This past week wasn't the best week for the Fire or most of the Eastern conference. New York got three points and D.C. United gained six points. Both teams now have a buffer between them and Sporting Kansas City, and they have a pretty large lead over everyone else.

Fortunately, a few teams generously came up short this week to allow the Fire to hang on to their 4th place spot in the conference.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Chicago Fire defender Dan Gargan has made news on the field as an automatic starter at for his club, but he keeps drawing notice off the field for his artwork too.

Gargan drew notice earlier this season with the terrific video he put together looking at Chicago's preseason preparation for the MLS season.

Word on the street is that one Josh Gatt got himself a goal and an assist in Molde's 5-0 blowout of Stabaek. Ricardo Clark has the misfortune of being on the wrong side of that scoreline. Also, Sean Cunningham started for Molde and Erik Benjaminsen came off the bench early for a Mix-less Stabaek. Clip(s) to be mercilessly hunted down .

ichael Parkhurst and Nordsjaelland pulled to within reach of the league lead with a win over Copenhagen while Conor O'Brien and SonderjyskE were brought back to earth in a blowout loss at Horsens.

Daniel Antunez and Inter stayed atop the Veikkausliiga standings with a blowout win over Lahti, while Mike Banner and Jaro notched their first 2012 win thanks to a late penalty in their game against KuPS.

Matthew Biggerstaff doesn't dubstep around Generation Y Soccer in America

Good evening.

The Evil Empire?

As one of TSG's youngest contributors (Matt has lovely and legitimate conversations about car seats and strollers with our men's league teammates) it is my duty to keep you informed on the social status of the game we all love so dearly with the most important generation (that being my own, of course).

Every week the New England Soccer Today crew will look beyond the standings to rank each of the 19 Major League Soccer (MLS) teams. This week Sean Donahue and Ryan Lanigan contributed rankings. Comments are followed by the ranker's name and the rank they gave that team.

1.

This is what Rocky must have felt like after Rocky II.

The New England Revolution went into the HDC, and for the most part, bossed the LA Galaxy from the beginning of the game to the very end. While last week we saw the first win of the season turn Twitter into a love-fest from Revs supporters to the Revolution, this week saw a nearly all out orgy from people throughout the league who loved watching LA lose.

We're quite certain this falls into the "breaking news" category, but we'll be damned if we put the effort into Googling the amount of times a 'baller has been seen with his sweetie at Cricket. For as long as we've been spouting nonsense and abalicious photos, it's never happened.

Perhaps Charlie's fiancée fancied herself a pair of limited edition Ruthie Davis hi-tops with signature spikes, something she's been recently lusting over on Twitter.

by Ed Bishop
By the end of the Wednesday night's contest at the Independence Events Center the scoreboard looked more like that of a blowout football game rather than a soccer match as the Missouri Comets routed the Syracuse Silver Knights 33 to 12. The Comets showed every indication that they're starting to hit their stride as they improved their record to 11-8 and continued to make their playoff push to secure the second spot in the Central Division with their second win in a row.

After two blowout wins against Dominican Republic and Guatemala, the US Women's National Team got its revenge defeating Mexico yesterday 4-0. The star of the match was Carli Lloyd, with... Read more »

The US Women's National Team knocked off Mexico 4-0 in their final match of the group stage of Olympic qualifying to win Group B. Carli Lloyd had a hat trick and Heather O'Reilly added a goal as the USWNT rolled to an easy victory. They will face Costa Rica for a chance to qualify on Friday (8pm, concacaf.

The U.S. Women's national team figured to face a tougher task against Guatemala on Sunday than it did after a 14-0 thrashing of the Dominican Republic to open CONCACAF Olympic qualifying on Friday.

The challenge was slightly tougher, but only by a goal.

Abby Wambach scored two goals to move into third place on the all-time international goals scored list, while Sydney LeRoux added five goals in a 13-0 thrashing of Guatemala in Vancouver on Sunday.

