MLS NOTES: WEEK 10

• Things didn’t look good early on for the Westerhof era at Chivas. It took 1:30 for the goats to give up their 25th goal of the year. The Fire are tough to beat this season when they score first. Martin Zuniga wasn’t at fault, but I’m going to blame him anyway, because I want to see Guzan get his spot back.

• But before Mr. Vergara could fire his 2nd Dutchman of the year, Antonio Martinez (whose nickname, oddly enough, is Chivas) leveled the score in the 5th minute. Should be an interesting run for Hans. They went into halftime up 2-1 and before too much of the second half was gone, they were down 3-2; it only got worse. Did I mention I want to see Guzan back?

• What a discouraging beating to take in front of the new gaffer. Cabezas will roll, now that Rongen isn’t around to take the blame.

• Five goals for the Fire. No comment, other than . . . wow. Okay, one comment. Nat Jaqua scored a hat trick. And I repeat . . . wow.

• Has anybody ever won the “Radio Shack MLS Magic Minute”? The odds seem lottery-like to me. I’ll have to have the boys down at NASA crunch the numbers, but it seems like a pretty big long shot. What do you win, anyway? It’s a Radio Shack promotion; a four-way gold-plated bi-directional splitter, perhaps?

• FC Dallas got a break when Bruce Arena left Greg Vanney off the game day roster for the Costa Rica match. Since FCD were already in Salt Lake for their match up with ReAL, Vanney started for Dallas and played well, saving a goal off the line, among other things.

• Abe Thompson scored his first goal as a professional. Oddly, he set up the first goal by firing a shot off DJ Countess, who gave up a rebound that Ronnie O’Brien slotted home. On Abe’s goal, Ronnie fired the shot, DJ gave up another rebound, and Abe slotted it home. Crazy stuff.

• The grass at Rice-Eccles Stadium looked good, and the games were good as well. Forty thousand fans for the USA/CR match, and most of those stayed for the beginning of the RSL/FCD game; though to be honest it looked like a lot of them packed it in and went home at halftime. Still, congratulations to the people of SLC for putting on a good show.

• Back in April, I ripped the staff at Gillette stadium, home of the Revolution, for the horrible grass the team had to play on at their home opener. Not that they noticed then and not that they’ll notice now, but today, I give them kudos. They managed to mow the field in a wavy pattern which, on television, gives the optical illusion of having a hilly field. It looked for all the world like guys were running up and then down as they traversed the pitch. Maybe some thought this was annoying, but it amused me to no end. Then again, I’m easily amused. Optical illusions, shiny objects, you name it.

• This particular round of World Cup Qualifying was NOT kind to New England. They were without Dempsey, Noonan, Ralston, and Avery John, who was with Trinidad and Tobago. That’s roughly half the team’s scoring output for this season. And Twellman went out in the second half with a hamstring injury. AND THEY MANAGED A DRAW! Scary. Very Scary. Fear the Revs.

• King of Goals sighting! Sergio Galvan Rey comes up big for Metrostars again, scoring the tying goal in the 73rd minute. I want all you SGR detractors to personally apologize to the man, ya hear?

• The Galaxy don’t often blow a lead at home. So it’s always fun to see it when it happens. Oops. My “lack of objectivity” warning light just came on. Let me reset that bad boy and move on here.

• The sound of screaming pre-teen girls at the Home Depot Center was overwhelming. I’d prefer the big plastic horns. Though I suppose a paying customer is a paying customer.

• Bottom line on the Metros/Galaxy draw: Metros gain a point, Gals lose two. If I’m a Metros fan I have to like the way things are going for the club. And I am, kinda.

• I started watching DC/San Jose, but lost interest. My apologies; anyone want to comment on the 0-0 draw? The part I saw was lackluster. Maybe it was because I was reduced to watching it on MLSnet.com, or maybe it was really lackluster. Discuss.

• Part of the problem for DC may be that Freddy is gone to The Netherlands for the U20 World Cup. DC is going to find out how important the kid is while he’s gone. Depending on how well we do, he could be away from the club the entire month of June.

• Only Columbus and Metros have similar problem, but they can do without Danny Szetela much easier than DC can do without Adu. Eddie Gaven’s absence will not be easy for the Metrostars, but still isn’t as bad, in my view, as DC going without the Kid.

• Tim Ward of Metrostars and Chad Barrett of Chicago are also gone to Holland, but won’t be as big a loss. I don’t mean that pejoratively, however. Have I missed anyone?