If the Cup were to be played today,

it would be between New England and San Jose. My pick would be New England. (Take my opinion for what it's worth; my pick earlier in the season was Dallas, and I'm a die-hard, long-time fan of the much under-achieving Crew.)

Standings

1. New England
2. San Jose
3. Chicago
3. KC
4. DC
5. Dallas
6. LA
7. Metrostars
8. Colorado
9. Columbus
10. Salt Lake
11. Chivas USA

News and Views

If you're a soccer fan who happens to have some extra money on hand and a desire to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, you can bid on jerseys worn by your favorite players on the US national team, the Mexican national team, and MLS teams. All proceeds are going to the Katrina relief efforts.

U.S. win over Mexico a big hit

Crew creeping back into playoff race What else needs said? Go Crew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FC Dallas’ free-fall continues Columbus is climbing (slowly but surely); Dallas is falling. Who'd have thought it would happen? I love parity in MLS!

Home debuts not what Chivas expected Personally, I have been pretty surprised at Chivas USA's performance this year. 3 wins out of a total of 26 games played? Yikes!

Metros disappointed with lack of points

Rapids' season revving up

Wizards rookie Sealy named MLS Player of the Month

It pays to double-check your posts after you post them

Somehow, a bad link escaped my notice in my previous post. I have edited the post to show the correct link.

This isn't MLS News, but...

it's important enough to post, anyways. I think the headline speaks for itself: U.S. team punches ticket to Germany!!!!!! Whoo whoo! Let's see if the USA's upward climb over the past decade will continue in Germany next year. If my memory serves me correctly, they placed 32nd (eek!) in France and 8th (yea!) in Korea/Japan. According to the August world rankings, the USA is at number 6, ahead of traditional powerhouses like England, Germany, and Italy! It is now their job to win the Cup, or at the very least, make it to the the final or third place match.

If you're interested, you can view the official list of qualified teams here.