite directions.

Biggest risers? The Columbus Crew rise 10 spots, the Houston Dynamo rise 5.

Biggest drops? The Seattle Sounders drop 8 spots, the Portland Timbers drop 3.

My week 12 rankings:

1) New York Red Bulls (East)

2) Real Salt Lake (West)

3) D.C. United (East)

4) Columbus Crew (East)

5) Vancouver Whitecaps (West)

6) San Jose Earthquakes (West)

7) Colorado Rapids (West)

8) Houston Dynamo (East)

9) Sporting Kansas City (East)

10) Chicago Fire (East)

11) Seattle Sounders FC (West)

12) New England Revolution (East)

13) Portland Timbers (West)

14) Montreal Impact (East)

15) Chivas USA (West)

16) FC Dallas (West)

17) LA Galaxy (West)

18) Philadelphia Union (East)

19) Toronto FC (East)

Forgot to Post This Tuesday. Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Matchweek 11

I forgot to post this before last night's Major League Soccer Matches-so pretend they didn't happen...

The New York Red Bulls take over the top spot this week!

1) New York Red Bulls (East)

2) Real Salt Lake (West)

3) Seattle Sounders FC (West)

4) San Jose Earthquakes (West)

5) Vancouver Whitecaps (West)

6) D.C. United (East)

7) Sporting Kansas City (East)

8) Chicago Fire (East)

9) Colorado Rapids (West)

10) Portland Timbers (West)

11) New England Revolution (East)

12) Montreal Impact (East)

13) Houston Dynamo (East)

14) Columbus Crew (East)

15) Chivas USA (West)

16) Philadelphia Union (East)

17) LA Galaxy (West)

18) FC Dallas (West)

19) Toronto FC (East)

Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Matchweek 10

The Sounders Maintain the Top Spot!

The Sounders maintain the top spot this week, but there was a significant shuffle in the top 5, with Sporting Kansas City and DC United dropping out, and Real Salt Lake and the Chicago Fire moving in.

Who climbed this week? The New England Revolution climbs 5 spots, while Real Salt Lake and the Columbus Crew each climb 4.

Who dropped? Sporting Kansas City drops 4 spots. DC United and FC Dallas each drop 3.

Matchweek 10 Rankings:

1) Seattle Sounders FC (West)

2) New York Red Bulls (East)

3) Real Salt Lake (West)

4) San Jose Earthquakes (West)

5) Chicago Fire (East)

6) Vancouver Whitecaps (West)

7) Sporting Kansas City (East)

8) D.C. United (East)

9) Colorado Rapids (West)

10) Montreal Impact (East)

11) Houston Dynamo (East)

12) New England Revolution (East)

13) LA Galaxy (West)

14) Columbus Crew (East)

15) Philadelphia Union (East)

16) Chivas USA (West)

17) Portland Timbers (West)

18) FC Dallas (West)

19) Toronto FC (East)

Major League Soccer Match Predictions, Matchweek 10, Wednesday 5/9/12 Matches

Three mid-week matches this week.

Wednesday 5/9/12:

The New York Red Bulls will beat the Houston Dynamo at home.
The Chicago Fire will beat Real Salt Lake at home.
The Seattle Sounders will win at FC Dallas.

Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Matchweek 9

The Seattle Sounders Take over the Top Spot This Week!

The top 5 remain the same in this week's rankings, but with a reordering. The Seattle Sounders take over the top spot, with last week's #1, Sporting Kansas City dropping down to #3. The New York Red Bulls swapped positions with DC United, taking over the 4th spot.

Biggest move up? The Montreal Impact moves up six spots to #9.

Biggest drops? FC Dallas drops 7 spots to #15 and the LA Galaxy drops 3 spots to #12.

This week's rankings:

1) Seattle Sounders FC (West)

2) San Jose Earthquakes (West)

3) Sporting Kansas City (East)

4) New York Red Bulls (East)

5) D.C. United (East)

6) Vancouver Whitecaps (West)

7) Real Salt Lake (West)

8) Chicago Fire (East)

9) Montreal Impact (East)

10) Colorado Rapids (West)

11) Houston Dynamo (East)

12) LA Galaxy (West)

13) Philadelphia Union (East)

14) Chivas USA (West)

15) FC Dallas (West)

16) Portland Timbers (West)

17) New England Revolution (East)

18) Columbus Crew (East)

19) Toronto FC (East)

Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Matchweek 8

They Were Idle. Why Should They Lose the Top Spot?

