MLS week four in review: Best XI

Yura Movsisyan and RSL are on a roll (AP Photo/Deseret News, Michael Brandy)

1/ Team of the Week: Real Salt Lake

RSL got off to a slow start this year thanks to an awkward opening-day bye, followed by a road trip to a rampant Seattle Sounders.

That's history, for now. Having dispatched DC United with a 2-1 win Saturday, RSL has now pieced together back-to-back wins for the first time since 2006.

And in rallying from a goal down to edge DC, RSL has demonstrated it can be an organized, hard-working and passionate team—all qualities befit of a championship contender.

Check out match highlights here.

2/ Game of the Week: Chicago Fire at San Jose Earthquakes

It looks as though you soccer fans in San Jose are in for an entertaining season, especially if it's goals you like and you're perhaps a neutral.

So far this season, the three games at Buck Shaw Stadium have produced more goals than all those at Houston, New York, DC and Toronto combined, and this past Saturday turned out another multi-score thriller.

The San Jose Earthquakes and the Chicago Fire battled to a 3-3 tie in a back-and-forth match full of attacking soccer and wicked goals. Former English Premier League players Brian McBride and Bobby Convey both had well-taken efforts, with Convey picking up his first of the season.

The tie means Chicago remains unbeaten despite playing three on the road. San Jose, though struggling to win points, have shown they can score goals, after all.

3/ Goal of the Week: Brian McBride, Chicago Fire

Surfacing from the tide of tied games this past weekend were a slew of clever goals, but McBride's gem gets my vote (video here).

The 36-year-old striker has proved he can still create important goals, just as he did for years at England's Fulham FC.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco's headed assist deserves credit—the veteran Mexican nodded down a perfectly weighted ball to his teammate on the edge of the box, but McBride still had lots to do.

With the ball seemingly stuck on his laces, McBride, with his back to goal, turned through Simon Elliot before launching his shot and leveling the game at two apiece.

4/ Heap of the Week: New York Red Bulls at Houston Dynamo

To a soccer fan, what happened in Houston on Saturday can only be described as the antithesis to what happened in San Jose.

This was supposed to be the much-anticipated rematch of last year's MLS Cup playoff in which New York Red Bulls surprisingly dumped the West Conference champion Houston Dynamo. Fans were again expecting goals, drama and quality ball—not to mention a rabid revenge-seeking Dynamo.

There was none of that. Instead, a national TV audience sat through 90 minutes of chippy play in which neither team really got a hold of the game.

In fact, it was more like watching two drunk 5-year-olds trying to play chess.

And that field. Yikes.

The game ended scoreless and two men short with a total of eight cards—which was a heck of a lot more than the number of total attempts on goal.

Despite the tied scoreline, neither side should really have been awarded any points.

Even Fox Soccer Channel commentator Max Bretos admitted this game had "everything you don't want to see in a soccer match."

Watch the lowlights here.

5/ The other goose egg: Los Angeles v Chivas USA

And this is supposed to be a classic matchup, or rather a Super Clásico.

Like the Houston-New York game, this game was plenty chippy with nine cards and three ejections. It also finished scoreless.

But unlike the Houston game, there was entertainment at the HDC Saturday. Chivas USA , technically the visiting side, peppered the LA Galaxy frame with efforts, forcing LA 'keeper Donovan Ricketts into making a ton of impressive saves.

Galaxy boss Bruce Arena, publicly livid with his team's performances last week, threw out a new-look side that certainly gave the top-of-the table Chivas a few scares.

Arena, however, will have to dig even deeper having already made six changes to his lineup Saturday. New signing Gregg Berhalter and top striker Alan Gordon will be unavailable next week after picking up red cards in the game.

6/ Shrinking goal frames?

On the face of this weekend's performance, no one can accuse the winless Columbus Crew for not trying.

Columbus fired 14 shots on a resurgent Colorado Rapids side Saturday, including at least three that hit woodwork. Rockets were released from all over the field, and had Rapids goalie Preston Burpo—and his frame—not been in top form, the Crew could well have had its first W of 2009.

