Week 12 in the MLS season was quite kind to the Columbus Crew.

Led by striker Emilio Renteria, the Crew came up with their first MLS win over former coach Sigi Schmid in seven tries to defeat the Seattle Sounders 2-0 at CenturyLink Field before returning home and topping the Chicago Fire 2-1 a few days later to win SBI MLS Team of the Week honors.

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.

Right now, The Emerald City is more than rich in Rave Green baubles. Jeremiah said it well: "There really isn't much reason to complain when your team is pulling out results and playing basically every three days." The Sounders have a pair of shutout victories to show for last week's games, having won the two games prior as well.

My picks for this weekend's games! I cant say I have the most confidence in them but here you go....
Toronto FC vs Chicago
Can anything go right for Toronto? So far, in league play nothing has gone right. The team was ineffective against Chivas USA at home a week ago, but you figure that something will go in their favor at some point soon, right?

PSP photographer Paul Rudderow was on hand for Saturday afternoon's Philadelphia Union 1-0 win over Columbus Crew at PPL Park. Here's a look at what he saw.

Peter Nowak and his staff at the beginning of the match.

Peter Nowak gives a hug of thanks to one of our veterans.

Setting: Saturday, April 14 at PPL Park in Chester; kickoff scheduled for 3:51 PM Eastern

Broadcast Information: NBC Sports Network (Arlo White, Kyle Martino) nationally, with coverage beginning at 3:30 PM Eastern / 610 WTVN-AM (Neil Sika) and 103.1 WVKO-FM (Carlos Cordova, Benny Pietrangelo) in Columbus / MLS Live (Canada only)

Columbus's Record: 2-2-0, six points (fourth in East)

Columbus's Last Match: L, 4-1 vs.

It was a big weekend in Major League Soccer as Thierry Henry scored two more goals, while the defending MLS Cup holder, the LA Galaxy lost for the third time this season.

New York Red Bulls 4 Columbus Crew 1
Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper each scored twice to help New York (3-2) beat Columbus (2-2).

The New York Red Bulls forward tandem of Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper continued their assault on MLS defenses on Saturday, combining for four goals in a 4-1 thrashing of the Columbus Crew in Columbus.

Cooper jumped all over the Crew with a pair of early goals that helped the Red Bulls take complete control of a lethargic Crew side that offered little resistence in the first half.

"Crue don't like us... we don't care"
TORONTO VS. COLUMBUS
　
BMO FIELD - SATURDAY 2PM ET
TV: TSN
　
THE KICKABOUT:
The derby we have always referred to as "The New Soft" (opposite of "Old Firm") suddenly seems softer.

The United States' loss to El Salvador... wait... draw with El Salvador will lead to lots of fallout. Some will clamor that this was Caleb Porter's fault; others will question the talent pool; still others will say this reflects poorly on the U.S. youth system and the types of players who are being produced.

The Columbus Crew were certainly a surprise team last season. After cutting ties with a number of veterans and going with a roster that looked lacking on almost every part of the pitch, head coach Robert Warzycha coaxed a great ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

Photo by Michael Janosz/ISIphotos.com

A day after locking up centerback Chad Marshall for the foreseeable future, the Columbus Crew may be on the verge of losing a key figure from its attack.

Winger Robbie Rogers is closing in on a deal with Leeds United, according to a report from England.

The Columbus Crew underwent a successcful rebuilding period in 2011, as they parted ways with several veterans and brought in a group of new faces that exceeded expectations last season.

One of the few familiar faces to remain was Chad Marshall, and all he did was help anchor the stingy Crew defense for yet another season.

Columbus goes into the offseason with some questions for their expansion draft lists. (Getty Images)

The Columbus Crew had many questions going into the 2011 season mostly due to the amount of veteran players that were let go by head coach Robert Warzycha. But as the season went on the Crew began to find their footing and were actually in contention to win the Eastern Conference.

And here you go.

And let the second guessing begin.

