Schelotto looking like a cinch to repeat as MVP

Sweeping up after the MLS weekend party, here are 10 things I found lying around:

1. MVP redux?: When is it too early to start seriously chewing on the MVP race? Never. Especially when one player is heroically driving his team right back into the thick of things.

Guillermo Barros Schelotto has reinvented himself as a goal scorer, now leading the league with 10. Imagine that, for a guy who led the league in assists in 2008, but who struck for just seven himself over the entire campaign.

Schelotto was clinical perfection around goal Sunday and generally brilliant as the men in yellow subdued Chivas USA 2-1. Not only did the wily Argentine strike twice, but he managed to keep his head about him on a black-and-blue afternoon, when at least one Chivas player probably deserved to be sent off, and when the Crew's Emmanuel Ekpo was denied the clearest of penalty appeals.

None of that mattered in the final reckoning as Schelotto willed his way into one successful opportunity, and calmly, accurately deposited another. Major League Soccer has only ever had one two-time MVP (Preki in '97 and '03), but never a repeat one. Are we looking at a first?

2. Men of the moment: It was a good weekend from the MLS men of Argentina. Aside from Schelotto, Javier Morales ran the show with aplomb in Real Salt Lake's massive road win.

Elsewhere, Josh Wicks had another nice night in the D.C. United goal, perhaps his best yet. Teammate Christian Gomez apparently found the long-lost boots he wore in that 2007 MVP season, as he had his best outing of 2009.

Cam Weaver had a goal and one huge assist in his initial pair of games for Houston, which rescued him from the flailing Earthquakes. Seattle rookie Steve Zakuani was a handful, as usual, against San Jose. And finally, go watch video from Saturday's RSL match. Watch how Jamison Olave can dominate when he's locked in, when he can beat back those twice-a-half impulses to do something remarkably boneheaded.

3. Busch league: Jon Busch's big year in goal for Chicago in 2008 is starting to look like an anomaly. He's not awful. But he's not good, either. There are mediocre links in an otherwise solid Chicago Fire side: Busch and holding midfielder Logan Pause.

4. Drop the guillotine already: If anyone out there can dredge up a justification for retaining coach Juan Carlos Osorio at Red Bull New York, please write it up and FedEx it to me -- along with your little soccer analyst's badge. You've lost privileges.

Red Bull would need at least 30 points over the back half of the season to even talk about the playoffs. That means a record somewhere around 8-1-6 or 9-3-3. Anyone think they've got it in 'em? Thought not.

How horrible would it be to christen that way-cool new stadium next year with such a failed bit? Note to the energy drink suits: You've built an awesome arena, and good on ya for it. Now start building the excitement. Just make the move already.

5. Home sweet home: Coach Bruce Arena's Galaxy always look like a road team. Which is fine -- if you're the road team!

I understand why Los Angeles deploys such a protective shell away from SoCal. The personnel just isn't there to do otherwise. Get too cute away from home and you'll be a punching bag, for sure.

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But can't they be just a big more adventurous at home? They line up with two holding midfielders (even if one plays wide, as Dema Kovalenko did Saturday.) The two outside backs are too tentative in joining the attack. Eddie Lewis just doesn't have the wheels to apply good pressure on opposition right backs. Generally, they are way too content to move the ball about the fringes, painfully slow to seize initiative.

They play with all the zip and zing of warm bottled water. (And after Saturday's 2-0 loss to RSL, Arena ripped his midfield. Well, Bruce, who picked em?)

6. New men in the middle: There are quite a few new faces manning the MLS middle these days. Will Johnson has moved inside for RSL and did well on a night when central partner Kyle Beckerman not at his best.

Rodney Wallace continued to inflate his rookie stock by playing alongside Clyde Simms in the holding role of United's 3-5-2. His possession could have been more tidy, but his range and ball-hawking looked decent.

We saw Brandon McDonald in the middle for under-strength San Jose last week. He was about as undistinguished as Antonio Ribeiro was this week during his turn alongside Ramiro Corrales in the Earthquakes' center.

Richard Mulrooney is proving he can still get it done in the middle for Houston. He's not Ricardo Clark in there. But with Brad Davis, Stuart Holden and Brian Mullan working so feverishly around him, the temporarily masked Mulrooney doesn't have to be.

7. Sometimes, things just don't seem fair: While San Jose, Dallas and Toronto try to piece together decent defenses with spare parts, Houston just stumbles into defensive dream land. They've got Eddie Robinson on the injury shelf, and yet Robertson Stadium is still brimming with quality defenders.

Recently acquired Canadian international Andrew Hainault has been so good that he's displaced Wade Barrett, something no one else has done since Houston's captain first grabbed a starting spot back in 1998. This past week, Hainault played left back on Wednesday, then switched to the right as Houston played for a second time in four days.

Meanwhile, Geoff Cameron has become the best center back in Houston. He's adapted so smoothly to the position that he surely is among the top five MLS center backs at the moment.

8. Same song, different verse: I was going to write something about referees. Again.

Maybe lament those two bogus PKs Baldomero Toledo called at RFK, a pair of absolute head-scratchers. Or about how Silviu Petrescu allowed San Jose to kick Freddie Ljungberg into next week, or about how comically overmatched Steven DePiero was in the Columbus-Chivas USA 12-rounder. But, really, by now, what's the point?

9. OK, just one little comment: One of the ongoing issues with the men in the middle comes down to simple fitness; chubby refs can't keep up with the game, can't get into the right spots to make savvy assessments. It wouldn't be fair to call out individuals without knowing how they performed on fitness tests and such, but I'll just say this: Some of you need to do a few more "push aways." As in, "push away" from the table. You know who you are.

10. The defense at BMO: Yes, Toronto won over the weekend. Yea! But it was against Red Bull. So, "Yea!" with an asterisk.

Now let's talk about that defense, the one with Nick Garcia, who was just acquired from San Jose. TFC's back line on Saturday was manned by: the weakest link from a remarkably poor San Jose defense (Garcia), a guy who wasn't good enough previously for a very bad L.A. team (Kevin Harmse) and a guy who has never truly found his best spot on the field (Adrian Serioux). Hmmm. I could be wrong, but that looks like a four-spot waiting to happen.

Steve Davis is a Dallas-based freelance writer who covers MLS for ESPNsoccernet. He can be reached at BigTexSoccer@yahoo.com.