Biggest climbers? Vancouver Whitecaps, Colorado Rapids and FC Dallas Biggest drops? Houston Dynamo and Chivas USA 1) Sporting Kansas City (East)

2) San Jose Earthquakes (West)

3) Seattle Sounders FC (West)

4) D.C. United (East)

5) New York Red Bulls (East)

6) Real Salt Lake (West)

7) Vancouver Whitecaps (West)

8) FC Dallas (West)

9) LA Galaxy (West)

10) Chicago Fire (East)

11) Colorado Rapids (West)

12) Houston Dynamo (East)

13) Philadelphia Union (East)

14) Chivas USA (West)

15) Montreal Impact (East)

16) New England Revolution (East)

17) Columbus Crew (East)

18) Portland Timbers (West)

19) Toronto FC (East)

Major League Soccer Match Winner Predictions, Matchweek 8, 4/28/12

Time to pick a few winners based on this week's Major League Soccer Power Rankings.

Just winners. Note I also take into account the Major League soccer historical advantage to home teams in making these picks:

Montreal wins at home against Portland
New York wins at home against New England
San Jose wins at Philadelphia
Columbus wins at home against Vancouver
D.C. United wins at home against Houston
Real Salt Lake wins at home against Toronto
The LA Galaxy wins against FC Dallas at home

A Set-Piece Goal! Sweet! Columbus Crew Beat the New England Revolutions 3-1, 8/13/11

I love this picture!

Julius James Heads-In The Crew's 2nd Goal (Getty Images)

In a thoroughly dominating performance, The Columbus Crew beat the New England Revolution 3-1 last night, adding an additional two points to their Major League Soccer Eastern Conference lead. (Both the Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls had draws in their matches yesterday.)

The win sets-up a big-time match this coming Saturday, as the current Eastern Conference second place team, the Philadelphia Union and newly signed Freddy Adu come to town.

What was the best part of last night's match?

So many choices:

It was Buck-a-Brat night. I had two.

Magic Hat #9 on tap in the Upper 90 Club.

One of the biggest crowds of the year showed up.

I saw great support for the Hudson Street Hooligans at their tailgate before the match.With the City of Columbus shutting their club down, they need financial support to keep their club open.  I donated and bought a backpack. Click on the picture to the right if you want to learn how you can help them out too.

The Crew fighting back after going down 1-0 at the end of the first half.

Julius James scoring the Crew's second goal off of a Josh Gardner corner kick. The first corner kick goal of the year for the Crew.

I'll pick the corner kick!

The Crew continue to play very well. It's very impressive to see the new players step-up, with the Crew suffering some key injuries as of late (Eddie Gaven most recently). When you can dominate an MLS opponent with the likes of Tommy Heinemann, Josh Gardner, Justin Meram, Bernardo Anor and Dilly Duka it shows that the Crew coaching and scouting staffs really did their homework when they acquired these players.

Robbie Rogers, coming off scoring the goal that earned the US Men's National Team a draw against Mexico on Wednesday night continues to play very well. Chad Marshall should now be considered the favorite for the MLS defender of the year. And Emmanuel Ekpo had an outstanding game, distributing the ball with vision while making the New England Revolution midfield look silly as they attempted to tackle him.

I can't remember having the same feeling of anticipation and excitement that I have for this Saturday's (8/20/11 at 7:30pm) match against the Philadelphia Union. Come out and join me at Crew Stadium to cheer the Crew on to victory!

The Columbus Crew are Like My Psycho Girlfriend! Crew 1, Whitecaps 0, 7/6/11

Jeff Cunningham Scores the Winning Goal!

June 4th: Psycho girlfriend, "Let's go out, your kinda cute!" (Crew get a dramatic draw at the New York Red Bulls.)