First some bullets:

• Had an extremely difficult time for the Best XI as you might imagine. We were committed to choosing four defenders (who plays three defenders in MLS?) The toughest calls were: (1) Osvaldo Alonso (narrowly beating out Kyle Beckerman), (2) Sheanon Williams (narrowly beating out Chance Myers), and (3) Mauro Rosales (narrowly beating out Landon Donovan and Sebastien Le Toux.

We wanted to do a bigger expose on MVP, but alas we've run out of time for stating the case.

Though if you've been following along at home, you know who TSG's frontrunner is.

Help us decide:

Will DeRo walk away with the award?

Volkswagen 2011 MLS MVP: (Most Valuable Player in MLS during the 2011 regular season.

And moving on...

2011 MLS DEFENDER OF THE YEAR:

Best defender in MLS during the 2011 regular season.

Candidates:

Marshall was a big part of the Crew's surprising success...

Corey Gibbs Chicago Fire

Gonzalo Segares Chicago Fire

Ante Jazic Chivas USA

Heath Pearce Chivas USA

Chad Marshall Columbus Crew

Julius James Columbus Crew

Drew Moor Colorado Rapids

Marvell Wynne Colorado Rapids

Ugo Ihemelu FC Dallas

George John FC Dallas

Andre Hainault Houston Dynamo

Todd Dunivant Los Angeles Galaxy

Omar Gonzalez Los Angeles Galaxy

A.

Duncan Fletcher of Waking the Red, SB Nation's Toronto blog, and I chatted ahead of this afternoon's Union-TFC match.

tBG: How about yourself, what do you think the game will be like?

WtR: Though we should be looking to Tuesday's CCL game, a part of that is the fact that we've had two weeks off, so I'd expect to have the first team out there to shake the rust off and practice.

KC's games are really starting to get a deja vu felling to them, because so often the script is the same. Go at the opposing team, pressure early (some times get a goal, sometimes now), start to see back a little bit, defensive error gives opponent a great opportunity (that they may or may not put away).

By GARRETT DAVEY

The first time Sporting Kansas City walked off the field after a match at Livestrong Sporting Park, back on June 9th, the club was mired in a ten-match winless streak and buried in last place in the Eastern Conference.

On Tuesday night, with those rough early days firmly in the rearview mirror, Sporting KC completed a 15-week climb up the standings, into sole possession of first place.

With the 1-1 draw against Philadelphia on Friday and the way other results went this past weekend for Sporting KC, the Wizards face a game that's become even bigger than Friday's game. The team the Wizards are tied with for second place, the Columbus Crew come to KC for a Wednesday night league game.

Another week down, another week with the top clubs remaining on top. The playoff race in Major League Soccer is certainly hotter than it has ever been.

I'll keep the intro nice and sweet too. Here's how I see things after this week.

Team Rank Record (W-L-T) Comments 1 (1) 16-3-10 58 pts.

On a chilly night in Chester against a listless first place Columbus Crew team, a goal from the resurgent Sebastien Le Toux was all the Philadelphia Union needed to earn their first victory since July 17. In an effort to breathe life into his team, coach Peter Nowak rang in the changes, most notably bringing 16-year-old Zach Pfeffer into the starting lineup for his first MLS start.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Union

Keon Daniel update: a report in the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian says, "Daniel's agent Andre Fortune said [the] Union's immigration attorney was assisting in the player's visa problem (which prevented him from playing for the club last weekend) and the [Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation] may be asked for assistance.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Union

Keon Daniel update: a report in the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian says, "Daniel's agent Andre Fortune said [the] Union's immigration attorney was assisting in the player's visa problem (which prevented him from playing for the club last weekend) and the [Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation] may be asked for assistance.

If there is one voice in American soccer concerning concussions, it is Taylor Twellman. It is a voice that he understands grates on players and fans at times, but one that he will not stop using. He is currently moving from his personal Twitter and media crusade to raise awareness to the creation of a clearinghouse website for concussion related information, data and resources at ThinkTaylor.

