Real Salt Lake rides an orange ball to victory and the rest of the week that was

Toronto FC and Atlanta United had all the action, even if their match ended in a 2-2 draw. Giovinco is back to MVP form with a goal on his seven shots. The ATL continue to look like an East contender, plus they are fun to watch. Villalba had the goals, but it’s Almiron that is real difference-maker down south.

Portland Timbers beat the Philadelphia Union 3-1 on the road. Philly needs to look deep into their souls. They are now 13 games into a winless streak. Just about everything is going wrong for the Union.

Remember last year when New York City was the best road team in the league? Yeah, that was a fluke. Their 2-1 loss to D.C. United might just lie at the feet of everyone’s favorite sommelier-soccer player, Pirlo. Hudson River Blue wants them to move on.

Minnesota lost again. LA won, but they beat the winless Montreal Impact. Impact de Montréal only have one home game. You know that result well, a draw with the Sounders.

Columbus wasn’t Meram-powered this week and lost to Chicago. For all the trades and talents on the Crew, they currently live and die by Justin Meram.

Kansas City dismantled the Rapids.

New England won. Seriously. RSL beat Vancouver handily. There was snow and an orange ball. After their win Sunday Orlando is perfect at home. Four teams have yet to drop points at home. Sixteen clubs have yet to lose when hosting. Three teams are undefeated: Dallas, Toronto and Sporting KC.

Seattle and San Jose played to a 1-1 draw.

Highlights of the Week

Just your average 60 yard pass to spring a guy one-on-one with the keeper.

Don’t pay attention to the goal. Pay attention to Dom Dwyer’s touch, turn and pass to create goal.

Orange BALL

Gratuitous former Sounder highlight? Of course

Check this out

There’s still parts of MLS where they have to deal with snow, and an orange ball. Real Salt Lake enjoyed it.

New England and Houston went “Toe to Toe”

There’s a lot of discussion as to whether elbowing someone in the head accidentally is a red card. Judge for yourself.

Race for the Shield

Still the Timbers. Still exhausting. Only the Crew and Dallas are within three points.

Race for the West

Portland has a three point lead on Dallas. Seattle is below the red line due to LA having two wins. Every team in the West is within three points of the line.

Next week’s TV games (all times Pacific)

4/14 at 4 PM the Philadelphia Union host New York City FC on ESPN

4/14 at 7 PM the Vancouver Whitecaps host Seattle Sounders on Q13 (TSN in Canada)

4/14 at 8 PM the San Jose Earthquakes host FC Dallas on UniMas/Facebook

4/15 at 11:30 PM Orlando City SC hosts the LA Galaxy on FOX