Sacha van der Most, the Head Coach of the Chivas USA U-18's, looked at the team's second visit to the Copa Chivas as an overall positive. The team finished its participation in the 2009 International Chivas Comex Cup with one win, one draw, and three losses in its five games.

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

Women's Professional Soccer needs to make all the right moves to stand a chance of success and it made a positive step with the announcement of its playoff format this week.

WPS will implement a ground-breaking new system which will see the regular-season champion advance directly to the championship game – at its home stadium.

The formula is an ideal way to reward consistency over the course of the season, while still allowing the kind of playoff excitement that is inherent in North American sports.

Economic factors will make life tough for WPS, but the use of a simple, structured and inventive playoffs is a plus.

Under the system, the first round will see the fourth-place regular-season finisher travel to meet the third-place team. The winner of that contest progresses to the Super Semifinal, where it will visit the second-place team from league play. That match will be used to determine which team earns the right to challenge the regular-season champion for the overall title.

The concept of having the best team from the regular season host the final is something that is being considered by Major League Soccer and should add something extra to the closing weeks of the WPS's inaugural campaign.

Is this a format that could work in MLS? And will this step help WPS take off in a difficult environment?

Share your thoughts and comments below.

The Columbus Crew coach belatedly held the first preseason training session for the defending MLS Cup champions Thursday morning at an indoor facility north of the city.

The Houston Dynamo officially announced the acquisition of their newest player Thursday, 18-year-old U.S. youth international forward Felix Garcia.

In conjunction with today's bone marrow match drive at Rio Tinto Stadium, Real Salt Lake and Soccer Unites Utah have announced that the organizations will sponsor an online auction during the month of February featuring 25 player-worn MLS jerseys from throughout the League's history.

U.S. Men's National Team head coach Bob Bradley has called 20 players back to U.S. Soccer's National Training Center in Carson, Calif. - including five from the MLS Cup-champion Columbus Crew - to begin preparations for the USA's first match of final round qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Find out what the print and blog worlds are saying about all things D.C. United in the newest edition of the D.C. United Newsstand.

With many of the same faces that have been defending the team's colors for several seasons now, Chivas USA opened the fifth training camp in club history on Wednesday.

Picture this: One year, a club puts together the best regular-season performance in its league with a 16-7-7 record, thus winning a major trophy, only to swiftly revamp the roster with a flurry of foreign signings meant to boost its prospects in international competition.

In any sport, uniform numbers can be a funny thing. For some players, the digits they wear mean everything, and some will do anything humanly possible to secure their preferred number. However for others, the numbers on the back of their jersey are nothing more than another part of the kit.