Finally, we have highlights from the USWNT's two-touchdown blowout in their Olympic qualifying opener. As such, let's just wrap up everyone at once. - Greg Seltzer

The defending NBA champions lost their first three games of the season. Even worse, the Dallas Mavericks lost the first two games in blowout fashion. However, in Game 4, the Mavs finally got their first win with a 99-86 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

So, who was the hero for the Mavs? It was backup center Ian Mahinmi, he had 19 points, five rebounds, two blocks and a steal.

Even though the 2011-12 NBA season is less than a week old, we are already seeing the cream starting to rise to the top. Some teams are surprisingly bad, while a number of teams are better than pundits projected. So which ten teams are the best teams in the NBA?

Here's our NBA power rankings:

1.

Jozy Altidore and AZ returned to their winning ways in grand fashion in a blowout win over De Graafschap while Charles Kazlauskas and Helmond Sport lost their fourth straight.

Jozy Altidore was the only bright spot for AZ in their blowout loss to Heerenveen while Charles Kazlauskas missed Helmond's home loss to Emmen on card suspension.

by Ed Bishop
A tight, see-saw contest through the first two quarters turned into a blowout victory for the Missouri Comets as they downed the Syracuse Silver Knights 23-10 on Sunday afternoon at the Independence Events Center. The lead changed hands four times during the first half of a very physical and often chippy contest and the Knights actually took a one point lead early in the third quarter before the Comets unleashed seven unanswered goals on the expansion Syracuse squad to send them on the long drive home with their fifth straight loss.

The Associated Press has the details:

NEW YORK (AP) -- The United States will open qualifying for the 2014 World Cup at home against Antigua and Barbuda on June 8.

The Americans, trying to qualify for their seventh straight trip to soccer's championship,
play at Guatemala on June 12, FIFA announced Wednesday.

The Seattle Sounders sorely missed injured playmaker Mauro Rosales during their 3-0 Western Conference semifinal first leg loss to Real Salt Lake, and now it appears the Sounders won't have Rosales for their crunch second-leg clash at CenturyLink Field on Wednesday either.

Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid told the Seattle Times that he doesn't expect Rosales to be able to play on Wednesday as he is still dealing with the knee injury he suffered in the Sounders' regular season finale against Chivas USA.

Genius is not always recognized in its time. Genius is not even always recognized in its own language. We of the present must sometimes toil to correct the omissions, slights, and errors of the past. But above all, we must live fully in the present.

We can never turn back the pages of history to correct the sinking popularity of acting genius Gerard Depardieu.

While the Seattle Sounder no longer need to worry about making the MLS Cup Playoffs, there is still much to play for up in Vancouver. The Cascadia Cup is in doubt and that minuscule chance at the Supporters Shield needs Seattle to win out. Fortunately Seattle is playing the rather weak Vancouver Whitecaps on the final day of Empire Field.

The U.S. men's national team is ready to play its first game in Europe under new head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, and while recent opponents Mexico and Costa Rica posed their own problems for the United States, facing Belgium in Brussels today (2:30pm, ESPN2) will present its own set of difficulties.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By JOSE M. ROMERO

The Chicago Fire are in last place no more in the MLS Eastern Conference, thanks to goals by someone who is expected to score and someone else who is not.

In other words, it's likely to be a good day at Toyota Park when striker Dominic Oduro is flying past his defenders and defender Dan Gargan, with one career goal, nets his second.

Jozy Altidore is adjusting just fine to life in the Dutch First Division, earning the start and scoring two goals today in AZ Alkmaar's 4-0 blowout win vs. NEC Nijmegen.

Altidore opened the scoring with a header, then helped draw a penalty, and capped the star performance with his third goal of the season off a perfect run and finish.

The last time D.C. United came to Toyota Park was on October 16, 2010. It was Brian McBride's last home game and it turned out to be C.J. Brown's last home game too. 306 days is a long time but it feels even longer ago, more distant. The lineup for that game was Andrew Dykstra; Steve Kinney, Wilman Conde, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Deris Umanzor; Bratislav Ristic, Logan Pause, Peter Lowry, Marco Pappa; Brian McBride, Patrick Nyarko.

