It looks like USMNT prodigy Omar Salgado may finally be getting the break through he’s been waiting for in Vancouver.

Reports say that the forward-cum-winger will start a second straight match for coach Martin Rennie this weekend, after a successful run-out on the left flank last week versus KC.

This is a good sign for Salgado, whose travels have taken him far and wide in search of a place he’ll fit in, is that it looks it he may be doing just that under Rennie.

Salgado has been heralded as a top prospect since abandoning Chivas and Mexico to come to the U.S. U-20 team a couple years ago a lanky 17-year-old.

Since then, he’s probably underachieved and been a little overhyped given his production. In the meantime, he’s whined quite a bit about PT in Vancouver, and been called out by his teammates. (more…)

1- Sporting Kansas City – Sporting Kansas City doesn’t drop just because they were given their first loss of the season on the weekend. If anything, SKC proved that while it’s possible to defend them, you still have to hope the defense beats itself.
2- San Jose Earthquakes – As Western Conference leaders, the Earthquakes continue to answer any questions about their legitimacy as a contender in the affirmative. They continue to defend well and are potent enough from both set pieces and open play to get goals.
3- Real Salt Lake – Rough loss this weekend, but losing in the last few minutes with only nine men left on the pitch isn’t enough to knock RSL out of the top three. A third-straight loss, however, most certainly would send them tumbling.
4- DC United – The boys in black get a big bump after a big victory against New York Red Bulls. Coach Ben Olsen has United firing on all cylinders with a mix of old – Chris Pontius, Dwayne De Rosario – and new – Nick DeLeon, Danny Cruz.
5- Vancouver Whitecaps – Vancouver’s defense continues to look really solid. As Sporting KC has shown, if you can’t
6-Seattle Sounders – The Sounders had the week off, but with their impending schedule could run off some wins and prove they belong in with the big boys.
7- New York Red Bulls – A pathetic performance at a rainy RFK knocks the Red Bulls down a few slots. This team has shown some Jekyll and Hyde characteristics. Right now it’s the Hyde side that’s showing and who knows if Red Bull is the potion needed.
8- Portland Timbers – A victory over the number one team is enough to vault the Timbers into our rankings. It wasn’t the prettiest way to get a result, but if this is the one that rights the ship, we’ll see them climb.
9-LA Galaxy – Perhaps they’re just a bit tardy for the run we all figured they’d start making, but it’s still early in the season. Many forgot all about the Galaxy as quickly as they had anointed them 2012 champs. The truth, as of right now, lies in between.
10- FC Dallas – Dallas can’t get a break. As soon as one player gets back from rehabbing an injury, another key component goes down.

 A few weeks back, JP Ocegueda had a choice to make. Mexico and the U.S. came calling at the same time for U-20 camps, and it was time to decide.

Ocegueda chose to stick with the U.S., and he’ll be a key part of Tab Ramos’ team this cycle. Right after the decision, we caught up with him for a little 10Kit Q&A:

10Kit: How are things at Tigres?

JP: Everything with Tigres is good, I feel comfortable with the team and just waiting for the opportunity with the first team to come. We had the Copa Libertadores, (more…)

Just the rankings this week. Just because.

1- Sporting Kansas City
2- Real Salt Lake
3- San Jose Earthquakes
4- New York Red Bulls
5- Seattle Sounders
6-Vancouver Whitecaps
7- DC United
8- Colorado Rapids
9-FC Dallas
10- Chivas USA

It seems the past few weeks our Saturday Superlatives feature has focused on the unpredictable nature of MLS and how topsy-turvy everything was. In contrast, this week solidified much of what we already believed. This is including, but not limited to, our belief that Sporting Kansas City is the league’s best team, that New York can score goals, that San Jose is apparently legitimately going to be a contender, the Los Angeles Galaxy aren’t as horrible a team as they’ve portrayed themselves to be and Toronto FC are, indeed, as bad as they’ve seemed.

Keeping all those things in mind, here is all the best from a day that didn’t really surprise us…too much: (more…)

While some aspects of the 2012 MLS season are starting to come in to focus, others remain obscure. There seem to be two teams that are way ahead of the pack, two more closing in on those frontrunners and then a bunch of question marks. And then there’s the Los Angeles Galaxy, perhaps the biggest enigma of all.

But this feature discusses the top 10 teams, and we’ve done what we can to carefully select that group. The gap between some numbers (from 4 to 5) is much larger than it is for others (from 9 to 10).

Interesting times, to be sure. On to the rankings:

(more…)

With seven games today, thanks in part to no MLS matches on Easter (and we again applaud MLS for not going up against ridiculously big national sporting events…this makes most of the Final Four and the final day of the Masters they’ve avoided) MLS teams were determined to put the ‘super’ back in ‘superlatives.’ Not really, they were probably just trying to perform well and win games, as the vast majority of players are probably completely unaware of this blog much less this relatively new weekly feature, but there were still some super moments. So here are our picks for April 7: (more…)

The weekend’s marquee MLS matchup, Los Angeles Galaxy’s visit to Sporting Kansas City, is getting all the hype of this week’s build up, but there’s another fixture that, like the teams featured, is flying under the radar.

The San Jose Earthquakes are tied for second place in the West with the Vancouver Whitecaps just behind in fourth. They’ll meet at Buck Shaw Stadium at 4 p.m. Pacific.

The Quakes and Caps are two of the league’s surprise teams at the dawn of the 2012 campaign, with both showing marked improvement from poor campaigns last year. There’s plenty of skepticism about how much of a threat both teams really will be in 2012, though, since much of their early success has come against some of MLS’ lower-tier clubs. The match on Saturday could give fans an indication of which, if either, of these teams are for real or if they’re set to fall to the bottom of the table as the season draws on. (more…)