Instead, the Crew managed just the one through Guillermo Barros Schelotto, before goal machine Conor Casey netted his fourth of the year. The game ended 1-1.

7/ Shrinking attendances?

Is the dire economy really keeping fans home?

A paltry 7,465 turned up to see the Crew Saturday, which proves that winning a championship and owning a soccer-specific stadium is not enough to guarantee a full—or even half-full—house.

Less than 10,000 showed up in San Jose, despite the visit of Mexican legend Blanco to an area with a large, soccer-mad Hispanic community.

And only 6,922 braved arctic conditions to see Kansas City beat San Jose last week. That's a number approaching the USL First Division's average attendance last year.

Though Seattle continues to keep the averages up with 28,000 ticket sell-outs, overall the numbers have dipped slightly early this season (ESPN's MLS attendance figures here).

And these are "reported" figures.

Toronto's "reported" 20,272 attendance Saturday looked exaggerated, but not as much as Houston's outrageous 19,494 number.

And the Super Clásico in Los Angeles drew 23,317 fans, but had they kept it an over-18 affair and checked IDs at the gate, we may have seen half that.

8/ Save of the Week: Kevin Hartman, Kansas City

Great saves abounded this past weekend, with notable nods going out to Los Angeles' Donovan Ricketts and Toronto's Stefan Frei.

But Kevin Hartman's second-half stop from Seattle's Brad Evans capped a wave of pressure from the host Sounders and kept the game level.

Though Hartman would get lucky minutes later when Fredy Montero hit the horizontal from a free kick—and he could thank his defense for a goal-line clearance in the 64th—the 57th minute stop may qualify as week four's only genuine game-winning save.

Check out match highlight's here.

9/ Didn't Drew Carey check the scouting tapes?

I'm guessing someone at Seattle forgot to take a look at what Kansas City's Davy Arnaud is capable of from 25-30 yards out.

Just three weeks removed from striking two almost identical goals against Toronto FC, Arnaud unleashed this absolute laser, unchallenged, from way, way out to beat Seattle stand-in 'keeper Ben Dragavon (starting goalkeeper Kasey Keller had been ejected earlier for deliberately handling outside the area).

Check out highlights here.

The goal ended up being the game's only score, but it was the first-ever conceded by the Sounders, who also lost their first-ever game, 1-0.

10/ Goalkeepers take a tumble

It's become something of a fad to criticize referees for calling a foul on an attacking player who goes up for a 50-50 ball with a goalkeeper—kind of like how NFL commentators harp on about the coddling that quarterbacks enjoy.

The reality is that when a goalkeeper goes to pluck a ball from the sky, his arms are generally flailing in the air, and therefore not offering much protection. Conversely, the attacker comes in with stiff shoulders and elbows, and that can lead to a potentially dangerous collision with the 'keeper.

Besides, it's not like there is an unlimited supply of goalkeepers on the bench. Just the one.

Cases in point: Dallas' Jeff Cunningham clobbered Toronto stopper Stefan Frei late in Saturday's game, drawing a card. The former Toronto forward had nary an eye on the ball, and Frei was lucky to have not been hurt (game highlights).

But New York goalie Danny Cepero was not so lucky, picking up a career-first concussion from a head-to-head collision with Houston's Kei Kamara.

"I just remember going for the ball," Cepero said [NY Daily News]. "That was pretty much it. The next thing I knew I was on the ground and our trainer was asking me questions. I guess I was out (unconscious) there for a few seconds. I'm just glad I was able to make it out of there OK. No unfortunate side effects so far. I'm all right."

Cepero was briefly hospitalized, and may miss this weekend's match with Real Salt Lake.

11/ Quote of the Week: Sigi Schmid, Seattle Sounders

"Kansas City was celebrating quite extensively at the end of the game. That shows how much respect we've already garnered in this league. If they're playing a man up and win a squeaker and they're happy, that's good for us," Schmid said following his side's defeat to Kansas City Saturday [MLSNet].