What is going on with the Los Angeles Galaxy? These are difficult times for Bruce Arena's men, and it will not get any easier as they hit the road for the first time in league play.

On Saturday, the Galaxy take on the beasts from the East, Sporting Kansas City. Kickoff at Livestrong Sporting Park is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT/4 p.m. ET and will be televised by ESPN and ESPN Deportes.

Here are 10 bold predictions heading into Saturday's east-versus-west matchup.

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There is no doubting that the MLS has become somewhat of a feeder league the last couple of years. With domestically-developed stars such as Jozy Altidore, Stuart Holden and Tim Ream all making the switch across the pond, it is evident that the league boasts more talented youngsters than ever before.

With so many good young players, it is tough to select the ten best teenagers in the American league. Nevertheless, I have picked those who are worthy of your attention prior to them officially establishing themselves in MLS.

Enjoy!

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Because no matches are being played on Easter Sunday, the fifth week of Major League Soccer begins midweek. But that doesn't mean there will be fewer matches, as nine games will be played from Wednesday through Thursday.

Even though there has been many headlines that allowed us to whet our appetites for MLS soccer, the slight change of schedule made sure we could concentrate on what's coming up.

Like I said, there are nine games to watch this week. Will all of them be great? Of course not, they rarely are.

So here are the five matches I believe you should watch, and why they will be the talk of fans around the Easter Sunday dinner table. 

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Though a comparatively young league, Major League Soccer has experienced its fair share of boom and bust signings.

Every season, teams roll the dice on big-money pickups (ahem, L.A. Galaxy and New York Red Bulls), while others shop for bargains.

Yet since the league's inaugural season in 1996, a few signings have truly been great for their respective teams.

Here's a list of some of the best. Apologies if your favorite didn't make the list, but keep in mind I tried to quantify "best signings" as cost versus league value.

In other words, Becks and Henry won't be found here (Becks was a lot of money for one title and the jury is still out on the prolific Henry).

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The Montreal Impact’s visit to Red Bull Arena was a tale of two halves.

The Impact controlled the pace of the match for much of the first half. They dominated play in the midfield and looked to be well on their way to their first MLS win.

The Impact opened the scoring when Sanna Nyassi took advantage of a Markus Holgersson mishap in the box. The Red Bulls quickly replied, however, when Thierry Henry put away a Rafael Marquez cross with a header just 10 minutes later.

The Impact were able to regain the lead with a long range shot from Justin Mapp, but quickly gave it back on a penalty after Matteo Ferrari took down Dax McCarty in the box.

If not for two small defensive lapses, the Impact would have had a commanding two-goal lead heading into the second half. Unfortunately for the Impact, Henry simply seemed fed up with trading goals and decided to take the game over after the break.

The French superstar showed world-class patience controlling the ball at the top of the box before blasting a shot by Donovan Ricketts in the 56th minute. Henry then assisted on a Mehdi Ballouchy goal in the 72nd with a brilliant back heel, and he ended his day by capitalizing on a juicy rebound off Ricketts in the 89th.

Highlights

Nyassi was a nightmare for the Red Bulls throughout the first half. His superior speed forced the Red Bulls back line to play the ball much quicker than they would have liked and seemed to prevent them from organizing their attack.

Mapp had his best game for the Impact. He  had three shots on goal, displayed effective passing in the midfield, and was solid defensively as he broke up a number of Red Bull advances.

Henry was absolutely brilliant in this game. The Impact’s defense simply had no answer for his size, athleticism and soccer sense. He made Ferrari look weak on the first goal, he froze both central defenders on the second goal and he blew by the entire Impact defense on his third goal. He alone was worth the price of admission.

Lowlights

Bernardo Corradi was invisible for most of the game. He didn't have the pace to keep up with the much quicker Nyassi and seemed to be consistently behind the play. Hopefully, for the Impact, he’s still getting into game shape after joining the team late in training camp.

Ferrari had his weakest game for the Impact. He let Henry get past him on the first goal and conceded the penalty that led to the second. The calm demeanor he showed in his first three games was nowhere to be found.

Looking ahead

The Impact are on the road again as they play Real Salt Lake on Wednesday. Real is 3-1 on the season and sits atop the Western Conference. After his performance against New York, and because of his age, sitting Corradi in favor of Justin Braun would be prudent.

For more on the Montreal sports scene, go to The Montreal Sports Report.

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Sporting Kansas City continues to truck along while the New York Red Bulls finally live up to expectations and the Los Angeles Galaxy continue to fall apart. 

