What a difference a game makes

Going into last week's Major League Soccer action, early signs pointed to Columbus being a powerhouse, LA hanging on for points in their long season-opening road trip, the Metrostars looking pretty toothless, and the Fire struggling to find goals. Coming out, Columbus is apparently not infallible, LA suddenly can't find a win, the Metrostars have some mettle, and the Fire are undefeated, along with San Jose. Welcome to parity, MLS-style.

It looks like it took MLS teams three games to figure out how to stifle the Crew's attack. The central column of Eddie Pope, Steve Jolley, Ricardo Clark and Richie Williams kept Columbus at bay, but it may be that midfielder Freddy Garcia and forward Edson Buddle, who both missed the match due to injuries, are just that vital to the offense. While the Metrostars looked very strong up the middle, they still lack talent on the wings, both on defense and in the midfield. And yet they were still able to beat a Crew team that had everyone fawning over them after three games.

Meanwhile, it only took two and a half games for the Fire to figure out how to score goals. With forward Ante Razov serving a three-game suspension, Dave Sarachan's squad had been running a sort of hybrid 3-4-3/3-6-1 formation that relies on either long balls over the top to forward Rodrigo Faria, or penetrating runs from attacking midfielders DaMarcus Beasley and Andy Williams, and while this was enough to salvage one goal and two draws in their first two games, defensive lapses on set pieces found the Fire down 2-0 at halftime to a typically stingy Kansas City Wizards team. Almost in desperation, Chicago threw outside mids Orlando Perez and Evan Whitfield into the attack, overwhelming the KC defense and netting three unanswered goals en route to a comeback win and Player of the Week honors for Perez, who had the first strike.

While a win turned two ties into a bona fide unbeaten streak for the Fire, a loss suddenly changed the complexion of the L.A. Galaxy's early season. Content with three points in three matches to open up an eight-game road trip made necessary by their new stadium construction, a loss to San Jose instantly made their situation a bit more dire. Coupled with two straight games where defenders' nightmare Carlos Ruiz hasn't scored, coach Sigi Schmid is going to feel pressure to get a positive result soon, and an off-week for the team could contribute to a lot of second-guessing.

Through all of this, the San Jose Earthquakes have quietly jumped to the top of the MLS table, equal to Columbus on points, but doing it in less games and with a better goal differential, and doing it in spite of a horrible own goal by former A-League goalkeeper Pat Onstad two games ago against the Wizards. Early on, lots of people were counting both the Quakes and the Fire out as serious title contenders, but just a few weeks into the season, those perceptions may be changing. All courtesy of a single day's action.