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MLS Matchday Ten: A Look Ahead

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The surprising Colorado Rapids play host to the Seattle Sounders in one of the marquee match-ups of a very promising slate of MLS matches this weekend.

Rivalries rule the slate as well, with the Dynamo taking on the Earthquakes and the Fire facing favorite whipping boys New York Red Bull.

Here is a rundown of this weekend's matches:

SATURDAY

  • New England Revolution at Toronto FC (4pm, Direct Kick)

  • Real Salt Lake at D.C. United (7:30pm, Direct Kick)

  • Chivas USA at Kansas City Wizards (8:30pm, Fox Soccer Channel)

  • Los Angeles Galaxy at FC Dallas (8:30pm, Direct Kick)

  • San Jose Earthquakes at Houston Dynamo (8:30pm, Direct Kick)

  • Seattle Sounders at Colorado Rapids (9:30pm, Direct Kick)

SUNDAY

  • Chicago Fire at New York Red Bulls (3pm, Telefutura)

So what are the top individual match-ups this weekend? Here is our rundown of the Best XI:

Best XI MLS Match-ups (Week 10)

  • Shalrie Joseph and Jeff Larentowicz vs. Carl Robinson and Amado Guevara

  • Luciano Emilio vs. Jamison Olave

  • Santino Quaranta vs. Chris Wingert

  • Sacha Kljestan vs. Matt Besler

  • Dave Van Den Bergh vs. Sean Franklin

  • Kenny Cooper vs. Gregg Berhalter

  • Pablo Mastroeni vs. Freddie Ljungberg

  • Conor Casey vs. Jhon Kennedy Hurtado

  • Juan Pablo Angel vs. Wilman Conde

  • Bakary Soumare vs. Macoumba Kandji

  • Kevin Goldthwaite vs. Brian McBride

Which matches will you be looking forward to the most? What individual match-ups do you think are this weekend's best?

Share your thoughts on MLS Week 10 in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. Bruce Arena announced his back line,
    Sanneh, Xavier, Lalas

    This line against Monty Python’s Greek Philosophers should be exciting, only if Socrates does not play.

    Reply
  2. I have to agree with Seth: Kamara vs Garcia is a matchup to watch. It has nothing to do with skill (Garcia has never had that) but has everything to do whether Garcia’s gamesmanship can earn him a hat trick of red cards for Kamara, who has earned two in the past two meetings (one of which was a preseason matchup).

    I look forward to the day when defenders like Garcia are out of the MLS(and some would say Eddie Robinson is in that mix) and we have a crop of players who, while still physical, rely on defensive acuity and technique rather than bonecrunching physicality.

    Reply
  3. My friend… the “menage” was my attempt at French. I was trying to give Freddie a hint as to what to do to cure his problems.

    You know what I mean?

    Reply
  4. Sounders are showing they’re an expansion squad. Over the last 5 games they are scoring less than one goal a game, .83 goals. If Sigi can’t turn this around soon, they will make a bee-line to the bottom.

    Reply
  5. another thing…if Franklin can’t play there is no way I want Sanneh anywhere near the field….put Klein back at right back and stick jordan on the wing

    —————–Ricketts—————

    -Klein —-Gonzalez—Berhalter–Dunivant

    Jordan—Kovalenko—Miglioranzi–Lewis

    —–Donovan————Buddle(NOT Gordon)

    Reply
  6. Nathan beat me to it about Franklin. (shakes fist) I’m kinda looking forward to the Chivas-KC matchup to see if the Wizards are truly for real or not. I’m also counting on DC coming thru this weekend for fantasy team reasons. Bring it PartyBoy!!

    Reply
  7. Hey Giorgio,

    Please never write in Italian again.

    It’s “managgia” … not “menage.” Actually, I don’t even know what you were trying to say.

    Reply
  8. Franklin’s out indefinitely with a torn hamstring muscle, so it will be Tony Sanneh getting torched.

    Cooper vs. Gonzalez will be the real match-up to watch in the FCD-LAG game, but if Cooper insists on coming in from the right, then Berhalter will be in his way all night long.

    On the migraine thing… I don’t know if that’s for real this week, but I have to say that if you’ve ever tried to do anything seriously physical with a migraine, you wouldn’t be telling someone else to “suck it up”.

    Reply
  9. Seattle has really only played Evans and Ljungberg at the attacking mid. I guess a few minutes you could count for King. It’ll be interesting to see what they do.

    If Vagenas is healthy he might slide to the DM and push Osvaldo.

    Reply
  10. Migarnes? Migranes?? Migranes????

    I used to play with hangovers that made my heqd split and I still scored more goals than anyone in the history of the North American Soccer League.

    Freddy , my friend, listen to Giorgio. Have a double espresso with a shot, smoke a camel and get back on the field. What are you gonna do..break your sissy bone if you play. Menage!

    Ciao!

    Reply
  11. TheKingOfNorway:

    Actually, Seattle has excellent depth. I don’t know where you’re getting this “lack of depth” garbage.

    Reply
  12. Kenny Cooper likes to live on the left and cut in… that means he’ll be going against Omar Gonzalez, which is great news for FC Dallas.

    Reply
  13. Did you say migraines- the guy has missed two straight weeks because of migraines. Jesus, take some advil and suck it up.

    Reply
  14. Matchup to watch, Kamara v Garcia. They have gotten in a fight everytime since Kamara left San Jose. Somebody’s going to get hurt good.

    Reply
  15. I hope FCDallas gets 3 red cards, limps into Toyota Park the following Sunday and hands the Brimstone Cup over to Section 8.

    Go Fire!

    Reply
  16. Ives, since Segares is “hurt” and Richards is just hurting (ie: neither will start), I suspect what will actually happen is a pre-game cage match: 2 players enter, one leaves. Although probably the ultimate MLS cage match of all-time would feature Rusty Pierce vs. Atiba Harris–but I digress.

    I think the Seattle-Colorado matchup is fascinating. I’ve so used to Colorado winning 2 and then tanking the rest of the month, I find it hard to convince myself that maybe Conor Casey is a real player, Gary Smith a real coach and their team is for real. And Seattle started so fast and was so impressive (and boasts 8 all-stars–they must be unbeaten and unscored upon this year!!!). Yet with the flank attack ability of Colorado, the overall team performance and CC’s ability–this will be a real test of whether Hurtado is just really good or he’s the best center back in MLS.

    Reply
  17. Ives — I can help you there. Pontius will be DCU’s keeper this weekend. It’s one of the few positions Pontius hasn’t yet played, and there’s no question that we can use the help in goal.

    Reply
  18. Matt, for some reason I’d say that one out of every three times I reference Larentowicz I write Tim instead of Jeff. I wish I knew why.

    BKFiv, considering Segares is hurt and Richards is benched, I don’t think we’ll be seeing that match-up on Sunday.

    And Kenobi, Pontius would have made the list if I knew where Tom Soehn was going to use him vs. RSL.

    Reply
  19. It’s gotta be the LA-DAL game. Will LA get the tie they’re looking for? or will Dallas get their way and lose again?

    Reply

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