Wizards, Revs Advance

In two uninspiring displays of soccer the New England Revolution and Kansas City Wizards both advanced to the conference finals. New England will host the Chicago Fire Thursday Night on ESPN2, while Houston will host Kansas City Saturday on FSC. Both games will be winner take all with a 120 minutes plus PKs to decide the MLS Cup participants if necessary

Chivas Win West; KC Clinches

Nill-Nill draws aren't always as lifeless and dull as the scoreline indicates. That was again the case last night as the passion of the match overwhelmed both sides in Chivas nill nill draw with Houston. The winner take all match for the Western crown led to some heated exchanges between players, a red card for Lawson Vaughn, hard tackling, players in the refs faces and finally at the end a near shoving match between the two Head Coaches. But Chivas got the draw they needed and they will be seeded #1 in the Western Conference playoffs.

Elsewhere Kansas City clinched a playoff spot with a 2-0 win over struggling FC Dallas. Colorado was eliminated by Robbie Findley's late strike which gave Real Salt Lake the satisfaction of having ended their rivals season. Look for Salt Lake next season to make a real push towards the upper reaches of MLS.

Today the winner take all match between the LA Galaxy and Chicago Fire will be seen on Telefutura at 3pm ET.

Eddie Johnson: Transfer Target (Again)

In spite of almost constant criticism of his performance on the international level, Eddie Johnson seems to once again be attracting lots of interest from clubs in Europe. This has been an annual battle that Kansas City has faced since Johnson was traded from FC Dallas in 2005. That year a $6 million offer from Benfica was rejected and last season an offer from Real Sociedad was also rejected. Now it is recently promoted Derby County of the EPL who have offerred roughly $6 million for Johnson.

Kansas City and Major League Soccer cannot continue to stand in Johnson's way. A sale to any European club would probably help Johnson develop the aggressiveness that is lacking in his game at the international level. In addition, now that David Beckham has arrived in the US, players such as Johnson, and Freddy Adu which had previously been guarded at all costs by MLS for marketing purposes may have less value now to MLS. Let's hope so for the sake of the US National Team.

ON FIRE!

Eddie Johnson is in rare form for Kansas City. Today he netted his seventh, eight and ninth goals of the season as the Wizards moved into the top overall spot in Major League Soccer with a 3-2 win over Red Bull New York. EJ will try and keep his streak going for the US National Team this week in the Gold Cup matches.

The Real Deal?

MLSNET.com has an outstanding story on the impact new signing Carlos Marinelli has made on Kansas City already this season. While Marinelli is not a "Beckham Rule" player he has arguably played at better clubs abroad than four of the five "Beckham Rule" players, the notable exception being David Beckham himself. Moreover, at 25 Marinelli still has his best years ahead of him. (Unlike the Beckham Rule signings who are all above the age of 31) While his stints Middlesbrough, Torino (then in Serie A) and SC Braga were troubled the fact that he was shuffled among big clubs in Europe instead of lower tier clubs like most internationals who make their way to MLS speaks volumes as to his talent and potential. Besides Marinelli has taken part in UEFA Cup football at both Boro and Braga. Part of the problem was that at Boro, Marinelli was dubbed as a savior for the club, being called by some the next Juninho. Marinelli only netted five goals in four EPL seasons but did show flashes of brilliance which kept him in the squad for a substantial amount of time. Now already he showing his ability to hold the ball and control the flow of play for the Wizards, who now have the talent to potentially make a deep MLS Cup run.

Carlos Marinelli signed by Kansas City

It's always nice when Major League Soccer signs a foreign player whose name I recognize. Argentine Carlos Marinelli is a pure #10, whose four years at Middlesbrough were troubled, and Marinelli only started 43 games for the Boro despite being annoited as the clubs next great player. Since leaving the Riverside in 2004, Marinelli has floated around some other well known international clubs: Torino of Serie A, Braga and Boca Juniors. He has however failed to stick anywhere. Nonetheless a player of his quality normally does not consider MLS, so this is as good a non Beckham rule signing that MLS can make. Also, Marinelli is still only 25, so he could be an impact player for the Wizards for many years.