Making it look easy. Kenny Cooper

My Goal of the Week. Brad Davis left footed perfection.

Way to go rookie!!! Patrick Nyarko

With the Olympics on the other side of hump day, we have had the first full weekend in the second half of the MLS season.  Some teams are pushing forward, and others are falling back. Lets start with the teams that are in winning form; FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, Chicago, and Real Salt Lake all won this past week and have had a run of wins/ties leading into the all-star break.  Teams that are showing signs of strain are Los Angeles Galaxy, Toronto FC, and the Kansas City Wizards, these teams have not won a game in over a month.  The division standings are tightening up due to top teams on league breaks, and other teams are playing more games on a tight calendar.

The bold colors of the MLS are showing in mixed international play, and we look good.  With a few exceptions, this past year our teams have faced several international clubs, and they have stood their ground.  Recently, our all-stars outscored West Ham United and their game play was aggressive.  Chicago Fire defeated Everton 2-0 on July 30th as they prepare for the EPL season, and that is coming up soon(yeah!!!).  NE and Houston left the competition in their wakes and head to the final in Suplerliga on Tuesday night.  Yes, we will have to watch yet another championship game between NE and Houston.  DC United and Chivas USA were beaten in the group stages of the Superliga.  Unfortunately, Toronto FC has not been so lucky in their Canadian tourney.  They have only been able to tie and win against one of their competitors, the rest were loses.  Lets hope their new forward, Chad Barrett, can help them, their fans deserve a strong team.

I have mentioned before that I am not a big fan of non-MLS matches during the season, due to injuries and player ware and tear.  Yet, the Olympics are a completely different story.  The honor and pride of representing your country in the Olympics is a huge responsibility and privilege.  I have nothing but respect for these athletes and I will be getting up at 5:00am on Thursday to watch our boys start down a very difficult path to winning an Olympic gold.  Will you be getting up early to watch, record the games to watch later, or skip the games all together?