So Reading is gone and Fulham survives.

In truth, not that shocking. In fact we warned you last August that Reading's first EPL season would prove a mirage and that there would be real problems this year.

Fulham's survival should bring manager Roy Hodgson at least an OBE. If Sir Alex is a knight because he's got a ton of players up at Old Trafford, shouldn't Roy get a Queen's honor for managing to get Switzerland to the 1994 World Cup, Finland to within a step of Euro 2008 and Fulham another season in the English top flight? The man may be a genius ... at the very least he knows how to get the most out of limited resources.

Closer to home we are beginning to believe that the Chicago Fire has the potential to be an extremely good side. The reason is quite simple: Cuauhtemoc Blanco has figured out how to be effective with or without the ball.
Thursday night at DC he scored a terrific goal on national television, exactly the kind of thing that the MLS publicists have to love.

But perhaps more important, Blanco is such a midfield factor that the opposition has to concentrate on him. The result is plenty of space for Justin Mapp and John Thorrington, both of whom are showing us that they know what to do with time and room to operate.

Poor old Toronto FC. No, not the guys on the field, who actually look much, much better this year. It's those loyal TFC fans who may not seen David Beckham again this MLS season. Beckham will likely miss the May 31 match in Toronto because he'll be on England duty for matches against the USA and Trinidad & Tobago. Why Trinidad you ask? Well, it seems England wants to host a World Cup sometime in the next century (2018, to tell the truth) and Mr. Jack Warner of Tobago is a very powerful FIFA man. Sending the national team to Mr. Warner's island nation could be seen as a fairly straightforward piece of lobbying.

Toronto fans? Welll there's always that MLS All-Star game coming up this summer. You can be sure Becks will be on the MLS squad.