The three-day weekend was a good one for both D.C. United and Sporting KC, and it pushed both teams higher in the polls heading into the international break. Who says the West is the best? Agree or disagree with us? Let us know in the comments below.

1: Real Salt Lake
No Kyle Beckerman, no Nick Rimando, no Javier Morales, no Chris Wingert, no problem.

Only a couple more day's until meaningful soccer! Catch the #BeatSantos fever! Where was I?

Oh yeah, good day and welcome to Monday and Major Link Soccer.

Don Garber: Orlando now on MLS' expansion radar - SOCCER - Sporting News
"It's not a matter of if, but when," Garber said when addressing Orlando's chances.

The 2012 MLS schedule has been released and like all fans I looked to see when the big teams would meet each other.

In looking over the schedule, the folks at Major League Soccer identified these as the 10 must-see matches of 2012. Do you agree with them? Unfortunately there are no New England Revolution matches on the list.

The Chicago Fire might be adding a new graphic to the front of their jerseys this season.

According to reports out of Chicago, the club is closing in on a jersey sponsor deal with Quaker Oats, something that would end the club's sponsor hiatus after one season. Best Buy had been the team's jersey sponsor from 2008-2010 before ending its commitment prior to last season.

The beginning of the 2012 Major League Soccer season is right around the corner and the folks over at MLS Soccer have released their first preseason power rankings. As expected the LA Galaxy are on top, while the New England Revolution get no love, as MLS Soccer ranks them below the expansion side Montreal Impact.

When the Chicago Fire announced Quaker Oats as their new jersey sponsor earlier this week (I swear that one is growing on me by the day), the news left four clubs without a sponsor.

The Colorado Rapids, the Columbus Crew, FC Dallas and Sporting Kansas City all have holes in their jerseys well metaphorically speaking.

When the Chicago Fire announced Quaker Oats as their new jersey sponsor earlier this week (I swear that one is growing on me by the day), the news left four clubs without a sponsor.

The Colorado Rapids, the Columbus Crew, FC Dallas and Sporting Kansas City all have holes in their jerseys well metaphorically speaking.

Major League Soccer revealed its 95-match Reserve League schedule for the 2012 season on Monday.

The league's 19 teams will each play a ten-match reserve league schedule, giving young players and bench players more opportunities to play and develop their game over the course of the 2012 MLS season.

The stage has been set for Real Salt Lake and Sporting Kansas City to do battle with early-season supremacy at stake.

For the second week in a row, the teams are 1-2 in the SBI MLS Power Rankings. Salt Lake notched a pair of victories, including a Rocky Mountain Cup triumph over the Colorado Rapids, to maintain its No.

Another wild weekend in Major League Soccer shifted the landscape a good bit. Week 7 went down as one that saw some streaks end, plenty of goals, plenty of red cards and lots of talking points.

Only a few real big movers this week, Real Salt Lake dipped to the second tier after a second straight defeat.

As the New England Revolution prepare for a Wednesday night clash with the Colorado Rapids there are questions about tactics, lineups and what we can expect to see out on the plastic pitch of Gillette Stadium.

Among the lineup questions, the introduction and integration of the new international players is key among them, and as far as this blog is concerned, there's a clear interest in the status and progress of our new Colombian signings and if we should expect to see more of them.

Yesterday we had our venting thread. And it went fairly well! More people commented than I expected, in fact, which just goes to show that there really is a lot of pent up frustration over what's happening, or has happened with the current team and even the Timbers Army. Everybody is unhappy right now, that's pretty obvious, but now that we've gotten most stuff out in the open it's time to return to supporting the team 100%, no matter who is playing on the field, no matter who is coaching the team.

JOEL HELMICK SELECTED IN THE MLS SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT

FARMVILLE, Va. - Longwood University men's soccer senior Joel Helmick|Springfield (W.T. Woodson) has been selected by the Colorado Rapids with the 14th pick in the fourth round of the 2012 Major League Soccer (MLS) Supplemental Draft.

