MLS NOTES: WEEK 5

• Things aren’t looking good for Chicago, and The Revs look like the Fire used to look. Clint Dempsey scored a GOTY candidate in the midweek match between these two teams of reversing fortunes. The Fire just look listless, and Zach Thornton must pine for a nice bottle of Portuguese Madeira. The only folks who are in form at Soldier Field these days are the rabid and loyal fans of Section 8.

• MLSnet.com said there were 54,000 at Soldier Field for this match. Ahem. I think they were referring to the attendance for the Mexico-Poland match that followed. If there were 54,000 people at the Revs-Fire portion of that doubleheader, I’m a starting forward for Chivas next weekend.

• The Revs are the hottest team in the East, and it looked like no fans showed up for the game with Chivas. Oh, it was raining? Yeah that’s a good excuse. Get to the games, people! You have an MLS team in your town, you have no excuse; what’s the problem?

• I’m glad to see Ryan Suarez playing for Chivas this week after the head thumping he took the other week against Dallas. He’s also a new daddy, so he is obviously coming back not only from injury, but from absolutely NO sleep this week.

• In a related story, Ross Paule of Columbus was forced to retire this week due to sustaining another concussion. It’s a sad part of sports, for a young man to have to hang it up, but Ross made the best decision for himself and his family. Good luck to him, and big kudos to the Crew for keeping him on the payroll as a coach. Class all around.

• It really looked like Chivas were going to keep the most potent offense in the league off the board, but they gave up a goal to Clint Dempsey in the 87th minute. Of course, it was only after they quit attacking and bunkered in for the draw that they gave up the goods. Serves them right. They’re going to be known as the anti-Chivas if they keep this up.

• The bright spot for Chivas is Brad Guzan. He’s the best keeper without a win in this league. Martin Zuniga doesn’t get a free pass to the starting XI when he gets healthy if there’s any justice in the world. Which there isn’t.

• The Fire rebounded nicely from last week’s disaster with a nify 2-0 win over the Crew. It was like an entirely different bunch of guys from the Wednesday match. Another disappointing crowd in Columbus, unfortunately. I haven’t seen any numbers, but I get the feeling that attendance is down this year. Except for DC and LA, you’re just not seeing any big crowds.

• DC-KC with a lovely nil-nil-draw. What a disappointment for the 3,000 people packing Arrowhead Stadium. Bo Oshoniyi looked really good, however.

• Freddy Adu picked up a yellow card for diving. I hope Peter Nowak sent him to bed with no supper for that nonsense.

• Who would have thought Amado Guevara needed cold, rain and snow to help him catch fire? He went berserk tonight in Colorado with the hat trick. Jeff Cunningham scored on a nicely worked goal in injury time for Colorado, but, as they say in Mexico, muy poco muy tarde.

• Jason Kreis nets it twice for ReAL Salt Lake, but it wasn’t enough, as the EarthQlash come back for a 2-2 draw. Jason must be happy with the nice, even, artificial surface at Rice-Eccles stadium; he really stuck the landing on the back flip tonight.

• The Galaxy thumped FC Dallas tonight, 2-0. I don’t wanna talk about it.