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MLS Team of Week 10

It's hard to find defenders worth mentioning in a week highlighted by hat-tricks and five-goal thrashings.

Take a bow, Revs. You done good.
Take a bow, Revs. You done good.
Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Three teams scored five goals in a match this week. Three players scored hat-tricks. This is not the week to celebrate the defensive prowess of MLS. So it's a happy-go-lucky 3-5-2 for week 10.


GK Jon Busch (San Jose Earthquakes): Guided his team unbeaten through a two-game week, starting with a clean sheet (0-0 against Colorado Rapids), followedup with an assist on the goal that set the Quakes on the way to beating FC Dallas (2-1), and kept his team ahead in that game despite the loss of Shea Salinas to a red card and some serious pressure from FCD.


D Bobby Burling (Chivas USA): How did the Goats beat the Rapids in Colorado? By keeping their hosts off the board until it was too late for any sort of serious comeback. Burling gets selected as the poster boy for an unexpectedly disciplined and effective Chivas back line.

D Michel (FC Dallas): FCD lost two games this week, but Michel can hold his head high. He was scorer of both his team's goals in back-to-back 2-1 losses, and his free kick against San Jose was a reminder that there may not be a better left foot in MLS.

D Perry Kitchen (D.C. United): He's not a defender, but he's getting stuck at the back in this lineup for his part in DC's 1-0 win over Philadelphia Union, particularly the moment he managed to dump Danny Cruz on his head, while in the act of cleaning up the aftermath of Bill Hamid's dramatic, but scrappy, double-save in the 64th minute.

RM Teal Bunbury (New England Revolution): Moving Bunbury to the right wing has proven an excellent use of his attacking ability, while shielding him from the morale-sapping realization that his finishing isn't really what it ought to be. His movement and powerful, if erratic, shooting won the day for the Revs against the Sounders this week. He had a hand in four of the five goals: crashing the far post to engineer a rebound for Patrick Mullins to tap-in; netting his own rebound; setting up Diego Fagundez's second goal; and finally bouncing one in off Chad Marshall's chest.

M Marvin Chavez (Chivas USA): An off-season acquisition for the Rapids, Chavez saw his World Cup hopes briefly threatened by Colorado's apparent lack of enthusiasm for actually letting him play. But he got his call-up for his country anyway, and was finally allowed to join a team which might be interested in giving him some playing time. As it happened, his first game for Chivas was against his old club. Fittingly, it was a snowy day on which Chavez demonstrated the truth of the adage: revenge is best served cold. Two goals against the team that didn't want him was an impressive way to say hello to his new club and goodbye to the old one.

M Harrison Shipp (Chicago Fire): He was considered the Rookie of the Year front-runner before he led the Fire to its first win of the year with three goals and an assist at Red Bull Arena.

M Javier Morales (Real Salt Lake): The old dog brought all his tricks to Houston, and left with a hat-trick, an assist and three points for his (still undefeated) team.

LM Diego Fagundez (New England Revolution): Fagundez is a goal-scoring midfielder, so it was about time he started scoring some goals. Two against the best team in the league (for now) is a good way to open his account for the year, and sends an ominous signal to the Revs' future opponents.

FWD Bradley Wright-Phillips (New York Red Bulls): His second consecutive home hat-trick put him atop the league scoring chart. He is already the first Englishman to score a hat-trick in MLS. Now he is the first Englishman to score two hat-tricks in MLS. And the first Englishman to score a hat-trick in the league and finish on the losing side.

FWD Obafemi Martins (Seattle Sounders): The Sounders got a beatdown in Boston, but earlier in the week they purred past FC Dallas courtesy of Martins' sly passing.

Coach - Jay Heaps (New England Revolution): Won the feature match of this round. Seattle Sounders had five consecutive wins going into New England to face the Revs. Heaps had guided an unspectacular team to three wins from its last four. The Revs crushed the Sounders in Boston, mocking Seattle's winning streak with the 5-0 scoreline. Heaps can justifiably claim his team is the best in MLS at the moment - and that surely makes him this week's best coach.