Sporting KC and RSL square off in the biggest match of 2012 - so far. (Getty Images)

What else can you say about the upcoming weekend in Major League Soccer? It's damn full. Nine matches, eight of them on Saturday. Tons of interesting matchups across the board that should have everyone's attention.

There are some stories in life and sports that force us to re-evaluate what is important. This is one of those stories. It is the story of a young man whose courage, determination and heart has touched the lives of professional athletes from all over Major League Soccer and beyond. Evan Mundine, a 13 year old boy from Texas has found a way to connect with athletes in the best ways possible.

By Justin Shaffer - SEATTLE, WA (Apr 5, 2012) US Soccer Players -- This week, the Colorado Rapids' Brian Mullan makes his first trip to Seattle since his brutal two-footed sliding tackle broke Steve Zakuani's fibula and tibia. The infamous moment occurred April 22nd, during the home leg of Colorado's season series with Seattle.

Steve Zakuani is an amazing human being. Ever since he first started talking about the injury that has so far left him with a nasty scar, already cost him a year of his career and quite possibly changed him as a footballer forever, he's opted for the high road. In talking to the media before Saturday's game, which should be the first time Brian Mullan will face the Seattle Sounders since he threw that ill-advised tackle, Zakuani urged fans to be forgiving, too.

It wasn't necessarily pretty, but the Seattle Sounders 1-0 win over the Colorado Rapids on Saturday was exactly what this organization needed. Despite using their fifth different starting lineup and bringing in a 19th different starter, the Sounders head into their bye week sitting on 10 points through five matches.

After Rafa Marquez' latest act of misconduct, the consensus question seems to be not if MLS' Disciplinary Committee will suspend the New York Red Bulls Designated Player, but how for long?

Marquez' much-publicized, off-ball, NFL-style tackle and kick to San Jose Earthquakes winger Shea Salinas resulted in Salinas breaking his clavicle, and he is set to undergo surgery and miss the next 6-to-8 weeks, according to the Earthquakes.

The Seattle Sounders are starting to look like the best team in Major League Soccer, and three of the team's top stars helped lead the Sounders to a two-win week as they climbed up the Western Conference standings.

Fredy Montero, Mauro Rosales and Osvaldo Alonso were all vital in Seattle's Week 9 victories against the LA Galaxy and Philadelphia Union, and all three earned spots on SBI's MLS Best XI.

Spock Spork!

After a disastrous midweek game in DC Colorado is back at home against Sporting KC. Kansas City is on a 3 game slide after winning their first 7 to start the season. There's a big tailgate for this one as Kansas City usually brings a good crown. we're doing a BBQ tailgate and the KC fans are bringing authentic KC BBQ sauce.

With 2012 marking the beginning of the USA's FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign and the players here hoping to make a big impression, we decided to look back at the January camp roster from this time in the previous two cycles to see if there is any forecasting to be done on how many players will actually reach the World Cup.

Seattle's Steve Zakuani on the road to recovery - Grant Wahl

We know all about Steve Zakuani's horrific injury. There's not necessarily a lot new here for us. But there are some interesting details and Wahl does talk to Brian Mullan, who acknowledges his poor choice of words the day of the incident.

We end this look at the coming season with the team that drives soccer in Colorado, the Colorado Rapids.

MLS Cup champions in 2010, the Rapids slogged through 2011. After the first month of the campaign, only a July dismantling of New York (4-0) and an August domination of Columbus (a 2-0 shellacking that looked like an 11-on-9 game) stood out.

We end this look at the coming season with the team that drives soccer in Colorado, the Colorado Rapids.

MLS Cup champions in 2010, the Rapids slogged through 2011. After the first month of the campaign, only a July dismantling of New York (4-0) and an August domination of Columbus (a 2-0 shellacking that looked like an 11-on-9 game) stood out.

Finally, the game we were actually waiting for has arrived. With last week's friendly match against Portland out of the way, the Union start their season in earnest this Sunday. Colorado travels down a mile and over about 1500 or so to the unfriendly confines of PPL Park. The tailgate forecast is nothing short of pretty good!

