We are nearing the end of our Three Questions series, and I hope you have found it insightful and useful during the offseason.  We’ll end the series tomorrow and Tuesday with the MLS Cup participants, prior to the 2012 Superdraft.

Today in addition to Sporting Kansas City we’ll turn our attention to Real Salt Lake, who going into last season looked to challenge Los Angeles (and Seattle potentially) for the Supporters Shield.  But, as we all know, they never fully recovered from the Champions League final loss and while they made the Western Conference finals, it was after an up-and-down season where they never dominated for stretches like many thought they would.  Injuries played a role, but how will their 2011 season influence 2012?  Let’s take a look at some offseason questions that will dictate whether or not Real Salt Lake has reached its peak or the best is yet to come:

1. Can they adequately replace their depth?

The incredible Real Salt Lake fan site RSL Soapbox has a great breakdown of what exactly the team has lost so far this offseason: in the last two months the team has lost 6,700 first team minutes, 4 goals, and 12 assists.  These come from players like Robbie Russell (DC) and Jean Alexandre (SJ) who were traded, Colleen Warner (Montreal) and Arturo Alvarez (Chivas) who were drafted, and Andy WIlliams who retired.  All of these are replaceable players, but with so many players being shifted off the rolls the team is losing some serious depth, depth that was key to them succeeding in multiple competitions despite injuries and schedule congestion.  In addition to another appearance in the CONCACAF Champions League later this season, the team will lose some key players for Olympic duty, likely including captain Kyle Beckerman.

The positive to these trades is that RSL has received some draft picks so they can use those picks for depth.  The team can also look internationally, something that it has done successfully to find good young talent.  How quickly these younger/new MLS players can adjust to the league and contribute will be critical to this team.

2. How will RSL beef up their midfield?

A number of the players mentioned above were contributors to the midfield; for example, Andy Williams was a winger the team could depend on to play well during his starts.  The team has made some moves to secure this part of the team: it extended Ned Grabavoy’s contract and is working to extend Yordany Alvarez’s contract.  In addition, they have some young players like Luis Gil who could contribute more with more playing time.  But the team does need to do a little shopping, and how much money they have free to spend will be important to beefing up that midfield.

3. Are Javier Morales and Alvaro Saborio healthy enough to play at their peaks (or close to it)?

Javier Morales’ gruesome injury was part of an early season MLS trend of key stars going down with serious injuries, and his team certainly missed his goal scoring.  However, when he returned, the team was in a slump and his play could not bring them out of it.  A healthy, back-to-100% Morales is the kind of player who can help carry a slumping team so how healthy he is and back to his previous form is critical to this team.

Another player who failed to inspire last season was Alvaro Saborio, who took 3/4ths of the season to round into form coming off his own injury.  Although his final numbers looked good, his overall body of work was not up to his previous standards.  Again, a fully effective and healthy Saborio makes this team that much harder to beat.  The health of these two players could make the different between wild card contenders and MLS Cup contenders.

This time last year, the San Jose Earthquakes were riding high.  They had upset the New York Red Bulls in the Eastern Conference playoffs and had seen the emergence of Chris Wondolowski as a bona fide goal scorer.  Although the team had definite weaknesses and was not at the level of, say, Real Salt Lake, this was certainly a team that could be a playoff contender.

The outlook could not be more different this year as opposed to last.  Wondo is still a goal scorer, tying Dwayne De Rosario for most goals scored this season, but his goals came in bunches and he was not a consistent threat.  There are question marks throughout the roster including whether the head coach will last through the upcoming season.  This is a team in flux, and if they fail to seriously contend for the playoffs this season we could see a massive roster overhaul this time next year (which arguably is a good thing).

Let’s limit ourselves to the key three questions that will tip the balance on San Jose’s 2012 season:

1. What is the status of Steven Lenhart?

We know he is signed.  He was a critical scoring option for the team last season, partnering well with Wondo to provide a second up-front scoring option for a team that at times desperately needed goals.  But the death of his father took him away from the game for an extended period of time, which coincided with their funk.

