By Andrew Villegas The problem with the MLS expansion draft candy dish is that you have to wade through a hundred stale Tootsie Rolls (some of which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, go figure) to get to that proverbial Snickers bar. This is the worst kept secret in American soccer. Teams stack the unprotected [.

While nobody will mistake Tuesday night's CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal first leg between the Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake as an instant classic, there were plenty of talking points to come out of the 0-0 draw at Crew Stadium.

Referee Jair Marrufo issued three red cards, with RSL's Tony Beltran (two yellows) and Nat Borchers and Columbus' Emilio Renteria all being sent off and becoming ineligible for the return leg March 1 at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Their Words "With the coach, his teammates and the fan base, there seems to be an incident around every corner he turns." Columbus technical director Brian Bliss, speaking to The Columbus Dispatch about Andres Mendoza. Other Sources US sticks to its tried-and-true formula - from ESPN.com's Leander Schaerlaeckens: The US tends to sort out its own game before looking over to see what everybody else is doing.

It's still strange talking about the Dynamo in relation to the Eastern Conference, but when the Columbus Crew come to town this weekend, it's a battle for conference playoff positioning. Houston sits in third place, tied with the Crew on 18 points, but ahead on goal differential. It's these matches type of home matches that will ultimately decide the Dynamo's season so needless to say, Saturday's match is important.

Will David Beckham be on hand to play Seattle this weekend? (Getty Images)

It's a holiday weekend and before I go off an enjoy fireworks, beer and not worrying about my day job I'm going to hopefully have a nice round of posts today starting with the weekend picks. I mentioned yesterday how packed this weekend is and that games actually spill over into Monday due to the holiday.

Andres Mendoza scored the winner for the Columbus Crew as they downed the Houston Dynamo at Kennesaw State University's Soccer Stadium in the second game of Aaron's Pro Soccer Challenge. In comparison to Wednesday night's Columbus/New England exhibition, this match included much stronger teams, as many first team players took part.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Jeff Cunningham got the perfect opportunity for an historic goal.

His close-range open shot, off a brilliant back flick from teammate Emilio Renteria in the 61st minute, missed wide. A goal would have put Cunningham into a tie with Jaime Moreno for first place all-time in goals in MLS history, and would have tied him for the Columbus Crew franchise record for goals.

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

From Vancouver's thrilling three-goal comeback to Dwayne De Rosario's debut with the New York Red Bulls, MLS Week 3 was memorable for a variety of reasons.

The Whitecaps posted a thrilling battle from three goals down, including a pair of Camilo goals in stoppage time.

Gabriel Ferrari had a shot deflect off Houston defender Eddie Robinson for an own goal, and Martin Rivas scored twice as the Chicago Fire topped the Houston Dynamo, 3-0, in MLS Reserve League action on Sunday morning.

Rivas, a 19-year-old Argentine trialist, is hoping to catch on with an MLS club after trialing with D.

Justin Mapp has shown flashes of attacking brilliance throughout his MLS career, but on Saturday he put together what may have been his best performance as a pro. The Philadelphia Union midfielder scored a pair of goals and contributed to three other Union goals in the Union's 6-2 thrashing of Toronto FC.

At Least the Supporters Showed Up (photo courtesy of Chris Kyak)
Brutal. That's the only word you can use to describe the feeling of having your team throw away two desperately-needed points in stoppage time. 20,000+ Red Bulls fans left Harrison last night with a bitter taste in their mouths following yet another disappointing draw, following a late, late injury time equalizer by the Crew's Rich Balchan.

The Columbus Crew has made a habit of giving up early goals, but on Wednesday night, the Crew also continued a recent trend of delivering late-game heroics.

Down 1-0 to Real Salt Lake late in the second half, Columbus rallied with two late goals, including a deflected game-winner from Josh Gardner to post a 2-1 victory at Crew Stadium on Wednesday night.

After an impressive return to form versus Vancouver over the weekend, Real Salt Lake fell 2-1 to the Columbus Crew at Crew Stadium.
The Crew were coming off a 1-1 stalemate over the weekend versus New York. Both teams were depleted either by injuries or Gold Cup call-ups. Real Salt Lake is almost used to it.

