Actually, I won't be home to fire up the grill and cook up some tasty burgers or skewers for anybody today... but it sure does sound good.

Some teams deserve a day off today based on performances from the weekend. Others deserve extra work for their own putrid effort.


1. Columbus (12-6-4). Click to continue reading...

Owing to time and family constraints, this is going to be short and ugly. I've not seen much beyond highlights, match writeups, and the reaction of my fellow bloggists, so my own reaction is going to be necessarily quite limited. Have I hemmed and hawed enough? Good. Let's throw a curve and toss in a little Tickle v. Click to continue reading...

Who ever said that 0-0 matches aren't exciting? That had to be the most competitive match between these two clubs in a couple years. Usually we dominate these matches, and the last one against the Red Bulls should be thrown out, but I can't think of a time we've ever played them to a scoreless draw. Click to continue reading...

Manchester United's 1-0 victory at Portsmouth earlier this afternoon concluded the second round of fixtures in the Premiership. It would be foolish to read too much into the standings at this point in this season, but it's still interesting to see the likes of Hull City and Newcastle near the top of the table while Portsmouth and Tottenham are languishing at the other end. Click to continue reading...

First off, I have to point out that Kevin Goldthwaite DID say that it would be easier to slice tomatos than to take down Houston. Nostradamus was in the house, as the defense, obliterated by injuries and suspensions, held the Dynamo to a 3- 0 shutout.

Coach Osorio, reacting to the losses in the back, relied heavily on some of the newer pieces in a 4-4-2 formation.

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A 3-0 scoreline is pretty good, eh? Some in the press box were calling it the most complete United game of the year and it's tough to disagree. Three goals scored, a shutout and players working for their teammates all over the pitch. Two absolute stunners from Joe Vide and Santino Quaranta and a opportunistic Quavas Kirk gets his first career regular season goal.

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Jaded. Completely and utterly jaded. That's the only explanation. How else can you describe the sort of malaise I face as I stare at this blank post and wonder what to say. Sure, I pumped my fist and came out of my chair after every United goal. I'm satisfied with the shutout, perhaps even mildly enthused that we hung three on the cRapids, but . Click to continue reading...

Atlanta Silverbacks are off to the Great White North to take on Montreal Impact tonight in a match that should help the Backs push closer to securing a playoff spot.

Impact will be looking to play spoiler though on their home field and could use a win to help them climb out of 9th position in the table. Click to continue reading...

Chicago Fire 0 : 1 D.C. United
Six Word Novel Recap

Black and red likes some yellow.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseThe Chicago Daily Herald, Orrin Schwarz: "Things changed at the start of the second half Saturday night at Toyota Park. Fans in brand-new No. 20 jerseys sat up straight. Click to continue reading...

The guys earned a solid, grind it out win in Chicago tonight, topping the Fire 1-0 on the strength of Fred's 27th minute goal. In his debut, goalkeeper Louis Crayton made two saves to preserve the shutout - United's second of the year. Coupled with the win in Chicago on June 7, it is the first time in club history that United has taken six points from the Fire on the road in a single season (the two teams have played twice in Chicago in five different seasons, not including the current one).

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I remember writing before the season started that we would probably have to win a lot of games 1-0 this year. Well it took five months and a goalkeeper change to finally do it.

I got back from a great week at Ocean City today and opted to purchase the discounted $9.95 MLSlive package, which will probably be used only to watch tonight's match and next Saturday's. Click to continue reading...

We're almost due for another round of my awards updates. I ran oneafter most teams had played 10 games, back in June. We've got most teams now within one or two games of their 20th games, so that should come up soon enough.

For now, here's where the teams stand as I see them. Click to continue reading...

The Crew outshot the Houston but the Dynamo made their only two shots on goal count for a 2-0 shutout at Robertson Stadium to keep the UMLSCC. Goal scorers were Brian Ching and Brad Davis. Moreno won goal of the week but I think it should have gone to Brad Davis.

Sorry I don't have much for this this week. Click to continue reading...