I personally will never judge someone for how they deal with the death of a parent, so I will simply say how he is mentally and physically fit for 2012 will be important for this team.  To be blunt, absent signing a big money striker, this team will fail without him.  As many goals as Wondo scores, he is inconsistent and cannot be relied upon to lead a team’s offense if that team is competing for a high-seed in the playoffs.  Lenhart is the perfect partner for him, and San Jose knows this.

2. Can the ‘Quakes run their way into the playoffs?

To address some of their issues from this past season, Frank Yallop is rebuilding his midfield around speed.  And not since Keanu Reeves tried to drive a bus has such a desire for going fast been so confusing.  San Jose made a great trade to bring Marvin Chavez over from Dallas but also this offseason they acquired Jean Alexandre from Real Salt Lake.  Alexandre has been a backup at RSL but has shown some flashes of being a productive midfielder if he gets regular playing time.  Undoubtedly Chavez is a great pickup but time will tell if Alexandre and their additional acquisitions this offseason can make them a faster team that can quickly get the ball up front to Wondo and Lenhart.

Looking at their depth as a whole, however, you wonder if these moves make sense.  In addition to the two players mentioned, the ‘Quakes have also picked up Shea Salinas while re-signing Khari Stephenson.  Looking at the current roster, it is composed of players who would be good depth players on a MLS Cup contender, not ones that can be counted on to drive a team to the Cup.  Maybe the new speed will change this.

3. Can the ‘Quakes count on Ike Opara?

The injured Opara was symbolic of the San Jose defense last season: underachieving and made worse by the loss of Brandon McDonald via trade to DC.  The once rising U.S. star was not even invited to Caleb Porter’s U-23 camp this offseason as he continues to recover from injury.  He was named an “honorable mention” for the MLS “24 under 24″ list but this could be a make or break season for him.  If he stays healthy and helps solidify a bad SJ defense, he will be back on track to be the next U.S. up-and-coming defender.  More injuries or sporadic play and we could be lamenting “what if”.

As our long-time readers know, MLS Talk likes to provide serious, well-thought out news analysis mixed with offbeat and laughable soccer-related thoughts.  This is the latter type of post.

Prior to First Kick 2011, the MLS Talk writers got together to give some predictions for the upcoming season.  At the time, we promised we’d resurrect the predictions to take credit for everything we got right.  Little did we know that such a post would only be about 1-2 sentences if actually written.  Regardless, as promised, here are our predictions for the 2011 season, and a little bit of analysis/defending from yours truly on the picks.  Feel free to post your wrong predictions (and correct ones) in the comments section.

The Final Standings

Prior to the season, it was common knowledge that RSL was the deepest team in the league and was thus primed to make a run at the Supporters Shield.  What we didn’t know was that their loss in the CONCACAF Champions League final and injuries would derail their season, in addition to improved LA and Seattle squads.  As such, only Kristan Heneage accurately predicted that Los Angeles would finish atop the Western Conference.  In fact, besides flip-flopping RSL and Seattle, he got the conference’s top five correct.

As for the Eastern Conference, the chaos that ensued was reflected in our picks.  We all got New York wrong as the Eastern Conference winner but at least they made the playoffs.  Earl Reed identified three teams correctly that made the playoffs from the East, but probably regrets picking DC to finish above Philadelphia.  Playoff picks are in bold.

Daniel Feuerstein

Earl Reed

Kristan Heneage

Robert Hay

MLS Cup Predictions

We were 0-4 on this one.  Earl and I picked Real Salt Lake to hoist the MLS Cup while Daniel thought Rafa Marquez would be showering Thierry Henry with champagne.  Kristan’s pick (DC United) didn’t make the playoffs.

Most Valuable Player

In our defense, while none of us correctly predicted this category, all of our picks were somewhat in the running toward the end of the year.  Daniel had Thierry Henry taking home the trophy while Earl and Kristan had Landon Donovan.  My pick made a late run but was still misguided: Alvaro Saborio.

The Golden Boot

Only Earl and I were ambitious enough to guess at this category, and my pick (Montero 12) edged his (Saborio 11).

Coach of the Year

Interestingly, none of us had a coach that was remotely in the running, although our picks by the end of the season were setting themselves up as candidates for next year.  All of our coach of the year selections were new MLS coaches, with Daniel seeing Toronto head man Aron Winter winning the award while Earl and I agreed upon DC United’s Ben Olsen.