After an impressive return to form versus Vancouver over the weekend, Real Salt Lake fell 2-1 to the Columbus Crew at Crew Stadium.
The Crew were coming off a 1-1 stalemate over the weekend versus New York. Both teams were depleted either by injuries or Gold Cup call-ups. Real Salt Lake is almost used to it.

Columbus needed two late goals to take three points at home on Wednesday, with Real Salt Lake ahead after seven minutes when Jamison Olave scored. The Crew equalized when Andres Mendoza successfully converted from the penalty spot in the 76th minute. Mendoza picked up the assist on Josh Gardner's winner in the 82nd.

In the off-season the Chicago Fire made the promise to Section 8 Chicago that if Section 8 had over 800 season tickets before the season started, the team would cover the fan buses for the Columbus road trip. The board, volunteers, and other friends of Section 8 all came together to not only match that mark but get the Section over 1,000 season tickets.

Travelling to Columbus for the second match in four days, the Fire will face an opponent that will certainly be a challenger for one of the final playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. Despite cleaning house and releasing many of their most reliable veteran players after last season, Columbus is still currently eight points ahead of the Fire in the standings.

The Chicago Fire and the Columbus Crew kick-off in less than half an hour. The action starts on MY50 Chicago at 3:00 PM CST. Over 400 Fire fans made the trip to the game and it will be interesting to see how far their voices carry.

The starting lineup for the Chicago Fire is a 4-4-2. Sean Johnson; Jalil Anibaba, Yamith Cuesta, Cory Gibbs, Gonzalo Segares; Dominic Oduro, Logan Pause, Baggio Husidic, Patrick Nyarko; Gaston Puerari, Diego Chaves.

MLS kicked off the weekend at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park last night with Sporting KC defeating San Jose 1-0 behind rookie C.J. Sapong's goal in the 31st minute.

Previews of the remaining weekend fixtures. (USSN Power Rankings in parenthesis)

Saturday, June 18

(8) Seattle Sounders at (15) Toronto FC
7PM ET, Direct Kick, MD Live, GolTV (Toronto), KONG (Seattle)
Toronto comes into this match on a high having gone into the Home Depot Center and shocking the Galaxy with a last minute goal to earn a 2-2 draw.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Andres Mendoza is on a pretty good tear.

The big striker scored goals in each half off mistakes to lead an impressive performance by the Columbus Crew in its 4-1 win over the Colorado Rapids Sunday night at Crew Stadium.

Mendoza's first goal came in the 18th minute.

In a way we are at the midway point of the season. Most of the teams are at 17 games while a few others have played more or there are some that have played a few less. Still, it feels like halfway to me.

There weren't a lot of changes in the top half of the rankings this week. Only a slight flip-flop between a couple clubs.

I'm fairly confident today will be one of those days where everyone is making their mid-season picks (either that or it will be an all week kind of things across the 'net). I've been knocking around the idea of getting mine posted for some time and today just felt like the right time. Nearly all teams have played half of their season (KC, RSL and SJ only ones that have played 16 games) and I think we know who was good in this first half of the season and who was not.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Jeff Cunningham couldn't have chosen a better time to make MLS history.

The Columbus Crew striker scored in the final minute of Wednesday's clash with Vancouver to give the Crew a 1-0 victory. Cunningham is now tied with Jaime Moreno as the all-time MLS goals leader with 133.

Major League Soccer will be announcing it's All-Star First XI at halftime of Sunday's Portland-Seattle match, so it's a perfect time to roll out SBI's picks of the league's top performers for the first half of the season.

We've picked three teams, using a 3-5-2 formation that is typical of an MLS All-Star Game ballot.

Brian Mullan hasn't had much to celebrate individually this season, but that all changed in a big way Friday night.

While Mullan's tackle that broke Steve Zakuani's leg will likely remain his defining moment of the season, his long-range goal against the Columbus Crew was the defining moment of the match, unlocking a scoreless game and lifting the Colorado Rapids to a 2-0 victory at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

Benny Feilhaber gave the New England Revolution a first half lead, but the Revs suffered a second half collapse, falling 3-1 to the Columbus Crew at Crew Stadium on Saturday night.

Benny Feilhaber's goal wasn't enough for the Revs on Saturday. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

The loss sends the Revs (4-11-9, 21 points) to eighth place in the nine team Eastern Conference and 16th overall in the 18 team Major League Soccer.

