The New England Revolution scoring woes continued on April 13th as their match against the Seattle Sounders ended in a scoreless draw. The Revs mustered five shots during the game with none being on target. While the attack has now gone 388 minutes without finding the back of the net, the defense has maintained good form by collecting three shutouts this year. New England’s ability to keep the Sounders off the score sheet can be attributed to the solid play of goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth and center back Jose Goncalves.

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The New York Red Bulls (1-3-2) travel for the fifth time in their first seven matches to face rival DC United (1-3-1) down in RFK in a battle of struggling teams. The Red Bulls sit seventh in the Eastern conference while rival DC United sit ninth, with both teams coming off crushing defeats from last week. DC lost 1-0 on a late goal in Sporting KC while the Red Bulls had another second half melt down, losing 3-1 against the then winless Chicago Fire.

DC United will look to rediscover there form at RFK Stadium on Saturday (7pm) against the also struggling, New York Red Bulls.  Both the New York and DC clubs have been quite streaky to date, and both have certainly underperformed.  DC currently sit ninth in the Eastern Conference (1-3-1) on 4 points, while New York sits in 7th place place (1-3-2) with a game in hand.   

On Saturday the Union traveled to Columbus, OH with hopes of a victory against the Crew. The game resulted in a 1-1 draw but being that the Union have never won at Columbus Crew Stadium, this was a small achievement for the team. The Union now aim attention to winning in their upcoming match against Toronto FC today at 4:00pm.

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The New England Revolution (1-2-1) returns to league play on Saturday, April 13th when they travel to CenturyLink Field to play the Seattle Sounders (0-3-1). Both teams will be desperate for a win since they both sit at the bottom of their respective conferences. If the Revs hope to get the better of the exchange, they will need to focus on organization in the attack.

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Goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth was not shy about sharing his feelings in regards to having a second bye week just six weeks into the season. The fifth year player commented, “Coming off a loss at home, I would think the guys are definitely going to be itching to get right back on the field and try to get more points (instead of having a bye week).” While the bye week might not have come at an opportune time, the New England Revolution stayed busy both on and off the field.

The New York Red Bulls (1-2-2) travel to the Windy City to take on the winless Chicago Fire (0-3-1). Toyota Park is one of two cursed venues for the Red Bulls who have never won in that stadium. New York’s last win in Chicago against the Fire came way back in May 2005 when the team was still the Metrostars. It has been an 11 game winless streak (with no wins in Toyota Park) for the team but it is the first trip for the likes of Tim Cahill, Juninho, and Peguy Luyindula.

A bye week can be frustrating when your team is on a winning streak or starting to heat up. When your team is floundering, a bye week is relief; it’s a way to re-group and re-focus. A cynic would say that the Chicago Fire even messed up their bye week. Winger Patrick Nyarko picked up a hamstring injury in a friendly lost 1-0 against the NASL’s Minnesota United. It would seem unwise to play Nyarko this weekend against the New York Red Bulls given the beating he has been taking thus far this season. MLS even featured an article about Nyarko already being excessively fouled. Nyarko joins several players who are listed as questionable (i.e. very unlikely to play) for Sunday’s match: Dilly Duka, Alex, Michael Videira, and Steven Kinney. These losses are mitigated by the returns from injury of captain Logan Pause and Arne Friedrich and from international duty keeper Sean Johnson and midfielder Joel Lindpere. Pause may find himself starting at rightback, though Friedrich might only be a bench option as he’s still not match fit. However, these glimmers only deepen the darkness.

In the past two weeks the Whitecaps have suffered two straight disappointing road losses.  This including 2-1 defeats to both the Houston Dynamo in week three and Chivas USA in week four.  The Whitecaps are yet to win a game on the road so far this season but they have the chance to repair the damages this weekend.  

Things have been a little crazy around here, so I feel like we’ve got some catching up to do. I want to do a quick recap of the first five games with my thoughts on some of the highs and lows before I get into what’s next and where we go from here.