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According to multiple MLS sources, the Colorado Rapids are set to name Gary Smith as the team's new head coach in a press conference later today. The hiring doesn't come as much of a surprise, but it begs the question of whether the Rapids are making their second poor coaching hire in a row.

Real Salt Lake is set to take on arch-rival Colorado tonight in a match that will see the winner clinch a playoff berth and the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, as well as the first-round playoff meeting with Chivas USA that comes with it.

Real Salt Lake has never made the playoffs while the Rapids missed the post-season last year.

Two teams, one game, one playoff spot.

That is the easiest way to describe tonight's crucial showdown between Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Real Salt Lake needs a win or draw to secure third place in the Western Conference while the Rapids must win the match in order to secure the same spot.

Two teams, one game, one playoff spot.

That is the easiest way to describe Saturday's crucial showdown between Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Real Salt Lake needs a win or draw to secure third place in the Western Conference while the Rapids must win the match in order to secure the same spot.

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Just plain ugly.

There's no other way to describe the performance by the Red Bulls on Saturday night. The offense finally woke up, scoring four goals and provided some glimpses of the quality that has long been expected of it, but on this same night the normally-reliable defense played the worst 45 minutes a defense has ever played in club history.

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One team is in desperate need of some offensive help while the other team might just be raising the white flag.

That's one way to look at the Colorado Rapids trading of forward Herculez Gomez to Kansas City for allocation money and draft picks (4th rounder and 1st round supplemental in '09).

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Fernando Clavijo has resigned as Colorado Rapids head coach in a move that seemed destined to happen even before the 2008 season began.

"A lot of things happened through the year that I was not happy with in many ways," Clavijo told the Denver Post.

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Eddie Lewis and Cory Gibbs are set to come back to the Major League Soccer.

SBI has learned that the Los Angeles Galaxy are set to acquire the rights to Lewis after passing on Gibbs with the top spot in the MLS Allocation order.

Good afternoon to the folks on the West side of the country (and the MLS standings). Here are some news items and notes for you to peruse as your day winds to a close:

FC Dallas signs Sikora

FC Dallas said goodbye to Colombian midfielder Juan Toja over the weekend, but have already replaced him.

Lost in the shadow of Matt Reis' MVP-like season, as well as Jon Busch's comeback player of the year-like season, has been the extremely solid season being put in by Columbus goalkeeper Wil Hesmer, who has done his part to make Crew fans stop counting the days until Brad Friedel returns.

(Apologies for this post getting up several days late. It was supposed to run in mid-week but a technical glitch caused it not to be posted.)

What happens when a team that can't win two in a row faces a team that can't win?

You get a tie.

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With the number of West Coast readers growing by the month, SBI will make it a point to start providing more coverage of all things on the West side of the USA map. With that in mind, here is the first installment of the West Coast Roundup, with SBI correspondent Odeen Domingo filling us in on the happenings over on the left coast, providing his own spin on the stories people in the Pacific and Mountain time zone want to read about.

When the New York Red Bulls arrived in California last week, they had to be thinking that a good week just might be in store for them. They were facing a Chivas USA team that beaten recently, they were going to face a USL-2 team in the U.S. Open Cup, and then they were going to play a struggling Colorado Rapids team on the 4th of July.

The New York Red Bulls look set to receive a big boost to their faltering offense. All-Star forward Juan Pablo Angel is traveling with the team to Colorado for tomorrow's game against the Colorado Rapids and is expected to play.

Angel has been sidelined for almost a month and hasn't played since scoring the game-winning goal for the Red Bulls against Chivas USA on June 5.

With the 2008 MLS season at its midway point it is a good time to consider the signings MLS teams made last pre-season and how they have done so far. Before we get to that this weekend, I wanted to point to one signing that may be the bust of the year, but a bust you haven't heard much about.

That Columbus Crew team that tore up MLS the first month of the season just might be back. Okay, so it was just one win against a shaky Colorado squad, but seeing Robbie Rogers work his magic and Emmanuel Ekpo run rampant sure made the Crew look pretty dangerous.

Unfortunately for Rapids fans, the under-achiving and points-dropping squad they have grown accustomed to in Colorado also appears to be back.

Just call BMO Field The Fortress because visiting teams just can't win there. Seven times opponents have gone to BMO Field hoping to knock off Toronto FC and seven times they have failed.

Colorado became the latest to fall short, dropping a 3-1 decision to a short-handed Toronto squad that was missing several starters but still didn't miss a beat.

Toronto FC return to BMO Field tonight to play host to the up-and-down Colorado Rapids in a match-up of inconsistent teams.