Andres Mendoza converted a 51st minute penalty after a Sheanon Williams hand ball in the area and the Columbus Crew held out for a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Union. The Crew's win gave them a six-point lead atop the Eastern Conference, although the Union still have played one less game. The Union's winless streak was stretched to five games.

A real wackiness is setting in on this year's Golden Boot chase in Major League Soccer. With six regular season weeks remaining, the league's top goal scorers presently are all lesser likely candidates in their own way.

If you asked supporters at their respective clubs, or fans who follow MLS action closely, for assessments of these guys individually, you'd probably get replies that fell somewhere between "just OK" and "fairly unsatisfying.

By AVI CREDITOR

The Colorado Rapids and Columbus Crew have taken different roads to get to this point, but ultimately they're right back where they were a year ago.

Colorado eliminated Columbus in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season en route to capturing its first MLS Cup.

Columbus hopes to knock off Colorado tonight. (Getty Images)

I hate being quick with playoff previews but this one will have to end up being the case. Time has not been on my side today.

Tonight is the second wild card game of the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs. Last night the New York Red Bulls upset FC Dallas on the road and tonight the Columbus Crew hope to do the same against the defending MLS Cup champion Colorado Rapids.

Columbus goes into the offseason with some questions for their expansion draft lists. (Getty Images)

The Columbus Crew had many questions going into the 2011 season mostly due to the amount of veteran players that were let go by head coach Robert Warzycha. But as the season went on the Crew began to find their footing and were actually in contention to win the Eastern Conference.

Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft provides the Montreal Impact a chance to build the foundation for its MLS roster, and the club will have some decisions to make based on how much it wants to spend and which direction it wants to go off the bat.

Designated Players Julian de Guzman, Andres Mendoza, Mustapha Jarju, Branko Boskovic, Frank Rost, Milton Caraglio, Omar Bravo and Jeferson are all free for the taking (although Rost is likely to return to Germany after a few-month stay with New York), giving the Impact the option to make a major investment immediately.

Houston's Danny Cruz could be an easy selection for the Impact tomorrow. (Getty Images)

I've already given a mock draft based on my predictions of each MLS club's protection lists and now that the real lists are out we can get a better sense of who could be actually taken tomorrow.

Every team released their protection lists yesterday evening with a few surprises listed Montreal should come away with a decent start to their expansion campaign.

Photo by Jose M. Romero

By JOSE M. ROMERO

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Operators of the still-to-be completed Westside Soccer Complex in this bedroom community west of Phoenix charged admission to watch the Seattle Sounders and Columbus Crew play a preseason match Thursday afternoon.

Welcome back to the latest and greatest episode of the new series Major Link Soccer. Last weekend the young Sounders Academy teams swept Arsenal of California. This week the senior team took on the best XI of both Real Salt Lake and the Columbus Crew during preseason training games. Both teams are preparing for a CCL quarter final match on February 22nd at Crew Stadium.

STARTERS
Happy Birthday to Landon Dononvan!
dN
The Barclays Premier League sends out an amazingly in depth preview of this weekends matches. If you are an EPL fan, then this is completely for you.
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE
Quarterfinals 2nd Leg games are finished.

STARTERS
ESPN puts new person in charge of soccer production - Meet Amy Rosenfeld.
dN
We will finally get some details on the Gold Cup but not until next week now. Probably Tuesday.
STORY OF THE DAY
The Barclays Premier League sends out an amazingly in depth preview of every weekend's matches.

STARTERS
Real Salt Lake becomes the first MLS team to advance to the Semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions League.
dN
Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com reports that JP Dellacamera will be the new voice of MLS on FSC! "Defelcted!"
-And Adrian Healy (former road manager of Lush!

Photo by Greig Cowie/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

Lost in the shuffle amid the announcement of Manchester's United's full U.S. schedule Tuesday, Sporting Kansas City announced a friendly against another English Premier League club with plenty of tradition -- Newcastle United.

The Columbus Crew and FC Dallas are both searching for their first victories of the season and will look to knock each other off when they face off tonight at Crew Stadium in Columbus (7:30pm, Fox Soccer Channel).

The Crew comes in off a disappointing 0-0 draw against a severely short-handed New York Red Bulls squad, while FC Dallas enters having lost at San Jose.