The Rapids open the regular season 1 month from today against the Crew. Tonight they'll play San Jose in San Luis Obispo. The Earthquakes will be streaming the game live on both team's websites.
We also found out today that Colorado will announce the new Argentine midfielder at 3pm on Monday.

Chris and Ted begin a month of 2012 MLS team previews on Around the League Extra as they break down the Revolution with Steven Stoehr from the Bent Musket. They also preview the Union with Murph from the YSA Report, as they begin life after Sebastian Le Toux. They also talk Earthquakes with new correspondent Lisa Erickson from Center Line Soccer, and finally the great ELAC returns to preview Chivas USA!

In this new series, USSoccerplayers.com looks at how retired National Team players (alumni, if you will) are using their experience and knowledge to develop and grow the game in the United States. In a clip of highlights from the 2001 season, Manny Lagos, then of the Earthquakes, has the ball deep on the left side in the attacking zone.

Player news is starting to pick up a little bit for Sporting KC. The team today made two announcements on player news, and a new rumor has cropped up on another player.
First, after the announcement yesterday of the trade for Michael Thomas' rights, the team today announced that they had signed the Olathe native to a contract.

A few weeks ago, comments were made publicly about Michael Thomas coming to Kansas City. As mentioned previously, the Notre Dame grad has played with multiple members of Sporting KC, including Matt Besler and Seth Sinovic. Word out of Sweden is that Thomas will definitely not be returning to club, Ljungskile SK.

San Jose city officials have approved a Planned Development permit for the construction of the proposed Earthquakes stadium. However, neighbors have until January 3 to appeal the granting of the permit. The team hopes to have the stadium complete by 2013. If there is no appeal, the team will move to the next step in next month, however an appeal could delay the process by weeks or months.

FBM looking all "journalism-y".Wondo: "You're so funny." FBM: "I know." (Note: These words are not apart of the audio recording below.)So handsome.During MLS Cup 2011 weekend we had the pleasure of running into San Jose forward Chris Wondolowski. Wondo was in town for a bunch of MLS W.O.R.K.S.

Happy Monday to you. With the MLS season concluded, we now have a clear picture of the playoffs and are able to look back on the season with retrospective eyes. Here are a few things bouncing around my head as we enter the second season of MLS action.
No Wondo, No DeRo: How remarkable is it that the Golden Boot winner and his main competition are done for the season?

Photo by Bill Barrett/ISIphotos.com

Entering the final week of the MLS season, much is already sorted out, and that is reflected in the latest SBI MLS Power Rankings.

With nine teams already set for the playoffs, five teams eliminated from contention, and the other four jockeying for that final berth there wasn't much moving and shaking after the last round of results.

Why Kasey Keller is important to me

This is ostensibly a preview of the Earthquakes game but I wrote 1,500 words about Kasey Keller instead.

Seattle's loss was LA's gain. Though the Los Angeles Galaxy didn't play on Saturday, Seattle losing means LA wins the Supporters' Shield as the team with the best regular season record. This is the Galaxy's fourth Supporters' Shield and their second in a row. They're also the third team in a row to win back-to-back Supporters' Shields.

Photo by Kelley L. Cox/ISIphotos.com

With the New York Red Bulls' victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy Tuesday night, two more teams had their playoff hopes officially dashed. The San Jose Earthquakes and Chivas USA joined Toronto FC, New England and Vancouver as teams who will be missing out on the MLS postseason, leaving 13 of the league's 18 teams vying for 10 spots.

Davy Arnaud made his 238th league appearance for KC, breaking his tie with Kerry Zavagnin for the most appearances in team history in league play.
Peterson Joseph was the 13th player to make their league debut for KC this year, the most debuts in a season since 21 in the team's inagural season in 1996.

After the rest of the Eastern Conference playoff contenders choked on their mediocrity yesterday, the Philadelphia Union can return to the top of the pops with a win over Chivas USA tonight.

No pressure.

It would be easy to say that the Red Bulls needed a late bit of wonderskill from Thierry Henry to tie Toronto because the Red Bulls suck.

Kansas City gets back to action again tomorrow night on the West Coast when they'll take on the Earthquakes in San Jose. While KC has a chance to qualify for the playoffs tomorrow with help, they need to take care of business themselves and win to even have a chance for that to happen. San Jose isn't going to be a push over, they aren't eliminated from the playoffs themselves and will be fighting for their playoff lives, and jobs next year as well.

The house got cleaned out last week, so the lines are going to have to tighten up a bit. Thank goodness Kenny Cooper didn't pull off a hat trick (250:1 payout) or we'd have to close shop right now.

Advice from the Gambling Insider

It's a tough night to pick between Nagbe, Cooper and Perlaza.

By Elliott Almond The Earthquakes unveiled plans Thursday to start a youth development program in East San Jose that could begin...

This joke is kinda meta, as it's both a San Jose joke and a Clash/Big Audio Dynamite joke.
My apologies but this is the inner music nerd's idea of "crossover funny".
Seriously. Seriously. The weather huh? Seriously. If this were a bus stop and someone wanted to make small talk about the weather, I'd consider making a shiv with my house key and stabbing them repeatedly.

It's the debut of Robbie Keane at the Home Depot Center.

The new Galaxy DP will be in the starting lineup for Los Angeles as they look to defeat their California rivals. The Earthquakes face their rivals with a great deal of pressure as teh team will look to stay in the playoff hunt.

