Tonight’s marquee matchup between the Seattle Sounders (56 points) and Real Salt Lake (57 points) is the first of a two-leg aggregate goals MLS Cup playoff series. 

It is the MLS’s newest rivalry, and tonight in CenturyLink Field in Seattle, it will be renewed once more.

This is the second consecutive year the two teams meet in the playoffs. The 2011 meeting was a riveting 3-2 victory (on aggregate) for Real Salt Lake, and the 2012 version should prove to be no different. 

Real is amidst questions about the future of the franchise. Many consider this to be the final run for the team’s core group of players, but a MLS Cup championship could change all that.

They are unbeaten in their last five matches (seven including the CCL), but have been offensively anemic as of late. Real has only scored two goals in the month of October—with their final three matches ending in scoreless draws.

Lost in Chris Wondolowski’s chase for the single-season scoring record and Thierry Henry’s stellar play is the unacknowledged performance of Real forward Álvaro Saborío.

The Costa Rican national finished the season with 17 goals and three assists. He is responsible for 43 percent of the team’s offensive output, and has done so without any real assistance.

On the other side of the pitch are the Sounders. They enter today’s match looking to end their underachieving ways and advance farther than they ever have in the playoffs. 

Many believe this is the year Seattle plays for their first MLS Cup, but there are lingering doubts surrounding the team.

The injury to the revitalized Eddie Johnson (adductor) could leave the Sounders without one of their talented weapons for the first leg of the series. As of now, he is still questionable for tonight’s match.

Fredy Montero (13 goals with 8 assists) has been a consistent contributor for the Sounders since his arrival in 2009, but has yet to score a playoff goal. With Johnson still questionable for the first leg of the series, Seattle must now rely on their Colombian national more than ever.

This is the fourth time the two teams will meet this season, and only one goal has been scored in the previous three matches (a 1-0 victory for Real on May 12). 

Expect a heavily contested series, but one that sees Seattle advance to their first MLS Conference Finals in the only fashion suitable for these two teams—the dreaded penalty kicks.

The injury to Johnson will not be insurmountable for the Sounders. They have incredible depth at their disposal, and Sammy Ochoa, David Estrada and Steve Zakuani are sufficient replacements for the American striker. 

Real central defenders Nat Borcher (quadriceps) and Jámison Olave (hamstring) are not 100 percent.

With the injury to Johnson, look for Real's defense to attempt to lock down Montero. It is a strategy that could be detrimental to their chances if they choose to overlook the ability of Ochoa and Estrada.  

First Leg Prediction: Seattle Sounders 2 - 1 Real Salt Lake

Second Leg Prediction: Real Salt Lake 1 - 0 Seattle Sounders

Seattle Sounders advance 4-3 on penalty kicks

Follow Eduardo on twitter for more insight on a variety of sports topics. Follow @BR_Mendez

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The Los Angeles Galaxy will host Vancouver Whitecaps FC in the Western Conference knockout round on Nov. 1. Whichever team wins the match will move on to the Western Conference Semifinals and face No. 1 seeded San Jose Earthquakes.

The Galaxy are fortunate to make the playoffs this season after a terrible first half, while Vancouver surprised many people by beating out FC Dallas for the final playoff spot.

We've already seen fifth-seeded Houston Dynamo beat the Chicago Fire in the Eastern Conference knockout round. Will we see another upset in the West?

Here's what to watch for during Thursday's crucial playoff matchup. 

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Last night, in a frigid 42 degrees at Toyota Park, the Houston Dynamo eliminated the Chicago Fire from the playoffs. Head coach Dominic Kinnear is at it again, and has many believing his team can make its second-consecutive MLS cup.

Houston was pedestrian on the road all season (3-9-5)—a step up from its 2-6-9 record in 2011—but played an impressive 90 minutes of soccer that propelled it to a 2-1 victory. 

The Dynamo were poised from the start and took advantage of the Fire’s shaky play. Brad Davis’ assist off a corner kick led to Will Bruin’s header in the 12th minute and gave Houston the early lead. 

The Fire had only allowed six goals off a set piece all season, but their first of the playoffs was costly.

