Avoiding the Drop

After two weeks of people coming close to getting a 100% correct score, this week we finally did it. Finding just the right balance of draws to wins is not easy in the MLS; between the salary cap, the small rosters, the lack of an international break, and the basically level talent pool, it’s increasingly difficult to get just one game, let alone all six, correct. And yet this week, someone struck that balance when they managed to remove the layer of dirt and smog over their crystal ball to portend the correct results of every single contest held.

So congratulations to…um…me!

Yeah, I don’t know how that happened either. I kind of figured jjf3 or TwoYellows would eventually do this, since they’ve got fantastic results week-in, week-out. This result for me coincides with another rare moment in MLS history: I actually watched the LA Galaxy-Chivas USA game, which is only the fifth game I’ve watched all season.

Your weekly results:

Magnakai Haaskivi: 6
Bluesfan: 3
Two Yellows: 2
Adam: 2
thefuseproject: 2
James Brown: 2
jjf3: 2
jhawk90: 1
Kevin: 1

And the cumulative totals:

Two Yellows: 55
jjf3: 49
Adam: 47
Magnakai Haaskivi: 46
jhawk90: 42
Bluesfan: 42
thefuseproject: 41
Andrew Buchholz: 38
Kevin: 32
James Brown: 11
geovanny: 4
Sculptor: 3

The upcoming schedule for MLS is actually pretty interesting. First of all, those of you who have FSC will “get” to see the return of David Beckham to the MLS on Thursday when the LA Galaxy takes on the woefully awful New York Red Bulls. Bruce Arena has already said that Beckham is going to start if he’s fit; whether or not he’ll be deemed fit is another issue.

ESPN will also be getting into the act this weekend. On Saturday, a soccer doubleheader (!) will start at 1:00 PM EST, when Toronto hosts Houston on ESPN2. The second half of the doubleheader sees Chelsea (yes, that Chelsea) facing off against the Seattle Sounders in a friendly; that game will be televised at 3:00 PM EST on ESPN2. Then on Sunday, AC Milan will play the LA Galaxy at 10:00 PM EST; that game that should see Beckham playing against his former/future club (incidentally, if you want to see this live and in person you’ll need to shell out around $480 for the cheapest seats). All told, that’s three MLS events this weekend, plus the big Beckham homecoming Thursday. Not too shabby.

For pick’em, however, we don’t care about friendlies. The upcoming game slate that matters is as follows:

Los Angeles at New York
Houston at Toronto FC
Colorado at D.C. United
Real Salt Lake at Columbus
San Jose at Chicago
Chivas USA at New England

This starts on Thursday, so start thinking about your picks now. See you back here in a couple of days!