We're finally back to some league action again after the two week hiatus. I guess in England they'd call that a fortnight. Anyway, we're off to the east coast of England to take on Norwich at Carrow Road in an early morning (North American time) tilt.
Before I get to the official preview, let's check in on some injury notes.

Houston Dynamo (12-9-13, 49 pts.) vs. Philadelphia Union (11-8-15, 48 pts.) PPL Park - Chester, PA - 4:00pm CT 2011 MLS Playoffs - Eastern Conference Semifinal 1st Leg
BROADCAST INFORMATION: ESPN 2 (ENG TV) ESPN Deportes (SPN TV) KPRC 950 (ENG Radio) La Ranchera 850 (SPN Radio) PREVIEW: The Houston Dynamo open the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs on the road on Sunday, taking on second-year club Philadelphia.

A quick turnaround for the Rapids as they are back in action tomorrow. The first leg of the conference semi-finals sees the SporKC's coming back to town. It will be the final home game of the season, no matter what happens, so let's go out with a bang. The tailgate starts at 2:30 with kickoff at 5:30.

The Rapids start the playoffs tomorrow night at the Dick against the Columbus Crew. 4 games in the next 11 days separate them from another trip to MLS Cup. Tomorrow night its simple, win or go home. There will be 30 minutes and, if necessary, PK's to decide a winner. Of course last year when Colorado started their run to MLS Cup they did it by beating the Crew in the first round.

There's not a whole lot of new stuff since Darren wrote his recap to the Sunderland match, but we'll see what we can find for today. On the injury front, Gibbs and Ramsey are the two we're watching at the moment. Wenger said both were minor injuries Gibbs with stomach muscle inflammation, and Ramsey with a slight hamstring issue.

Tomorrow its on. Rapids - FSL with the Rocky Mountain Cup on the line! Need I say more?
OK, I will, but only because the tailgate is almost as impressive as the game. About 5 hours from now the crack Class VI/Pid Army chefs will be arriving at the Dick to start the grill on the biggest tailgate they've ever done, a full pig roast!

Union

The Union are feeling pumped up after their win in Seattle. Sheanon Williams says, "Right now, we're just thinking about first place. The guys really want to be in first place. If we're in first place, then guess what? We're in the playoffs. So that should be our first goal." Mr. Williams, I like the way you think and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Photo: Rafael Stoian

Union

Faryd Mondragon has resumed his normal training routine on Wednesday for the first time since breaking a finger on September 3. Peter Nowak said of Mondragon's status at Wednesday's press conference , "We'll see where we are at the end of the week. We'll find out before we go to Seattle, but I believe he will travel with us.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Union

Zac MacMath is listed as questionable with a left ankle sprain in Tuesday's injury report (see below). Faryd Mondragon and Thorne Holder are still listed as out.

Sebastien Le Toux was named MLS Player of the Month by North American Soccer Reporters.

Houston Dynamo (10-9-12, 42 pts.) vs. Chicago Fire (7-8-15, 36 pts.) Robertson Stadium - Houston, TX - 3:00pm
BROADCAST INFORMATION: KHOU 11.2 (ENG TV) TeleFutura (SPN TV) La Ranchera 850 (SPN Radio) SportsTalk 790 - (ENG Radio) (post-Texas A&M football game)

REFEREE: Edvin Jurisevic - MLS Career: 38 games; FC/gm: 21.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you have no doubt heard of Jack Wilshere's latest news- he's a dad! Oh yeah, he got injured, or something.

First of all, congrats to the Wilshere's for one more person with Arsenal DNA making it to this world. While the fact that Nikola Tesla never got to reproduce but a teenage footballer did saddens me, it's always good to see one of our players get to experience such a happy day.

Photo: Garrett Field

DC United Watch

Sporting Kansas City's 2–1 win over Columbus on Wednesday night puts them in first place in the East with 44 points. The Union would move into sole possession of second place with 43 points with a win tonight.

Freddy Adu says of tonight's game, "For me, it definitely has a playoff feel to it, and that's how I think we all are approaching it.

Sebastian Grazzini -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
The Chicago Fire have won four of their five past matches, but they will likely have to continue pushing on without midfielder Sebastian Grazzini.
Grazzini, who injured his hamstring during the first half of Chicago's 3-2 win over the New England Revolution, is expected to miss Wednesday's match at Real Salt Lake.

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.

There's not a whole lot of major stuff to talk about right now, as we're still enjoying a nice win, while looking forward to what should hopefully be our easiest Champions League match of the group stages.
The first news item is a rare piece of good news on the injury front. Walcott's knee injury has been described as minor, and he's supposedly available for the match on Wednesday.

