After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of the United States National Team players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5 average, 10 perfection). This week Brian O'Connell, Julian Cardillo and Sean Donahue contributed ratings for the USA's 1-0 victory over Panama.

Four days after putting together an impeccable performance against Venezuela, the United States had to overcome a sloppy and disheveled showing to escape Estadio Rommel Fernandez with a 1-0 win over Panama Wednesday night.

Graham Zusi's ninth minute goal survived more than 85 minutes of as Panama squandered countless chances to equalize against a maligned back line during the international friendly.

Panama head coach Julio Dely Valdes has called in 18 players for Wednesday night's friendly against the United States, and the roster features a couple key veterans as well as several young internationals who will be a part of CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying in March.
FC Dallas striker Blas Perez has 23 career goals for the marearoja, including two against the United States.

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.

Columbus hopes to knock off Colorado tonight. (Getty Images)

I hate being quick with playoff previews but this one will have to end up being the case. Time has not been on my side today.

Tonight is the second wild card game of the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs. Last night the New York Red Bulls upset FC Dallas on the road and tonight the Columbus Crew hope to do the same against the defending MLS Cup champion Colorado Rapids.

The last weekend of the regular season featured playoff-bound teams looking foolish against opponents who have only the 2012 campaign to look forward to. In some cases those losses were suffered by reserve squads, as playoff teams rested starters, but in other cases the playoff teams just looked over-matched.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution's disastrous season hit a new low on Saturday in their home finale with the team's 3-0 loss to the Columbus Crew guaranteeing the Revs would fail to reach seven wins for the first time in team history.

With nothing to play for but pride, the Revolution (5-16-12, 27 points) looked to take the early initiative to give the crowd of 16,285 something to cheer about in the last home match of the season.

By IAN HOLLIDAY

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The Columbus Crew came into Gillette Stadium Saturday night knowing all it needed to secure a fourth consecutive playoff berth was a win over the last-placed New England Revolution. Ninety minutes and one of its more dominant performances of the year later, the Crew had done just that.

Gillette Stadium Before The Gates Opened

New England Revolution and the Columbus Crew met in the Revs last home game of what has been a miserable season. New England comes into this match with a record of 5-15-12 while Columbus is 12-12-8.

While the Revs are playing for pride, a win for Columbus puts them in the playoffs.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – There's been no shortage of criticism when it comes to the Revolution defense in recent weeks. Not that it's entirely undeserved.

Whether it's the 10 goals allowed in their last four games, the revolving door in the middle, or the fact that nearly every error seems ripe for immediate punishment, one thing is clear: the backs have seen better days.

Mid-week MLS action saw the race for the Eastern Conference get even tighter. It also saw a heated exchange between Daniel Paladini and Kyle Beckerman which saw Beckerman walk off with a red. Pedro Gomes has your recap.
Sporting Kansas City 2, Columbus Crew 1
Kansas City hosted the Columbus Crew with a chance to take first place in the extremely tight Eastern Conference.

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.

Kansas City 2 - Columbus 1 In a battle of Eastern Conference contenders, Sporting Kansas City got the better of struggling Columbus at LIVESTRONG Park. Kei Kamara put Sporting in front from the penalty spot in the 15th minute, with Columbus equalizing when Emilio Renteria scored in the 34th. Unfortunately for Columbus, a 74th minute own goal would send all three points Sporting's way.

De acordo com alguma imprensa brasileira, o desengonçado avançado colombiano poderá vir a reforçar o plantel do Santos, cuja maior estrela é Neymar. Com 26 anos, Renteria foi um dos destaques do Once Caldas, do seu país, na última Taça dos Libertadores da América e deve chegar por empréstimo Vila Belmiro.

Hurricane Irene could delay some MLS games this weekend but could not stop the teams playing from putting out some excellent performances. In fact, there were two sets of winners from yesterday's matches: the Western Conference and the teams that did not play. While the West didn't get a clean sweep due to Chicago's home win over Colorado, the impressive wins by Dallas, Real Salt Lake, and Seattle show that their conference is still the class of the league.

