[DATEBOOK] With three games in hand, D.C. United is very much alive in the Eastern Conference race but it will need a result when it travels to Chicago on Thursday. For all this week's action ...

WEEK 23 RESULTS:
Aug. 17 in Foxboro, Mass.
New England 1 Houston 1. Goals: Cochrane 1 (unassisted) 4; Boswell 3 (unassisted) 90.
New England -- Reis, Alston, Barnes, Cochrane (Phelan 76), Soares, Boggs, Joseph, Feilhaber, Tierney (Schilawski 62), Mansally, Caraglio (McCarthy 79).
Houston -- Hall, Freeman (Carr 80), Boswell, Hainault, Taylor, Watson (Dixon 62), Moffat, Cameron, Davis, Ching (Costly 71), Weaver.
Red Cards: New England -- Reis 94+; Houston -- Moffat 94+.
Referee: Michael Kennedy.
Att.: 10,963.
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Aug. 17 in Kansas City, Kan.
Sporting KC 3 Portland 1. Goals:  Zusi 4 (unassisted) 25, Zusi 5 (unassisted) 40, Saad 1 (unassisted) 72; Dike 1 (Wallace 1, Jewsbury 7) 81.
Sporting KC -- Nielsen, Myers, Besler, Julio Cesar, Sinovic (Harrington 75), Kamara, Zusi, Stojcev (Saad 63), Espinoza, Sapong, Bunbury (Aiyegbusi 89).
Portland -- Perkins, Chabala, Brunner, Horst, Wallace, Zizzo (Alhassan 46), Jewsbury, Chara, Nagbe (Umony 60), Cooper (Dike 66), Perlaza.
Referee: Elias Bazakos.
Att.: 15,271.

WEEK 23 SCHEDULE:
August 18
9:00 p.m. ET
Chicago vs. D.C. United, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes
August 20
7:30 p.m. ET
Columbus vs. Philadelphia
New England vs. New York
8:30 p.m. ET
Houston vs. Real Salt Lake
9:00 p.m. ET
FC Dallas vs. Seattle
Colorado vs. Chivas USA
10:00 p.m. ET
Portland vs. Vancouver, FOX Soccer, TSN
10:30 p.m. ET
Los Angeles vs. San Jose
August 21  
7:00 p.m. ET
Chicago vs. Toronto FC
8:30 p.m. ET
Sporting KC vs. D.C. United, Galavision

STANDINGS:
Eastern Conference
PTS (GP) TEAM W-L-T +/1
37 (24) Columbus 10-7-7 27/23
34 (23) Philadelphia 8-5-10 29/22
33 (24) Sporting KC 8-7-9 35/31
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32 (25) Houston 7-7-11 31/30
31 (25) New York 6-6-13 39/35
30 (22) D.C. United 7-6-9 33/33
23 (26) Toronto FC 4-11-11 25/46
22 (25) New England 4-11-10 24/37
20 (22) Chicago 2-7-14 25/32

Western Conference
PTS (GP) TEAM W-L-T +/-
48 (25) Los Angeles 13-3-9 35/20
43 (25) FC Dallas 12-6-7 32/24
42 (25) Seattle 11-5-9 35/27
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40 (26) Colorado 10-6-10 37/32
36 (22) Real Salt Lake 10-6-6 30/17
30 (24) Chivas USA 7-8-9 30/26
26 (24) Portland 7-12-5 30/40
25 (24) San Jose 5-9-10 26/32
18 (24) Vancouver 3-12-9 25/40

Wildcard Race (top 4 qualify)
PTS (GP) TEAM W-L-T +/-
40 (26) Colorado 10-6-10 37/32
36 (22) Real Salt Lake 10-6-6 30/17
32 (25) Houston 7-7-11 31/30
31 (25) New York 6-6-13 39/35
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30 (24) Chivas USA 7-8-9 30/26
30 (22) D.C. United 7-6-9 33/33
26 (24) Portland 7-12-5 30/40
25 (24) San Jose 5-9-10 26/32
23 (26) Toronto FC 4-11-11 25/46
22 (25) New England 4-11-10 24/37
20 (22) Chicago 2-7-14 25/32
18 (24) Vancouver 3-12-9 25/40

WEEK 24 SCHEDULE:
August 24
11:00 p.m. ET
Portland vs. Chivas USA
August 27
4:00 p.m. ET
Seattle vs. Columbus
7:00 p.m. ET
Vancouver vs. Houston, TSN 2
Toronto FC vs. San Jose
7:30 p.m. ET
D.C. United vs. Portland
8:30 p.m. ET
Sporting KC vs. FC Dallas
Chicago vs. Colorado
10:30 p.m. ET
Chivas USA vs. Real Salt Lake, FOX Soccer
August 28
7:00 p.m. ET
New York vs. Los Angeles, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes
Philadelphia vs. New England, Galavision