With August ending and September beginning, there are just two months left in the Major League Soccer season. 

With that being said, every match from here on out has an immense meaning when it comes to the playoff race.

One club that has helped themselves plenty in the playoff race is Real Salt Lake, who put on a stellar display on Friday night against Portland.

Was that performance enough to keep RSL on top of the B/R MLS Power Rankings for another week? 

Continue reading to find out where they and the other 18 clubs landed this week. 

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The best action of MLS Week 27 was highlighted by Real Salt Lake, Benny Feilhaber and Luis Robles, but what about the worst?

The Philadelphia Union and Montreal Impact failed to meet the criteria after a scoreless draw at PPL Park. Despite a man advantage, the Columbus Crew couldn't capitalize and fell 1-0 to the Seattle Sounders. It was the club's 13th loss of the season.

They won't be featured, either.

Some tough competition also kept the Los Angeles Galaxy from making the list of best and worst from MLS Week 27.

Read on to find out why.

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The search for Federico Higuain's replacement is the story to watch in MLS Week 27, but an additional four storylines will complete your weekend preview.

Only five of the nine matches scheduled for this week will be covered in the coming slides. Each match will be dissected from a unique angle to intensify your viewing pleasure.

So, what exactly warrants your attention in Week 27?

Read on to find out.

Note: Unless otherwise mentioned, credit all statistics to the official MLS Press Box Stats and Standings.

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With Major League Soccer’s continuing growth and recent signing and re-signing of Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, the time is coming when American internationals will no longer need or want to go overseas.

It may be a little early to think about Jozy Altidore coming home, considering he just signed with Sunderland this summer, but the Black Cats' precarious position in the English Premier League as well as the pressures of finding regular playing time in a World Cup year can make strange things happen in the transfer market.

Here are five scenarios that could lure Altidore back home to MLS.

Paolo Di Canio Gets Fired

Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio is no stranger to controversy. As a player, Di Canio was repeatedly criticized for his use of fascist gestures while playing in Italy. He also has former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s nickname tattooed on his arm, in the past, Di Canio has proclaimed himself a fascist.

Taking over for Martin O’Neil late last season, Di Canio managed to keep Sunderland alive in the Premier League and avoided relegation. However, he still has much to prove as a manager, and should Sunderland be in relegation danger midseason, it wouldn’t be improbable that the Black Cats’ management would make a change.

Sunderland are currently winless in the EPL (they’ve only played two games) and had to come from behind yesterday against MK Dons, a League One side, to advance in the Football League Cup.

Di Canio has been a supporter of Jozy Altidore, but should the team struggle and Di Canio be let go, Altidore could find himself on the bench under a new manager and looking for a way out.

Sunderland Get Relegated

Similar to the potential situation should Di Canio get fired, if Sunderland were to get relegated at the end of the 2013-14 EPL campaign, Altidore surely would look to leave.

At that point, Altidore would only be one year out from his 31-goal season at AZ Alkmaar and still a hot enough commodity to avoid wasting a year in the English Championship. If an MLS team came calling, Altidore might be willing to make the jump and come home.

Money, Money, Money, Money…Money

MLS has proved over the last month that it has money to spend, and if Altidore’s situation at Sunderland doesn’t work out, he could be drawn in by a big-money deal.

On Wednesday, Sports Illustrated’s Brian Strauss reported that Landon Donovan’s new deal with the L.A. Galaxy will be worth $4.5 million per year. Earlier this month, new Seattle Sounder signing Clint Dempsey’s contract was reported to be somewhere between $5-7 million per year.

While these salaries are far above the average for MLS players, Altidore is a high-profile player, just like Donovan and Dempsey. But as a younger player and a pure striker, Altidore has a higher ceiling than Donovan or Dempsey both in terms of long-term development and goalscoring potential.

It is completely possible that Altidore coming back to MLS could generate the largest salary in league history.

Jozy Gets Ice Cold

Form is temporary, and should Altidore hit a cold-streak, as he did for the United States men’s national team for an 18-month period leading into this summer, he could quickly find himself out of Sunderland’s starting XI.

Were that to happen prior to the January transfer window with the World Cup looming and regular playing time a must, a change could happen.

Wait 10 Years

At only 23 years old and coming off his best season ever—and the best season ever for an American in Europe—it is extremely unlikely that Altidore is coming to MLS anytime soon.

Every USMNT fan hopes that he is successful in England this time around if for no other reason than it begets success for the U.S. next summer in Brazil. If Altidore were to become a big-time player for Sunderland, it also helps America’s soccer credibility rise.

Could This Happen?

It’s extremely unlikely considering that Altidore just signed with Sunderland this summer, but stranger things have happened. No one can honestly say they saw Dempsey’s transfer to Seattle coming, and when pictures of Dempsey in American airports began surfacing on Twitter while Spurs were overseas, many assumed that Dempsey was in the U.S. to talk to Everton, who happened to be in California at the time.

MLS has also shown that it is finally willing to do what it takes to keep young American stars at home through the recent re-signings of Graham Zusi, Matt Besler and Omar Gonzalez.

Even Mix Diskerud flirted with the idea of coming to MLS this past year to sign with the Portland Timbers, according to Pro Soccer Talk.