June 8th: Psycho girlfriend, "That was fun, I really like you! Let's go out again. " (Crew beat Real Salt Lake 2-1 at Crew Stadium.)

June 12th: Psycho girlfriend, "I hate your guts, don't talk to me..." What did I do? (Crew play an uninspired match at home and lose to the Chicago Fire.)

June 18th: Psycho girlfriend, "I am so sorry, please come over." Huh...OK. (Crew shutout the Houston Dynamo at their place 2-0.)

June 26th: Psycho girlfriend, "Oh you are so nice to me, I don't know what I would ever do without you." (Crew demolish the Colorado Rapids 4-1.)

July 2nd: Psycho girlfriend, "You're so mean, don't touch me." What did I do this time? (Crew get demolished in Dallas 2-0.)

July 6th: Psycho girlfriend, "Why are you mad at me?" (Jeff Cunningham heads in the winner in the 90th minute to earn the Crew 3 points at Vancouver.)

Game story: http://www.thecrew.com/news/2011/07/recap-crew-vs-whitecaps-fc

With the win, The Crew maintains 3rd place in the MLS Eastern conference. (Tied for 2nd on points with Philadelphia, but 3rd in the standings due to goal differential.)

It wasn't pretty last night. The Crew fielded a ramshackle line-up due to suspensions (Emmanuel Ekpo, Andy Iro) and injuries (Rich Balchan) to regular starters. William Hesmer saved a PK. But they got the job done, and in a league where 40% of the matches end in draws, getting an away win is gold!

And what better way for Jeff Cunningham to tie the MLS career record for goals (with Jaime Moreno) and become the Columbus Crew's all time goal scoring leader (topping Brian McBride) by scoring the game-winner!

Yeah, my girlfriend is psycho, but she's worth it.

Columbus Crew Steal a Point at Red Bull Arena! 6/4/11

Rich Balchan Celebrates His Goal!

I usually only post my Crew game recaps if I actually attend the match, but I was pretty excited about last night's draw with the New York Red Bulls.

Briefly:

The Red Bulls fielded a relatively weak line-up against The Crew, with several of their starters out on National Team duties. The Crew were missing Robbie Rodgers who was called in to the US Men's National Team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup and yesterday's friendly versus Spain.

Side note: Robbie started against Spain last night and played the first half. Spain drubbed the US Men's team 4-0.

The Crew/Red Bulls match was a back and forth affair, with The Crew giving up a goal in the 9th minute to Mehdi Ballouchy. The Red Bulls had the better of the first half possession, but The Crew recovered in the second half and created several scoring opportunities for themselves in the second half. Andres Mendoza, who I thought had righted himself with his two goals last week against Chivas USA, right-footed a cross from his right wide of the goal and 8 minutes later headed a open-netter wide left. Back to his old form.

Justin Meram entered the match for The Crew in the 74th minute, and in extra-time received the ball on the left, crossed the ball on the ground into the box, which fellow rookie and Big Ten alumnus Rick Balchan finished to earn the draw.

Demoralizing for the Red Bulls, but just maybe the type of result that The Crew can build on.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

$1 Beers and Good Weather! Columbus Crew 3, Chivas USA 3, May 28, 2011

Finally! The weather was great for a home match at Crew Stadium last night.

And The Crew had $1 Bud and Bud Light drafts!

And The Crew scored a first half goal!

The only thing missing was a Crew victory.

The match won't be mistaken for the quality of soccer that I saw this morning watching the DVR'ed UEFA Champions League Final. But six goals (three scored by The Crew), a red card and a back and forth tempo made the match very entertaining. And the $1 drafts made the crowd in section 132 very entertaining too. (Big drunk dude trying to pick up on a girl who kept telling him she was gay.)

The Columbus Crew's Andres Mendoza

On the field The Crew's defense looked very disorganized and ultimately very porous. Keeper William Hesmer and the back four didn't seem like they were on the same page for the first 60 minutes of the match. Interesting as last night's starting four of Sebastian Miranda, Julius James, Chad Marshall and Rich Balchan have started almost every match this year, yet have given up seven goals in their last 3 matches, as opposed to six goals in the first 8 matches of the season.