Dwayne right? Thought we recognized you.IN THE TUNNEL:
Days after successfully qualifying for the CONCACAF Champions League group stages, Toronto travels to the nation's capital - that nation, not this one. Optimism has slowly started to creep in to TFC land as the new additions from Aron Winter's "Super Summer Transfer Blowout" have started to show their worth.

It's hardly a good time to have another massive blowout at Newcastle, but that's what happened yesterday. Mike Ashley autocratic owner of Newcastle There were signs of player unrest at the game at Leeds United on Sunday, and of course then Joey tweeted those remarks criticizing Ashley and LLambias after the game, and Newcastle [.

Wednesday night at Red Bull Arena for the 2011 MLS All-Star Game, the electricity was floating in the air and you could feel it, sense it and smell it.

Before the game, the streets near Red Bull Arena were filled with games. Hardest shot contest, Soccer tennis, playing X-Box with FIFA 2011, writing signs for your favorite players and of course a picture next to the Philip Anschutz trophy (MLS Cup) so you could have a keepsake.

It was one of the more egregious dives seen this MLS season, and now Alvaro Saborio looks like he could pay a steep price for his action, which drew a penalty and a red card that turned a scoreless match against San Jose into a 4-0 blowout win.

According to sources within MLS, Saborio stands a very good chance of being suspended for one match for his tide-turning dive against the Earthquakes last Saturday.

The Colorado Rapids looked to be in a world of trouble when star striker Conor Casey went down with a season-ending Achilles tear, but for one week, a new forward option emerged to dazzle the Rapids and keep Colorado on a playoff path.

Sanna Nyassi notched his first career hat-trick in a mid-week blowout win vs.

The New York Red Bulls responded to their mid-week blowout loss to the Colorado Rapids with a strong start to Saturday night's match against FC Dallas, but another blown lead in the second half left the struggling Red Bulls scrambling before Thierry Henry played the role of hero yet again.

I caught the first half of this match on the tv at the gym. Honestly, I thought it would be a blowout win for France. Every time they had possession, they would take it right at the English and take a shot. Then I remembered an old saying by some idiot savant, "the team that scores the most goals wins".

Jonathan Borrajo helped Ham-Kam extend their unbeaten run in a high-scoring affair while Josh Gatt had a short shift for Molde, subbing out with an apparent injury in their blowout win over Aalesunds FK.

The Colorado Rapids returned home to Dick's Sporting Goods Park badly needing a victory after suffering a pair of blowout defeats, but the home team's hopes for three points were thwarted by Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall.

The Dynamo netminder made six saves, including several highlight-reel caliber stops, to help Houston salvage a 0-0 tie on Sunday night.

The U.S. women's national team sealed its place in the knockout rounds of the Women's World Cup with an emphatic 3-0 win against Colombia on Saturday.

The Americans were coming off their tournament-opening 2-0 win against North Korea and produced an even better display, though poor finishing kept the USA from posting a six or seven goal blowout.

Christine Sinclair's goal ended the Germans enviable World Cup record

The German women's team looked like it was coasting to a win led by an exciting new generation of multi-ethnic players just like their male counterparts. The names of Celia Okoyino Da Mbabi and Fatmire Bajramaj will no doubt become familiar to thousands as the World Cup goes on.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Game time: Saturday, 8 p.m.

TV: 6abc

Philadelphia Union will aim to end a miserable week with a win against a Chivas USA squad that limps into Chester with one win in its last six matches.

Chivas (4-6-5), which plays in Los Angeles (for those unaware), dropped a tough 2-1 loss last week against Dallas, thanks to two killer assists by former Union midfielder Andrew Jacobson, including one in the 85th minute.

Well, thank God we rested our starters against Spain. I don't know what would have happened otherwise.
Canada was waiting four years for that? All that righteous indignation, for nothing. I wonder why they didn't call up Dwayne De Rosario.
Anyway, now that the tournament has started, it's important to remember that group games mean nothing outside of (1) results and (2) making sure no one gets injured.