The Crew, on the other hand, were wallowing in mediocrity, off to a lackluster start of mostly loses and ties with a few wins.  They were lucky to come away from Qwest with a tie.

Oh what a difference a season can make...

We're hoping, struggling, barely breaking through the top eight to the playoffs. We squelched a lead in last week's game against New England to lose 2-1, dropping to number seven in the post-season race.

The Crew, meanwhile, are all but kings of the league, riding high on a 22-home-game winning streak.  They've already clinched a spot in the playoffs and are strongly in the lead for the  "Supporter's Shield"—the trophy that goes out to the team with the best record at the end of the season, and a slot in next year's CONCACAF Champions League.

The Crew will be missing captain Frankie Hejduk for accumulated yellows (although he hasn't been called up since I first said it, I still think he's the 2rd most important player on the National squad ). And defender/All Star XI Chad Marshall is out injured.

They still have Guillermo Barros Schelotto, though, who's currently 4th behind Montero for the Golden Boot award.

The Sounders, on the other hand, will be missing Jaqua for yellows.  This isn't a really bad thing. What will make it worse, though, is starting Evans in his place (I wasn't the only one to question his performance last week.)

We're still hoping to reach the playoffs, but mostly based on the results of other games (like New England's midweek loss to Dallas)—because with the Crew, we'll be lucky to come away with a draw. Very lucky.