1. Sporting Kansas City (4-0-0, 12 pts.) Kansas City beat a Chivas team coming off the high of winning at Real Salt Lake to keep its perfect record.

2. San Jose Earthquakes (3-1-0, 9 pts.) Winning in Seattle isn't easy, but San Jose did it with a Chris Wondolowski penalty and stalwart defense. 

3. Vancouver Whitecaps (2-0-2, 8 pts.) Another draw for the Whitecaps and another goalless game for a team full of attacking potential. But Martin Rennie will be happy to show off his team's impenetrable defense. Goals will come, and when they do, look out because the Whitecaps will be untouchable if they keep playing this kind of defense.

4. Real Salt Lake (3-1-0, 9 pts.) Coming off a tough loss to Chivas at home, what does RSL do? It makes an impossible looking comeback in Portland to steal three points from the Timbers. Things look normal again.

5. Colorado Rapids (3-1-0, 9 pts.) The Rapids keep plodding along. Another good win this week with a 2-0 win at home over Chicago,

6. Seattle Sounders (2-1-0, 6 pts.) San Jose's defense is proving a tough nut to crack, but if there was any team that could do it, it would be the Sounders at home. Things didn't work out for the Sounders, but there is still plenty of positives to take from the game.

7. Houston Dynamo (2-1-0, 6 pts.) No game for the Dynamo this week or next week.

8. New York Red Bulls (2-2-0, 6 pts.) Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper look almost unstoppable together. A solid 5-2 drumming of Montreal was good, but there are still questions to be answered of Hans Backe's backline.

9. New England Revolution (2-0-2, 6 pts.) The Galaxy didn't lose the game against the Revs. New England dominated the reigning MLS Cup and Supporter's Shield winners from start to finish on Saturday night. It was an impressive win for a young team on the rise. Is anyone questioning the hiring of Jay Heaps right now? Probably not.

10. Columbus Crew (2-1-0, 6 pts.) The Crew come back every year with a new cast of characters, and every year they plod along with solid performances week in and week out. Beating a tired Toronto side was expected, but it doesn't mean it was easy.

11. Los Angeles Galaxy (1-2-0, 3 pts.) It was ugly at the Home Depot Center on Saturday night as the Galaxy were embarrassed by the Revolution, 3-1. Beckham came off at halftime for "tactical reasons." Things are getting interesting in the city of Angels again.

12. FC Dallas (1-2-1, 4 pts.) Injuries have crushed the Hoops. After losing to D.C., Dallas now has to host a confident New England team on a short week. 

13. D.C. United (1-2-1, 4 pts.) Ben Olsen has his team playing with heart, and the 4-1 defeat of F.C. Dallas was exactly what he expected of his team at home. 

14. Portland Timbers (1-2-1, 4 pts.) The Timbers have the MLS player of the future in Darlington Nagbe, but right now John Spencer needs to find a way to get his team to play for a full 90 minutes. The loss to Salt Lake was heart breaking. 

15. Chicago Fire (1-2-1, 4 pts.) A week off will do Chicago good after its loss to Colorado. 

16. Chivas USA (1-0-3, 3 pts.) After upsetting RSL at Rio Tinto, Chivas had another chance to upset a top-tier team. Instead, Sporting Kansas City showed its class, and Chivas finds itself again looking for answers.

17. Montreal Impact (0-3-1, 1 pts.) There was hope for much of the game against New York. Then, Henry turned on his magic and the Impact had no answers, which, to be fair, most teams won't have either. 

18. Toronto FC (0-3-0, 0 pts.) Toronto is still searching for its first league win, but a 1-1 draw with Santos Laguna in the CONCACAF Champions League at home showed this team has potential to move up. Now it just has to survive in Mexico, something Seattle failed to do.

19. Philadelphia Union (0-3-1, 1 pts.) The Union got its first point. But there are still too many questions surrounding this team (i.e. who will score?).

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This week, the East strikes back in the 2012 MLS Power Rankings, with Sporting Kansas City checking in at the very top.

Tumbling down the rankings are the Los Angeles Galaxy, who slide outside the top 10 after an embarrassing defeat to the New England Revolution. Meanwhile, the Montreal Impact and Toronto FC switch places at the cellar.

Movers, shakers and more. We have it all in this week's MLS Power Rankings. Let's take a look.

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"But David, we wonder 
We wonder if the thunder 
Is ever really gonna begin.
You want the day to come sooner 
When you've settled the score..."
—Steven Patrick Morrissey, "The National Front Disco"

It is very hard for me to give David Beckham's player rating a three out of 10, but that is what I intend to do in this piece.