JOEL HELMICK SELECTED IN THE MLS SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT

FARMVILLE, Va. - Longwood University men's soccer senior Joel Helmick|Springfield (W.T. Woodson) has been selected by the Colorado Rapids with the 14th pick in the fourth round of the 2012 Major League Soccer (MLS) Supplemental Draft.

Sporting Kansas City's quest to repeat as Eastern Conference regular season champions began today with a 2-1 pre-season victory against the San Jose Earthquakes in the pre-season opener for both clubs.

Kansas City midfielder Konrad Warzycha delivered the game-winning goal, converting a free kick to break a 1-1 deadlock.

Social media has been a revelation for players and fans to engage in talks, express themselves to each other and establish a stronger relationship. There's a downside to tweeting before thinking things through, however.

Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Lee Nguyen used a homophobic slur in a joke-toned tweet at teammate Brad Knighton Monday night, drawing immediate backlash.

NBC Sports has finally added a Pro Soccer Talk to its web page in the lead-up to the start of the Major League Soccer season. Longtime soccer writer Steve Davis will headline the site. Davis is a veteran of both ESPN.com and CNNSi.com and will add a respected soccer voice to NBC's coverage of MLS.

David Estrada was voted MLS Player of the Week for his hat-trick vs. Toronto. This is not why we chose this photo to lead our final MLS Results post, though. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren.

We're having a spring clean at Kickette HQ, so starting next week, our MLS Results will be incorporated into the Monday Weekend Results post.

Is Pep Guardiola's Barcelona reign coming to an end?

That was the question after Chelsea on Tuesday ended Barcelona's attempt to win back-to-back Champions League titles, claiming a 3-2 aggregate triumph over Guardiola's side in the semifinal. The loss came three days after Real Madrid defeated Barcelona, making it unlikely the Catalans will repeat as La Liga champions either.

Thursday's SuperDraft will be here before we know it. I'll be fairly busy with the day job over the next day and a half but I did want to get this up today. With one final day of the Combine, teams are hoping to fill as many holes in this draft as they possibly can. Some teams will only get one shot at it (FC Dallas) while others have a few chances to add depth (Toronto).

If you had asked any Stevenage supporter a couple of weeks ago who Gary Smith is, the majority would have replied 'Who?' It would have been a justified reaction because until his name began to be linked with the vacant managerial position, Gary Smith's reputation within this country was, well, non-existent.

Photo by David Bernal/ISIphotos.com

As it turns out, Arturo Alvarez won't be suiting up for Chivas USA heading into the 2012 MLS season after all.

Alvarez, who was selected by Chivas in the first stage of the MLS Re-Entry Draft but never came to terms with the club as he sought opportunities overseas, has reportedly signed with Portuguese top-flight club Pacos de Ferreira on a two-and-a-half-year contract.

Portland and Vancouver have done well in preparing for their sophomore seasons. (Getty Images)

Yesterday I took a look at the 10 clubs from the Eastern Conference in how they've done so far this winter. Naturally right after the post was put up one of those clubs went out and signed a DP.

Today, we'll look at the nine clubs from the Western Conference to see how they've been doing so far this winter.

Did you feel that? That little shiver down your spine as you clicked on this story to read it. Was it too much caffeine this morning? Or was it the sense that the beginning of spring and the MLS season ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

The Montreal Impact tried their hand at picking a forward and getting trade value in return once again.

After picking Brian Ching from Houston in the expansion draft only to deal him back to the Dynamo for a draft pick, the Impact used their place atop the MLS allocation order to select Eddie Johnson before promptly dealing him to the Seattle Sounders.

Qatar advanced to the final round of World Cup qualifying while Saudi Arabia and Bahrain were eliminated in a wild day of matches across the Asian continent.

The 2022 World Cup hosts, currently ranked 96th in the world, scored a late goal to draw 2-2 with Iran. The draw moved Qatar into second place in Group E at the expense of Bahrain.

For many in Toronto it feels like the season has already started. After the emotional roller-coaster that was the Champions League Quarterfinal on Wednesday, you can forgive Reds supporters for feeling a touch anti-climactic. But that won't last. Once the CCL hoo-hah has worn off there will be a palpable excitement for what 2012 holds.

