The million-dollar question, MLS fans, is do we believe what we saw this weekend? Do we think that Colorado – which dismantled, undressed, and any other cool-sounding verb you can came up withed Los Angeles – is a real contender?

Do we believe that Dallas will go down as meekly as they did on Saturday if they meet Real Salt Lake again in the playoffs?

I don’t have a great answer for you, to be honest. I was pretty sure that the Galaxy would beat the Sounders in a two-legged playoff. Now, I’m not so sure.

There are plenty of other things I’m not sure about after this week, so let’s go onto the week that was in MLS:

TUESDAY
Chicago 0:2 Kansas City
Records: Fire 8-12-8 (32 pts.); Wizards 10-12-6 (36).
What we learned:
Not much of note here, as Kansas City put together a very good performance to keep its playoff hopes alive. Chicago can never quite put it together at home, which is a little baffling. Also a little baffling is how a roster like that could miss the playoffs by a pretty wide margin.

Lots of questions and lots of changes probably in store in Chicago this off-season.
And it was a good week for Canadian youngsters. We’ll get to Mr. Lindsay a little later, but Teal Bunbury is a good striker, maybe good enough to break into the U.S. team. Guess that’s not saying much these days.

FRIDAY
Seattle 2:1 Chivas USA
Records: Sounders 14-9-6 (48 pts).; Chivas 8-16-4 (28).
What we learned:
Reason No. 654 why Seattle rules. I hear this song after every game they win at home. Seriously, where would MLS be without Seattle? OK, you can back to hating them now.

The Chivas defense was nonexistent in the first half, as the Sounders walked through them twice in the first 25 minutes. It’s always a fine line, both were great team goals, but to me, sometimes great team goals are just awful defense.

Seattle coasted in the second half and lost their clean sheet late, and that’s still a concern. Patrick Ianni left with an injury in the 50th minute, and a rusty Tyrone Marshall came on. He’s got a couple of weeks to figure it out if they need him.
Seattle is probably hoping at this point that Real Salt Lake doesn’t beat out Los Angeles for the Supporters’ Shield. Actually, they’re definitely hoping that doesn’t happen.

(By the way, don’t know how I didn’t mention Alan Gordon’s elbow last week on Adrien Cann. That was really bad, he deserves what he gets.)

SATURDAY
Chicago 0:0 DC United
Records: Fire 8-12-9 (33 pts.); DCU 6-19-4 (22).
What we learned:
Not much from this one, except me picking up a little more Spanish. Every bit helps.
Brian McBride got a nice send-off from the Toyota Park crowd, and neither team did much offensively. Andy Najar was – again – probably the best player on the field, which is great, but: a) he’s not American; and b) he’s probably not long for this league.
But we’ll see.

Toronto 2:2 Columbus
Records: TFC 8-13-8 (32 pts.); Crew 13-8-8 (47).
What we learned:
All credit to the Toronto owners (Maple Leaf Sports) for not only coming on the CBC broadcast to apologize, but also do so in writing. And as the CBC pointed out, if they win some games, everything will be forgiven.
But TFC is another team with plenty to figure out with some aging stars (Dwayne DeRosario) and just a general mess left by Preki and Mo Johnston. I liked Maicon Santos, and I still do, he was great in this game, I can’t understand where he’s been all year.

And TFC Academy product Nicholas Lindsay, just 18, was excellent as well, picking up a pair of assists. Unfortunately, he’s Canadian, too. Dammit.
Meanwhile, Columbus needed a stoppage time goal from Will Hesmer (yes, Will Hesmer) to get a point. Hesmer didn’t even score with his head, he settled the ball and put together a fine finish, becoming the second MLS goalkeeper to ever score (Danny Cepero).

Strangely, even though Chad Marshall looked poor again, and it’s not like they played any better, that goal seems like it may be big for the Crew and maybe, just maybe, give them some momentum going forward.

Or maybe not, especially if Emilio Renteria can’t make it back for the playoffs. But there were signs of life (from guys like Robbie Rogers and Eddie Gaven), even if they weren’t on the defensive end.

Steven Lenhart was his usual annoying self, enough that he got sent off along with TFC goalkeeper Jon Conway (yes, he’s still around) for a second-half scuffle. I’m not quite sure how Conway wasn’t credited with an own goal when Chad Marshall’s header came off the crossbar, hit him in the back and went in.
But I’m not on the dubious goals panel. I’m available, though, for a price.

Philadelphia 2:1 New York
Records: Union 8-14-7 (31 pts.); Red Bulls 14-9-6 (48).
What we learned:
It was a half full, half empty game for New York. On the empty side, they were dreadful for the first 30 minutes, conceding twice due to hideous marking on set pieces (one by Rafa Marquez).