Newcomer of the Year

Again, our picks were solid choices that for the most part contributed in some way but didn’t merit consideration.  Daniel went with Fabien Castillo of FC Dallas, Earl and I chose Omar Bravo for Sporting KC, and Kristan went with the right team  but wrong player (Erik Friberg of the Seattle Sounders).

Rookie of the Year

Well what can you say.  Who’d have thunk that C.J. Sapong would have played such a large roll for Sporting Kansas City?  Well we didn’t think he’d play a bigger role than Juan Agudelo (Daniel), Will Bruin (Earl and I), and Darlington Nagbe (Kristan).

Most Improved Player

Admittedly, this is one of the hardest categories to predict.  With so many players in the league, who will be the one who exceeds their previous year’s stats to be given an award?  Three of us thought that it would be someone from the Red Bulls: Kristan and Daniel thought that Dane Richards would be that player in 2011, while Earl picked Richards’ teammate Tim Ream.  However, the award for most laughable prediction for 2011 goes to me, and here is a direct quote from my prediction:

Since I wanted to show my Black-and-Red colors a little, I thought the player who would finally fulfill his promise would be D.C. United’s Branko Boskovic.

The 2011 MLS Cup will truly be a David v. Goliath affair.  In this corner, you have the regular season’s best team with the most star power and biggest names who, by the way, will be playing at home.  In this corner, you have a team that fought all season for a playoff spot then beat some quality Eastern Conference sides while losing their MVP candidate to injury.  Such will be the storyline as the Los Angeles Galaxy face the Houston Dynamo on November 20 at 9 PM ET at the Home Depot Center.

With an international break providing a Super Bowl-esque week off for both teams, MLS Talk will have plenty of content breaking down the match and its players, as well as the implications for both sides.  All of this will culminate in the annual MLS Cup Live Chat on the site; hang with us as we break down the play, strategy, and peripherals for MLS’s biggest game.

As for the teams themselves, yesterday was fairly anticlimactic as both teams won their matches with fairly comfortable scorelines.  The Western Conference champion Galaxy were even with Real Salt Lake 1-1 at the half, but Mike Magee scored the go-ahead goal early in the second half before Robbie Keane put it away in the 68th minute.  For the Eastern Conference champs, the game was a bit more intense as they had to play in the cauldron that is Livestrong Park against the favored Sporting KC.  Even with Brad Davis going out with a right quad injury in the first half, Houston still kept up the pressure with Andre Hainault breaking through in the 53rd minute.

This will be the third MLS Cup played at one of the participants’ home field: DC United won the 1997 Cup at RFK while in 2002 New England watched Los Angeles celebrate at Gillette Field after their 1-0 victory.  Another statistic of note: Los Angeles are undefeated at Home Dept Center this year.

What did you think of yesterday’s games and the upcoming MLS Cup match-up?  Any early favorites or predictions?

Yesterday, Vancouver extended Real Salt Lake’s losing streak to four games with a 3-0 win at BC Place.  However, the talk of the match were two penalties called on RSL, one of which led to a red card for Collen Warner, both for handball.  The first led to Real Salt Lake going down to ten men and falling behind 1-0, the second added a second goal for the ‘Caps.

The videos of both calls are below.  So what do you think?  Red card on the first goal? Penalty for either? Your be the judge (h/t to Steven Goff for posting videos)

First penalty

Second penalty

The question I wrestled with in my head last night was this: if there were no playoffs or a playoffs with just four teams instead of 10, would this weekend be as exciting?  Regardless of how you feel about the playoff format or the playoffs in general, the answer I came up with was YES.  Looking at the fixture list, there are some damn good matches this weekend.  Would, for example, the New York and Portland match be as exciting if they were not in a playoff race?  My answer is most definitely, for reasons listed below.

The fact is this weekend’s action is a mixture of generally good matches, critical playoff-push games, and injury drama all around.  Here is part one of a guide to this weekend’s matches (all times ET), with a key to each game and a prediction that undoubtedly will be horribly wrong.  Share your own predictions and keys to the games below.  Part 2 will come out tonight or tomorrow morning.

