The week in review:

Wednesday

Carolina @ Seattle - The level of physicality in this game sure lived up to the billing.  The defining incident of the game came around 63rd minute or so as Chad Dombrowski barged into Chris Eylander after the Seattle 'keeper had collected a loose ball in the box.  Dombrowski made his way back to Eylander to apparently offer a hand up after being called for the foul, to which Eylander took exception.  As the 'keeper was getting up he leaned his head in and, technically-speaking, head-butted Dombrowski leading to Eylander being sent off.  All of this took place less than 10 minutes after Sebastien Le Toux gave Seattle the 1-0 lead.  The RailHawks did their best to take advantage of the extra man pouring on the pressure, but it was not to be.

Final: 0-1 Seattle
My Prediction: 1-1

Friday

Miami @ Montreal - Unfortunately, I can't tell you a whole bunch about this game.  I haven't watched it and the box score is incomplete in terms of many of the team stats.  Regardless, the final score was much closer than I expected as Charles Gbeke scored the only tally of the match in the 37th minute.

Final: 0-1 Montreal
My Prediction: 0-3 Montreal

California @ Portland - Bryan Jordan had a good night on Friday.  First he set up Scot Thompson in the 10th minute of the first half to put the Timbers in front.  10 minutes into the second half he scored one of his own.  Ricky Herron collected a second yellow card in the 77th minute to effectively kill whatever lingering hope the Victory had of coming back to steal a point.  This one could have been a much bigger victory for Portland with the final shot tally being 18-3 in the hosts favor.  In addition, Josh Wicks only had to make one save to keep his clean sheet where as his California counterpart, Eric Reed, made six just to keep it respectable.

Final: 0-2 Portland
My Prediction: 1-2 Portland

Carolina @ Vancouver - If, like me, my faithful readers assumed Wednesday's defeat in Seattle set Carolina up for a long weekend the RailHawks put the notion on its ear Friday night.  Connally Edozian scored against the run of play in the 57th minute and bunkered effectively enough the rest of the match to steal three points from the defending champs.  The loss for Vancouver was their first in 16 competitive matches.

Final: 1-0 Carolina
My Prediction: 1-3 Vancouver

Saturday

Atlanta @ Charleston - Byron Alvarez and Ian Fuller scored on either side of halftime for Charleston.  The Silverbacks couldn't find the answer to Dusty Hudock on the night.  Hudock made five saves to keep Atlanta off the scoreboard.

Final 0-2 Charleston
My Prediction: 2-2

Puerto Rico @ Minnesota - Aaron Paye got things going the right direction in the ninth minute finishing off a nice breakaway.  The Thunder controlled most of the rest of the half until Noah Delgado scored heading into stoppage time off a defensive catastrophe.  The second half was a little more even, but it ended the same way as the first with Noah Delgado punishing the Thunder for another defensive breakdown in the 88th minute.

Final: 2-1 Puerto Rico
My Prediction: 0-2 Minnesota

Seattle @ California - The rare first minute goal was scored in Cali with Greg Howes doing the honors for the visitors.  Raul Palomares made things look bleak for the Victory, collecting his second yellow and his walking papers in the 48th starting a relatively ugly sequence.  Yuri Morales was violently thrown to the turf in the box by, I dunno, let's blame gravity in the 51st minute.  Joshua Hansen converted the ensuing penalty.  A minute or so later, Leighton O'Brien felt a similar gravitational tug at the opposite end, but the ref wasn't buying it.  Minutes later, Hansen committed an ugly tackle from behind on Jacob Besagno which O'Brien took exception to and drove the ball back at Hansen's head as Hansen started to get to his feet.  Pushing and shoving ensued, Hansen and O'Brien were carded and then the coup d' grace, O'Brien said one of the magic words to referee and presto, a red card appeared.  The game was delayed for a couple of minutes as O'Brien explained to everyone on the pitch, including a friendly security guard who offered to escort him off the pitch, that he was only talking about the referee's mother's delicious fudge.  Roger Levesque clinched it for the visiting Sounders in the 70th and celebrated by getting a yellow two minutes later.

