"Weekly" Football Post #99.

All the Barca jerseys are coming out of the bandwagoner closets after that Champions League Final, eh? Sorry, Andrew.

As we officially say goodbye to the European and Mexican soccer seasons, it's time for the "weekly" football post to focus on the glorious (and undersupported) MLS. Let's get to it.

Chivas USA 3 - 3 Columbus

It was billed as a probable 0-0 draw, as the league's two lowest scoring squads met on the pitch somewhere in Ohio. Instead, we saw a crazy offensive battle (or maybe it was a lack of defense) that featured Columbus marching back from being down by a goal on three separate occasions. The Goats may consider themselves lucky to escape with a point, considering Jorge Flores got ejected after his second yellow, 20 minutes away from time. It almost ended 3-4 in favor of the bad guys, but Ante Jaziç was able to clear a ball off the goal line in the 90th to preserve that precious point.

I'm sure Robin Fraser is stoked on this one. 

It was Nick LaBrocca who got us started early, tallying a goal on an impressive Braun assist just 4 minutes in. That had me pretty excited, but the Massive countered just 13 minutes later on an Andrés Mendoza netter. In the 37th, we got that slimmest of leads back again via the head of Andrew Boyens. Boyens rose to the challenge to head the ball home after a spot on corner from the continually improving defender Heath Pearce. Boyens will be off for international duty following this game, so it was nice to see him contribute on the way out. 

Fellow Kiwi, Simon Elliot, made a mistake just on the other side of the half, however, that led to Mendoza getting an equalizer. The whole play got set up for Columbus after El Sueño banged a shot off the goal post in the 49th, as the Crew gobbled up the ball and marched downfield for Mendoza's brace. Just 5 minutes later, though, Sueño made good by scoring the third Chivas goal of the game. Flores was able to outpace the defense and pick up a beautiful pass from Ben Zemanski that was just perfect, and he converted for our third lead of the game. 

But, 7 minutes later (again with the 7 minutes), Columbus got a lucky netter than would be the final twine tickler of the match. Eddie Gavin blasted a shot from outside the box that deflected off of a Chivas defender and to the foot of Emmanuel Ekpo. Ekpo received the ball, spun on Zarek Valentin, and blasted the ball home for the game tying goal. The Crew dominated the remainder of the game, being a man up, but Chivas was able to keep them out (barely) and maintain the tie.

G- Dan Kennedy: Everytime I pump this Gaucho up, he seems to have a rough outing. Sure, the defense had the bigger problems, but Kennedy has to take a little blame after a couple of tough outings lately.

D- Zarek Valentin, Andrew Boyens, Heath Pearce, Ante Jaziç: If it wasn't for Jaziç, this defense would have been getting totally abused after this game. Sure, they were up on offense (Pearce got an assist and Boyens got a goal), but outside of our Nova Scotia native (Jazzy), the defense was a let down. How does Valentin get busted on that last Columbus goal? Even worse, how doen Fraser not sub someone in for one of these guys?

M- Ben Zemanski, Simon Elliot (Gerson Mayen 89), Nick LaBrocca: Good game from the middies, outside of the one mistake from The Silver Fox. I love me some Mayen as a sub, but the Los Angeles native could have come in about 10 minutes earlier to mix things up a bit.

F- Jorge Flores, Justin Braun (Chris Cortez 89), Alejandro Moreno (Francisco Mendoza 79): Good game for the three guys up front, but El Sueño was clearly the big shot. It's one thing to see him getting so much time as a starter, it's a completely other thing to see him getting serious shots and even a goal. Tough way for Moreno to go out, though, as he's off for international play.

At 3-4-4 (13 points and a +1 goal differential), Chivas USA are sitting 7th in the West. We are tied in points with San Jose, and up by 4 on Vancouver (fall from grace?), while we are trailing Portland and RSL (fall from grace?) by 4. Overall, we sit #12 out of the 18 MLS teams, and while we have a ways to go, we're doing alright for this point in the season with this new of a team. 2-2-1 over our last five, we get back to action rather quickly. Tomorrow we get a mid-week clash against the aforementioned Vancouver Whitecaps FC (1-5-6, -4 GD). Vancouver haven't won since their thrilling season opener against Toronto, and they have seen quite a dip in attention around the Vancouver sports scene. They are kind of swept up in that whole Stanley Cup thing, you know? 

So with the Stanley Cup starting on Wednesday, and the 'Caps/Chivas clash going on that day as well, which do you think will get better ratings in BC? Sorry, soccer, but I promise that we'll watch the highlights.

Elsewhere in the MLS...

-David Beckham racked up another headline making assist, as El Salvadorian Miguel Lopez scored a golden goal for the Galaxy against New England.

-Seattle shocked the MLS world with a 2-1 win over RSL in Salt Lake. The result ended RSL's 29 game unbeaten streak at home. Pat Ianni and Tacoma native Lamar Neagle deserve a pat on the back for that one.

-Dallas and Houston finished in a 2-2 draw after an 87th minute goal from SMU alumn Colin Clark. Surprisingly, the Toros are now unbeaten in their last 8, and sit at 6-3-4. Didn't they suck rather recently?

-Despite New York being without Frenchie McHandBall and other stars, Vancouver could only earn a draw against the team named after an energy drink. The 'Caps scored on a penalty in the 23rd, but Red Bulls equalized just 11 minutes later. They had a sell out crowd in Vancouver, though, as 21,000 supporters showed up to wave their Canuck towels.

-Toronto is just bad. Philly put them down like an old dog, grabbing a 6-2 victory. I really, really wish Andrew was a bigger TFC fan.

-The change in name isn't helping Sporting Kansas City, as they could only draw with the former champs from Colorado. However, with a 1-6-2 record this season, a draw with the 2010 champs may be considered a victory. Where are you, Omar Bravo?

-After having to go to penalty kicks in US Open Cup play earlier in the week, San Jose and Chicago ended their game with a 2-2 draw over the weekend. The Fire got a goal in the 80th from Fort Lauderdale native Cory Gibbs to earn the tie.

Set the table...

The new MLS Playoff qualifying makes a little more sense than the old style, as there won't be any weird conference jumping any longer. Now, the top 10 teams overall make the postseason, with the top 3 teams in each conference getting a bye into the quarterfinals, and the "wildcard" teams battling it out to start the postseason. Right now, we're looking at these top ten teams, along with their points:

1. LA (29)
2. Dallas (22)
3. Philly (20)
4. Seattle (20)
5. NY (18)
6. Colorado (18)
7. RSL (17)
8. Portland (17)
9. Houston (15)
10. DC (15)

That leaves Chivas USA just 2 points out of a playoff spot at the #12 slot. We're in striking distance, and a mid-week game with the second-to-worst team in the table could really have us feeling better about our chances.

¡Arriba las Chivas!

-- Sent from my Palm Prē