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 have yet to beat the Seattle Sounders in these brief years in MLS. That does not matter though. That is statistics as trivia. It has little relevance to the match on hand. The match on hand features a depleted side from central Ohio and a fully strength, generally rested side from Western Washington.

Philadelphia Setup: The Union set up in their accustomed 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield. Miglioranzi played in the holding midfield spot with Carroll out injured. Daniel played wide left and Mapp played wide right. Paunovic played in the center behind the two strikers. Le Toux and Mwanga were the two strikers.

There is a clear difference between playing well and creating chances, and the Philadelphia Union embodied the former on Saturday night.

A controversial (read: very poor) penalty call was the difference as the Union fell 2-1 to the Eastern Conference leading Columbus Crew Saturday night in front of what looked to be 45 people.

Andres Mendoza converted a 51st minute penalty after a Sheanon Williams hand ball in the area and the Columbus Crew held out for a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Union. The Crew's win gave them a six-point lead atop the Eastern Conference, although the Union still have played one less game. The Union's winless streak was stretched to five games.

Benny Feilhaber gave the New England Revolution a first half lead, but the Revs suffered a second half collapse, falling 3-1 to the Columbus Crew at Crew Stadium on Saturday night.

Benny Feilhaber's goal wasn't enough for the Revs on Saturday. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

The loss sends the Revs (4-11-9, 21 points) to eighth place in the nine team Eastern Conference and 16th overall in the 18 team Major League Soccer.

For the right to advance to the Finals, the US will have to avenge a group stage defeat to Panama. In the first meeting in Tampa, the Red Tide came quickly out of the gates, catching the Yanks by surprise and taking a 2-nil first half lead. The Yanks responded after the break with a 68th minute header from Clarence Goodson, but Panama held on for the 2-1 upset.

By DAVID MOSSE

The last time Atletico Nacional and La Equidad met in the Colombian Clausura final back in 2007, Nacional notched a comprehensive 3-0 victory in the first leg and was able to claim the trophy with a scoreless draw at home. But El Verde faces a much different predicament on Saturday (7:30 p.

PANAMA
1 Jaime Penedo 09/26/81 GK3 Harold Cummings 03/01/92 DF4 Aranus Haywood 04/03/85 MD5 Roman Torres 03/20/86 DF6 Gabriel Gomez 05/29/84 MD7 Blas Perez 03/13/81 AT8 Gabriel Torres 10/31/88 MD9 Renan Addles 11/07/89 AT10 Nelson Barahona 11/22/87 MD11 Amando Cooper 11/26/87 MD12 Luis Mejia 03/16/91 GK13 Adolfo Machado 02/14/85 DF14 Eduardo Dasent 10/12/88 DF15 Eric Davis 03/31/91 DF16 Luis Renteria 09/13/88 AT17 Luis Henriquez 11/23/81 DF18 Luis Tejada 03/28/82 AT19 Alberto Quintero 12/18/87 AT20 Anibal Godoy 02/10/90 MD21 Amilcar Henriquez 08/02/83 MD22 Eybir Bonaga 05/19/86 MD23 Felipe Baloy 02/24/81 DF24 Kevin Melgar 11/19/92 GKManager Julio Dely Valdes
Gracias por tu visita Estadísticas de Fútbol

Quick Recap:

Portland Timbers come out flat in the first half but the Columbus Crew fail to capitalize. The Timbers come out strong in the second half and come away with their 3rd consecutive 1-0 home win.

First Half:

Columbus came out with a different formation than they usually use, going from a 4-5-1
to a traditional 4-4-2, as they were trying to combat the size of Portland's back line.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Eric Brunner's 46th-minute goal -- the product of yet another successful set piece for the Portland Timbers -- was just enough for Portland to make it five straight MLS wins at Jeld-Wen Field after its 1-0 win over the Columbus Crew Saturday night.