Final: 2-1 Seattle
My Prediction: 2-1 Seattle

Sunday

Miami @ Rochester - Miami's run of surprising string of results, if you include their one goal loss on Friday, ended in Rochester on Sunday night.  Matthew Delicate scored a brace in the 16th and 61st minute.

Final: 0-2 Rochester
My Prediction: 1-2 Rochester

Carolina @ Portland - Like in Vancouver, Carolina bunkered as hard as they could, and while they couldn't come up with a goal of their own they did prevent the Timbers from scoring too.  Of course it didn't help the RailHawks cause to have Johnny Steele pick up two quick yellows and get sent off in the 38th.  Regardless, Carolina did come up with four big road points on their trip through the Pacific Northwest.

Final: 0-0
My Prediction: 0-2 Portland

For the week that makes me 4-5, with zero correct margins of victory and one perfect score.  For the season I'm now at 21-24 with nine correct margins of victory and five exact scores.  The lottery machine is 15-30.

Rankings:
Rnk(+/-) Team (W-D-L) Notes
1(+1) Montreal (4-2-0) - A too close for comfort win over Miami
2(+1) Carolina (3-4-2) - Not a bad swing through the Pacific Northwest
3(+2) Portland (3-2-1) - Should have come up with a winner against Carolina, but still a good weekend
4(-3) Vancouver (5-2-1) - Tough, unlucky, home loss to Carolina
5(+1) Rochester (3-3-3) - Did what they were supposed to in beating Miami in Rochester
6(+3) Puerto Rico (2-3-3) - Melvin gets his revenge
7(-3) Atlanta (3-3-2) - Limp effort in Charleston
8(+2) Seattle (3-3-4) - Two home wins is a good weekend
9(+2) Charleston (2-2-2) - Always nice to beat a rival
10(-3) Minnesota (1-2-4) - 0-0-2 at home is pretty disappointing
11(-3) Miami (3-0-5) - Back to earth for Miami
12(-1) California (0-1-4) - Keeping the Thunder out of last place in the standings

Predictions:

Wednesday

Charleston @ California - Charleston has been showing signs of being a playoff team of late.  California continues to struggle even at home.

My Prediction: 1-0 Charleston, as strong as the Battery are defensively they should just need to beat the Victory's porous defense once to earn all the points.

Friday

Vancouver @ Montreal - Other than the clunker against California, the Whitecaps have been the best team in the league so far this season.  They are coming off a match in which they were very unlucky to lose to Carolina.  Montreal, on the other hand, may be impossible to defeat at home for USL teams.

My Prediction: 1-2 Montreal, while it wouldn't be a shock for Montreal, the last remaining unbeaten, to lose I don't think Vancouver is prepared for that feat at the moment.

Rochester @ Miami - Rochester will be attempting a repeat of last weekends victory over Miami.  Meanwhile, Miami will be without the services of the cavernous and apparently intimidating Orange Bowl.  Rochester has already beaten Miami once in Tropical Park Stadium this season.

My Prediction: 2-1 Rochester, Johnny Menyongar should continue his strong form to start the season.

Saturday

Miami @ Atlanta - Miami is still pointless on the road and Atlanta will be looking for vengeance after their disappointing loss in said cavernous Orange Bowl.

My Prediction: 1-2 Atlanta, Miami slides back into their form from the beginning of the season.

Charleston @ Minnesota - I'm still trying to figure out whether the Battery are going to be a decent team or not.  Minnesota has put themselves back in a must-win position.  Luckily this is the most winnable game they'll have played at home to this point.

My Prediction: 1-2 Minnesota, Ota returns, crushes whole of Charleston.

Sunday

Rochester @ Puerto Rico - Rochester already lost once in Puerto Rico this season.  Puerto Rico got off to a good start with Colin Clarke in charge.

My Prediction: 2-2, a real toss up.

Tuesday

Minnesota @ Montreal - Minnesota has actually had better results on the road than at home, but I don't think that will help in Montreal.  Montreal should still be undefeated after this weekend.

My Prediction: 0-2 Montreal