Photo by Andrew Katsampes/ISIphotos.com

By ALAN LEDBETTER

After back-to-back weeks with many teams off, there will be a full slate of MLS matches this week. Many players have been travelling a bunch with their respective national teams, which could affect their play as they return to MLS.

Sometimes statistics lie. Saturday's Seattle Sounders-Columbus Crew match is a perfect example. If you just ignored that little score detail, you'd see that the Crew actually dominated the Sounders, outshooting them 19-13, holding 53 percent of possession and even outpassing the Sounders 79-76. This is one of those matches where watching the highlights gives you a much better picture.

By CALEB SONNELAND

An impressive hat-trick from Lamar Neagle sealed a big result for Seattle coach Sigi Schmid in a wild 6-2 victory over Eastern Conference top dogs Columbus Crew.

Columbus, missing Julius James through suspension, elected to replace the defender with Rich Balchan.

The Columbus Crew as a franchise has been historically kind to the Seattle Sounders in their short MLS history. They've never beaten the Sounders, either at home or away, and their losses have been some of Seattle's most memorable wins. Last season, a 4-0 win over the Crew in Columbus was the most emphatic of the season.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Game time: Saturday, 7:30pm ET

TV: The Comcast Network

Do not feel bad if after taking a look down the Columbus Crew roster for Saturday's showdown you find yourself scratching your head.

In a league designed to be dominated by superstars, the Crew have taken the industrious path alongside team's like Real Salt Lake and Dallas.

After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of the New England Revolution players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5 average, 10 perfection). This week Sean Donahue contributed ratings for the Revs 3-1 loss to the Columbus Crew.

Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com

By ALAN LEDBETTER

Dwayne De Rosario seems to have finally found his home in DC. De Rosario was a threat to the attack in Toronto and New York but looks to be a different, more influential player since coming to D.

A 2010 postseason rematch is set to take place in the Mile High City, as the defending MLS Cup champion Colorado Rapids host the surging Columbus Crew (9:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel).

The Rapids have found new life after the Achilles' tear that ruled star striker Conor Casey out for the rest of the season.

When Amadou Sanyang was announced as a Seattle Sounder signee the first question was "Why is he a free?" Toronto FC had let him go as he recovered from a significant concussion. An issue that is also in light for the Sounders as Terry Boss is still recovering (3 to 6 days) from his during the Manchester United friendly.

A lot of changes will be made by new head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. (Photo via MLSSoccer.com)

Yeah go ahead and throw this one on the massive pile of other stories similar to this one. I've stayed away from the Klinsmann talk for a few reasons, mainly lack of time on my part to devote to discussing it is the biggest.

Admit it - you can't wait until Jurgen Klinsmann reveals his first U.S. national team roster.
I can't either.
It could either be a completely different new set of names or a lot of the old standbys. Or a mix of both. Since it's an international fixture date, Klinsmann won't be limited with his choices.

Stunned.
As much as this move was warranted and as much as many U.S. supporters wanted to see it happen, my first reaction to the news that Bob Bradley had been fired was that.
U.S. Soccer hasn't sacked a coach since 1998, and before that... well, that might as well be ancient history, right?

How Osvaldo Alonso was overlooked as a MLS All-Star is crazy. (getty Images)

Each year when the MLS All-Star Roster is announced there are always a mass amount of players that are usually more deserving of the honor than some of those that get to play in the game. For the most part I don't care a whole lot about the All-Star game but I did want to point out those who I felt got over looked in a big way this season.

When New York Red Bulls head coach Hans Backe named the game-day roster for the 2011 MLS All-Star Team, there were destined to be players who many MLS fans felt were snubbed. It happens every year, but this year there seemed to be more snubs than usual.

It is clear that some of Backe's selections were made with more consideration toward building a team capable of beating Manchester United rather than rewarding the league's best players through the first half of the season.