Sporting Kansas City v. Philadelphia Union (Friday, 8:30 PM, Fox Soccer)

The odd thing about this game is that after this weekend the winner could be in first place in the East while the loser could conceivably be outside the tenth playoff spot.  Philadelphia is one of a couple of MLS teams that broke a long winless streak last weekend, but as NY showed getting that second win in a row can be tough especially against a good opponent.  The Union are thin right now and missing Sheanon Williams is a HUGE loss for a defense that had been struggling recently.  The bench is thin, so the visitors need their offense to be ready to score, while Kansas City as usual needs to hold off late comebacks and play some defense.

Prediction: Sporting KC 3, Philadelphia Union 2.  I like there to be some goals in this game, with the magic of LIVESTRONG winning out

FC Dallas v. Houston Dynamo (Saturday, 4:00 PM, Telefutura)

Is Brek Shea tiring at the wrong time after a much increased work load?  This is the type of game where Dallas will need their A-game from their stars.  A key to this game is who wants it more, and the answer may be the visitors.  Fourth in the West may be an ideal playoff position, while Houston is in a battle just to qualify.  With a Champions League trip to Tauro FC on Wednesday, maybe Dallas pumps the breaks just a little.

Prediction: FC Dallas 1, Houston Dynamo 1.  A spirited game that drags at the end.

DC United v. Real Salt Lake (Saturday, 7:30 PM)

The Chivas draw on Wednesday makes this an almost must-win for DC, and they face the hottest team in MLS right now who will be getting local boy Kyle Beckerman back.  Ben Olsen called out his team in public on Wednesday, so who knows what was said in the locker room or the effect it will have.  The key to this match will be if RSL can shut down Andy Najar and Santino Quaranta on the wings; DC’s offense stagnates without being able to spread the field.

Prediction: DC United 1, Real Salt Lake 1.  DC takes an early lead and loses it in the second half.  I’ve seen this movie before

Columbus Crew v. Los Angeles Galaxy (Saturday, 7:30 PM)

This game seems like the lock of the weekend – the Galaxy can basically seal the Supporters Shield against an injured and struggling Columbus Crew squad.  But here are a few reasons Columbus could pull the surprise: Chad Marshall and Emilio Renteria could both be starting for this game, although Renteria is more likely to come off the bench.  The Galaxy, while not taking this game lightly, have a must-win CCL match on Wednesday.  And with their depth not being superb and some starters having nagging injuries, the starting XI for the Galaxy might not be their ideal XI.

Prediction: LA Galaxy 3, Columbus Crew 1.  Remember what happened last time the Galaxy lost a midweek CCL game?

New York Red Bulls v. Portland Timbers (Saturday, 7:30 PM)

Wouldn’t it be great if MLS could flex schedule games? Who wouldn’t want to watch this soap opera?  Let’s go out on a limb and assume Rafa Marquez doesn’t play.  Does that mean a return to the solid defense NY showed against FC Dallas last week?  Normally you would assume a team besieged by controversy and full of talent would rally at home against a team with a miserable away record.  But nothing has been normal about this season for New York.

Prediction: New York 2, Portland 1.  For one day, NY settles some controversy and slides into a wild card slot.

Fans who saw the scoreline of September 10th’s 3-0 win by DC United over Chivas would assume that DCU would win handily against the Goats at home and, with New York’s loss, would move into the driver’s seat with their playoff push.  But as the excellent fan blog Black and Red United noted, Chivas actually dominated possession in the first game and bombarded DC with 29 crosses.  A couple of early goals turned the tide arguably against the run of play, and DC could cruise to a 3-0 victory.

Last night, the same trend continued but the result was not a DC victory.  Despite DC jumping out to a 2-0 lead early in the second half and looking like the better team, the Goats dominated the midfield and used two Juan Pablo Angel goals to take a much needed road point.  Chivas had an edge in almost every statistical category including possession and shots, but from about the fiftieth minute to the seventieth minute of the game it was all Chivas USA, and that made the difference.