Andres Mendoza scored two goals last night, finally showing that he deserves the DP status (and corresponding salary) the Crew have given him. Emmanuel Ekpo also scored his first goal of the year.

So The Crew is now showing some offensive punch, but their defense is not looking good at all. With their next two matches against the New York Red Bulls away and Real Salt Lake at home they are going to have a tough time getting results. Luckily they are catching both clubs at a time when they are losing several players due to CONCACF Gold Cup call-ups, not to mention that that they are both on current runs of poor form. (New York Red Bulls 0 wins in their last 5 matches, Real Salt Lake a loss and 2 draws in their last 3 matches.)

A New Number 1, FC Dallas! Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Week 9, 5/16/11

After a 4 Week Run By Real Salt Lake, FC Dallas Takes Over The Top Spot!

My Week 9 Major League Soccer Power Rankings (wins-losses-draws) UP or DOWN from last week:

1)   FC Dallas, Western Conference (5-3-2) 17 points UP
The hottest team in the MLS. Two wins this week earns FC Dallas a jump to number 1!

2)   Real Salt Lake, Western Conference (5-1-1) 16 points DOWN
Still playing well, but FC Dallas is currently on better form.

3)   Chivas USA, Western Conference (3-3-3) 12 points UP
Chivas earns the biggest jump in the this week's rankings along with the New England Revolution. The first MLS team this year to earn a victory (beating the Red Bulls 3-2) after traveling 3 time zones.

4)   LA Galaxy, Western Conference (5-2-5) 20 points
A draw against the Philadelphia Union away and a dominant win at home keep the Galaxy at number 4.

5)   New York Red Bulls, Eastern Conference (4-2-3) 15 points DOWN
A home loss against a West Coast team? Unforgivable.

6)   Portland Timbers, Western Conference (4-3-2) 14 points DOWN
Their 1-1 draw with Seattle Saturday night was a treat to watch!

7)   Seattle Sounders FC, Western Conference (3-3-5) 14 points
Their fans were awesome Saturday night. How about that Tifo!

Seattle Sounders Tifo vs Portland Timbers 5/14/11

This week's rankings demonstrate the MLS Western Conference dominance. The only Eastern Conference representative in the top 7 is the New York Red Bulls, and they were beat at home by Chivas this week!

8)   Columbus Crew, Eastern Conference (3-2-4) 13 points DOWN

Crushed by the San Jose Earthquakes 3-0.

9)  New England Revolution, Eastern Conference (3-3-4) 13 points UP

The second team to jump 5 spots in this week's rankings. Starting to show decent form.

10) Colorado Rapids, Western Conference (4-3-3) 15 points UP

11) Philadelphia Union, Eastern Conference (4-3-2) 14 points DOWN
A draw and a loss this week continues the Union's drop in the rankings.

12) Toronto FC, Eastern Conference (2-4-5) 11 points UP

13) Houston Dynamo, Eastern Conference (3-3-4) 13 points DOWN

14) D.C. United, Eastern Conference (3-4-3) 12 points DOWN

15) San Jose Earthquakes, Western Conference (2-4-3) 9 points UP
Can San Jose build on the draw at Vancouver and a home win versus Columbus this past week?

16) Chicago Fire, Eastern Conference (1-3-5) 8 points DOWN

17) Vancouver Whitecaps, Western Conference (1-5-5) 8 points DOWN

18) Sporting Kansas City, Eastern Conference (1-5-1) 4 points
Sporting's third straight week at the bottom of the rankings. Not good.

Real Salt Lake Still on Top! Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Week 8, 5/9/11

For the 4th Straight Week, Real Salt Lake is #1!

My Week 8 Major League Soccer Power Rankings (wins-losses-draws) UP or DOWN from last week:

1)   Real Salt Lake, Western Conference (5-1-0) 15 points

Real Salt Lake stays on track with a win against Chivas USA. Will they be able to maintain this pace following the injury to Javier Morales?

