MLS Matchday 17: A look ahead

 

The CONCACAF Gold Cup is front and center in the minds of many American soccer fans this week, but while the U.S. national team is playing on Saturday there will also be a handful of great MLS match-ups.

Like rivalries? Want to see the league's best face off? Then this is your weekend. Here is the rundown of games this Saturday:

• Houston Dynamo at Seattle Sounders, 4pm (Direct Kick)

• Kansas City Wizards at New England Revolution, 4pm (Direct Kick)

• Columbus Crew at Chicago Fire, 8pm (ESPN2)

• FC Dallas at Colorado Rapids, 9:30pm (Direct Kick)

• Toronto FC at San Jose Earthquakes, 10:30pm (Direct Kick)

• Los Angeles Galaxy at Chivas USA, 10:30pm (FSC)

So what are the best match-ups in this week loaded with plenty of great ones? Here is the Best XI:

Best XI Match-ups to watch

• Fredy Montero vs. What's left of Houston's defense

• Ricardo Clark vs. Freddie Ljungberg

• Jhon Kennedy Hurtado vs. Kei Kamara

• Steve Zakuani vs. Brian Mullan

• Guillermo Barros Schelotto vs. Wilman Conde

• Frankie Hejduk vs. Marco Pappa

• Landon Donovan vs. Paulo Nagamura

• Pablo Mastroeni vs. David Ferreira

• Cory Gibbs vs. Jeff Cunningham

• Josh Wolff vs. Darrius Barnes

• Eddie Gaven vs. Tim Ward

The Sounders-Dynamo match is a can't-miss affair that every MLS fan should at least TIVO (what, you don't have Direct Kick? Shame on you). Now, I wrote the previous sentence before realizing Houston's entire defense was missing the match due to suspensions. That should give us a chance to see what Pat Onstad can do with a MUCH weaker defense in front of him and Seattle's vaunted attack coming at him.

The Crew-Fire game should also be interesting, but Gold Cup absences have taken some of the punch out of that match-up. One interesting match-up in that game is the potential Gaven-Ward meeting. They were very close friends and former teammates with U.S. youth teams, the MetroStars and the Crew.

You can call the Rapids-FC Dallas match the "Are they for real" Derby. FC Dallas has been playing much better in recent weeks and this match will let them show if they're really ready to make a run at the playoffs. It will also show us of Colorado's early success was a fluke or if they're really that good.

What match-ups will you be watching for? Which match-ups should have made this list but didn't? What game are you looking most forward to? Will you be taping your team's MLS game and watching the Gold Cup, or TIVO'ing the Gold Cup and watching MLS on Saturday?

Share your thoughts below.