But on the half full side, they came out of the locker room in the second half fired up, including a fantastic goal by Danleigh Borman, and although they couldn’t get the equalizer, they were by far the better team in the second half.
Thierry Henry missed out on this one, and Hans Backe was dealt another question mark when he inserted Salou Ibriahim at the intermission for Tony Tchani and Ibriahim played out of his gourd (official term).

So now what do you do, Mr. Backe? I’m not really sure. And I’m not really sure he is, either. Still, if it’s San Jose and Columbus in the way, they’re still going to MLS Cup.
As for Philly, they will be dangerous next year if they can keep their team together. Except for Danny Califf. He can go.

New England 1:0 Kansas City
Records: Revolution 9-15-5 (32 pts.); Wizards 10-13-6 (36).
What we learned:
Don’t want to spend too much time on this one, as Kansas City was officially eliminated by a team that couldn’t fill its bench. In the end, I liked watching the Wizards, but they weren’t good enough to be a playoff team. Ryan Smith was out again for KC, who will have a new stadium next year and could be a dangerous team with an addition here or there.

New England has actually finished the season hot, amazingly. They’re going to need a lot of help to be a contender again, though, anytime soon.

Salt Lake 2:0 Dallas
Records: RSL 15-4-10 (55 pts.); FCD 12-3-14 (50).
What we learned:
Dallas actually came out and dominated the first 20 minutes ago, but it was basically a slow downward spiral after that, which was capped by Ned Grabavoy’s headed goal in the 58th minute, which was pretty innocent until Dario Sala got involved.

But the scoreline was just, RSL took over the game as it went on, and Robbie Findley actually had a nice assist (to Javier Morales) for the second goal.
Dallas took the “don’t show your hand” approach, at least a little. While David Ferreira went 90 minutes, Atiba Harris and Brek Shea were rested.
As I said last week, with RSL now unbeaten in 29 at home (25 regular season), it’s hard to see a scenario where Dallas wins at Rio Tinto in a few weeks, and in that way, Dallas may have done itself a favor.

You’d have to figure they would much rather play Los Angeles, and now if RSL can win (against Colorado) and Dallas can beat the Galaxy, they will get the Galaxy in the playoffs. Problem is, no one ever likes the “beating a team to play the same team again” scenario. So there might be some good tanking going on all around in MLS’ final week. What a wonderful playoff system.

San Jose 0:1 Houston
Records: Earthquakes 12-9-7 (43 pts.); Dynamo 8-15-6 (30).
What we learned:
There have been a couple of times this season where San Jose has forgotten that they’re overachievers and just laid a giant egg. This was one of those games.

Although there were signs of life in the second half, and Arturo Alvarez may have to be in form if the Earthquakes are going to do anything in the playoffs. At the end of the day, though, who is going to score? Yeah, I know, Chris Wondolowski. Sorry, walked into that one again.

The goal came from a corner kick, which was a theme this week in MLS and could be a big factor in the playoffs. This one was a really nice finish from Andrew Hainault.
Some credit to Jon Busch, too, who was gashed in a collision with Cam Weaver in the first minute of the game, took seven minutes to get treatment and stayed in for 90 minutes, even though the game was somewhat meaningless. When he took his head wrap off at the final whistle, he was still bleeding. So I guess he deserves something for that.

Los Angeles 1:3 Colorado
Records: Galaxy 17-5-7 (56 pts.); Rapids 12-8-9 (45).
What we learned:
To me, this wasn’t just a loss, it was a beatdown. Conor Casey and Omar Cummings were running wild on the Galaxy defense and it could have been 4 or 5-1.

Bruce Arena disagreed: “I didn’t think we played that badly,” Arena told the AP. “We moved the ball well and we created some decent chances. But we got punished for our mistakes.”

The first mistake was a brutal one, a hideous own goal that came off a Juninho clearance. On top of everything, Chris Birchall hobbled off in the 41st minute. Not a good night for the Galaxy, to say the least.

Like I said, is it an abberation? Or is it what we’ve seen for a lot of the second half of the season? Can Landon Donovan, David Beckham, and Edson Buddle carry this team to glory right now?

On the flip side, Jeff Larentowicz and Pablo Mastroeni looked damn good, Jamie Smith and Brian Mullan were dangerous, and – like I said – the Rapids were dominant.

But will it last? Wells Thompson was try No. 216 at outside back with Kosuke Limura. And I’m not sold on Matt Pickens, no matter what Marcelo Balboa says. So, in my expert opinion, your guess is as good as mine.

It will be interesting to see who is rested and who isn’t in the final weekend of the regular season. But until then? Thanks for reading.