I will give the New England Revolution credit for this: they are the first team this year to completely neutralize David Beckham's set piece ability. They took the game away from him, and he was unable to take it back, and with it, any hopes of the Los Angeles Galaxy defeating the Revs in their only meeting this season.

From what I saw, Beckham only had one legit set piece opportunity, and that happened late in the first half. The Revolution players are a crafty bunch in that they hid the slot machine somewhere in Kansas City so that they would not get affected by the damage Beckham could have generated.

But he is not just getting a rating of a three for poor play. Two other factors came into this. First, Beckham was subbed out with Marcelo Sarvas at halftime for Michael Stephens and Mike Magee.

Which leads us to the second factor in this rating: a reported lack of unprofessionalism.

Some tweets that support this...

Holy smokes. Did a DeLorean just fly down Avalon Boulevard in the rain and turn the clock back to 2008? With these allegations, it seems that way.

Thus, a combination of poor on-field play, a halftime tactical substitution and a complete lack of professionalism at halftime consigns David Beckham to his lowest rating yet this year. And this is against a middle-of-the-road Eastern Conference team led by a manager who is a just a few games into his tenure. Morrissey might as well be a prophet.

Rating: 3/10

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Dismal displays are just that: dismal. You cannot explain the inability to utlize talent and translate that into results. If you tried to, you might as well win a Nobel Peace Prize. No, wait, make that Ig Nobel Peace Prize. That's the word.

But back to the point this columnist is making: It was a sorry Saturday night for the Los Angeles Galaxy, who paid the price for not having a healthy Landon Donovan to spearhead their hopes. They were routed 3-1 by the New England Revolution, and that means there will not be any high ratings for the players.

As I will continue to reiterate to you wonderful readers on The View from Victoria Street and Bleacher Report, the players earn their ratings; I simply record them. Here they are.

Josh Saunders, 3

Ouch. It's bad enough not to have a backline that can at least run with a middle-of-the-road Eastern Conference Team like the New England Revolution, but when you can't make enough saves, it adds salt to the wound.

Saunders was left hung out to dry and really did not acquit himself at all against a Revolution attack that is resurging in terms of relevance. Memo to head coach Bruce Arena: Consider giving Bill Gaudette a chance or proceed to get 3-1'd to kingdom come.

Sean Franklin, 2

This Galaxy team needs wingers, stat. If you don't have capable wingers, you don't deserve to win ball games. Sean Franklin did an Academy Award-worthy performance of killing virtually every good ball volleyed in his direction.

Combined with Paolo Cardozo was akin to mixing chocolate mousse with mayonnaise. Or ketchup. Or mustard. A repulsive combination.

You know, if Sean Franklin is the best winger the Galaxy can come up with, this season is en route to being a wash. He didn't get the job done tonight.

Andrew Boyens, 1

Omar Gonzalez, this isn't! But forget about Omar Gonzalez. This effort from Andrew Boyens now raises a very important question: Do you start Tommy Meyer for the rest of the season, or do you ride your luck with Boyens, who was sliced apart by the Revs' counterattack?

Or, will Boyens and Meyer be placed in the middle, providing a towering presence but lacking defensive intensity all the same?

That's a big set of questions Arena will answer for us next week against Sporting Kansas City.

A.J. DeLaGarza, 3

The only defender who actually bothered to show up was A.J. DeLaGarza. His size did place him out of position, but he was able to clear whatever he could. The problem for DeLaGarza was that he did not have enough support on the wing to hold those through balls at bay.

Maybe returning to the right back position will suffice.

Todd Dunivant, 2

Along with Andrew Boyens, Dunivant was responsible for giving up the Saer Sene goal. But in his defense, he wasn't the weakest link of the backline for LA.

He was also responsible for surrendering the goal to Kelyn Rowe. To go unmarked and let a fresh rookie open his scoring account is an honest definition of humble pie.

Paolo Cardozo 3

When will Bruce Arena come to terms with the cold-hard reality that Paolo Cardozo is not a winger? When will it come? I've got my calendar ready to record the date.

Cardozo is only fit as a central attacking midfielder. Combined with Sean Franklin, you get the Galaxy's definition of flies on a boar's head. It just didn't work.

David Beckham, 3

Now I don't know all the details, but from numerous eyewitness reports on twitter, there were shades of 2008, with verbal altercations between David Beckham and other players on the Galaxy first XI.

But aside from the alleged reports of unprofessionalism, a poor on-field performance combined with a tactical substitution by Arena has resulted in this rating.

Juninho, 2

How many flights will the imposter take between Sao Paulo and Los Angeles before the truth finally out?

