The Manchester United defense looked anything but strong in last night's 2-2 draw at home to Benfica, in the European Champions League. Wayne Rooney injured hip Two soft goals, an own goal early on from Phil Jones, when there was no danger, and a clearance error from new Spanish goalkeeper David De Gea which led [.

The Portland Timbers just didn't do enough with their many chances on Friday in their 2-0 bruising by the thuggish Houston Dynamo. Kenny Cooper's gotta get more on that header, Jorge Perlaza's gotta take that shot, Jack Jewsbury and Lovel Palmer gotta keep their shots down, and Darlington Nagbe's gotta stop hesitating in front of goal.

On September 24th D.C. United had an impressive showing against a somewhat second team squad of Real Salt Lake but the result was exactly what United needed - 3 points.
The Black and Red seemed poised to make a strong playoff push down the stretch of the 2011 MLS season however the ensuing road trip saw United lose to Eastern Conference and I-95 rivals Philadelphia Union and Columbus Crew just three days later failing to collect a single point.

One of the best things about a highlight package after a 3-nil win is that the rare down moments don't exist. The beauty of the Seattle Sounders attack is featured. The passing, off-ball movement and penchant to threaten the keeper in Saturday's game was the team working at near perfection. Mauro Rosales and Fredy Montero were able to pick apart the DC United defense.

Only a few months ago, Sporting KC was sitting around the bottom of the Eastern Conference, and the questions about the team were very loud. Now, after last night's 1-0 win over DC United, Kansas City now sits in second place in the East, 4 points behind first place Columbus, with the Crew still having to travel to KC.

Amidst all the activity behind the World Football Challenge and MLS taking on teams from the English and Spanish leagues, some MLS teams were left to battle each other. Here's your Mid-Week Recap:
DC United 0, New England Revolution 1
New England were finally able to put an end to their 9 game winless streak against DC United in front of a lively crowd of 15,597 at RFK.

PHOTO BY ISIPHOTOS.NET

BY ADAM SERRANO

The LA Galaxy and D.C. United limped to an uninspiring scoreless draw on Friday night in front of 20,030 at the Home Depot Center.

The Galaxy extended a seven game winning streak with the draw and took their shutout stream to 411 minutes.

Week Eight of the MLS season has already begun with a pair of mid-week games, but before we get into the full slate of weekend matches, we wanted to take a look back at an interesting Week Seven.

The Portland Timbers handed Real Salt Lake its first loss of the season, while the New York Red Bulls continued their hot streak.

by: Rick Allen
Quarter Volley
May 5, 2010
D.C. United took to the field at RFK Stadium last night looking to erase the memories of April, which saw the team win just one of its seven matches in all competitions, including a three-match overall losing streak to conclude the month.

The Houston Dynamo offense had struggled to generate goals for much of the 2011 season, but the cure for the lack of scoring came in the form of the D.C. United defense, which provided little resistance on Friday night.

Dynamo rookie Will Bruin scored a hat-trick to help lift the Dynamo to a 4-1 thrashing of D.

The Houston Dynamo will look to extend a five-match unbeaten streak against a D.C. United team looking to erase the taste of last week's 4-0 thrashing against New York in tonight's MLS match-up (8:30pm, Fox Soccer Channel).

The Dynamo will be without forward Brian Ching once again, but will be lead by midfielder Brad Davis.

Chelsea travel to Manchester today to play in the only quarterfinal match that remains winnable by either side. The Londoners head into Old Trafford a goal down and perhaps lacking the confidence to steal it back. It doesn't help matters that their floppy-haired central defender David Luiz is cup-tied and cannot play, nor that the £50M man up front can't seem to find the back of the net.

Following yesterday's sensational match between Manchester United and Blackpool, Sir Alex Ferguson was quick to praise Liverpool transfer target Charlie Adam. The Blackpool captain was behind both of his side's first half goals against the Red Devils at Bloomfield Road as his corner kicks proved too much for the United defense.