Posted by Heath Harshman

By Heath Harshman- WFD Fan Correspondent

Another week in the MLS and a few more teams now know their future, or lack thereof, once the playoffs roll around. The Houston Dynamo and New England Revolution joined D.C. United as those eliminated from MLS playoff contention while Real Salt Lake joined the top of the league Los Angeles Galaxy among those headed for postseason play.

Both New England and Houston played a multi-game schedule this week with matches on Wednesday and Saturday. Each team needed to win out this week to keep any realistic chance of making the playoffs, but were unable to do what was needed.

The Revs week began with a road date with impressive FC Dallas followed by a weekend home visit from Eastern Conference leaders Columbus. Both games rang a similar depressing tone as New England let 2-0 second-half leads slip away as they drew both matches 2-2. Wednesday night Jeff Cunningham was the villain as he scored a stoppage time goal for FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park, extending their unbeaten streak to 16 games. FC Dallas head coach and WFD guest Schellas Hyndman has guided Dallas to fifth in the MLS playoff standings on 46 points.

Saturday night against the Crew offered more of the same as Guillermo Barros Schelotto slotted home an 80th minute penalty to deny the Revs the full three points. New England now has just one win in all competitions since August 14th. The Revs will welcome second in the league Real Salt Lake to Gillette Stadium in the upcoming weekend.

Fellow newly eliminated club Houston faced similar heartbreak during their two matches as well. The Dynamo held a 2-0 lead as well as a 3-1 halftime lead in their midweek match against the Kansas City Wizards only to lose 4-3. Former Dynamo striker and WFD guest Kei Kamara scored the opener for KC but it was Josh Wolff who took the headlines. His 97th minute goal capped a tremendous comeback for the ninth place Wizards who trail the Colorado Rapids by five points for the final MLS playoff spot.

Houston then had a comeback of their own Saturday in the Nation's capitol as they defeated the bottom dwelling D.C. Untied 3-1. Supremely talented 17-year-old Honduran striker Andy Najar got United on the score-sheet first with a very well taken and patient 29th minute goal. But Houston would score three in the final 25 minutes of the match to earn their seventh win of the season. The Dynamo face off against the Philadelphia Union next weekend at PPL Park.

San Jose, Seattle and Colorado, the sixth through eighth placed teams in the MLS playoff standings (in that order) all gained valuable road points to help solidify their postseason credentials.

The Earthquakes, through a Chris Wondolowski hat trick, defeated Toronto FC 3-2 at BMO Field. Wondolowski has now scored 12 goals for San Jose this season including their last four. The Earthquakes have lost just once in their last seven matches and lead Seattle for the sixth place position in the MLS playoff standings. Each team is on 39 points but San Jose has a better goal differential. The loss deals Toronto a significant blow to their playoff hopes as they trail the eighth place rapids by seven points. They have two games this week, a midweek home matchup with the fading Chicago Fire followed by a tough road test against the Crew in Columbus at the weekend.

Those Rapids were just stoppage time away from ending Real Salt Lake's 23 game home unbeaten run, but a 93rd minute header from 29-year-old defender Nat Borchers drew Salt Lake level at the death. Borchers' goal leveled the game after Rapids forward Conor Casey headed home his 11th goal of the season and fourth in five games in the 36th minute. The draw dropped Colorado to the eighth and final playoff spot as they look forward to back-to-back home matches in the upcoming week versus Philadelphia and D.C. United.

The now seventh placed Seattle Sounders continued their impressive league form last weekend stealing all three points on the road in Chicago. The suddenly on "fire" (get it?) Blaise Nkufo, with the help of a kind deflection, scored the only goal of the game in the 88th minute for the win. Seattle has earned 24 out of a possible 33 points since their 3-1 July 4th loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy. This stretch of quality play has flipped their season from a sophomore slump into what will likely be a second consecutive playoff appearance. Another win next weekend at home versus the now desperate Toronto FC would go a long way to ensuring postseason football in Seattle.

In other league play last week the Philadelphia Union defeated Chivas USA 3-0 at home for their most convincing victory in franchise history. The win is the third in the Union's last five matches, but unless they continue this play and get some help from other teams their first season will not continue into November. Chivas meanwhile will head into this week's SuperClasico matchup with the Los Angeles Galaxy as the last place team in the Western Conference.

Oh yeah, there was this one game between two teams in fairly large markets with well known players on national television Friday night. In that match the New York Red Bulls dominated the top of the table Galaxy 2-0 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. The lights were bright and the stars were out and New York were the ones who took center stage. Even with football legend and international superstar Thierry Henry sidelined the Red Bulls dictated much of the game and sent many of the 27,000 fans in attendance home unhappy. Not even the return of Golden Balls David Beckham into the Galaxy starting lineup could jumpstart Los Angeles, who despite leading the league table, have looked sluggish down the stretch of the season. In their last eight matches the Galaxy are 3-4-1 and have watched their lead atop the MLS dwindle to just two points over Real Salt Lake.

Just under a month remains in the MLS season and the playoffs continue to draw nearer every day. This weekend offers more interesting matches highlighted by the SuperClasico Sunday night (5PM PT) on ESPN2. Road matches for San Jose and Kansas City will also be big matches for those teams battling for those final postseason spots.



In addition to being a weekly blogger for WFD, I write for the Washington State University student newspaper, The Daily Evergreen, where I have a weekly sports column. I am also the Washington State University men's basketball beat writer for Jim Basnight's college hoops blog on mynorthwest.com. You can find past pieces and follow my work not only for WFD but for The Daily Evergreen and mynorthwest.com by following me on twitter @heathharshman or adding me on facebook. Any feedback is welcome at heath_harshman@yahoo.com.