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Four teams saw their MLS playoff dreams buried last weekend, leaving four groups of fans disgusted and four clubs searching for answers heading into the off-season.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Good afternoon folks. With another week in the rearview mirror, and another weekend upon us where we can relax and enjoy some soccer, here is a look back at some stories I missed during the week, some hot topics I wanted to touch on and some recommended reading:

The San Jose-Houston Dynamo match set for this weekend has been postponed as Houston recovers from Hurricane Ike.

D.C. United is in California tonight to try and stop the hottest team in MLS, the San Jose Earthquakes.

With the Red Bulls loss tonight, D.C. can move three points ahead for fourth place in the East while the Earthquakes are looking to stay in the hunt for a playoff spot in the West.

If you will be watching tonight's match, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

You wouldn't know that New England has spent most of the season as the class of the league and San Jose has spent most of the year as the worst team in the league based on their meeting on Saturday. The revamped Earthquakes thrashed a short-handed Revs side 4-0 to serve notice that their drive for a playoff spot isn't an exercise in futility.

It was easiest the biggest win in the history of the NEW San Jose Earthquakes.

When Ryan Cochrane scored the last-minute winner to give San Jose a 3-2 triumph against hated rivals Los Angeles Galaxy, the team celebrated like it was releasing weeks and months of frustration, which is what it did.

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.

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D.C. United made its first major move of the summer this morning by acquiring Honduran midfielder/defender Ivan Guerrero from the San Jose for a partial allocation, the club announced on its team blog this morning.

What does a match between two last place teams look like? It looks like what we saw on Sunday in San Jose. The Earthquakes dominated play but couldn't finish while the Red Bulls looked absolutely awful in a 4-5-1 that set attacking soccer back about 10 years.

The performance would have been consider promising for San Jose if not for the huge mountain still to climb in the West standings.

The San Jose Earthquakes had to figure another loss was coming when Amado Guevara stepped up to take a penalty kick on Saturday. The Toronto FC midfielder is known for being as close to a lock at converting penalties as anyone in MLS so his kick seemed like a foregone conclusion. At least before Joe Cannon saved his attempt on Saturday.

(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.

It took a lot longer than some might have expected, but Chivas USA has made the rugged climb from near the West basement to first place in the conference. Sure, the gap between first place and sixth place is only three points, but for the Goats, the climb was a victory of sorts.

Moral victories is all the Earthquakes seem to have these days, and even those are hard to come by.

No offense to the San Jose Earthquakes but when you are outplayed at home by San Jose, your team is in serious trouble.

The Fire squandered another match at Toyota Park, another chance at precious points in the stacked Eastern Conference, but instead of take the three points from the expansion strugglers, Chicago finished a terrible June with another poor effort.

For as long as they have been in MLS, there has never been a D in Real Salt Lake. Not literally or figuratively. Things seem to be changing.

RSL has posted three straight shutouts and has allowed just one goal in four matches, the kind of stingy defending we're not used to seeing from the boys from Utah.

The Los Angeles Galaxy's transformation from butt of all MLS jokes to leaders of the Western Conference has been nothing short of impressive while Edson Buddle's progress from wayward MLS striker to hat-trick machine is almost as jaw-dropping.

The Galaxy thrashed the San Jose Earthquakes, 3-0, with Buddle netting all three goals.

There are homecomings, and there are homecomings.

James Riley only spent three seasons in New England, but his homecoming last Saturday was a special one. No, it wasn't special for him, but for the Revolution, which saw Riley deliver the own-goal of the season to help San Jose continue its recent slide.

There are homecomings, and there are homecomings.

James Riley only spent three seasons in New England, but his homecoming last Saturday was a special one. No, it wasn't special for him, but for the Revolution, which saw Riley deliver the own-goal of the season to help San Jose continue its recent slide.

Fans in San Jose must have thought they were dreaming when their Earthquakes not only scored a goal, but scored to take a lead against the hottest team in Major League Soccer, the Columbus Crew. The lead was enjoyable, though short-lived, as the Crew showed why they are the best team in the league through seven weeks.

San Jose unveiled its new home on Saturday, but Buck Shaw Stadium did little to jumpstart an Earthquakes offense that has been sputtering for most of the season.

FC Dallas played the role of defensive spoiler, but it was tough to celebrated a road point too much considering the Hoops' own attacking woes.

