I was only able to watch part of the Slovenia game yesterday. I have been saying for some time that I like Altidore, but he is not good enough to be a lone striker. In theory Klinsmann's 4-3-3 should put more guys forward, but the reality was that the wingers played more defensive roles and Altidore was left to do the attacking work himself.

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

A few more U.S. national team players will be extending their trips to Europe.

Real Salt Lake's Kyle Beckerman and the Columbus Crew's Robbie Rogers have had training stints arranged with Bundesliga club Kaiserslautern by U.

It wasn't a game USA fans will be re-watching for entertainment purposes, or one American players will want to remember, but the U.S. national team's 1-0 loss to France still offered up plenty of information, if not attacking soccer.

France was always going to be favored and expected to be the better side, even with a young lineup, but the U.

Every now and again, fans of sports get to witness those special games that remind them what they love about it. That was the case last night in the Western Conference Final as the LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake went toe to toe at the Home Depot Center. The result was 3-1 in favor of the Galaxy, but the score does little to tell the tale of intensity and composure by both teams.

The P2010 Index tracks every performance of every player who suits up for the National Team during the 2014 World Cup cycle, using match ratings from the country's top soccer writers. The Index factors in recent form, strength of opponent, match type, and location, making it something like Power Rankings for the USMNT.

Fantastic weekend of footie:

• MLS Playoff Odds

Big changes in the little schematic we put together last week:

• Seattle Sounders (now: 12 to 1) vs. Real Salt Lake (remains 6 to 1)

Beckerman wants you to believe...

Mauro Rosales are no Mauro Rosales, Seattle now looks dusted.

Álvaro Saborío scored two for Real Salt Lake, and the Seattle Sounders reacted with frustration to their 3-0 loss in the first leg of the Western Conference Semifinals. RSL dominated from the early minutes, pounding eleven shots at Seattle's geriatric keeper while holding the Flounders to exactly zero shots on target for the duration of the match.

As the regular season winds down I'm going to be posting a weekly summary of the some of the data and predictions we're generating, which should give you some context going into each week of games.

Previous Week

We're in the calm before the storm as the mostly-observed FIFA international break meant that there were only 3 games played since our last update.

The Jurgen Klinsmann Era is still fresh and new. He's earned his first win, but the soccer fans in the United States want to see more than a win against a CONCACAF middle team and a draw against the best from our region. Tuesday night's game against Ecuador provides a fairly strong test (21st by SPI).

Here is your somewhat frustrating USMNT line-up:Howard; Cherundolo, Onyewu, Bocanegra, Chandler; Beckerman; Williams, Edu, Shea; Dempsey, AltidoreHere is my Top 5 Debunked 4-3-3 Misconceptions list (even if ol' boy has momentarily sailed off in a slightly different direction).And here is the preview reel.

Orange Slices! USA vs. Ecuador

Orange Slices is our game day, catch-all post that we update during the day before the match

This ain't your adolescent Honduras.

The USA welcomes Ecuador to the cement confines of Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ. Game five of the Jurgen Klinsmann era.

A win, 1-0 over a second-tier CONCACAF side, and probably just about a deserved one, though by no means hugely impressive. The US showed well in patches against Honduras, and a couple of individuals can be proud of their performances, but collectively, the one word that consistently appears in my notes, often double- or triple-underlined, is sloppy.

The U.S. men's national team will field as close to a full strength squad as it has had since Jurgen Klinsmann took over, leaving what should be some easy decisions when it comes time for him to pick a lineup for Saturday's match vs. Honduras.

Landon Donovan is the lone regular starter not to make the trip to South Florida, and now Klinsmann will have some good options as he tries to put together a team to deliver his first win as U.

So you guys must have heard the news by now. Well not news, but rather the rumors. Rio Ferdinand is going to Chicago! Not really, but it sure does make a sparkly headline doesn't it? Apparently the British media have been having a field day with regards to the transfer rumor. Regardless of whether it true or not (it's not) I just don't see where it makes sense.

Woot! Woot!

All aboard! And away we go.... (yes, you'll see this image a few more times this year.)

All aboard the Perlaza MEGABUS!

Three matches all with playoff implication.

FC Vollkswagen vs. FC Corona as Charlie Davies, DeRo and friends (minus Pontius) hope that games-in-hand are a blessing not a curse down the stretch.

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 ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

After a very long delay in Philadelphia Union games thanks to Hurricane Irene (seriously, the last Union match was August 20), our boys in blue and gold are back as the Philadelphia Union (8-6-10) are making the trip to Sandy, Utah for a date with Real Salt Lake (11-7-6). Kickoff at Rio Tinto Stadium is scheduled for 9:06:30 PM ET.

Friday night's game for the United States men's national team provides a perfect test for Jurgen Klinsmann to see what several US players who typically don't get much playing time can do against a strong Costa Rica side (11pm ET, ESPN2).