2)   Portland Timbers, Western Conference (4-3-1) 13 points UP

4 wins in their last 5 matches, the only team as hot as Portland is Real Salt Lake. Amazing that an expansion team is having this much success. Portland makes the biggest leap in this week's rankings, a deserving #2.

3)   New York Red Bulls, Eastern Conference (4-1-3) 15 points

A well played draw in Los Angeles against the Galaxy keeps New York at #3.

4)   LA Galaxy, Western Conference (4-2-4) 16 points UP

The draw with the New York Red Bulls showed that the Galaxy is a top 5 team. If only Landon Donovan could have hit the ball a fraction harder on that open net...

5)   FC Dallas, Western Conference (3-3-2) 11 points UP

An away draw this week, and Dallas continues to rise up the rankings.

6)   Columbus Crew, Eastern Conference (3-1-4) 13 points DOWN

This week's 1-1 draw with Seattle was the Crew's 7th straight match without a loss.

7)   Seattle Sounders FC, Western Conference (3-3-4) 13 points DOWN

A loss and a draw on the road this week drops Seattle out of the top 5.

8)   Chivas USA, Western Conference (2-3-3) 9 points UP

9)   Philadelphia Union, Eastern Conference (4-2-1) 13 points DOWN
Hot early in the year, this week they ran into a buzzsaw, or should I say chainsaw, in Portland.

10) D.C. United, Eastern Conference (3-4-2) 11 points UP
A win and a draw makes for a very good week!

11) Houston Dynamo, Eastern Conference (3-3-3) 12 points DOWN

A home loss against the Rapids, and an away loss versus a weak Toronto FC earns the Dynamo the biggest drop in this week's rankings. 

12) Colorado Rapids, Western Conference (4-3-2) 14 points DOWN

The Rapids could be on the verge of breaking out of the bottom half of the rankings.

13) Toronto FC, Eastern Conference (2-3-4) 10 points UP

14) New England Revolution, Eastern Conference (2-3-4) 10 points DOWN

The Chicago Fire and Vancouver Whitecaps played to a 0-0 draw this week, and with San Jose and Sporting KC being idle, the bottom 4 in the rankings stay the same as last week.

15) Chicago Fire, Eastern Conference (1-3-4) 7 points

16) Vancouver Whitecaps, Western Conference (1-4-4) 7 points

17) San Jose Earthquakes, Western Conference (1-4-2) 5 points

18) Sporting Kansas City, Eastern Conference (1-4-1) 4 points

Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Week 7, 5/2/11

Real Salt Lake, #1 for the Third Straight Week!

My Week 7 Major League Soccer Power Rankings (wins-losses-draws) UP or DOWN from last week:

1)   Real Salt Lake, Western Conference (4-1-0) 12 points

Portland is no slouch at home, so even with their loss this week Real Salt Lake maintains the top spot.

2)   Seattle Sounders FC, Western Conference (3-2-3) 12 points UP
Hottest team in the MLS. Sounders fans' tribute to Steve Zakuani in the 11th minute of their match this week was outstanding!

3)   New York Red Bulls, Eastern Conference (4-1-2) 14 points UP

And now the Red Bulls have a defense!

4)   Houston Dynamo, Eastern Conference (3-1-3) 12 points UP

A dominant performance against D.C. United.

5)   Columbus Crew, Eastern Conference (3-1-3) 12 points UP

Sixth Straight game without a loss this weekend. And their offense showed some punch!

6)   Philadelphia Union, Eastern Conference (4-1-1) 13 points DOWN

Won on a late PK, and were a man down for the entire second half. Where to place the Union and the Galaxy were the toughest decisions of the week for me. I decided that the hottest teams would rule the rankings this week.

7)   LA Galaxy, Western Conference (4-2-3) 15 points DOWN

8)   FC Dallas, Western Conference (3-3-1) 10 points UP

Big win versus the Galaxy at home. They seem to be finding their form and continue to creep up the rankings.

9)   Portland Timbers, Western Conference (3-3-1) 10 points DOWN

Jeld-Wen Field has become a fortress. Portland stays steady at the 8-9 range in the rankings for the third straight week. Beating Real Salt Lake was a signature win.