A wild and crazy game in San Jose saw Colorado return to the Rockies with 3 points. They got some help from the refs and some good play from the midfield but this game could have easily gone the other way.
San Jose had more possession but Colorado had better chances early. Seven minutes in Folan slammed a Mullan cross off the post from his head.

While you wait for the editors at SI.com to post the Week 22 MLS review (with Team of the Week and Power Rankings), let's take a moment to update a list we all like to watch. We like to watch it the same we can't help but stare at automobile accidents on the shoulder of the road. We all have a dark side; what can we say?

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.

• Braun's hat trick leads Chivas past Dynamo [MLS Soccer]
• Dynamo's streak emphatically ends [Houston Chronicle]
• Dynamo Notebook: Houston wary of ebbing confidence [MLS Soccer]
• Hall absorbing lessons [Houston Chronicle]
• Houston Dynamo still chasing Honduran winger Garcia [Sporting News]

In Other News:

• Earthquakes seething over controversial red card, PK [MLS Soccer] Shocking, more lousy officiating in MLS
• Beckham keen to play on [ESPN Soccernet] Oh boy.

This tie was a tale of two strikers as Chris Wondolowski grabbed a brace for the Earthquakes before Eric Haasli grabbed his brace for a 2-2 draw.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

San Jose and Vancouver didn't look like two teams a long way from playoff contention Wednesday night at Buck Shaw Stadium.

In fact, it was almost a shame neither team -- both were in need of a win -- walked away victorious. Instead, both settled for a 2-2 draw.

Time for some attendance numbers for you attendance geeks out there. The Sports Business Daily released current attendance figures to date in comparison to this time last season. As expected the league has enjoyed a 6.3% raise in folks at the gate with only five clubs seeing negative percentages (The Union are one of those teams in the negative and its largely due to them playing their first two games at the Linc in Philly).

Hate 'em if you want but no one does NASL-era nostalgia like the Cosmos and I ain't mad at that. You use what tools you've got.
I just wonder why the Earthquakes weren't milking this cow years ago. Why not flaunt George Best scoring the illest goal of the disco era? How about some footage of Guus Hiddink running the midfield back in the day cut with a clip of him running things from the touchline now?

*Soccer in insignificant compared to the misery inflicted by earthquakes and other natural disasters. But the power of sport is its ability to inspire, uplift and unite as the Japanese well know in the wake of their magnificent World Cup win. I'll have more on the tournament in Tuesday's column.

*How much did this tournament capture the public's imagination?

When PSP runs our live commentary during away matches, we get lots of interesting comments and questions from readers. We take those comments and try to put together a list of questions that get to the heart of what Union fans want to know about the team.

And while the team played well and earned an important road point, there are plenty of questions to consider.

The Earthquakes were shut-out for the fourth time in five games as they drew 0-0 with the Union last night.

A second half of dominance produced no goals for the Union, who earned their first west coast point but were good enough that they should have had more.

After a wild week that saw Jordan Harvey traded and the Carloses left in Philadelphia for alliterative reasons (virus for Valdes, rest for Ruiz), the Union fielded a strong side that paired Sebastien Le Toux and Danny Mwanga up front.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

The Philadelphia Union dominated play in San Jose but could only manage a 0-0 draw with the Earthquakes in a testy affair on Saturday night.

It was a cagey first half that saw few chances with the best opportunity coming when Danny Mwanga's low shot was cleared off the line by Bobby Burling.

By ADAM SERRANO

Chris Wondolowski is looking to regain his scoring touch.

After a disappointing Gold Cup where he struggled to find playing time for the United States during the later stages of the tournament, Wondolowski has returned to MLS bent on re-gaining his form.

A late equalizer from striker Carlos Ruiz game the Philadelphia Union a well-earned road point in a 2-2 draw with D.C. United at RFK Stadium.

Dwayne De Rosario, acquired earlier in the week by D.C., was inserted directly into the lineup and delivered the assist on the game's opening goal, which was scored by United striker Josh Wolff.

A record crowd of 41,028 watched as the Earthquakes threw away two points against the Red Bulls who scored with five minutes left on the clock and to add insult to injury the Earthquakes had defender Bobby Burling sent off in injury time for a second yellow card.

A record crowd of 41,028 watched as the Earthquakes threw away two points against the Red Bulls who scored with five minutes left on the clock and to add insult to injury the Earthquakes had defender Bobby Burling sent off in injury time for a second yellow card.

The New York Red Bulls are starting to grow accustomed to two things, one painfully annoying, and one a welcome relief.

The Red Bulls once again watched their goalkeeper commit a goal-allowing blunder, but once again watched Joel Lindpere step up and help his team find a result.

The final match of the New York Red Bulls' long four game road trip finally came to an end in San Jose. After a strong second half by the Baby Bulls in their US Open Cup round three matchup with the USL Pro's FC New York, you would think it would inspire the senior side to do well against the Earthquakes.

On this week's show we discuss crowd incidents in Columbus and Dallas, along with the wild events in the Galaxy v. Earthquakes match with a USSF referee. On the phone this week, correspondents from Columbus, Kansas City, Houston, Colorado, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Salt Lake, New England, and San Jose.

Donovan Ricketts broke his left ulna - one of the two long bones in the forearm - after colliding with the Earthquakes' Khari Stephenson in the 21st minute of Saturday's game in San Jose.

An x-ray taken today confirmed the suspected fracture. The Jamaican international, who had just returned from Gold Cup duty, will have surgery Tuesday in Santa Monica and miss a minimum of four weeks.