MLS Team of Week 19

It's a 3-5-2 this week to accommodate a bumper crop of midfield eye-catchers...

GK Zac MacMath (Philadelphia Union): Vancouver's David Ousted also had a pretty good week, but ultimately MacMath's performance against New York Red Bulls helped the Union to three points and a four-point week, which is double Vancouver's tally from their two games. MacMath's work against RBNY was occasionally desperate, but he showed agility and poise in equal measure throughout the match.

CB Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City): Part of the reason KC won twice this week is its opponents only got two shots on target in each game. The team works hard to keep a high press and the ball out of dangerous areas. But KC didn't have a lot of the ball in either of its games this week, and Besler backstopped the back line, playing a little deeper than his marauding colleague, Aurelien Collin, and accumulating 13 clearances and six interceptions for the week.

CB Jonny Leveron (Vancouver Whitecaps): The Whitecaps had a tough assignment this week - back-to-back road trips to Toronto and Salt Lake. That they came away with a pair of 1-1 draws is a credit to some determined defending. Leveron started the season as Vancouver's third-choice center back, and may yet end it that way, but he's playing a vital part in keeping the Caps in the hunt for the playoffs during a tough spell of matches.

CB Carlyle Mitchell (Vancouver Whitecaps): The other half of Vancouver's stand-in center back pairing. It seems unfair to try to promote one of Mitchell and Leveron over the other. Neither is perfect, but if your reserve central defense brings back a point from Toronto and a point from Salt Lake, that is an achievement worth applauding.

LM Andres Escobar (FC Dallas): He was denied a bigger impact on the score sheet by good goalkeeping and wayward finishing, but the least he deserved for dominating New England's defense was a goal. He got himself a pretty one and helped his team to three points.

CM Bernardo Anor (Columbus Crew): Getting his red card rescinded by the Disciplinary Committee was a good start to the week for Anor, and it got better when he sparked the move leading to the Crew's equalizer against Sporting Kansas City. But that game was lost. Still, he bounced back to score twice against Montreal - one with his left foot, the other with his right - and get his team its first win since May.

CM Diego Valeri (Portland Timbers): Some goals are very good, some goals are very important, some are both. Valeri scored one of the latter this week. It wasn't just a brilliantly struck shot from a long way out, but it was also a crucial match-winner for the Timbers. If Portland turns its season around, date the revival back to the three points won this week on the back on Valeri's goal.

CM Perry Kitchen (D.C. United): The better DC gets, the more attention Kitchen's durable defensive midfield work will receive. His target for the next 12 months has to be regular national team selections. He did his cause no harm this week with a characteristically robust performance against Chivas USA, a goal, and a win for his team.

RM Benny Feilhaber (Sporting Kansas City): Set up KC's first and scored the winner himself in the 2-1 road win over the Crew; then scored the first of the two goals his team required to beat LA 2-1 on home turf.

FWD Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy): He'll be disappointed that a personal tally of three goals and two assists only brought three points from two games for LA this week, but he's in encouraging form for the Galaxy's big week 20 match in Seattle.

FWD Sebastien Le Toux (Philadelphia Union): Le Toux has never missed a penalty for the Union. He added two more successful spot kicks to that stat this week, assisting his team to four points and an unexpected return to relevance in the Eastern Conference.

Coach - Peter Vermes (Sporting Kansas City): On the field, his was the only team to carry six points out of week 19. Off the field, KC found a way to keep both Matt Besler and Graham Zusi, who were candidates to flee MLS for European pastures after the World Cup. Two wins and two stars retained - no coach had a better week than Vermes.