Instead of a tale of two halves, the match was actually a game of three periods.  The first 35 minutes of the game saw both teams aggressively going forward, taking chances and trying to draw first blood.  Chivas had the edge in possession and DC needed Bill Hamid to save a early deflected chance from Marcos Mondaini, but neither team established dominance early on, a bad sign for the home team.

But beginning with Dwayne De Rosario’s goal in the 39th minute, the second period (from roughly the 35th through 50th minutes) saw the Black and Red with control of the match.  In a positive for DC, both goals came off of set pieces.  The first was Andy Najar’s free kick from outside the box which found De Ro’s head and the back of the net.  The goal was DC’s first headed goal of the year incredibly and gave the home side the momentum.  Two minutes into the second half, DCU struck again off a set piece.  This time, Santino Quaranta’s corner was put on goal by De Ro and the save deflected into the net by defender Ethan White for his first MLS goal.

At this point in the match, it looked like DC would cruise to victory just like they had ten days ago.  But some critical mistakes by DC and some smart substitutions by Chivas USA turned the tide of the match.  After the first Chivas goal, Ben Olsen sent on Steven King for Josh Wolff in hopes of grabbing more midfield possession.  Instead, the exact opposite happened.  Chivas subs Justin Braun and Laurent Courtois provided a major boost to the Goats lineup by adding some bite to the attack while the Chivas midfield began to dominate possession.  The visitors from the fiftieth minute on looked like the more dangerous team, with probing runs and smart one-time passes through the DC midfield while all DC could do when they got possession was clear.  In the 57th minute Angel scored his first goal of the night and Chivas kept up the pressure.  His second in the 69th minute was no surprise, as Chivas was dominating the run of play.  For DC, they had trouble mounting a comeback as Olsen’s substitutions had removed Charlie Davies and Wolff from the lineup, leaving just Joseph Ngwenya as the only offensive substitution he could have made.

The controversial moment in the match came in stoppage time, when Angel seemingly pushed De Rosario to the ground in the box.  Replays showed the push was rather weak and the contact was likely not a penalty.  Regardless, referee Chris Penso pointed to the spot, and De Rosario botched the penalty by sending a low shot to the right that was expertly saved by Dan Kennedy, preserving the draw.

The draw basically kept Chivas USA’s playoff hopes on life support, and Robin Fraser’s team had some positives to take from the contest (in addition to the road point).  Juan Pablo Angel continued his good run of form since his “move” from the Galaxy.  Their next two games (Toronto and Philadelphia) are absolute must wins because they close the season against LA and Seattle.

After the game, Ben Olsen went on a rant about the lack of urgency on the team, according to Steven Goff.  ”Up 2-0, now we think the game’s easy. Now we think we don’t have to tackle, we don’t have to win second balls: Let’s just roll the dice and hope we get lucky. It’s absolutely gonna stop — it has to stop or we will not make the playoffs.”  The combination of letting off by DC and poor substitutions by Olsen hurt DC in this game, but regardless this was a must win for DC.  Saturday’s game against Real Salt Lake, who demolished New York, is now another must win for DC to keep up in the playoff race.  Another draw or loss could mean desperation time in the nation’s capital.

Photo by Structures:NY

It’s catch-up time.  In both games in hand and playoff positioning.

In the shadow of the CONCACAF Champions League matches six MLS clubs will take the pitch tonight in critical games for playoff positioning.  One of the matches is a match-up of heavyweights, while the other two look to be mismatches that could be surprises.  What do all three have in common?  All three results could go a long way to helping or even ending the playoff hopes of three teams, while boosting the playoff positioning of a fourth.  Below is a breakdown of each match; all three can only be seen on Match Day Live or Direct Kick.

DC United v. Chivas USA – 7:30 PM ET – RFK Stadium

Coming off their resounding loss at Seattle, DC faces a struggling Chivas side they dominated less than two weeks ago in Los Angeles.  However, there are two differences this time around – no Chris Pontius for the home side and DC’s miserable home record.  Bill Hamid should be back for tonight’s match which will help DCU in net; Joe Willis was solid but not great in net this weekend.  The key will be to secure the home field – DC is 1-1-2 in home matches since July, a record that will keep them out of the playoffs if they keep it up.  Chivas, meanwhile, is seeking its first win since August 6.  Chivas will have Marcos Mondaini back for this match, which could prove useful against a DC midfield that looked suspect against Seattle.

