Any questions about who the best team in Major League Soccer were put to rest by Real Salt Lake, which didn't seem fazed by missing several of its top players.

RSL put on a clinic on Saturday night, dismantling the Los Angeles Galaxy, 4-1, on Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium.

A day after delivering a vicious head butt to a Morelia trainer during an on-field skirmish in Mexican League playoff action, Cruz Azul goalkeeper Jose de Jesus Corona has been dropped from the Mexican national team's Gold Cup roster.

Corona leveled Morelia trainer Sergio Martin with a powerful head butt that leveled Martin, who had thrown punches of his own during the skirmish that ensued after a Cruz Azul fan entered the field of play during a Morelia blowout win, setting off Cruz Azul players.

The Gold Cup got underway last with a doubleheader in front of a sold-out crowd at the Cowboys Stadium. The fans got what they came for as they saw ten combined goals and blowout victories by two of the tournament favorites.

Costa Rica opened the Gold Cup with a 5-0 rout of Cuba. Los Ticos took an early lead as Marco Urena scored his first of two goals on the day in the seventh minute of the Group A match.

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.

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 Chicago Bears have been underrated all season. After beating the Seattle Seahawks 35-24 on Sunday, the Bears are one win away from reaching the Super Bowl. The victory over the Seahawks was actually easier than the final score indicates. With three minutes remaining, the Bears had a 35-10 advantage.

Jeremy Vuolo and AC Oulu scored an impressive blowout over Hameenlinna to go third in the Ykkonen, while Daniel Stevens and Kemi Kings suffered a second straight loss on their trip to Lahti.

By FRANCO PANIZO

The Gold Cup got underway with a doubleheader in Texas on Sunday, and ten combined goals were scored in blowout victories by two of the tournament favorites.

Costa Rica opened the Gold Cup with a 5-0 rout of Cuba. The Ticos took an early lead as Marco Urena scored his first of two goals on the day in the seventh minute of the Group A match.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

The two hottest teams in the NBA squared off on Saturday night. After the game, there was no question which team currently holds the title of the NBA's hottest: the New Orleans Hornets. After a close second half, the Hornets used a 31-10 third quarter to beat the Spurs by a final score of 96-72.

This blowout win came after the Hornets beat the Atlanta Hawks 100-59.

The six remaining teams in the South American U-20 Championship played their first of five matchdays on Monday, and we saw one surprise, one blowout, and yes some more Neymar. See above for a quick preview, below for full highlights.

Uruguay 1-0 Colombia
Uruguay got their first win on the strength of Adrian Luna's first-half free kick goal, and held Colombia to no real chances after that for a lean but solid win.

Michael Parkhurst and Nordsjaelland will try to avoid a second straight blowout when they visit Midtjylland while Clarence Goodson and Brondby look to improve their place in the standings against SonderjyskE.

Like Angel, Gonzalez, and Ricketts, Nathan is suffering through an injury today, so post game duties fall to me.

Somewhere in a penthouse in Vegas there is a guy snorting lines and rolling in hookers because he put $100 down on Mike Magee starting for the Galaxy in their opening match. Don't know how far down your probability depth chart that was, but I'm still diving to find it on mine.

As I sit watching David Silva come on for James Milner in the last 30 minutes of the Liverpool blowout of City today, I had a thought. We've seen Roy Hodgson rediscover both his mojo and his "proper depth" in the Premier League over the last two months. We've seen Milner (and Barry) struggle to justify their prices at a "big club" over the months since they came over from Villa.

The Houston Dynamo offense had struggled to generate goals for much of the 2011 season, but the cure for the lack of scoring came in the form of the D.C. United defense, which provided little resistance on Friday night.

Dynamo rookie Will Bruin scored a hat-trick to help lift the Dynamo to a 4-1 thrashing of D.

The Los Angeles Galaxy may have had the biggest blowout of the week, and Chivas USA had the most surprising win of the week, but no team can top FC Dallas this week after the Red Stripes posted a pair of shutout victories to climb the Western Conference standings.

Led by the attacking forays of Fabian Castillo, the stout defending of George John, and the stellar goalkeeping of Kevin Hartman, FC Dallas beat both Toronto FC and the Philadelphia Union to improve to 5-3-2 on the season.

WakeMed Soccer ParkThe U.S. Women's National Team rounded out their pre-World Cup tour with consecutive 2-0 victories over Japan. The second game was played in Cary, NC (home of the Carolina Railhawks) and MLS Reserves were on hand to witness the action. It was a beautiful night at Wake Med Soccer Park and the crowd was boisterous.

NOTE: I've been trying to post this for days, but there's been problems with logging in. That's also why there's no picture here. Sorry.

It was a weekend of big wins and losses that continued downward spirals. It was a high scoring one too, with 21 goals in the 9 goals from Friday to Sunday.

Kenneth di Vita Jensen and Steve Clark helped Honefoss to a huge upset over Mikkel Diskerud and Stabaek, while Josh Gatt netted twice for Molde in their blowout win in the third round of the Norwegian Cup.

By FRANCO PANIZO

The Gold Cup got underway with a doubleheader in Texas on Sunday, and ten combined goals were scored in blowout victories by two of the tournament favorites.

Costa Rica opened the Gold Cup with a 5-0 rout of Cuba. Los Ticos took an early lead as Marco Urena scored his first of two goals on the day in the seventh minute of the Group A match.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

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'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 [.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.