The game, which will be played at Home Depot Center, will give Klinsmann a chance to see what players can do on the international stage such as Jeff Larentowicz, Chris Pontius and Tommy Chandler.

The Setup after the Red Card to Borchers
Salt Lake welcomed Jamison Olave back into their defense after returning from an injury in the all-star match. Chivas USA was coming off a tough midweek loss in Portland and needed to take the home three points to push towards a playoff spot.
Two Early Defensive Errors In the 11th minute, Jazic played a chipped, blind back pass that was intended for Junior Lopes.

Houston Dynamo (7-7-11, 32 pts.) vs. Real Salt Lake (10-6-6, 36 pts.) Robertson Stadium - Houston, TX - 7:30pm
BROADCAST INFORMATION: KHOU 11.2 (ENG TV) La Ranchera 850 (SPN Radio) SportsTalk 790 (ENG Radio)

REFEREE: Abbey Okulaja. MLS Career: 111 games; FC/gm: 26.

I'm ready to make a Real Betis knock-off but it cannot be anywhere as entertaining as this one...
Hey kids, you realize that our beloved Robins are in the midst of a 4 game unbeaten streak? Sure, two of those matches were against the sub-NASL calibre Real Esteli and won both, but in a season polluted with bad news (DeRo leaving) and worse news (I thought YOU were supposed to be centre back tonight?

USA Setup: USA Coach Jurgen Klinnsman set up in a 4-2-3-1 with Michael Bradley as the #10 behind lone striker Edson Buddle. Bradley was not close enough to Buddle, and therefore Edson was isolated up top. He did however hold up the ball well when given the opportunity, it was just that his opportunities were few and far between.

US

Check out PSP photographer Daniel Gajdamowicz's pre-game and match photo essays.

Tim Howard said before Wednesday night's friendly between the USA and Mexico, "It's going to take all hands on deck." He wasn't wrong. And after a shaky first half, the defense's confidence grew and the offense started creating real chances in what was, in the end, a great effort from the US against an objectively superior Mexican team.

United States vs. Mexico Gamethread

United States starting XI: Howard; Cherundolo, Orozco Fiscal, Bocanegra, Castillo; Jones, Beckerman; Donovan, Bradley, Torres; Buddle

United States bench: Hamid, Loyd, Pearce, Clark, Rogers, Shea, Agudelo.

Mexico starting XI: Ochoa; Juárez, Márquez, Moreno, Salcido; Barrera, Torrado, Castro, Guardado; Naelson, Peralta.

Each manager came into the match fearing his team was worn-out. Salt Lake was playing their third match in 8 days and had suffered a loss on Wednesday night in Kansas City. New York traveled to London and played games on Saturday and Sunday before making the trek back across the pond to Salt Lake City.

The U.S. v. Mexico rematch friendly is less than a week away, and today Jurgen Klinsmann unveiled his first list of call-ups as the head coach for the national team. The Mexico friendly comes at a tricky time for the U.S., as the bigger European leagues are kicking off this month and Klinsmann might have hesitated to call-up players overseas in these leagues.

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.

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.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

The MLS All-Star team is set to take on Manchester United in a match-up that should be entertaining, but clearly won't be easy.

New York Red Bulls head coach Hans Backe will be tasked with selecting a lineup capable of keeping up with the English champions, something that will be a bit more difficult after LA Galaxy and U.

Starting Line Ups

Fire

GK Johnson

D Anibaba, Cuesta, Gibbs, Segares

M Oduro, Paladini, Husidic, Nyarko

F Chaves, Barouch

Bench : Conway, Mikulic, Ristic, Bone, Pappa, Videira, Ferrari

RSL

GK Rimando

D Russell, Olave, Borchers, Beltran

M Grabavoy, Beckerman, Warner, Johnson

F Espindola, Aghasyan

Bench : Reynish, McKenzie, Schuler, Gil, Gonzalez, Williams, Toia

Houston Dynamo (3-3-3) vs. Real Salt Lake (5-1-0) Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy, UT - 7:30pm CT
BROADCAST INFORMATION: FOX Soccer - 7:30 p.m. FOX Deportes - 7:30 p.m. Sports Talk 790 - 7:30 p.m. La Ranchera 850 - 7:30 p.m.
REFEREE: Ricardo Salazar - Career: 128 games; FC/gm: 26.

STORY OF THE DAY
Steve Helman of the Boston Globe on Taylor Twellman and the concussions that ended his career.
NSC MINNESOTA STARS
Home Opener
-Sat Apr 30
NSC Minnesota Stars v Carolina RailHawks - 7:30pm
Venue: National Sports Center Stadium - Blaine MN
Tickets
Tailgating begins around 5:30.

With all of #MLS4RSL tonight why not throw up a thread for those watching on TV (Foxsoccer) or online (www.concacaf.com). A neutral look at the match can be read at SBN-soccer or of course you can read a Real Salt Lake view of things at RSL Soapbox.

While no MLS team has ever won in Mexico the Seattle Sounders and RSL have something in common.