This will be one of the more interesting matches to keep on eye on this weekend.

New coach, new addition of Eddie Lewis, first match under The Bruce with a full squad and having to travel all the way to the East Coast.

And for New England, a team that was in Toronto last weekend, Trinidad / Tobago just two days later and then all the way back to Boston…

While it’s a disappointing loss on the road, Castro’s PK (a vital away goal) will come into play next Tuesday night at New England.

Depth and figuring out how to get results on the road…  MLS teams are going to need a lot more depth while having to deal with travel, injuries, suspensions, fans and away pitches.

It’s just not going to get any easier if New England and Chivas USA make it through the Qualification stages.

It was a journey that’s been a bit misunderstood from the outside looking in, but at the weekend I was able to catch up with our boy, newly minted Columbus Crew striker Pat Noonan about everything that’s gone on in the first 8 months of 2008.

Dunny - In January you were dealing with your contract option not being picked up, how hard was that?

Pat - There’s no question it was difficult not having my option picked up with New England. Any time you have spent 5 good years with a team and performed for them you don’t expect that to happen. I understand I was injured too much towards the end of the contract but I still did many good things for the organization and thought I deserved what I was making.

Dunny - The decision to sign with Aalesund was seemingly a good one, but with injuries and coaching decisions you didn’t get the opportunities that were promised. What were some of the frustrations you felt knowing you’d picked up your life and made a major decision to go to Norway? Especially with Elvira going over there with you?

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New England is looking strong, but watch out for this late push by Houston who’ve won 4 in a row.

Access United has put together a pretty sick preview of DC’s upcoming Semi-Final match up against SuperLiga Champions New England Revolution on August 12th.

Big thanks to RSF who sent in his own view from behind Matt Reis’ goal as Houston’s Corey Ashe hit the crossbar to give the Revolution the 2008 SuperLiga title.

If you’ve been to a Revs game and have never experienced this group of supporters before, highly suggest it.

Check this video after the Jump when Revs supporters headed down I-95…

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The ongoing battle between MLS, New England Revolution and the Columbus Crew finally ended today as our boy Pat Noonan was re-acquired by Major League Soccer and the Revolution, then promptly traded to the Columbus Crew for their 2009 1st Round Pick, Allocation Money and ended with swapping their Allocation Spots as the Revs now have the Number 3 position and the Crew down to the 10th.

All of the haggling surrounding Noonan’s return to Major League Soccer revolved initially on Noonan leaving for free at the beginning of 2008 after the Revolution wanted him to take a significant pay cut. With MLS understandably unwilling to pay to get him back in the league even though Columbus had the funds and the right numbers for Noonan to come back, it took two months for the deal to finalize.

The Revolution get ALOT out of this deal as they are in a great situation without Noonan, top of the table in the East, not on the hook for his salary AND (the most important part) they never used or was allocated anything for the initial loss of Noonan when he signed for Norwegian side Aalesunds FK.

image via Wiki