The last time the Earthquakes were in town the Rapids sent them packing after a crazy goal by Koz and the trophy celebration to the left sent Colorado to MLS Cup. The stakes aren't quite so high tomorrow night but if the Rapids have any hopes of repeating they need to repeat the result from that night to solidify their playoff position.

By KEITH HICKEY

Union right back Sheanon Williams will miss Friday's game against Sporting Kansas City after picking up a concussion. The injury to Williams, who had previously missed just one match this season, was reported by Philly.com and is listed on the official injury report, but the club has yet to make an official statement.

According to the match preview on MLSsoccer.com published on Thursday morning, Sheanon Williams will miss Friday night's game against Sporting Kansas City with a concussion.

Also on the injury report with a concussion is backup goalkeeper Throne Holder.

A spokesperson for the Union confirmed to PSP that Sheanon Williams' concussion occurred during Saturday night's match against Columbus.

Photo by Stephen Brashear/ISIphotos.com

By ALAN LEDBETTER

With only five weeks left, now is the time to use your remaining transfers and prepare for a strong ending to the fantasy season. With six teams playing two games this week, there are plenty of fantasy points up for grabs.

After spending the last two months at home, Sporting KC goes back onto the road where they'll take on the surging Real Salt Lake. RSL has won their last 3 games, two of which were on the road. Last week they defeated Seattle in Seattle 2-1 thanks to an own goal and a goal by Alvaro Saborio. Salt Lake is currently ranked 4th in the very strong West and in place to have to play a wild card game in the playoffs if they started tomorrow.

The last time Colorado was in Toronto they left with their first ever win at BMO Field, and more importantly, the MLS Cup! Tomorrow they try to make it two in a row North of the border. The Rapids probably need 1 more win to really assure themselves of a playoff spot and their best chances are tomorrow and next week when they host San Jose.

Houston Dynamo (8-9-11, 35 pts.) vs. Columbus Crew (11-9-7, 40 pts.) Crew Stadium - Columbus, OH - 6:30pm
BROADCAST INFORMATION: KHOU 11.2 (ENG TV) FOX Sports Houston Plus (ENG TV) KPRC 950 (ENG Radio) La Ranchera 850 (SPN Radio)

REFEREE: Chris Penso - MLS Career: 10 games; FC/gm: 23.

Houston Dynamo (8-8-11, 35 pts.) vs. Sporting Kansas City (9-8-10, 37 pts.) LIVEStrong Park - Kansas City, KS - 3:00pm
BROADCAST: TeleFutura (SPN TV) KPRC 950 (ENG Radio) La Ranchera (SPN Radio)
REFEREE: Mark Geiger. MLS Career: 84 games; FC/gm: 26.5; Y/gm: 3.

Here is our most recent attempt at the Match Day Quick Reference Card (now powered by Tableau). I'm still working through how to list both last name and number without taking up too much space. I understand that this is our most requested tweak. I have slightly increased the size of the player dots, and changed the team data.

Fortune favors the Seattle Sounders as they have the opportunity to put themselves ahead of Real Salt Lake on the first tie breaker with even just a tie. In the last meeting Seattle ended the Utah side's home unbeaten streak, which should be good news when facing a team that is poor on the road (12 points in 11 matches).

Traditionally, when late-August bleeds into early-September, there's usually plenty for the Revs to attend to.

Whether its a slate of MLS games to push its postseason agenda, a SuperLiga final, or even a pair of late-round U.S. Open Cup games, the Revs have often been a busy bunch as the unofficial end of summer approaches.

Houston Dynamo (8-7-11, 35 pts.) vs. Real Salt Lake (3-13-9, 18 pts.) Empire Field - Vanouver, British Columbia, Canada - 6:00pm
BROADCAST: KHOU 11.2 (ENG TV) La Ranchera 850 (SPN Radio) SportsTalk 790 (ENG Radio)

REFEREE: Niko Bratsis. MLS Career: 7 games; FC/gm: 24.

I'll admit that I'm a little bit nervous in writing this preview.
The first reason is that I haven't watched Man Utd thus far this season, and so I hope I don't miss any of the nuances of their game at the moment. The second is that my reputation is the "doom and gloom" blogger at this site, and it will be hard to avoid such talk in light of all of our injuries, suspensions, and blatant holes in the roster.

Morning all, with a season defining week starting for Arsenal, there are a couple of pretty noteworthy things to report on today.

The most noteworthy- and most ludicrous- is the news that Arsene Wenger has been handed a two match ban by UEFA for his supposed indiscretions last Tuesday during our home win against Udinese in the CL Play-offs.

