we are going down

Fulham once again showed why they hate America this weekend, with a thrilling late goal followed by the concession of a thrilling late goal - a 2-2 tie with Derby that doesn't them barely any good. Each week I hold on to a slim bit of hope that they'll not be relegated, but it's time to LET IT GO.

With that in mind I've paid close attention to this weeks opening MLS action.

RSL looked positive in their match against the Chicago Fire, with stretches of strong possession and quite a bit of spark from forwards who's names I've yet to learn. A late goal seemed to sure up the win but then Blanco got a little too much space and equalized even later. That's the kind of crap result I expect out of my teams. 1-1.

Afterwards over in Denver, my young teenage hero Ruud Gullit learned that his team is complete shit when the Rapids spanked a lackluster LA Galaxy. The most striking thing about this match is how easily LA's defenders quit on plays. Perhaps it's because I'm used to the premiership, but I always thought that when you got burnt on a play you'd work your ass off to get back into the play. Not so if your name is Chris Klein of Abel Xavier, I guess. I would have mentioned the other defenders but they probably don't belong in MLS. Late in the match Beckham ended playing what positionally looked like defensive mid, except Beckham doesn't really play defense. He does dive in pretty well, which is good for those ankles he likes to injure. Hits a pretty nice long ball, though.

I didn't watch too much of Houston/New England, because by the time I turned the channel there it was already 2-0. What struck me upon first viewing of this game is that the quality of both squads seemed to be pretty evident - I suppose those early season tournament matches are good for from. New England looked especially tough - Chicago is probably lucky they got the late point in Salt Lake because I think NE will probably beat them Thursday.

Caught the end of the Columbus/Toronto match, but I didn't really pay any attention. And I missed KC/DC completely. I'll need to pay more attention to scheduling.

Anyway, I'm going to stick with rooting for RSL this year... and probably until St. Louis gets a team. Seems to make the most sense to me.