Will San Jose lose one of their players in the expansion draft? (Getty Images)

Today is the final day in our expansion draft coverage/speculation/etc. as we look at three clubs. First up this morning is the San Jose Earthquakes. Later on today I will have Seattle Sounders FC and Toronto FC to round out the lists.

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Conor Casey holds the ball in a 2009 match against Chivas USA at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Casey was named to the MLS Best XI team (and the ColoradoSoccerNow.com team, too).
(photo by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Colorado Rapids forward Conor Casey has been named to the Major League Soccer Best XI team.

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Press release from the Rapids today. Good to see further recognition of Casey's talents. Does anybody else think that having only three defenders nominated is a bit weird?
MLS Commissioner Don Garber today announced that Colorado Rapids forward Conor Casey has been named to the 2009 MLS Best XI during his annual State of the League address. Click to continue reading...

The big Zach attack. (AP Photo)

Readers of this blog didn't agree, but Chivas USA's Zach Thornton was named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year today, 11 years after first taking the honor with the Chicago Fire.

That time span between awards was undoubtedly one of the reasons the 34-year-old took the honor, beating out the Galaxy's Donovan Ricketts and Seattle Sounders veteran Kasey Keller (both in their first MLS seasons).

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Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton was named 2009 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year on Wednesday, marking the second time he's won the award.

Thornton enjoyed a career renaissance with Chivas USA this season, posting career highs in shutouts and goals against average while helping guide Chivas USA to the playoffs.

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Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton was named 2009 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year on Wednesday, marking the second time he's won the award.

Thornton enjoyed a career renaissance with Chivas USA this season, posting career highs in shutouts and goals against average while helping guide Chivas USA to the playoffs.

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Ryan Johnson was one of the few bright spots for San Jose in 2009. (Getty Images)

It's hard to decline as a club after being an expansion team in 2008 but the 2009 version of the San Jose Earthquakes did just that. They became the first team to lose more in their second season than in their expansion season.

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Previous Updates
#1 4/12 68 players remaining #2 5/25 34 players remaining #3 6/25 23 players remaining #4 7/19 11 players remaining #5
8/17
5 players remaining
OTFATT is short for "On the field, all the time." In these updates throughout the season, I've kept track of which MLS players have played every minute of every game (regular season only). Click to continue reading...

And those words are: Western Conference champions!

In a fitting display on their home turf, the Los Angeles Galaxy put the finishing touches on a worst-to-first regular season for 2009. After a horrific 2008, the culmination of years of front-office incompetence and on-field underachievement accomplished under the glare of international media, the Galaxy put together a season that culminated in a first-in the West finish and a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2005.

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Galaxy 1 San Jose Earthquakes 0

Former Chivas USA defender Bobby Burling deflected a Landon Donovan shot into the net in the 24th minute, the ball going up and over Joe Cannon and giving him no chance.

Incidentally, while I know it's early if this result holds the Galaxy will play the Sounders, who are losing 1-0 to Dallas right now, in Seattle on Thursday.

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The Galaxy come into the season's final game knowing a win will give them the top spot in the Western Conference and home field advantage in the playoffs because L.A. holds most of the tiebreakers over Houston and Chivas USA, which play each other at noon Sunday here at Home Depot Center, should either of those two teams finish tied with them on points.

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Next summer, Major League Soccer will break for the group stages of World Cup 2010 in South Africa. It doesn't sound much, but it's a start. In Week 30 the league was down to just four matches as the football world focused on World Cup qualifying. Well done to the US national team who clinched their World Cup spot with a hard-fought victory in Honduras, and to Chivas USA who qualified for the 2010 post-season on Saturday. Click to continue reading...

My first trip to the Sweetwater Bar and Grille was after a Minnesota Thunder game back in (I believe) 2004. Saeed Ghasemi, the owner of the Sweetwater had worked out a deal with a relative who happened to be the owner of the Minnesota Thunder. The Sweetwater had become the post game party location for the Thunder.

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My first trip to the Sweetwater Bar and Grille was after a Minnesota Thunder game back in (I believe) 2004. Saeed Ghasemi, the owner of the Sweetwater had worked out a deal with a relative who happened to be the owner of the Minnesota Thunder. The Sweetwater had become the post game party location for the Thunder.