10) Chivas USA, Western Conference (2-2-3) 9 points UP
Two victories in a row for Chivas.

After Chivas at Number 10, the quality of the teams in the rankings drop significantly. The teams ranked 11-18 have all played very poorly over their last 5 matches:

11) Colorado Rapids, Western Conference (3-3-1) 10 points DOWN

12) D.C. United, Eastern Conference (2-4-1) 7 points UP
D.C. had a horrible showing in Houston.

13) New England Revolution, Eastern Conference (2-3-3) 9 points DOWN
I thought they had their act together after last week's victory, but they followed it up with a poor showing against Chivas.

14) Toronto FC, Eastern Conference (1-3-4) 7 points UP

15) Chicago Fire, Eastern Conference (1-3-3) 6 points UP
Not winning, but at least have had draws in their last two matches.

16) Vancouver Whitecaps, Western Conference (1-4-3) 6 points UP

17) San Jose Earthquakes, Western Conference (1-4-2) 5 points DOWN

San Jose hasn't had a positive result in 4 matches. They earned the largest drop in this week's rankings.

18) Sporting Kansas City, Eastern Conference (1-4-1) 4 points DOWN

Sporting needs a home match!

65 Minutes of Domination! Columbus Crew 2, Vancouver Whitecaps 1, 4/30/2011

If the Columbus Crew match last night had ended in the 65th minute, I would have been writing about the Crew's best performance of the season. The Crew dominated possession, scored two goals (both by man of the match Emilio Renteria) and didn't allow Vancouver their first corner until the 71st minute.

Getty Images

The game seemed to be in hand for the Crew until Emmanuel Ekpo turned the ball over in the Crew's defensive third in the 69th minute. This resulted in a Vancouver counter that ended with Vancouver's Omar Salgado heading a cross into the Crew's net. For the last 31 minutes the Crew had to work hard to hang on to the win, as the pressure that Vancouver put on to get the equalizer was relentless.

But the Crew persevered and took 3 points from the match. This was the Crew's sixth straight match without a defeat, and allowed them to keep pace with the the New York Red Bulls, Philadelphia Union and the Houston Dynamo, who all won home matches this week.

Emmanuel Ekpo had just been substituted in for Kevin Burns at a defensive midfield position when he turned the ball over that resulted in the Whitecaps goal. Strange decision by Coach Robert Warzycha, as Ekpo, who can be very dangerous offensively, is known to make poor decisions when the ball is at his feet. Kevin Burns had worked very hard during the match, and probably needed a substitute, but the choice of Ekpo turned out to be very poor. Coach Warzycha may have been boxed into a corner, as his only other midfield choice on the bench was the little used Leandre Griffit who ended up entering match in the 88th. But it's hard to be too critical of Coach Warzycha's decisions with the Crew getting 12 out of a possible 18 points out of their last 6 matches.

One other note. Last night was Omar Salgado's first start for the Whitecaps. He was the first pick in the 2011 MLS Soccer SuperDraft and is only 17 years old. He was a beast last night, and gave the Crew's defense fits, especially in the last 35 minutes. He's going to be a very good player for the Whitecaps!

The Crew's next match is against one of the hottest team's in the MLS right now, the Seattle Sounders. The game is at Crew Stadium this Saturday, May 7th at 7:30pm EST. I'd certainly like to see a full house for this match, as it's going to be a good one!

Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Week 6, 4/24/11

My Major League Soccer Week 6 Power Rankings:

Real Salt Lake #1, Week 6 (2nd Straight Week)

Week 6 Power Rankings (wins-losses-draws) UP or DOWN from last week:

1)   Real Salt Lake, Western Conference (4-0-0) 12 points
Didn't play an MLS match this week, but form looked very good in 1st leg of CONCACAF Finals.

2)   LA Galaxy, Western Conference (4-1-3) 15 points UP
Have the best form in last 5 matches of any team in MLS.

3)   Philadelphia Union, Eastern Conference (3-1-1) 10 points DOWN

Didn't play this past week, but decided to move the Galaxy ahead of them due to Galaxy's head to head win against them on April 2nd.

