Five-a-side: What's hot around MLS

MLS Five-a-side:The skinny on five things that matter this week in Major League Soccer:

1. One Y2K worry from it being 1999 all over again: Two of Major League Soccer quiet impact players this year also happen to be two of the remaining "96ers," a couple of guys still playing, improbably, like it was 1999. They are 34 years old, an age at which most professional soccer players are kicking the tires on the idea of retirement, if they haven't already bought into it.

Jesse Marsch and Steve Ralston, two of the remaining players who were trapping and passing during Major League Soccer's inaugural 1996 campaign, have played big roles for Chivas USA and New England this year. Neither is going quietly into winter.

Ralston's impact has been a bit more sporadic, but no less significant. The veteran attacker started his season with a flourish, captaining the side to a 3-0 win over Houston in a rematch of the 2007 MLS Cup Final. Ralston even scored New England's first goal of the campaign.

But he also suffered a knee injury and missed the next five matches. Returning seamlessly may have seemed problematic for a 34-year-old midfielder who plays his home matches on the lesser forgiving artificial turf. But not for Ralston, apparently, who picked up where he left off.

The pride of Florida International Univ. soccer now has a team-leading six goals. (And when you lead the East leaders in scoring, that's saying something.) He shares the team leadership in assists with three -- all while adjusting smoothly to the attacking midfield spot. (Ralston, a flank midfielder for most of his career, did play the central position for manager Steve Nicol at the end of 2007, as well.)

Remember, we are talking about somebody who has been around long enough to lay a solid claim to the league record for career assists (124), games played (348) and games started (345).

Across the country at The Home Depot Center, Marsch has been nothing short of a midfield dervish, looking even more active than last year, getting himself forward tirelessly to help mitigate Chivas USA's injury-related loss of striking power.

With four goals already this year, he is just one short of equaling his best season yet. (Marsch struck five times in both 2003 and 2005.) And that's with half the season still remaining.

Meanwhile, he's also been active in organizing matters defensively as Preki's team, as injury-ravaged as any team around, has been forced to juggle defensive personnel all season.

2. A change in Crew-ville on the horizon?: Eddie Gaven is returning from an ankle injury and could even be available for a few minutes Friday. He surely couldn't start just yet. But when the young U.S. attacker does get healthy enough to make the first 11, will he even have a starting job waiting for him?

Emmanuel Ekpo has already bettered Gaven's production in goals, despite starting just three games. (Gaven has started 10.) Ekpo also provided a big assist earlier this year, sliding a wonderful pass into Robbie Rogers for a game-winning goal against San Jose back on May 10. That was Ekpo's second MLS appearance -- and a wonderful way to announce his presence as a potential difference-maker.

The dynamic young attacker, a Nigerian under-23 international, has lots of room to grow. Gaven, meanwhile, has seemed to hit a plateau. Coming into the season, Crew followers had reason to wonder if Gaven would be picked for Peter Nowak's Olympic team. Now, they may be wondering if he'll be picked for Sigi Schmid's first 11.

It's not a bad conundrum for Schmid to have, however, as his team looks to build on a three-game unbeaten streak.

3. The longest season: For the record, Houston manager Dominic Kinnear says he does want to win the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, that he takes the long-running tourney seriously.

But circumstances are dictating something else. Kinnear just hasn't been able to deploy a fully representative lineup. This year, like last year, he had to field a "reserve" team for U.S. Open Cup play -- and promptly got bounced from U.S. Soccer's club team competition.

It's hard to argue with the Dynamo formula, seeing as Kinnear's side is going for a third consecutive championship this year. Essentially, on the hunt for hardware, something's got to give.

So for the second consecutive season, Houston lost to the Charleston Battery just as the team from south Texas merged into the tournament named for U.S. soccer's late pioneer.

In the 2007 loss, Kinnear used just three regular starters. He didn't even take Dwayne De Rosario or Brian Ching on the trip.

Three regular starters might have improved the lineup this year; Kinnear fielded a team entirely made up of reserves, which lost in penalty kicks to the USL-1 side. Kinnear reasoned that he just didn't have a choice, with an MLS regular season match coming up two days later at Real Salt Lake. And the day in between, of course, would be used to travel across three time zones, from Charleston to Utah.

With SuperLiga and matches and contests in the new CONCACAF Champions League still to come, plus the team's matches already played in 2008 in the CONCACAF Champions Cup and the Pan-Pacific Championships, Houston is already looking at a season of perhaps 50 competitive matches -- more than any MLS team has been forced to deal with.

4. Back to the future in MLS: We may be witnessing an unprecedented wave or prodigal sons in MLS. Josh Wolff is already on board for his second go-round with Kansas City, while negotiations continue to bring Brian McBride to Chicago.

Nate Jaqua may be back on his way to Houston, according to GM Oliver Luck. And Columbus is attempting to negotiate a prickly situation with former New England Revolution forward Pat Noonan, who may be interested in re-joining MLS after a half-season run in Norway. Columbus manager Sigi Schmid has made his interest in Noonan known, although rights issues for his contract must be sorted out.

Wolff can't play for his new team until the next transfer window opens on July 15. (True, as well, with McBride or anybody else who was under contract as the last transfer window closed a few months ago.)

Wolff probably won't need long to acclimate, even if K.C. plays at a new ground these days. He recently spent time with Bob Bradley's national team, so regaining fitness shouldn't take too long. And since he spent four seasons with Kansas City (2003-06) before trying the life of pro soccer in Germany for two seasons, he certainly knows the climate and general neighborhood.

5. It is that Jason Kreis, right?: There is a real irony to watching a team coached by Jason Kreis struggle so in front of goal.

Real Salt Lake had a wonderful opportunity to collect an invaluable road win last week at Kansas City. But for some imprecise work near goal, Kreis' men could have assumed control against the Wizards at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. Instead, Curt Onalfo's team kept the visitors from scoring, and then managed an opportunistic goal at the end to collect all three points.

Thursday night on ESPN2, Kreis' team once again controlled matters, but never could beat Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad, despite plenty of good surges into the offensive third.

The irony is this: Kreis made a huge imprint as a player by being tenacious and fiercely opportunistic around goal. For a guy not blessed with great size (like his current striker Kenny Deuchar) or terrific speed (like his current forward Robbie Findley), he still managed to strike at a rate that compares favorable to some of the league's all-time great goal scorers.

Kreis produced slightly more than a goal every third game, which is about where guys like Brian McBride, Jaime Moreno and Preki landed in strike-rate. And he will probably be the only player in MLS to record the very first goal for two clubs, as Kreis has (Dallas and RSL).

Still, somehow, his team leads the league in shots, but sometimes lacks polish on the final combination around goal or, simply, in putting the ball on frame.