Is a win still a win if nobody is there to see it? The answer is yes.

Okay, so saying there was nobody at Giants Stadium on Sunday is a bit much, but the small crowd in attendance to see the Red Bulls' 2-0 win against San Jose was still a bit disconcerting. There were die-hard fans in the crowd who did get to see John Wolyniec and Jozy Altidore combine for a pair of crucial plays, but plenty of fans stayed home either because of the weather or Sunday responsibilities.

Photo by ISI Photos

Jozy Altidore could have let frustration overtake him, and it almost did. Battered and bruised throughout the first half of the Red Bulls match against San Jose, Altidore struggled to make an impact despite the Red Bulls controlling play in the first half.

Photo by ISI Photos

Jozy Altidore could have let frustration overtake him, and it almost did. Battered and bruised throughout the first half of the Red Bulls match against San Jose, Altidore struggled to make an impact despite the Red Bulls controlling play in the first half.

Good afternoon everybody. It's an overcast day in New Jersey as we prepare for the final MLS match of the weekend, with the Red Bulls playing host to the San Jose Earthquakes.

San Jose is coming off its first win of the season while the Red Bulls are coming off a disappointing 1-1 tie vs.

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.

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The San Jose Earthquakes are trying to secure the services of Brondby forward and former Colorado and Red Bulls forward Jean Philippe Peguero.

A source close to Peguero said talks are under way between San Jose and Peguero, but that no deal had been completed as of Tuesday afternoon.

The rebirth finally happened for San Jose Earthquake fans last weekend as two years of frustration and absence were erased by the sights of players taking the field at McCafee Coliseum in Earthquakes uniforms.

No, the team didn't win, or even score a goal, but after two years of missing their team, San Jose fans at least had a squad to call their own.

The Earthquakes are coming home.

After two years of non-existence, the San Jose Earthquakes are ready to take the field for a home match for the first time since the 2005 season. Fans will converge at MaCafee Coliseum in Oakland to watch the reborn Earthquakes take on Cuauhtemoc Blanco and the Chicago Fire.

More than two years after disappearing in a cloud of Texas dust, the San Jose Earthquakes are back and ready to take the field tonight. San Jose makes its MLS return at Home Depot Center against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Normally you would expect an expansion team to be a heavy underdog in a first match, but not after the Galaxy looked like a glorified pub team in its 4-0 season-opening loss to the Colorado Rapids.

Good morning folks. While many of you will immerse yourselves in college basketball action today, this Thursday is actually a pretty busy day in the soccer world even though there aren't exactly a ton of games being played.

Today we found out if David Beckham will be called in to the England national team for its friendly against France next week and tonight is the decisive Olympic Qualifying match between the United States and Canada.

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Good morning folks. Apologies for the slow morning (aside from the Vanney trade). I had to crank out a training camp piece for ESPN.com.

There are plenty of news nuggets in MLS today (and from earlier in the week).

Photo by ISI Photos

Good morning folks. Apologies for the slow morning (aside from the Vanney trade). I had to crank out a training camp piece for ESPN.com.

There are plenty of news nuggets in MLS today (and from earlier in the week).

Photo by ISI Photos

Good morning folks. If you are on the East Coast then you are probably still thawing out from the commute to work. Here are some stories to help warm you up and get your day going.

First, here is my column in today's Herald News on Jozy Altidore.

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The Chicago Fire traded for the rights to forward Andy Herron just a week ago but the Costa Rican forward could be set for another move within MLS.

According to sources with knowledge of the trade talks, Chicago is in discussions with San Jose about trading Herron's rights to the Earthquakes in a deal that could be completed as early as this week.

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.

Good morning all. I'm writing you from North Fort Myers, Florida, where I'm taking advantage of the MLS Combine off day to pay my mother a visit.

Today is also a day to reflect on the action in Ft. Lauderdale, where all the league's coaches and personnel people have spent two days watching the draft-eligible talent.

Former FC Dallas defender Clarence Goodson won't be anchoring the San Jose Earthquakes defense as the Quakes had hoped when they selected him in the expansion draft. Goodson, who is out of contract, will instead make a run at securing a contract in Europe.

San Jose revealed this pretty significant information at the bottom of the same press release that announced the trade to acquire goalkeeper Joe Cannon.