4)   Seattle Sounders FC, Western Conference (2-2-3) 9 points UP
Took the 2nd largest jump in the rankings of any team this week. Big away win against Colorado, but can they recover from the loss of Steve Zakuani?

5)   New York Red Bulls, Eastern Conference (3-1-2) 11 points UP
The Red Bull offense is coming together.

6)   Houston Dynamo, Eastern Conference (2-1-3) 9 points DOWN


7)   Columbus Crew, Eastern Conference (2-1-3) 9 points DOWN
Good news? 5 game unbeaten streak. Bad news? Not scoring goals.

8)   Portland Timbers, Western Conference (2-3-1) 7 points

9)   Colorado Rapids, Western Conference (3-3-0) 9 points DOWN

3 teams dropped five spots in this weeks rankings. Colorado dropped due to home loss versus the Sounders.

10) FC Dallas, Western Conference (2-3-1) 7 points UP

Big win at Vancouver. But the loss of David Ferreira will impact future results.

11) Chivas USA, Western Conference (1-2-3) 6 points UP

Away win at San Jose earns Chivas the biggest jump in the rankings this week.

12) New England Revolution, Eastern Conference (2-2-3) 9 points

13) San Jose Earthquakes, Western Conference (1-3-2) 5 points

14) D.C. United, Eastern Conference (2-3-1) 7 points DOWN

A critical home loss against rivals New York Red Bulls drops DC this week.

15) Sporting Kansas City, Eastern Conference (1-3-1) 4 points

16) Toronto FC, Eastern Conference (1-2-4) 7 points DOWN

Currently on a very poor run of form.

17) Chicago Fire, Eastern Conference (1-3-2) 5 points DOWN

18) Vancouver Whitecaps, Western Conference (1-3-3) 6 points DOWN

Expansion Whitecaps won their first match of the season, 0 wins, 3 losses and 3 draws since.

Juan Agudelo's Week of a Lifetime!

I want to be Juan Agudelo. Last Saturday he scored his first professional goal for his MLS club, the New York Red Bull. Tonight he came on as a substitute for the US Men's National Team in the second half and scored a goal to help the National Team earn a 1-1 draw with Argentina.

Argentina fielded a very strong side, led by Lionel Messi. This is a very good result for the US Men's National Team.

Juan Agudelo is only 18 years old.

Juan Agudelo and Oguchi Onyewu, USMNT (getty images, www.mlssoccer.com)

Columbus Crew 0, New York Red Bull 0 March 26, 2011

Luke Rodgers, RBNY Sebastian Miranda, Crew (www.newyorkredbulls.com)

Wow, it was brutally cold at Crew Stadium this afternoon.

The Crew played to a 0-0 draw with the New York Red Bull today. After last week's debacle against DC United getting 1 point out of the Red Bulls today was OK. Problem was that the Red Bulls were missing several starters due to National Team call-ups. Also, Thierry Henry was ruled out due to injury. This was a perfect opportunity for the Crew to get 3 points from a weakened Red Bull side, but they didn't take advantage.

I thought the line-up Crew coach Robert Warzycha started was interesting and effective. The midfield combination of Eddie Gaven, Robbie Rodgers, Kevin Burns and Dejan Rusmir controlled overall possession for most of the first half. Emmanuel Ekpo was effective as a withdrawn forward.

The problem for the Crew this afternoon was poor crossing and finishing. Several of the Crew newcomers had great opportunities to serve the ball to teammates in the box, but their crosses were hit off target. Both Dilly Duka, on as a late substitute, and Andres Mendoza tripped over themselves when they had great scoring opportunities and were unable to get effective shots off.

Ultimately the Crew should be pleased that they dominated possession and demonstrated an overall good effort. By all rights they should have been able to get a victory in the match, but that's soccer.

An additional note: Only 10,306 people showed up for today's match. It was the home opener! I know it was cold, but c'mon Crew fans, show up!

I have to give the Crew Supporters groups credit...the Nordecke was packed and in full voice once again!

Crew Nordecke, 3/26/11 versus Red Bull New York! (Skyler Schmitt, www.thecrew.com)