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There was one match on Wednesday night in Major League Soccer as FC Dallas traveled to face the San Jose Earthquakes. It was a must win for Dallas to keep their playoff hopes alive. Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.

FC Dallas edges the San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 Video Highlights

Jeff Cunningham scored a late goal to keep FC Dallas' playoff hopes alive on Thursday night against the San Jose Earthquakes.

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Here are the Twitterverse Players League groups, A through G, after Friday night's draw. If you want to listen to the recorded audio of the draw, the podcast is available for download by clicking here.
GROUP A Charlie Davies Taylor Twellman Carl Robinson Brian Jordan
GROUP B Danny Dichio Dwayne DeRosario Danny Cruz Hunter Freeman
GROUP C JozyAltidore17 Alecko Eskandarian Michael Chabala Brad Knighton
GROUP D Sacha Kljestan Robbie Rogers Kei Kamara Bobby Rhine
GROUP E Brian Ching Bobby Boswell Lee Nguyen Vincenzo Bernardo
GROUP F Stuart Holden Rohan Ricketts Brian Namoff Chris Tierney
GROUP G Freddy Adu Giuseppe Rossi Edson Buddle Joe Cannon
GROUP H Maurice Edu Brad Guzan Jim Brennan Taylor Graham
Voting begins Monday, October 5th, with groups A through D. Click to continue reading...

A little later than usual, here is your weekly Major League Soccer roundup. It was a great weekend for the Crew while many around them floundered. It's getting mighty exciting on the other side of the Atlantic and the play-offs are fast approaching. So with LA, Seattle and DC all tripping up, here's the lowdown:
It was a tale of two spot kicks at Dick's Sporting Goods Park last Wednesday. Click to continue reading...

1) Shalrie Joseph for MVP? It seems like all the forces are converging and settling on him after his player of the week performance. Today alone, there were three articles touting his candidacy from Ives Galarcep (Soccer By Ives), Ridge Mahoney (Soccer America), and Kyle McCarthy (Goal.com).
He has a lot of things going for him. Click to continue reading...

By TRAVIS CLARK

The Columbus Crew once again came away empty handed in a Group C match against Cruz Azul. Two first half goals from the visitors were enough as Columbus fell 2-0. Click to continue reading...

Colorado's Jacob Peterson goes flying after colliding with Andre Luiz in the first half Wednesday. (photo by Tom Auclair/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

You've got to be kidding. For the second time in less than a week, Conor Casey scored on a penalty kick deep into extra time as the Colorado Rapids tied the San Jose Earthquakes 1-1.

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Another action-packed weekend of Major League Soccer action saw a few draws which helped neither side in their attempts to reach the all-important post-season playoffs.
New England Revolution headed to New Jersey on Friday evening hoping to pick up three valuable points against New York Red Bulls, and it looked for a while like they might succeed. Click to continue reading...

The Rapids made their only appearance on ESPN this year on Friday night, and it will be quickly forgotten by most neutral observers. A pretty lousy game that is pretty forgettable even for fans. The game didn't start well, with San Jose getting an open look at Burpo's goal, only to put the shot off the far post. Click to continue reading...

A funny thing happened to the "We need relegation so that late season games involving teams who are out of the playoffs won't be so meaningless and dull" theory:
It got blown all to hell.
Already-eliminated New York and might-as-well-be-eliminated San Jose*, both of them dead last in their respective divisons would, under a single table/relegation format, currently be working out their transfers to USL1 even as we speak. Click to continue reading...

Well, that was pretty scrappy and crappy. But the Rapids escaped with a point. Conor Casey continued his amazing run of goalscoring with a penalty kick in almost the fifth minute of injury time to get the equalizer after San Jose had scored one of the softer goals the Rapids have conceded this season in the 8th minute. Click to continue reading...

Imagine the array of emotions for Ryan Johnson on Friday night. The San Jose Earthquakes striker scored his team's only goal in the eighth minute of a 1-1 tie against the Colorado Rapids. Then the 24-year-old committed the foul deep into extra time that produced a penalty kick for Colorado and the Rapids' only goal.