The league is growing, and it is only a matter of time until the vast majority of American internationals are playing in MLS permanently.

Follow me on Twitter @JohnDHalloran

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Read more MLS news on BleacherReport.com

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When David Beckham first arrived in Major League Soccer in 2007, many wondered how much of an impact he would really have on the game here in America and how much of his coming to the U.S. was really just a media stunt by MLS.

And in the early years of his MLS career, those doubters looked correct. Beckham struggled to impact the L.A. Galaxy in a positive way, found himself being criticized by teammate and MLS stalwart Landon Donovan and drew ire from Galaxy fans who found his loan spells to AC Milan to be a sign of Beckham's waning commitment to the league and the Galaxy.

However, in his last two years, Beckham proved his value to the league, his club and their supporters, winning two MLS Cups.

Here are the five best goals from Beckham's tenure in MLS. 

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Longtime Los Angeles Galaxy and United States national team star Landon Donovan has reached an agreement with the Major League Soccer club on a multi-year contract extension with an official announcement scheduled for Wednesday, according to Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated. 

As Donovan was entering the latter stages of his current contract with the Galaxy, questions about his future were raised. He's spent the better part of a decade with Los Angeles, leading the club to plenty of success, including a trio of league titles.

At 31 years old, the end of Donovan's deal was viewed as potentially his final opportunity to make a jump to a notable European club and make an impact.   

He struggled during stints with Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich earlier in his career. More recently, he enjoyed a couple successful loan stays alongside fellow American international Tim Howard at Everton.

Donovan took some time off after last season to recharge the batteries following a nearly endless schedule since breaking onto the scene. He's shown no signs of slowing down since his return, excelling at both the club level and with the national team, which he led to a Gold Cup title.

So if there was ever a chance for him to make another foray into European league waters, the end of his deal seemed like the perfect chance.

While Europe is an attractive option for many players, finding a personal comfort level is more important. Another United States teammate, Clint Dempsey, was a recent example of this, returning to the MLS despite having moderate success in the Premier League.

Wahl provides further analysis of where the Galaxy now stand:

Donovan and the Galaxy are currently in second place in MLS's Western Conference with 40 points (12-9-4), five points behind Salt Lake. L.A. is aiming to become the first team to win three MLS Cups in a row. Donovan's extension also means the Galaxy has the maximum allotment of three Designated Players, and all three (Donovan, [Omar] González, Robbie Keane) are signed to long-term deals.

If he would have chosen to leave Los Angeles, Donovan would have surely had options. But he's apparently decided to stay with the Galaxy where his role is known, and he should remain a stalwart member of the club.

Read more MLS news on BleacherReport.com

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Longtime Los Angeles Galaxy and United States national team star Landon Donovan has reached an agreement with the Major League Soccer club on a multi-year contract extension with an official announcement scheduled for Wednesday, according to Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated. 

The deal has since been confirmed by MLS comissioner Don Garber.

Read more MLS news on BleacherReport.com

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The United States of America has produced plenty of world-class goalkeepers.

Be it English Premier League veterans Brad Friedel, Kasey Keller and Tim Howard or a player like Tony Meola, who was forced to stand on his head on many occasions during the 1994 World Cup.

Point being is that the U.S. churns out outstanding goalkeepers consistently.

Perhaps a reason there is so much talent at the position has to do with Major League Soccer and just how difficult it is to nab a starting goalkeeper job in America’s top professional league.

As such, here is a look at the top five goalkeepers in Major League Soccer right now.

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The home guard of the U.S. Men's National Team was in full action this past week. The LA Galaxy and Houston Dynamo both started their CONCACAF Champions League campaigns while the MLS season entered the home stretch.

With two World Cup qualifiers coming up Sept. 6 at Costa Rica and Sept. 10 in Columbus hosting archrival Mexico, we can expect a new USMNT roster by early next week. 

Since MLS stubbornly refuses to honor the FIFA International Match Calendar, any MLS players called to national team duty will miss key league games. Seattle Sounders players on the USMNT roster will miss two home games, Sept. 4 versus Chivas USA and Sept. 7 versus the Chicago Fire.

The league standings are tight in MLS and every game is crucial in securing a playoff birth.

Because all of the European-based players are free from club duty there is a strong possibility that the MLS playoff race will affect Jurgen Klinsmann's roster choices. Klinsmann will certainly call his MLS starters but clubs may be reluctant to release key players during the playoff chase to sit on the USMNT bench.

If Klinsmann doesn't call in a player for these qualifiers, it does not mean that player is out of the national team picture: "If they are not called in for the games against Costa Rica it doesn’t mean that any of those guys are out of the picture by any means."

That's next week. This week we review the performances of the home guard adding two new players to the guard: Juan Agudelo and Carlos Bocanegra.

All metrics courtesy of MLSsoccer.com.

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This was the week in Major League Soccer where plenty of statements were made.

Montreal, New England, and Real Salt Lake all made statements with blowout wins, while the crowd for the Seattle vs. Portland match proved that the league can have a stadium crowd that rival the ones of Europe on its best night.

Were any of those statements good enough to boost one of those clubs into the top spot?

Continue reading the B/R MLS Power Rankings to find out.

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