Davis, who has 92 career assists (46 off a set piece), had no issues connecting with the Dynamo’s top scorer, due in large part to Jalil Anibaba’s slippery footing inside the box.

Houston would maintain control for the remainder of the match.

Chicago’s 4-2-3-1 formation was setup primarily to defend, but shoddy defending allowed Calen Carr to send a beautiful ball in the box that led to Houston’s next score. Bruin had no issues on his run, and his brace gave Houston a stunning 2-0 lead just seconds after the half.

It was a lead Houston would not relinquish, and it will now face a stingy Sporting Kansas City side that only allowed a league-best 27 goals this season. Sporting KC is heavily favored to represent the Eastern Conference in the MLS Cup, but don’t count out the Dynamo.

Houston has not lost to Kansas City this season (1-0-2) and are undefeated at BBVA Compass Stadium (11-0-6).

Another performance like the one that led Houston to its 2-1 victory over Sporting KC back in July, coupled with a hard-fought draw on the road, could send a shock wave through the MLS. 

It won’t be easy for the Dynamo.

Kansas City has gone 63 consecutive matches without conceding a goal on a corner kick and has allowed the fewest shots on goal (102) in the MLS (via Jonathon Feyerherm).

The Dynamo must rely on a precision-passing, possession-oriented attack in order to break down Sporting KC’s tough defense. Houston possessed the ball a league-best 55.93 percent this season, and its 81.53 passing accuracy was the second-highest in the MLS (via Jonathan Kaplan).

It is a formula that could spark another Cinderella run for Coach Kinnear and his team—similar to the one last year that saw Houston eliminate Sporting KC in the Conference Finals. 

It would be the Dynamo’s fourth appearance in the MLS Cup in seven years, but four matches remain before Houston can accomplish such an incredible feat. 

A repeat performance like the one it had last night could go a long way in achieving its championship aspirations.  

Follow Eduardo on twitter for more insight on a variety of sports topics. Follow @BR_Mendez

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On Wednesday night, the 2012 MLS playoffs kicked off at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois, and a familiar playoff favorite continued their winning ways in the postseason.

The Houston Dynamo once again came out to play in the MLS Cup Playoffs and advanced into the semifinal round with a 2-1 win over the Chicago Fire in the Eastern Conference knockout round.

Houston went up early in the 12th minute with a goal from forward Will Bruin.

Bruin's header found the back of the net off of a corner kick by veteran Brad Davis.

On the corner kick, Chicago defender Jalil Anibaba slipped in the penalty area while defending Bruin, allowing the Dynamo forward to score the first of his two goals of the night.

Bruin's second goal came in the 46th minute as he capitalized on poor defending by Chicago and fired his shot right past keeper Sean Johnson, who had a miserable night in the net.

Throughout the rest of the second half it seemed like the Dynamo had the match all locked up, but the Fire gave the two-time MLS Cup champions a bit of pressure late in the second half.

In the 83rd minute, substitute Alex scored to give the Fire and their home supporters a small chance of achieving a two-goal comeback.

Alex's shot barely found the back of the net after it bounced off the right post.

The late goal was not enough for the hosts, however, and they were unable to get the ball past Dynamo keeper Tally Hall in the final attacks of the match.

With the loss, the Fire become the first team eliminated from the 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs and will be wondering where their season went wrong.

One outside observer may point to the one win in the final five regular-season matches played by the Fire as they slumped into the postseason.

As for the Wednesday night winners, the Dynamo will head home to BBVA Compass Stadium, where they have not lost yet, to host Eastern Conference top seed Sporting Kansas City in the first leg of the semifinal round on Sunday.

The second leg of the Eastern Conference semifinal will be played next Wednesday at Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City.

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With the 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs looming, there's no doubt that we're in store for an exciting postseason with what seems to be one of the more competitive fields in recent playoff history. It all starts on Halloween night with the first of two matches of the knockout round to be played.

The new playoff format this year pits the fourth and fifth seeds of each conference against each other in a single-elimination game to determine who goes on to play in the Conference Semifinals.

In the Eastern Conference, we have the No. 5 Houston Dynamo traveling to the Windy City to face the No. 4 Chicago Fire on Oct. 31.