Everybody pretty much agrees that the regular season in MLS is a little bit long. There are so many ups and downs that it's difficult to maintain maximum focus every time you step on the field. In short, there are very few (if any) critical regular season MLS matches played in August: except maybe for this past weekend at R.

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Fresh off his first MLS shutout of the season, goalkeeper Zach Wells is set to join host Russ Thaler on Washington Post Live tomorrow. WPL airs on Comcast SportsNet from 5-6:30 p.m. and it is always full of tasty morsels.

Have a question for Zach? Feel free to drop it in the comments below and we'll pass them along to Russ before the show.

Click to continue reading...

D.C. United 2 : 0 Kansas City WizardsSix Word Novel Recap

Finally, the sheet is kept clean.

Media, Traditional and OtherwiseUnitedMania, Chris Webb: "DC United got their first shutout of the season in MLS play behind a strong eight save effort from Zach Wells. Goals on either side of halftime from Luciano Emilio and Jaime Moreno got United back on track after a four game losing streak at RFK. Click to continue reading...

How's that for a confidence booster? With only 7 of our normal starting 11 in the lineup, and only 6 guys starting who started against KC in the season opener, United somehow came together to produce a big win and their first shutout of the year. With a first look at the starting lineups and the revelation that Ryan Pore was starting at forward, I kind of had a feeling that this could finally be THE ONE, and the team did not disappoint. Click to continue reading...

I wouldn't necessarily call that the prettiest game the team has played all year, but you can't argue with the fact that the effort was there from all thirteen players that put on the United kit tonight. A goal each from the starting forwards and the first League shutout of the year for goalkeeper Zach Wells and the team.

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Below is today's press release. Pizarro's goal was a serious rocket. I couldn't describe it as such in the release quite enough, and the own goal was created by Pizarro's great ball that would have been converted by Kraus even if the defender didn't touch it. At one point in the game, we kept the ball for over two minutes and completed at least 35 straight passes (they were counted) without New York touching the ball. Click to continue reading...

When Brian Levey was introduced as the RailHawks starting goalkeeper Sunday afternoon, it was the first time since the preseason hed seen the field.
Even he conceded few of the 7,155 people at WakeMed Soccer Park probably knew who he was before kickoff. By the final whistle, his efforts didnt go unnoticed. Click to continue reading...

Okay, last week I didn't get these out and I apologize for that. I got overwhelmed with stuff because of Sunday night's SuperLiga match and had to scrap something.

So after a week hiatus, here's the Spotlight for Week 17.

Top XI
G: Joe Cannon
D: Marvell Wynne Bobby Boswell
D: Ryan Cochrane
D: Chris Wingert
M: Jorge Rojas Dave Van den Burgh
M: Christian Gomez
M: Guillermo Barros Schelotto
M: Kurt Morsink
F: Edson Buddle
F: Juan Pablo Angel
F: Kenny Cooper

Coach: Ian Russell, San Jose. Click to continue reading...

A red-hot Real Salt Lake rode its stingy defense to a shutout win against a strong Columbus squad to move into first place in the Western Conference.

Okay, I'll wait while everybody takes in that last sentence. And no, you aren't dreaming.

RSL is enjoying the best run of form in club history (and yes, I know that's not saying a lot) and now sits in first place in the extremely weak Western Conference.

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Could this be the game that DC United goalkeeper Zach Wells records his first shutout of the year?  Most likely yes (I can't believe I'm saying that).  Atlante looked very unorganized and just plain terrible, they made a mediocre Houston attack look like Didier Drogba on his best form.  With Luciano Emilio on the field tonight, Atlante is in [. Click to continue reading...

The seven players added to the All-Star roster are: Jim Brennan (Toronto), Juan Pablo Angel (New York), Christian Gomez (Colorado), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado), Pat Onstad (Houston), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles) and Dwayne De Rosario (Houston). The first five were picked by coach Steve Nicol; the last two are commissioner's picks.

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Another win. And two goals scored? How about that. This was the first league match that KC scored two goals in since April 5. That is not good. Plain and simple. The fact the Jimmy Conrad now leads the Wizards in goals? Also not encouraging. But the three points tonight means that KC is now equal on points with New York for sixth place.

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