Colorado is on the rise. (Brian Stevens)

I hate to say my thoughts and notes for this week will be kept rather brief. I honestly wasn't able to view a lot of this past weekend's action other than highlights though I did jot a few notes down that I did gather from what I did see.

Seattle's Hot Feet, Columbus Struggles

I don't know what is bigger, Blaise Nkufo going from near-bad DP status to solid all in one game OR the fact that the Columbus Crew have been dominated in league play for two straight games giving up seven goals in that time.

We are really heading into the playoff push here after week 25. There were plenty of games that had playoff implications this past week and none of them seemed to disappoint. We had some changes in the rankings as some teams moved up and a few others moved down.

The biggest fall continues to be the Columbus Crew who lost a bad 4-0 game at home to Seattle this past week.

Most weeks, picking the MLS Player of the Week is easy.

Not this week.

Seattle's Blaise Nkufo, Toronto FC's Dwayne DeRosario and Los Angeles' Landon Donovan all enjoyed stellar multi-goal performances to help lead their teams to victories, and they each would easily win player of the week most other weeks.

sounders vs. rsl

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The big changes in our lineup card are at target forward and right back. With news today that Blaise Nkufo's knee is proving to be more problematic than we have have thought, it looks like he'll miss Thursday's game and could miss more depending on the doctor's diagnosis.

The Columbus Crew go down on Dollar Beer night and get silenced by the Sounders 4-nil. St Nkufo sets the boxscore a Blaise with a hatrick, the first ever in team history. The first half was actually much tighter than any stats will indicate, but the Blue beat the Yellow where it mattered.

That's a wad of really disconnected sentences isn't it?

By JOHN BOSCHINI

When it rains it pours for Blaise Nkufo. The Swiss international's first goal for Seattle turned into a hat trick as the Sounders trounced the Columbus Crew 4-0 Saturday night at Crew Stadium.

Nkufo got the scoring started early, putting home a rebound in the fourth minute to give the Sounders an early lead.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

When it rains it pours for Blaise Nkufo. The Swiss international's first goal for Seattle turned into a hat trick as the Sounders trounced the Columbus Crew 4-0 Saturday night at Crew Stadium.

Nkufo got the scoring started early, putting home a rebound in the fourth minute to give the Sounders an early lead.

It was another action-packed Saturday in the league, as the MLS playoff picture came into greater focus.

After their mid-week management shakeup, Toronto FC faced off against Houston down at Robertson Stadium. Bring Ching put the Dynamo up early with an 18th minute strike before his former teammate Dwayne DeRosario scored a second-half brace with goals in the 60th and 94th minutes to give the guests the 2-1 victory.

This match could very well be the last gasp effort in this season's attempt at any success and a late playoff run. Win and whatever slim hopes of postseason play are kept alive another day. Lose or draw and any realistic chances of capturing the eighth and final playoff spot are out the window. Seattle defeated the Fire 2-1 on a late Fredy Montero goal on August 28.

sounders vs. chicago (big)

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With Blaise Nkufo, Leo Gonzalez and James Riley all joining the team in Chicago, we're expecting them to all start.

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Blaise Nkufo scored his fourth goal and second game-winner for the Sounders.

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Blaise Nkufo silenced most of his critics last week when he scored his first three goals of his Sounders career.

The European Leagues have started up again, MLS is deep into the playoff race, yet I still find myself waxing nostalgic for the 2010 World Cup. It's a wonderful period of time where it's socially acceptable to watch 3 matches a day for two weeks straight before being weened off of it throught the knockout stage whereas the rest of the time I guiltily own up to watching 4 matches when someone asks me how I spent my Saturday.

The month of September has been stellar for a number of top MLS players and picking the player of the month isn't easy.

Who has had the best September? Is it Chris Wondoloski, with his four goals? Is it Omar Cummings, with his own four goals? How about Dwayne "Write the Check" DeRosario?