And in the Western Conference, the No. 4 Los Angeles Galaxy will host Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Nov. 1 to begin their title defense.

The great thing about the playoffs is that anything can happen. It's like a brand new season, and nothing matters except the match that's right in front of you.

Here's a breakdown of why each of the four knockout round teams can advance to the Conference Semifinals.

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The television broadcasting conglomerate NBC announced on Sunday that, beginning in 2013, they had acquired the domestic television rights to England's Barclay's Premier League (EPL) for the next three seasons.

NBC Sports' deal with the EPL, worth an estimated $250 million, comes as a strong blow to rival cable television networks ESPN and Fox Soccer (FSC), who are the only two stations currently showing Premier League matches in the States.

Fox Soccer in particular, has been steadily losing its television rights to several other premier European soccer leagues.

If the network does not act quickly to stop this bleeding, it may soon find itself in the same zone of obsolescence as GolTV, the once proud owners of television rights to Spain's La Liga, who now only show German Bundesliga and a few less-popular South American matches. As a result, Rupert Murdoch's satellite television giant DirecTV dropped GolTV from their broadcast packages.

Even with their extravagant financial offer, which was reportedly four times what any other network was willing to pay, NBC will feel confident that they can recoup expenses in a timely fashion, given soccer's increasing popularity in the United States.

While this might be music to the ears of English soccer fans on the "left side of the pond," who for so long had to illegally stream their beloved Gooners, Spurs, or Red Devils if they wanted to see a particular match, it may actually hinder the long-term development of soccer in the United States.

European soccer fans have long complained about the difficulty in watching European club soccer in America. Either they had to pay extra on their cable bill for a paltry selection of weekly matches, or they illegally streamed the trials and tribulations of their beloved team on the internet.

Depending on the specifics of the deal, NBC's EPL acquisition could change all of that.

As one of the largest broadcast networks in the States, with a signal that is included in most basic cable packages, NBC could potentially deliver what the EPL called the "biggest and broadest programing and promotion commitment ever in the United States."

Yet nothing is universally good. It's important to remember the grey areas, or, what's good for one party may be bad for others.

In this case, NBC Sport's previous tenants, the MLS, will undoubtedly suffer from the new deal.

Not only will the amount of airtime afforded to the less-developed, less-accomplished MLS decrease, but so will their revenues and overall visibility.

It's not that every American teen who plays soccer dreams of being in the MLS, but the MLS is all many of them have on hand—its teams the only ones that they can see in person—its players the only ones that they can tangibly look up to.

There's no denying that the EPL is among the world's best leagues. Some of the world's most accomplished footballers ply their trade for Premier League teams and dominate the limelight of world football week-in and week-out.

It's also true that English soccer is more popular in the States and than any other league. But by effectively riding themselves of MLS, NBC is yet again embracing the "logic" of capitalism at the expense of contributing to the development of a national product. Such is globalization.

Allow me to sum up the idea here—

NBC, a highly visible television network, acquires the rights to a more popular league (the EPL). Because NBC is included in basic cable packages (that are cheaper and more accessible than ESPN/Fox Sports), they will attract more viewers, and hence, generate more profits.

They will do this at the expense of the MLS, whose matches were previously shown on NBC. The MLS mostly consists of American and Central American players (it's where the majority of American players have been cutting their proverbial teeth before heading off to brighter pastures).

In other words, less MLS exposure = less interest in MLS = less profits for the MLS = bankrupt MLS = big problem for the development of domestic talent in the US.

I have no premonitions that the MLS will ever be a world class league, but if nothing else, it's middling quality has served a decent purpose over the past decade in its footballing education of some solid American talent (Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, Landon Donavon, Michael Bradley).

Things may now get more complicated for the MLS. If its survival and ability to attract domestic talent was dependent on gate entrances, advertising, and to a lesser extent, television revenue, it may now need to look elsewhere for funding.

NBC shot the MLS, and by extension US Soccer, in the foot with this one.

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The Major League Soccer regular season wrapped up last night and with the end of the season, the playoff field is now set.

