Week 5 Predictions

I have to give a tip of the hat to Marc Connolly, whose blog has been keeping me honest on getting these done every week. Went 3-1 last week, for a 10-12 mark overall.

This is the week that makes Bruce Arena's job difficult.

Los Angeles 1 :: 1 Salt Lake
Dallas 1 :: 2 DC United
Kansas City 4 :: 1 Columbus
Houston 2 :: 0 Colorado
New York 0 :: 3 Chivas USA
Chicago 2 :: 1 New England

Reasons? L.A. is definitely struggling, and Salt Lake is slowly getting their act together. Who knew that Kenny Cutler was the answer? What was the question? DC and Dallas look pretty close, so I gotta go with the home team. The four KC players in and around the WC player pool will turn it on -- look for a Jimmy Conrad goal off a corner as he tries to edge out Gregg Berhalter and/or Carlos Bocanegra, not that I think that will happen, and a brace from Eddie Johnson, while Josh Wolff continues to come up empty and put his ticket to Germany in serious jeopardy, particularly if Chris Rolfe scores again for Chicago. I continue to completely discount the Rapids purely due to unfamiliarity. Razov, Regan and Bradley are going to get some serious revenge against the former Metrostars, and I just haven't been all that impressed with New England yet, particularly in the midfield. Plus they've got injuries.

On the pool side, if Chris Armas starts for Chicago and looks better than Kerry Zavagnin and/or Ben Olsen, he might have a shot at Germany, but it's the longest of long shots. KZ needs a big game to pass Olsen. Eddie Johnson is probably okay, but he and Josh Wolff both need to look more dangerous than they have so far. Taylor Twellman and Clint Dempsey are probably safe, Pat Noonan not so much, particular if he doesn't start because of injury. Brian Ching has done all he can, and his role may depend entirely on Bruce's decision on how many forwards to take, unless Johnson bites it this week.