Bottom line: DC needs 3 points to remain in the playoff race.  A loss effectively puts their hopes on life support, a draw could do the same depending on other results.  I see DC squeaking out a close 2-1 win here.

New York Red Bulls v. Real Salt Lake – 8:00 PM ET – RB Arena

Their win versus Dallas this weekend has reinvigorated a New York team that had hit a major slump.  That win basically set up this week perfectly for New York: wins versus RSL and Portland mean they have an inside track to the playoffs.  Their defense shone this weekend after some shaky recent performances but maybe the benching of Rafa Marquez has given them a spark.  The key question is will the team’s depth allow them to play at the highest possible level in back-to-back-to-back must win games, to say nothing of the rest of the season.

Real Salt Lake will be looking to repeat its 3-0 beat down of the Red Bulls in early August.  The visitors are riding a four-match winning streak and could conceivably clinch a playoff spot by Sunday if the various playoff scenarios play out.  The visitors will critically be missing Kyle Beckerman due to yellow card accumulation, and Tony Beltran will also miss this match due to an abductor strain.

Bottom line: RSL will miss Beckerman against a possibly resurrected New York side, which needs a result more than the visitors.  Still, I’m not 100% sold that NY is back on track and I think the backline will struggle against the RSL attack.  I predict a 2-2 draw on this one.

Portland Timbers v. San Jose Earthquakes – 10:30 PM ET – JELD-WEN

The quotes are flying in this one, which Lovel Palmer saying, “(this) game makes or breaks our season,” a sentiment John Spencer only somewhat disagrees with.  The Timbers are riding a four game unbeaten streak and have won three of those matches, but have only two matches left at home while playing four of their final six on the road, where their record is not quite so good.  Much like DCU needs to begin racking up wins at home, Portland needs some road wins.  Darlington Nagbe will start again after a good performance against New England, and if Kenny Cooper is hitting a hot streak, this team can score with the best of them.

San Jose is likely battling for respectability in this one, as even their home town paper is saying their playoff chances are “slimmer than a pair of skinny jeans“.  The ‘Quakes actually had the lead against Houston at the half this weekend, but gave it away to continue their slide.

Bottom line: This is an absolutely must win for Portland, and at home they will get it. 2-0 victory for the Timbers.

The talking point since First Kick has been the same: the Western Conference is vastly superior to the Eastern Conference.  For the past six months or so, we’ve heard about the top teams in the West and their chances of winning the MLS Cup.  Recently, with the playoffs looming, the talk has focused on how either FC Dallas or Real Salt Lake will enter the playoffs as the favorites to win the Eastern Conference due to MLS’s weird playoff system.  Yet for all the focus the Western Conference has received in the playoff talk, we are witnessing an incredibly exciting Eastern Conference playoff race, where the stakes could be incredibly high.

This past weekend’s results threw the door to the Eastern Conference open and, instead of beginning to clarify the top three teams, kept eight teams in contention for the three guaranteed spots.  One of those eight (Toronto) is realistically eliminated, and another (Chicago) would have to go on a tough but possible run of games, but that still leaves six teams within seven points of first place with roughly five matches to go (or more if you’re DC United with games in hand).  Teams that had seemingly locked up spots now have to battle to hold on, while teams that faltered earlier in the season now see a path to late season redemption.

The key component to increasing the logjam was the Columbus/Philadelphia match.  With the Union able to get back on the winning track and denying the Crew three points, the first place team in the East was kept close to the rest of the pack.  If they had found a way to scratch out a win, they would have been four points clear of second place Sporting Kansas City, not an insurmountable lead but certainly a bit of breathing room.  As it was, they could not find a way to take advantage of a close Sporting KC loss to Real Salt Lake.  Instead of a battle for second, this Friday’s SKC v. Philadelphia match could be for first place.