All joking aside, the chemistry betweenn Juninho and Marcelo Sarvas just wasn't there. When these two work together, possession is not ceded as much to the point that it becomes almost nonexistent.

Sao Paulo FC front office people, once again we understand why you offloaded him to us. Obrigado.

Marcelo Sarvas, 2

Similar situation to Juninho; This grade had to do with his chemistry on the field with No. 19.

One thing fans learned about Sarvas: He isn't the solution to the winger dilemma L.A. is suddenly inundated with.

Robbie Keane, 5

Keane was the man of the match for LA. Here's a new fact: Robbie Keane was named as vice-captain prior to the season starting. So he did what he could filling in for Landon Donovan, although understanding that Ricardo Salazar will flex his guns more often than not will prove useful in the future.

Great workrate...probably the only player who did something right for the Galaxy.

Edson Buddle, 2

Awful. Awful return to the pitch. Shooting and decision-making was so poor that the L.A .Blues would not take a chance on him if it stared right at them in the face. Silver lining: He did provide the assist to Keane, which is why his rating is a 2 instead of a 1.

Mike Magee, 3
Michael Stephens, 3

These two are coupled together because they came in as halftime substitutions by Arena. It was a gamble that was akin to flying the white flag with 45 minutes and stoppage to go, because soon after, the hammer was dropped by Sene. Didn't really turn the fortunes around for the Galaxy.

Chad Barrett, N/R

No grade for Chad Barrett, as he came in late. As an aside, it seems Barrett will be making a habit of getting a free pass—at least until he gets a start again.

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Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy have been making a very disturbing habit of inconsistency. Lose 3-1, win 3-1, and so on. Saturday at the Home Depot Center, the Galaxy raised the bar in terms of offensive and defensive futility, unraveling early and often in a 3-1 blowout defeat to Jay Heaps' New England Revolution.

Just what went wrong on Saturday for LA, and what went right for the Revs? Here are six things we learned from in Week 4 of the 2012 Major League Soccer season.

1. No Landon = No Victory

This should be a rule. In fact, starting on the first of April, let's make that a rule: If you don't have Landon Donovan to help you, you are guaranteed a defeat.

Sure, the Galaxy had David Beckham, Edson Buddle, Robbie Keane and Marcelo Sarvas, but in the end, the true captain of the Galaxy is what holds the team together.

Out nursing a quad injury, Donovan's absence had a profound impact on the match. There was no decision making, the defensive presence was absent, and New England was able to effectively utilize the counterattack in their victory.

Get well soon, Landon, or else April will be a very unforgiving month for the Galaxy.

2. A happy homecoming for Kelyn Rowe

Kelyn Rowe, as mentioned in the live blog, is a rookie with a huge upside. That's why Rowe was selected was the No. 3 overall selection in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft. In addition, he hails from UCLA.

So this was a wonderful homecoming for Rowe, who opened up the scoring just 10 minutes into the contest by creating space and persevering to get on the score sheet.

3. Hot streak for Saer Sene

Also highlighted on the live blog was the finishing ability of Saer Sene, who broke through in the previous match with the Portland Timbers.

Although the result was no longer in doubt, Sene took advantage of a scramble in the box to wrap up another three points for the visitors. Saer Sene and Kelyn Rowe. Watch for those names to pop up in bunches in the coming weeks.

4. The student bests the master...for once

Jay Heaps is only in his first few games in charge of the New England Revolution, and it's results like this that make him look like FC Barcelona's Pep Guardiola.

Bruce Arena must have some sort of gambling issue that is all but incurable. Hoping for a miracle by substituting Beckham and Sarvas for Mike Magee and Michael Stephens was akin to flying the white flag on national television.

Now the question is, can Heaps outlast his predecessor, one Steve Nicol?

5. For LA, defense is another word for blasphemy

The definition of the Los Angeles Galaxy's defense is simple: there is no such thing.

In fact, the defensive performance by the back line was superior to their efforts against Real Salt Lake and Toronto FC, in that it was far more inferior and appalling to watch.

Giving up two goals in the span of four minutes in the first 15 minutes of any match is a recipe for a rout. If the Galaxy front office does not consider searching for a new center-back to ease the burden off A.J. DeLaGarza, it will be 2007 and 2008 all over again.

I kid you not.

6. Robbie Keane salvages some sort of pride for LA

It was mere consolation, but Robbie Keane got on the score sheet in the 78th minute of play thanks to Edson Buddle.

But in spite of maintaining a goal-per-game average, Keane's strike came too little too late.

Silver lining: Los Angeles did not get shut out, and it was an admirable display from Keane, who took the captaincy during LA's losing effort on Saturday.

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