The fourth and fifth seeds will take each other on in a one-game knockoff round, followed by home-and-away series for each conference’s semifinal and final round. The winners of each conference will then meet for the MLS Cup on December 1.

Here is how the teams stack up.

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D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid recorded a career-high eight saves on Saturday to help United secure a tie at Chicago's Toyota Park and second place in the final Eastern Conference standings.

This was one for the books. Combined with a couple strong diving stops by Chicago's Sean Johnson, this game was an absolute jewel for advocates of those who provide soccer's last line of defense.

Hamid and Johnson are two young and promising keepers in Major League Soccer. Both are incredibly athletic, and this season both added significant degrees of poise and presence for their respective clubs.

But on this day, Hamid's star shone brighter, out of necessity. Chicago thoroughly outplayed D.C. on the rest of the pitch in a game that had playoff significance for both.

United needed a tie to hold second place. Chicago was looking for a win to avoid dropping to fourth and having to host a play-in game. 

Chicago struck first. The Fire's Patrick Nyarko fired a blast that beat a diving Hamid and struck net just inside the right post.

Hamid quickly regained his feet, batted an arm at the invisible gods of soccer misfortune and then took on an expression of stony resilience. It was an expression that seemed to communicate a simple message to teammates: "Do your part and level this score, and they won't beat me again."

Then the show began. 

Hamid's primary victim was Chicago's Sherjill MacDonald. The 21-year-old product of D.C. United's Academy twice denied MacDonald from point-blank ranges.

The first time occurred near the end of the half, with United desperately hoping to avoid carrying a two-goal deficit into the break. On a Chicago counter, Chris Rolfe played a beautiful feed to MacDonald, catching him in stride and space. Hamid shuffled with the pass, chose his position and, when the shot came, made a cat-like swipe at the ball with a strong left arm.

This was a weighted shot from a full-paced attacker. Hamid was only seven or eight yards away. Just making contact with the ball and hopefully deflecting it off target would have been impressive. The young keeper stopped the shot's momentum cold and sent it deflecting 15 yards back over MacDonald, where it was picked up by a trailing D.C. defender.

United did equalize early in the second half, and Hamid's second "grand theft goal" against MacDonald occurred in the In the 62nd minute. After a Chicago corner failed to produce, United also failed to regain possession or at least clear the ball. A shot came in through the box but was blocked up and toward Chicago’s Gonzalo Segares.

Segares lifted a nifty outside-foot flick toward MacDonald in front of the left post. The attacker made solid contact with his right foot. Hamid made solid contact as well, this time with both hands.

In real time, it looked like an act of self defense on Hamid's part. In video replay, the shot could be seen headed to the high corner inside the far post. Hamid proactively moved his hands up and to his left for a beauty of a reaction save.

Ten minutes later, Hamid faced a deceptive right-footed shot from Dominic Oduro.

The Ghana native pushed into space to the left of the goalmouth, with a D.C. defender just trailing him to the inside. Oduro appeared to be setting himself up for a strike or more likely a cross in front of Hamid with his left foot.

A step earlier, Oduro caught the ball with a right-footed poke. Despite the awkward physics involved, the shot had some juice. With a save reminiscent of his second on MacDonald, Hamid was able to get both hands behind the ball and deflect it away.

Hamid, only 21 years old, already is on the radar for Coach Jurgen Klinsmann and the U.S. men's national team. The United keeper from the nearby Virginia suburb of Annandale has trained with both national youth and senior teams. Hamid got his first senior team cap earlier this year.

If Klinsmann was tuned in for this particular United game, Hamid’s radar blip may just have brightened substantially.

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It's that time of year again. With only a few matches left to be played in the regular season, the Major League Soccer Cup playoffs are quickly approaching.

The new playoff format stresses the seeding of teams in each conference. The fourth and fifth seeds must play a single-elimination play-in game to advance to the Conference Semifinals.

In addition, with the Conference Finals now being a two-legged, aggregate series, having home-field advantage in the second leg will be a boost for whichever team is seeded higher.

Here's a team-by-team breakdown of current playoff seedings and how they may change in the final weekend of the season.