It is that time again, the new season is here and I will make my annual Bold MLS Season Predictions.

Last year I did alright in some predictions, and pretty poorly in others. In years past I've always thrown out a few random predictions to mix things up a bit so this isn't just another predictions post out there.

LA and Salt Lake resume their rivalry to kickoff the season. (Getty Images)

The 2012 season is finally here folks. After a few months of offseason and preseason madness, the new season is ready to kickoff. Many clubs have reason to be optimistic going into the new season while expectations are already being placed on the big boys in the league to do well again once more this season.

Following the shortest offseason, Major League Soccer swings into action on Saturday and the Rapids face Columbus at home in Commerce City.

The March 10 first kick comes less than four months after the Los Angeles Galaxy claimed the MLS Cup title. Now the league and the Rapids begin their 16th season of play less than two weeks from the start of spring.

Major League Soccer kicked off the 2012 season with several surprise wins and last gasp winners. Montreal lost its MLS opener, LA suffered a home loss and Andre Hainault gave Houston a win versus Chivas.
Pedro Gomes has the recaps of MLS Week 1:
Vancouver Whitecaps 2, Montreal Impact 0
MLS opened 2012 with a First Kick double dose.

Setting: Sunday, March 18 at PPL Park in Chester; kickoff scheduled for 4:21:00 PM Eastern

Broadcast Information: NBC Sports Network (Arlo White, Kyle Martino) nationally with coverage beginning at 4:00 PM Eastern / Mile High Sports Radio KCKK 1510 AM/93.7 FM (Todd Romero, Marcelo Balboa) and ESPN Deportes 87.

By JOEY SAMUEL

CHESTER, Pa. -- The Philadelphia Union created a good number of chances in the first half of Sunday's match against Colorado, but they ultimately paid the price for not being able to put any of those chances in the net.

Despite losing Jeff Larentowicz to a red card, the Colorado Rapids scored two goals in a six-minute span and held on with only ten men to defeat the Philadelphia Union, 2-1, in the Union's home opener at PPL Park on Sunday.

Though the Rapids found themselves swimming against the current, they prevailed and dealt the Union their first ever home opener loss. For the Union faithful, the only thing more depressing than two hard losses in an as many games is the fact that this one didn't look like a loss anywhere but on the scoreboard.

After Valencia wraps up what they hope is a spot in next year's UEFA Champions League, the storied Spanish side will head to the United States for a pair of friendlies against MLS teams.

Currently in third place in La Liga behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, Valencia will play the Portland Timbers at Jeld-Wen Field on May 23 followed by being the Houston Dynamo's opponent in the Dynamo Charities Cup on May 31 at BBVA Compass Stadium.

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, Julian Cardillo and Ryan Lanigan contributed rankings. Comments are followed by the ranker's name and the rank they gave that team.

1.

Photo by Stephen Brashear/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

It's a battle of the unbeatens for NBC Sports Network's first Friday night broadcast.

The Houston Dynamo will look for their third consecutive road win to kick off the 2012 campaign at CenturyLink Field against the Seattle Sounders, who downed Toronto last week in their MLS opener.

Photo by Andrew Katsampes/ISIphotos.com

The Danny Califf situation continues to raise a few eyebrows in Philadelphia.

After the Philadelphia Union captain was an unused substitute in last week's home opener against the Colorado Rapids, he and manager Peter Nowak had differing stories on why the veteran centerback did not play.

On Sunday afternoon, the New York Red Bulls scored early and often, defeating the Colorado Rapids 4-1 in their home opener at Red Bull Arena.

Thierry Henry found the back of the net twice, his first strike coming just three minutes into the match, and was the catalyst all game for an offense that produced eight shots on goal and just missed on several opportunities late to expand their lead.

Danny Mwanga has scored in 11 of his 56 regular season appearances for the Philadelphia Union, and the squad has only lost once when he's found the back of the net. Unfortunately, his last goal came 23 games ago on June 25th. In that same stretch, Danny posted two assists (home and away against the terrible 2011 edition of the New England Revolution).