By CALEB SONNELAND

Emilio Renteria netted a second half penalty in the 67th minute to ensure that Seattle didn't walk away from Crew Stadium with all the spoils.

Fredy Montero had previously put the visiting side ahead early after connecting with an Erik Friberg cross to beat Will Hesmer in the seventh minute.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

The Seattle Sounders lost Steve Zakuani for the season and O'Brian White for an extended period of time, meaning they needed some players to step up if they were going to continue their recent unbeaten streak.

Brad Evans answered the call for Seattle, scoring two goals and adding an assist in the Sounders' 3-0 win against Toronto FC on Saturday.

Mais um jogo amistoso, foi disputado no dia 25/03/2011, na cidade de Panamá-PAN, no Estadio Rommel Fernández, onde jogaram as seleções do Panamá (68º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção da Bolívia (97º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
2008Santa Cruz 20/08/2008 BOL1:0 (0:0)PAN 2003La Paz 31/08/2003 BOL3:0 (1:0)PAN
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Walter Lopez-GUA
O primeiro gol do jogo, foi de Gabriel Gomez, aos 19 minutos do primeiro tempo, ele que é jogador do Panamá.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Omar Salgado's first career MLS goal energized his play and that of his Vancouver Whitecaps, but Emilio Renteria was a handful for much of Saturday night's match and scored two goals of his own as the Columbus Crew downed Vancouver 2-1 at Crew Stadium.

Well how's that for a weather turn around? Last week, on the cusp of freezing rain and freezing temperatures, today a balmy 21C. The setting was perfect for an afternoon of... PLAGUES!
Just before kick-off, we were greeted with swarms of mosquitoes! All of that money raised for malaria nets could come in to good use right about now.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Jeff Cunningham got the perfect opportunity for an historic goal.

His close-range open shot, off a brilliant back flick from teammate Emilio Renteria in the 61st minute, missed wide. A goal would have put Cunningham into a tie with Jaime Moreno for first place all-time in goals in MLS history, and would have tied him for the Columbus Crew franchise record for goals.

Photo by Greig Cowie/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

Lost in the shuffle amid the announcement of Manchester's United's full U.S. schedule Tuesday, Sporting Kansas City announced a friendly against another English Premier League club with plenty of tradition -- Newcastle United.

While nobody will mistake Tuesday night's CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal first leg between the Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake as an instant classic, there were plenty of talking points to come out of the 0-0 draw at Crew Stadium.

Referee Jair Marrufo issued three red cards, with RSL's Tony Beltran (two yellows) and Nat Borchers and Columbus' Emilio Renteria all being sent off and becoming ineligible for the return leg March 1 at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Last night was the unofficial start to the MLS season, as Real Salt Lake and Columbus faced off in their first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal. In a night that was below freezing and in front of a sparse crowd, the two teams grinded out a 0-0 draw that was defined by the referee as well as missed chances by Columbus.

Tuesday night marked the return of the CONCACAF Champions League, with the Columbus Crew - Real Salt Lake tie being the focus of Major League Soccer fans. Ending in a 0-0 draw, it wasn't the most exciting match, but considering that this was the first competitive match either side has played in months, it could of been much worse.

The all-Major League Soccer CONCACAF Champions League final will be decided at Rio Tinto Stadium after Columbus and Real Salt Lake ended scoreless in the opening leg of the two-game series. Whatever advantage RSL had with the healthier roster evaporated in the 52nd minute when they were reduced to 10-men after Tony Beltran was red carded.

Photo by Jose M. Romero

By JOSE M. ROMERO

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Operators of the still-to-be completed Westside Soccer Complex in this bedroom community west of Phoenix charged admission to watch the Seattle Sounders and Columbus Crew play a preseason match Thursday afternoon.