Nick Groke covers the Colorado Rapids for the Denver Post. PSP reached out to him for an interview ahead of this weekend's Union home opener. We were hoping to get a bit of insider information on how Colorado so completely dissected the Columbus Crew last weekend. We got that and a whole lot more, as Nick provided a set of fantastic answers to our queries.

Nick Groke covers the Colorado Rapids for the Denver Post. PSP reached out to him for an interview ahead of this weekend's Union home opener, hoping to get a bit of insider information on how Colorado so completely dissected the Columbus Crew a week ago. We got that and a whole lot more, as Nick provided a set of fantastic answers to our queries.

Sometimes I wonder how many more pageviews you get when you add "Freddy Adu" to the title of an article. For a player that has been talked about more than any in US soccer history, Adu continues to make headlines simply for continuing to play soccer. "Will Freddy do this/that/the other?" Here's the rub: Nobody knows!

Philadelphia Union starting XI: Zac MacMath, Chris Albright, Sheanon Williams, Carlos Valdes, Porfirio Lopez, Brian Carroll, Michael Farfan, Keon Daniel, Gabriel Gomez, Danny Mwanga, Lionard Pajoy

Philadelphia Union subs: Chase Harrison, Josue Martinez, Roger Torres, Cristhian Hernandez, Zach Pfeffer, Chandler Hoffman, Danny Califf

Colorado Rapids starting XI: Matt Pickens, Kosuke Kimura, Marvell Wynne, Drew Moor, Luis Zapata, Pablo Mastroeni, Jeff Larentowicz, Jamie Castrillon, Brian Mullan, Omar Cummings, Tony Cascio

Colorado Rapids bench: Steward Ceus, Tyrone Marshall, Scott Palguta, Ross LaBauex, Wells Thompson, Andre Akpan, Quincy Amarikwa

Before the game gets started, I recommend everyone read this post from Cartilage Free Captain on Fabrice Muamba.

I'll sum up the thoughts of all Chicago Fire supporters after that 2-0 loss to the Colorado Rapids: Ugh.

In their second road match of the year and third match overall, the Fire fell to a Rapids side that was far from exciting, but did enough to manufacture two goals and pick up their third MLS win of the season.

Since Brian Mullan's tackle against Steve Zakuani, emotions have run quite high amongst the fanbases of both teams. Many would love to hear the Colorado Rapids midfielder talk before this game, some just want to move on with soccer. That first set will be disappointed based on a statement from the Rapids.

When the Colorado Rapids comes to Seattle for their 1PM Saturday match most of the national attention will be on Brian Mullan and how the fans react to his presence. Some significant soccer storylines are missed if you focus on that; things that are more likely to effect the result. New Coach Oscar Pareja is shifting the team to a more dynamic 4-3-3.

Another weekend of games is upon us. This time around, there are two rather intriguing matchups pitting the top teams in each conference against each other and the second-place teams in each conference against each other as well.
I opted to take one home side and one away side in those games.

By THOMAS FLOYD

After much debate over who is the top team in MLS at this early stage in 2012, Real Salt Lake and Sporting Kansas City will resolve matters just as the soccer gods intended -- on the field.

The matchup between 5-1-0 Salt Lake and 5-0-0 Kansas City -- the league's final unbeaten team -- is the centerpiece of a packed MLS slate this weekend featuring nine games.

Yes, I have to start out the scouting report talking about Brian Mullan, even though he's far from the most likely player to have a significant impact on the game. Sounders fans have been increasingly chided and cautioned over the last few weeks by the media as well as the organization to just leave the poor guy alone - cause garsh shucks bygones is bygones - to the point that if every fan doesn't give him a handshake and a wet kiss on the cheek, we've embarrassed the franchise.

As sidereal points out in the Scouting Report, the Colorado Rapids put their own twist on a 4-3-3. It is lopsided to the right offensively with Brian Mullan occupying the farthest right space. He is more of a defensive winger in this system. On the opposite wing Tony Cascio could start which would help Seattle as there will be a less effective right sided partnership with Sigi Schmid resting Mauro Rosales and Adam Johansson for another 14 days.