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Week 24 threw up a few little surprises in Major League Soccer, including defeat for both Houston Dynamo and Columbus Crew, another win for New York Red Bulls and something vaguely resembling consistency from Real Salt Lake.
The week's action began in Salt Lake last Wednesday, where RSL thumped Chivas USA 4-0. Click to continue reading...

1) The Open Cup final is Wednesday in DC. Couple interesting things here. Sebastien Le Toux is currently tied for the most goals scored in this year's tournament. Unless somebody else scores a few, he's going to win at least a share of the Open Cup golden boot for the third consecutive year. Now if only he could finish in MLS. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards had looked to pick up a point on the road with a 0-0 draw with San Jose yesterday until late in second half stoppage time. San Jose then found the back of the net through Chris Wondolowski, and the Wizards fell for the third straight game and 4th time in 6 league games. The team's winless streak has now reached 11 games in all competitions when you factor in the Open Cup and SuperLiga. Click to continue reading...

My post-game video interviews of the Seattle Sounders FC at San Jose Earthquakes match including:
-Emerald City Supporters pre-game cheering before marching into the stadium
-Coach Frank Yallop on new guys, having Luiz for an 18 month loan, the young guys, and the Heritage Cup
-Joe Cannon on FCD game, footwork mixup, confidence, supporting WPS FC Gold Pride
-Cornell Glenn on impact of new guys, playoff need, chemistry with Johnson and Wondolowski, and Dwight Yorke wanting to come to MLS
-Andre Luiz Moreira on training only 1 week, more Mexican players interested in MLS but pay in MLS still too low sometimes, desire to come to US because of lifestyle as well as the growth of MLS and US Soccer
-Ramon Sanchez on MLS, the San Jose Earthquakes, and winning 4-0 (En Espanol)
-Shea Salinas on his performance, strategy against Seattle, and new players
Translations from Spanish to English by Jed Mettee of the San Jose Earthquakes front office. Click to continue reading...

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Seattle Sounders FC walked onto the field at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara with a six-game unbeaten streak. They would not leave the pitch with a game added to that streak, as the San Jose Earthquakes dismantled them, 4-0, Sunday afternoon.
Earthquakes keeper Joe Cannon notched his first, as well as the team's first, clean sheet of the season in keeping one of the most potent offenses off the scoreboard.

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Something was clearly in the water in Dallas and San Jose over the weekend. A combined 10 goals scored and two clean sheets as The Team Formerly Known as The Hoops and the Earthquakes took out their frustrations on Kansas City and Seattle.
In Dallas, Jeff Cunningham scored four goals, passing former Dallas Burn star Jason Kries and moving in to 3rd place on the MLS All-Time Goals list. Click to continue reading...

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By TRAVIS CLARK

It was a dream start for D.C. United on Saturday. With a hectic schedule looming, a Christian Gomez brace had United out to a 2-0 lead at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. Missing midfielder Clyde Simms through injury and Santino Quaranta still on Gold Cup duty, it was a promising first 21 minutes of the match.

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Chicago's offense wakes up in 2nd half en route to 2nd home win
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - Two big questions heading into Saturday night's Chicago Fire game against the San Jose Earthquakes:
Who will step up offensively with injured Brian McBride unavailable? And will they find enough to defeat the San Jose Earthquakes and erase their struggles at Toyota Park? Click to continue reading...

It was an ugly win, but it was a win nonetheless. Three more points to our total locking us up in a tie with Chicago Fire for first in the East for the time-being. Let's just say I'll take it.
After the busiest start to a season in our club's brief history, the guys were coming into this one well rested having not played any matches in two weeks, and if you ask me, it showed. Click to continue reading...

The kids were all right. Toronto's young forwards did their job last night putting 3 goals past adult film star Joe Cannon as TFC dominated San Jose 3-1. It seems like two weeks off and some California raisins was just the tonic for The Reds' poor away form.
Chad "The New Pele" Barrett opened the scoring in the 5th minute, powerfully converting an amazing De Rosario standing bicycle cross which put Cannon on his back like a scene from "Keepers Gone Wild". Click to continue reading...