Rivalries headline MLS round five

April 17, 5:44 PMMLS ExaminerDavid Agrell

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DC's Luciano Emilio will face rival New England Friday (AP/Deseret News, Michael Brandy)

It's rivalry weekend in Major League Soccer, where from this evening through Sunday we'll see one classic rivalry, one renewed rivalry and one potential birth of a rivalry.

The Classic

Tonight's ESPN2 match-up (7 p.m. ET) sees old foes DC United and the New England Revolution slug it out for some early spoils.

This year, so far, New England has an edge, sitting second in the East having played just three games. Despite carrying some key injuries, but thanks to some solid defensive road form, the Revs go into DC unbeaten on the road.

DC, however, has yet to lose in two games at RFK Stadium, and could leapfrog New England in the standings with a win.

"It's a very important game," DC United head coach Tom Soehn said [MLSNet]. "Obviously we've always had a good rivalry and it's a team that I know we've always had really good battles with. We know what their strengths are. I think we also know what we need to do to beat them. And it's a conference game—that kind of sums up everything."

Many point to the 2004 Eastern Conference championship game as the quintessential battle between these two clubs, with DC edging the Revs after 120 minutes and a penalty shootout before winning the championship. But a rivalry wasn't born on that day, it just approached boiling point.

Subsequent meetings have been nearly as hard-fought, but at the nation's capital DC has generally owned New England, boasting a home record of 16-6-3 and winning 4-2, 3-1 and 2-1 in the past three meetings.

"DC will be a tough test," New England goalkeeper Matt Reis said. "It's a tough place to play. We've had such a good rivalry with them. The fans are great fans. They'll let the opposing team know what they feel about them."

For deep Revs coverage, visit our New England Revolution Examiner here. For DC United news and insights, go to the DC United Examiner here.

The Renewed

Over on the left coast, California loves a good North-South rivalry—just ask the Giants and the Dodgers, the 49ers and the (LA) Rams, Stanford and USC or even the Sacramento-based indie band Pavement.

Match-ups between the LA Galaxy and the San Jose Earthquakes, dubbed the California Clasico, have certainly brought the heat, too. The two meet once again on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET).

The contest perhaps reached its apex in the 2003 MLS playoffs, when the 'Quakes scored five unanswered goals to rally from a 4-0 aggregate Galaxy advantage. San Jose went on to win the championship that year—which was the club's last trophy before heading to Houston. The rivalry was put on hold for two years until the Earthquakes started over in 2008.

There are plenty of incestuous ties between the club, too.

San Jose boss Frank Yallop and players Joe Cannon, Simon Elliott, Kelly Gray and Brandon McDonald have all represented LA in the past. However, it goes both ways. In this year's Galaxy roster, the most high-profile former 'Quake is Landon Donovan, but Todd Dunviant, Jovan Kirovski and Eddie Lewis all once donned the blue/black San Jose jerseys.

"I love it there," Donovan said [MLSNet]. "I always hold a special place in my heart for San Jose."

This year Donovan's LA is winless, but did show improvement last week in a scoreless tie with neighboring Chivas USA.

Up north, the Earthquakes have been a Jekyll-and-Hyde kind of side, scoring a bunch, conceding a bunch, and twice featuring in wild high-scoring games.

For in-depth coverage of the Galaxy, be sure to check out our LA Galaxy Examiner here.

The New?

A single point keeps Chivas USA above the expansion Seattle Sounders FC atop the Western Conference.

Chivas host Seattle on Saturday at 10:30 p.m. ET, in the weekend's Best-of-the-West match-up

With LA faltering in recent years and the Houston Dynamo slow off the mark again this season, the rest of the East are looking to place themselves early on in commanding positions.

The Colorado Rapids, in third, have been a surprise. Real Salt Lake, also a dark horse, are nipping at their heels. But until last week, both Chivas and Seattle were perfectly 3-0.

However, the Sounders were humbled at home in a 1-0 loss to Kansas City last weekend, so this weekend they'll be looking to prove their first three wins in franchise history—which were all shutouts—were no fluke. And without the talismanic, but suspended, captain Kasey Keller between the pipes, they'll also want to prove they have swagger deep into their roster, too.

And having only ever played on turf thus far, how will they fare on the Home Depot Center's natural grass surface?

Speaking of a deep roster, Chivas are unbeaten with 10 points in four games thanks to boasting just that. And now all those injured players who missed Chivas' perfect start, such as Alecko Eskandarian, are easing back into the side. That should make the Goats feel like real championship contenders.

"It's a group effort," Chivas coach Preki said [MLSNet]. "When everybody's committed and playing good defense, you're not going to give too many things away."

For more on the Sounders, visit the Seattle Soccer Examiner here.