There will be many steps along the way for Seattle Sounders fans to follow in Steve Zakuani's steps and move on from last year's brutal incident and today is a major one of those. But overly focusing on Brian Mullan will ignore that getting three points against a conference opponent is more important with the new MLS Cup Playoff format.

Seattle welcomed Colorado Rapids with an unusually warm sunny spring afternoon. Many fans were ready to roll out the welcome wagon for Brian Mullan, on the condition that Brian Mullan be under the wagon. It is difficult not to think about these two teams without thinking about the horrendous tackle on Steve Zakuani last season, and it is Brian Mullan's first trip to Seattle since it occurred.

Seattle welcomed Colorado Rapids with an unusually warm sunny spring afternoon. Many fans were ready to roll out the welcome wagon for Brian Mullan, on the condition that Brian Mullan be under the wagon. It is difficult not to think about these two teams without thinking about the horrendous tackle on Steve Zakuani last season, and it is Brian Mullan's first trip to Seattle since it occurred.

Seattle welcomed Colorado Rapids with an unusually warm sunny spring afternoon. Many fans were ready to roll out the welcome wagon for Brian Mullan, on the condition that Brian Mullan be under the wagon. It is difficult not to think about these two teams without thinking about the horrendous tackle on Steve Zakuani last season, and it is Brian Mullan's first trip to Seattle since it occurred.

Colorado suffered a second straight shutout loss on the road against an opponent it will see three times this season.

The Rapids fell to 3-3-0 with a 1-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders. Zach Scott scored in 63rd minuted off of a corner kick to provide the difference.

The result was fitting for the host and reflective of a game where both teams crafted chances, but both struggled to get the ball in the back of the net.

Colorado suffered a second straight shutout loss on the road against an opponent it will see three times this season.

The Rapids fell to 3-3-0 with a 1-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders. Zach Scott scored in 63rd minuted off of a corner kick to provide the difference.

The result was fitting for the host and reflective of a game where both teams crafted chances, but both struggled to get the ball in the back of the net.

The Colorado Rapids asked the question of whether it was possible on Saturday night to have a "good" home loss, and the answer appeared to be a definitive maybe.

The Rapids fell at home to the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1. The loss was the third in a row for the Rapids and dropped them into the bottom three in the Western Conference with a 3-4-0 record.

The New England Revolution is all set to take on the Colorado Rapids tonight at Gillette Stadium. The Revs will be hoping to improve upon a 2-5-0 record, including a three-match losing streak that spanned the month of April. Colorado, meanwhile, just dominated Chivas by a 4-0 scoreline and will hope that match was the coming-out party they've been waiting for under Oscar Pareja.

Rapids in Colorado punish the unprepared and the undermanned. On Sunday, the Colorado Rapids went on the road and did the same as their namesake white water, knocking off a nine-man FC Dallas squad 2-0.

Jaime Castrillon scored in the 61st minute with a header off a Brian Mullan cross and Martin Rivero netted his first MLS goal with assists from Mullan and Kamani Hill in the 74th minute.

Rapids in Colorado punish the unprepared and the undermanned. On Sunday, the Colorado Rapids went on the road and did the same as their namesake white water, knocking off a nine-man FC Dallas squad 2-0.

Jaime Castrillon scored in the 61st minute with a header off a Brian Mullan cross and Martin Rivero netted his first MLS goal with assists from Mullan and Kamani Hill in the 74th minute.

Week 11 was a gamble week for my Fantasy club that in the end did not pay off. A low 47 points on the week just five over the week's average.

I gambled with my midfield yet again with brining in Brian Mullan who had two games on the week and Dax McCarty. The Mullan gamble didn't work out as he got hurt and only gave out a single point.

I'm French! Why do think I have this outrageous accent!

Before I get started I want to point out that the full list of MLS salaries were released today. I'll have a full write-up later this weekend but I figured some people might want to take a look.
Our only look at this year's expansion team, the Montreal Impact, comes tomorrow night at the Dick.