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Sporting Kansas City, on the strength of goals from Jacob Peterson and C.J. Sapong, defeated the Philadelphia Union 2-1 Wednesday in front of a sellout crowd of 19,428 at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.

With the win, Sporting KC captured the Eastern Conference regular season title for the second consecutive year. It is the fifth division/conference crown overall, but it's the first time in franchise history the team has won consecutive titles.

In the locker room after the game, Sporting KC captain Jimmy Nielsen told us it wasn't a typical game. Nielsen said:

It was a weird game to play, with all the respect for Philadelphia, but they were all over the place. I don’t want to say they were unorganized, but you could feel they didn’t have anything to play for they risked it a little bit more and were maybe a little more lousy on their defending. It was a very, very weird game to play.

Philadelphia's Amobi Okugo seemed to be the main villain for the evening, getting booked in the third minute for a foul on defender Seth Sinovic.

I may be biased, but that may have been one of the few calls the ref got right. That and a good no-call on a possible handball in the box in the 20th minute, but that was about it.

Sporting midfielder Paulo Nagamura, who previously had seemed to be impervious to injury, came off in the 33rd minute for Jacob Peterson. It proved to be a fortuitous substitution.

Peterson had an almost immediate impact. Seven minutes after entering the match, Peterson opened the scoring for the home team.

Kei Kamara started the break on the left wing near the midfield stripe. Kamara passed it inside to Sapong near the top of the penalty area. Sapong's return pass was one-timed by Kamara into the path of Peterson, who only had to make contact to put the ball in the back of the net past Zac MacMath.

The goal was Peterson's fourth of the season, with assists going to Kamara, his seventh, and Sapong, his second.

Former USMNT star Alexi Lalas had this reaction via Twitter:

Wow. That is some run and gun from @sportingkc. Fait accompli. #KCvPHI 1-0

Sporting KC almost doubled its lead just before halftime. Graham Zusi had a couple of shots at the end of stoppage time that were only kept out of the net by superb saves by MacMath.

Philadelphia came out with a greater sense of urgency in the second half and it didn't take very long before it paid dividends.

Eight minutes after the break, Union midfielder Danny Cruz was awarded a penalty kick after he was brought down in the box by Sporting defender Matt Besler.

Michael Farfan stepped up to take the penalty. Farfan's initial shot was saved by Nielsen, but Antoine Hoppenot beat everyone else to the rebound and slotted it home.

During the postgame press conference, Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes was asked about the goal, which ended Nielsen's attempt to tie Tony Meola's club record for shutouts in a single season. Vermes said:

Unfortunately for [Nielsen], he made a great save. But it’s actually a great learning moment for us because we weren’t ready for the rebound. We were second to the ball. Hoppenot did a great job anticipating the play and got there and beat us to it so from that point of view it’s going to be a great learning lesson.

The game stayed level until eight minutes from full time. Kamara picked up the ball near the midfield stripe and took on several Philadelphia defenders, running through four of them. With Chance Myers out wide on the right, Kamara threaded an inch-perfect pass to Sapong, who buried it in the back of the net.

After Sporting KC took the lead, the game seemed to get more physical by the minute, all leading to the moment when I thought Philadelphia should have finished with 10 men.

In the 89th minute, Philadelphia's Keon Daniel took a free kick from about 40 yards out. As Nielsen went out to punch the ball away, Okugo jumped into him, leading with his left elbow and leveling the Danish goalkeeper. Several players then started shoving each other.

On the broadcast, when there was no card given, you could see the incredulous look on Nielsen's face. I'm sure, though, the director wishes he hadn't taken that view at that moment. You could read Nielsen's lips as he dropped an f-bomb when asking the ref if he was kidding.

With the win, Sporting Kansas City locks up the top seed in the Eastern Conference and home-field advantage through the conference finals. They now await their first playoff opponent: the winner of the one game playoff between the fourth and fifth seeds.

Considering how tightly packed the second through fifth place teams are right now, the potential opponents for Sporting KC could change dramatically between now and Saturday night.

The only thing set in stone is that Sporting KC will host the second leg of their conference semifinal on Wednesday, November 7, probably at 7 p.m. CST.

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