Tonight's game represents the beginning of the final ten MLS Regular Season games for the Chicago Fire. The opponents in this stretch range from the bottom to the top so it will be a good test and preview for a what looks to be a core coming together. Cory Gibbs is off Friday's MLS Injury Report so Klopas has to decide between starting Jalil Anibaba and Yamith Cuesta again or benching one of them in favor of Gibbs.

Houston Dynamo (7-7-11, 32 pts.) vs. Real Salt Lake (10-6-6, 36 pts.) Robertson Stadium - Houston, TX - 7:30pm
BROADCAST INFORMATION: KHOU 11.2 (ENG TV) La Ranchera 850 (SPN Radio) SportsTalk 790 (ENG Radio)

REFEREE: Abbey Okulaja. MLS Career: 111 games; FC/gm: 26.

Welcome to the New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls live game thread! Tonight the Revs face a stern test against a star-studded Red Bulls lineup that, even without marquee DP Thierry Henry, is positively oozing with talent and quality. New York has had a disappointing season thus far, sitting just nine points above the Revs in the East in 5th place when many picked them to be MLS Cup contenders.

Houston Dynamo (7-7-10, 31 pts.) at New England Revolution (4-11-9, 21 pts.) Gillette Stadium - Foxboro, MA - 7:00 pm
BROADCAST: KHOU 11.2 (ENG TV) FOX Sports Houston (ENG TV) KPRC 950 (ENG Radio) La Ranchera 850 (SPN Radio)

REFEREE: Michael Kennedy - MLS Career: 137 games; FC/gm: 28.

Houston Dynamo (6-7-10, 28 pts.) vs. Portland Timbers (7-10-5, 26 pts.) Robertson Stadium - Houston, TX - 8:00 pm
BROADCAST INFORMATION: Galavision (National Broadcast - SPN) FOX Sports Houston (ENG TV) KHOU 11.2 (ENG TV) SportsTalk 790 (ENG Radio) La Ranchera 850 (SPN Radio)

REFEREE: Baldomero Toledo MLS Career: 116 games; FC/gm: 25.

Thanks to Toronto FC drawing in a wild 3-3 game against D.C. United last night, the Chicago Fire enter tonight's game in sole position of last place in the Eastern Conference. Fortunately for Chicago, their opponent is the expansion side Vancouver Whitecaps who are in last place in the Western Conference and have even less points than Chicago (19 vs 15).

Houston Dynamo (6-7-9, 27 pts.) at Philadelphia (8-5-8, 32 pts.) PPL Park - Chester, PA - 6:00 pm
BROADCAST KHOU 11.2 (ENG TV) SportsTalk 790 (ENG Radio) La Ranchera 850 (SPN Radio)

REFEREE: Terry Vaughn - MLS Career: 149 games; FC/gm: 28.4; Y/gm: 3.8; R: 48; pens: 49

INJURY REPORT:
OUT: FW Will Bruin (L knee surgery); MF Danny Cruz (R quad strain); QUESTIONABLE: FW Calen Carr (concussion)

HEAD-TO-HEAD: ALL-TIME (3 meetings): Union 2 wins, 5 goals .

Call them the bananas, call them the Village People, call them traffic cones, or call them the Crew. Whatever you call them, they're in town to play the Rapids tomorrow night. Columbus is the top team in the East but are level on points with the Rapids. The last two times Colorado has played a team from the East they were on top of the table and the Rapids beat them.

Tonight's CONCACAF Champions League preliminary round game is about as big as they get in early August. Failure to win tonight's game -- likely by at least two goals -- would represent a rather massive failure on the part of the Seattle Sounders, a team that takes this tournament as seriously as anyone in MLS.

Houston Dynamo (5-7-9, 24 pts.) vs. Seattle Sounders FC (10-4-8, 38 pts.) Robertson Stadium - Houston, TX - 7:30 pm
BROADCAST INFORMATION: KHOU 11.2 (ENG TV) SportsTalk 790 (ENG Radio) .La Ranchera 850 (SPN Radio) San Jacinto Post-Game Call-In Show with Glenn Davis - SportsTalk 790
REFEREE: Niko Bratsis - MLS Career: 6 games; FC/gm: 25.

Tomorrow is the first day of the traditional Emirates Cup, a two-day pre-season tournament held in London, featuring Arsenal and three fairly big sides. This year we'll play Boca Juniors and Thierry Henry's Red Bull New York; Paris St. Germain will also take part.

(Be sure to also read Homey's transfer/news round-up)

Who designed this cartoon?