DC interim coach, Ben Olsen, and Houston coach, Dominic Kinnear, ejected for "irresponsible" handshaking behavior

It's a disappointing day when referees choose to eject first, ask questions later. But it's a really sad day in this sport when it never crosses a referee's mind that a team might be displaying a show of respect to their opponent.

DC interim coach, Ben Olsen, and Houston coach, Dominic Kinnear, ejected for "irresponsible" handshaking behavior

It's a disappointing day when referees choose to eject first, ask questions later. But it's a really sad day in this sport when it never crosses a referee's mind that a team might be displaying a show of respect to their opponent.

DC United's 2010 effectively ended last night. United fell to Columbus in the semifinals of the US Open Cup in front of 3400 fans at RFK stadium, and while the organization is none too happy with the quality of the referee for the match, their grousing won't change anything. United will now simply finish out their MLS schedule while understandably looking ahead to 2011.

D.C. are a long, long way down. What will it take to start climbing back out?

If there was any real hope of D.C. United salvaging some pride from the debacle that was the 2009 season it was lost last season. The word "lost" may be a tad of euphemism here. Two straight heartbreaking defeats after strong performances just adds more grief to the season than we probably thought was possible.

From recanted penalties to ejections for shaking hands, this weekend's slate of matches left us with a lot of questions about the reasoning behind referees' decisions. Alas, a clear explanation is almost never released to the public, leaving many of us to wonder how in the world some of these officials became licensed.

Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com

By TRAVIS CLARK

The Columbus Crew left it till the very end, but managed to overcome a tough, ten-man D.C. United side and emerge as 2-1 winners in Wednesday night's U.S. Open Cup Semifinal.

Andy Iro forced home a late equalizer, and Columbus, up a man for 60 minutes, squeezed out a winner through a Guillermo Barros Schelotto penalty kick in extratime.

OK, maybe there's a little more to it. But as I was looking at some numbers for Friday SI.com piece, I came across Major League Soccer's all-time leaders in fouls committed. Sure enough, there are some guys on the list who would pull over and get out of their car just to hack away at someone on a roadside construction crew.

Death of General Pike at York - nice place for a footy stadium!
TORONTO FC (9TH) VS. D.C.UNITED (16TH)
　
BMO Field - Saturday 4PM ET
TV: CBC
　
D.C. United comes to Toronto but a shadow of the league's glamour club they once were. In a sad way, their recent fall from grace has also been a loss for MLS.

Photo by Michael Janosz/ISIphotos.com
So much for the Los Angeles Galaxy season collapsing.

The Galaxy halted its recent slide in commanding fashion, delivering a 3-1 victory against the Columbus Crew on Saturday to regain sole possession of the best record in MLS and ease fears that the team was in danger of falling apart.

D.C. United head coach and former FC Delco player Ben Olsen is the featured guest on this week's KYW's Philly Soccer Show.

In the podcast recorded Tuesday night, Olsen talked with co-hosts Greg Orlandini and Dan Walsh about:

• coming up as a young player in southeastern Pennsylvania and his ties to Philadelphia,
• a playing career that saw him become one of MLS's best midfielders and earn him 37 national team caps,
• his efforts to turn around D.

D.C. United head coach and former FC Delco player Ben Olsen is the featured guest on this week's KYW's Philly Soccer Show.

In the podcast recorded Tuesday night, Olsen talked with co-hosts Greg Orlandini and Dan Walsh about:

• coming up as a young player in southeastern Pennsylvania and his ties to Philadelphia,
• a playing career that saw him become one of MLS's best midfielders and earn him 37 national team caps,
• his efforts to turn around D.

Edson Buddle scores in July meeting at RFK

The biggest news of the week is that there is no news for this week. With the roster freeze coming at 2 PM PDT on Wednesday, the LA Galaxy announced only one change. That was bringing Yohance Marshall back from loan to the USSF D-2 Austin Aztecs, a team that enjoyed several weeks at the top of the second division of North American futbol this season.

Real Salt Lake 1-0 win over Chicago today means they have pulled level in the Western Conference with the Galaxy on 47 points, so LA will have extra motivation with a win and three points tonight to keep their neck in front of the Utah club as we enter the season's home stretch.

Chicago's loss also means the first of three results the Galaxy need to go their way this weekend to qualify for the playoffs is now a reality.

Some motion picture of a phenomenal soccer weekend:

• Michael Bradley...bang!

• We tried to tell you in our preview and on Twitter that West Brom was hot and would toss the kitchen sink and Peter Odemwingie at Arsenal and take it to the 12th round.

The crew from the Emirates didn't respect us.

With the MLS season winding down, potential head coaching vacancies will start to garner a lot of attention in the media and with fans.

D.C. United will be the initial point of attention, as the club will soon turn its full attention to the head coaching position. Ben Olsen has been the interim boss during his first year as an assistant after Curt Onalfo's abrupt dismissal in August.