Can Toronto continue their strong home form? Can the Rapids find another way to avoid a two-game losing streak and move back up the Western Conference standings?

Talk about two teams who can look great one week and terrible the next.

The Los Angeles Galaxy looked like a pub team in losing to Toronto a week ago, but took the field at Home Depot and rattled off three unanswered goals against a Rapids team that had looked so impressive a week earlier.

Imagine being a D.C. United fan watching highlights of the Colorado Rapids these days. Christian Gomez has played like an MVP candidate while Facundo Erpen has provided a steady force in the back for the Rapids. Gomez's replacement in D.C., Marcelo Gallardo, isn't doing quite as well and we all know about D.

Just when you thought Chivas USA was looking like it might go from first to worst in the Western Conference in just one year, the Goats have awakened and rattled off two straight wins. Just when you thought the Colorado Rapids were going to establish themselves as the best in the West, they go and deliver a flat performance at home.

When Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids rekindled their heated rivalry last week, you had two teams coming in with very different moods. Real Salt Lake was fresh off a victory while the Rapids were smarting after a tough loss to Houston. It seemed like a good opportunity for Real Salt Lake to send Colorado tumbling down the West standings while moving themselves up.

It sure looked like the Dynamo would have to wait another week for that first win, another week to cease the talk about a champion falling apart. It looked like Houston was destined for another non-win when Ugo Ihemelu was whistled for a controversial handball that gave the Dynamo a penalty kick and Dwayne DeRosario the chance to play her again.

When the MLS schedule was released you just know Christian Gomez circled the first meeting against D.C. United. After being dealt away by D.C., the former MLS MVP had every reason to want to show that his former club made a mistake in letting him go.

Gomez certainly left D.

After weeks of hearing how the Chicago Fire was in desperate need of a legit right winger, John Thorrington stepped up and made a good case for being that very player. His two goals lifted the Fire to a 2-1 victory against Colorado and kept the Fire near the top of the East standings.

After weeks of hearing how the Chicago Fire was in desperate need of a legit right winger, John Thorrington stepped up and made a good case for being that very player. His two goals lifted the Fire to a 2-1 victory against Colorado and kept the Fire near the top of the East standings.

There is little debate about the most shocking scoreline of the past weekend. The San Jose Earthquakes traveled to Dick's Sporting Goods Park and handed the Colorado Rapids a 2-0 defeat for the expansion team's first win.

Maybe we should have seen it coming? After all, the Earthquakes pushed the Chicago Fire to the brink while the Colorado Rapids were extremely fortunate to escape Gillette Stadium with a win a week earlier.

The Colorado Rapids mustered just two shots on goal against the New England Revolution but still found a way to beat perennial MLS Cup participant New England on its home turf. The 1-0 win has the Rapids thinking much better thoughts about the 2008 season than most of us would have expected.

It's just three games into the season, but these Rapids are playing with a swagger that hasn't been seen in Colorado in a decade.

Two of the more explosive offenses early in the season square off at Gillette Stadium tonight as the Revs look to build in its 3-1 win against previously unbeaten Kansas City. The Rapids are coming off a 3-2 loss to the Wizards last weekend but will look to test the Revs defense.

The marquee match-up will be in central midfield, where Colorado's Christian Gomez and New England's Shalrie Joseph rekindle a long-running battle.

The battle of the MLS unbeatens will take place today in Kansas City, Kansas. Okay, so maybe that's a little bit of hyperbole, but there is no mistaking that both the Kansas City Wizards and Colorado Rapids enjoyed dream starts to their seasons last week.

Both teams scored shutout victories at home and now the Wizards play host to the Rapids with a chance to jump out in front of the pack in the Eastern Conference.

The Colorado Rapids have their playmaker. The question just how much did the Rapids spend to get him?

After agreeing to a trade with D.C. United for his rights, the Rapids signed Argentine midfielder Christian Gomez. The Rapids traded a first-round pick and, according to the Washington Post's Steve Goff, their designated player slot for two years as well.

Eddie Johnson's pending transfer move to English club Fulham is "99 percent done" a source told SBI on Tuesday. The details of the transfer fee were not made available but Johnson is expected to join fellow Americans Clint Dempsey, Carlos Bocanegra, Brian McBride and Kasey Keller on the struggling English club as early as this weekend.

Colorado goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul will be Major League Soccer's lone representative at the African Cup of Nations, which begins later this month in Ghana.

Coundoul was officially named to Senegal's 23-man roster on Tuesday. This isn't news to SBI readers, who were informed of Coundoul's selection back in November.