The teams currently looking up at the top three also shuffled themselves this weekend into a muddle that may go down to the last match to settle.  The Houston Dynamo, who looked like a solid bet for a top three spot before suffering a small swoon, are now level on points with Philadelphia after this Saturday being the most recent team to beat San Jose.  Their victory kept them ahead of the New York Red Bulls who were involved in the most intense match of the weekend.  Despite a late push from FC Dallas, the Red Bulls defense held on to a 1-0 win for their first victory since July 6.  The win also moved them two points clear of DC United who lost for the first time ever in Seattle.  In fact, DCU was lapped 3-0 by a Seattle team that looked to be firing on all cylinders.  However, with their games in hand, DC is still well positioned to make a late move into the top three, especially with road games against Columbus and Philadelphia, as well as a home tilt with Kansas City to close the season.

But as things stand, the East could still sneak two teams into the four wild card places.  So why the stress over the top three?  Imagine, if the season ended today, the plight of the New York Red Bulls.  As the #10 seed, they would have to travel to Pizza Hut Park to face FC Dallas in a single elimination game.  If they won, they would then play a home-and-home with the Galaxy which, if they survived, would see them facing the winner of RSL/Seattle.  Now consider if they jumped two spots in the East and grabbed the #3 seed.  Not only would they now get to sit out the wild card round (huge for an older team) but they would get an Eastern Conference foe in a home-and-home before the conference final.  This week will go a long way to determining the favorites for the top three, as not only do we have the Philly/SKC match but RSL makes an East Coast swing to face New York and DC.  So while the West may have the better teams, the East has a better playoff race.

Going into the MLS regular season and CONCACAF Champions League games last night, American soccer fans knew it was going to be an interesting night.  The CCL matches would determine who would advance to the group stage while the three MLS games had major playoff implications.  However, even I was unprepared for the intense level of play and implications that came out of the games last night.  For those otherwise occupied or who may have missed some of the action, here is a quick recap of the games from yesterday:

FC Dallas 1, Alianza 0: Congratulations to FC Dallas for their first trip ever to the CCL group stage, although Mother Nature was the twelfth (wo)man on the pitch for them last night.  The game-time temperature stood at 107 degrees and the Salvadoran side did not handle the temperatures well.  Their task was made even harder by the fact that they needed to overcome a 1-0 deficit and the Dallas away goal lead.  Ugo Ihemelu scored the game’s only goal on a 36th minute header off a corner kick.  The outstanding statistic is that Dallas had almost 75% possession in the match.

Sporting Kansas City 2, Real Salt Lake 0: With their glut of home games remaining, it is time to talk about SKC as a playoff contender.  The home team took it to RSL early and were rewarded with two first half goals from Roger Espinoza (29th) and Teal Bunbury (34th).  Even more amazing than the early lead was the fact that Sporting KC held it with ten men for almost forty minutes in the second half.  Espinoza was sent off in the 57th minute for a tackle on Beckerman, but RSL couldn’t mount much of a challenge.  The unbeaten streak now stands at 14 games.

Chicago Fire 1, Philadelphia Union 1: The Chicago Fire started both of their new midfielders tonight and the move paid off as the team got a point off playoff contender Philadelphia.  Sebastian Grazzini was a threat in the first half and almost scored in the 10th minute.  However it would be the Union’s Veljko Paunovic who struck first in the 35th minute to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.  The Fire’s other newcomer, Pavel Pardo, equalized in the 54th minute by intercepting a Union clearance in the box.

Seattle Sounders 2, San Francisco 0: The man of this match statistically was los Monjes keeper Miguel Torres who made 12 saves and saw 35 total shots from Seattle.  But the true man of the match was Nate Jaqua who scored in the 98th minute to give the Sounders a 2-1 win.  Alvaro Fernandez scored the critical first goal in the 41st minute and the Panamanian visitors seemed content to play defense and try to hit on the counter in the second half.  Five MLS teams have now advanced to the CCL group stage.

Portland Timbers 3, Los Angeles Galaxy 0: While the Sporting KC streak continued, the Galaxy’s ended with a thump.  Even without Jack Jewsbury, the Timbers looked in control early.  Mike Chabala got the scoring started in the 26th minute on a little back-and-forth with Darlington Nagbe.  Jorge Plaza added a second goal on a sliding shot 33rd minute while Eric Brunner slammed the door shut in the 68th minute.  The Timbers successfully negated the Galaxy midfield and limited the Galaxy’s attack for most of the match.