MFR Monday Breakdown:

Monday, April 11, 2011 | View Comments
-Keith Hickey

Because of a system which for the most part, encourages parity, it's never a good idea to come down too strongly when you're predicting a result between good teams, even if one hasn't played well too recently. So boy am I glad I made a cautious, reasoned argument about how I thought Colorado were in better form, but a team with the talent Dallas has should never be counted out.

Awww, crap.

Mea culpa, mea culpa.
A word in my defense, though. Putting my predictions and opinions in public view opens me up for criticism. That's part of the job, I accept that. Some people though, really get on writers, being dismissive or downright nasty about my skill or experience, and some question my impartiality, saying I pick on certain teams or favor others, or predict results from the heart, rather than the head.

That is not the case at all. I am no homer.


Now that that's cleared up, we can get down to some of the weekend's action

Okay, Seattle and Chicago. I picked Seattle to win, but I definitely did not think it would be O'Brian "poor man's Dominic Oduro" White with an assist and a goal. And what a goal it was. A powerful pinpoint header from the edge of the penalty area when covered by two players. It almost gives you hope for Chad Barrett (but not really).

Los Angeles looked like they were going to win against D.C. courtesy of a David Beckham set piece connecting with a pretty fantastic jump by Mike Magee, but Charlie Davies pulled his best Carlos Ruiz impression and went down like a sack of potatoes with daddy issues to draw a penalty, which he converted. And then, as the inimitable Dan Loney pointed out (and once he did, I felt really stupid for missing it) celebrated by running over to a car, a celebration that perhaps was not in the best taste.

With their 1-0 win over the Red Bulls, Philadelphia have already recorded more shutouts this season than they had all of last season, which is good, because Peter Nowak has suddenly turned from Arsene Wenger into George Graham (**Euro-reference Alert**). Looking at the Union's three goals so far this year, you have a scramble after a throw-in, a clinical 1-2 after a deflection off a defender, and a bad pass from a defender. Not to rubbish the Union's results or their first place in the East, but they're relying on set pieces and defensive errors, rather than their own ability to break teams down. Which since this is MLS, will probably net them the Supporters Shield.

Real Salt Lake put out the reserves and some guy from the ticket office and beat New England 2-0 in Foxborough, so there's that. It's almost like they're so good, they're handicapping themselves to make it challenging. The most exciting thing about Real's ascendancy for me? Jason Kreis being the best young manager in the county. And possibly the best old one, too. If he keeps this up, expect to see him in Russia in 2018.

Speaking of foreign things far into the future, when will Chivas USA win a game? Not only is Justin Braun's lack of goals killing my fantasy team, but the Goats are rapidly becoming even more irrelevant than they were before. If I yelled "CLUB DEPORTIVO CHIVAS USA" in your ear and then asked you to name all the teams in MLS, you'd probably forget about them. That's how much of a non-entity they are. They're playing with someone else's name, in someone else's stadium, and they are dire. I feel bad for Robin Fraser. One of the best defenders in MLS history deserves better than this. If only he had made the '02 World Cup roster, he could have a coaching job with the Galaxy.

Final thought: How ungrateful of you, San Jose fans. I said such nice things about you, and then you get into this big controversy over tifo. Was it obscene? No, it wasn't. But it was sexist, in poor taste, and patently unfunny. A Charlie Sheen joke? Yeah, because that's new.
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