Of the two regular-season champions that are down by two goals heading into the second legs of the conference finals, FC Dallas supposedly has the slightly easier task.

Nine times this season the Red Bulls have won a regular-season game that will be good enough to win the Eastern Conference finals outright or send the series to extra time. A win by three goals will suffice and a 2-0 score at the end of 90 minutes triggers an additional half-hour. On the Columbus side of the ledger, eight of its results would produce either elimination or extra time.

One season with the Philadelphia Union is the full extend of Veljko Paunovic's MLS experience, yet he's been chosen by the Chicago Fire to revive its dismal showing of the past few seasons.

In retirement, Landon Donovan, it seems, has too much time on his hands. If you follow him on Twitter, you were bombarded by the conversation he touched off when he asked, "Should we have pro/rel in MLS?"

FC Dallas and Portland,MLS rivals for just five seasons, form one of the league's more intriguing matchups. FCD has been around since the league started but underwent a major rebranding a few years ago after starting out as the Dallas Burn. The Timbers are a throwback to the old NASL days that have forged a whole new version of Northwest rabidness in MLS.

Both legs of the Eastern Conference finals between Columbus and New York are sold out, which sets up a classic meeting between the 2008 MLS Cup finalists.

First of all, throw out of any equation to rate Jurgen Klinsmann's job performance the USA's 6-1 win over St. Vincent & the Grenadines, which was captained by a coast guard officer and started a fisherman at forward.

Andres Cantor has inked a multi-year contract extension with Telemundo, which sets him up to do play-by-play for the next two World Cups. For TV and radio, Cantor's has already covered seven World Cups,

Honduras and Panama suffered costly defeats as the semifinal round of Concacaf World Cup qualifying got underway Friday, and a win for the next USA opponent -- Trinidad & Tobago -- could actually work to the favor of the Americans after their 6-1 thrashing of St. Vincent & The Grenadines.

Stuart Holden is at the crossroads in his soccer career. He represented the USA at the 2005 Under-20 World Cup, the 2008 Olympics and 2010 World Cup and most recently started for the USA in the final of the 2013 Gold Cup, but at the age of 30 and about to be a father for the first time, he must soon make a decision.

American fans concerned about their team and its rivalry with Mexico have another reason to worry: Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, who bounced in and out of the lineup for Manchester United and Real Madrid, has found his scoring groove at Bayer Leverkusen.

So who had money on the two faces of the MLS playoffs, coming out of the conference semifinals, being 20-year-old Mexican-American goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez and Generation adidas signing Walker Zimmerman?

Supporters' Shield winner' New York is the only team holding a significant edge as MLS stages the second game of its conference semifinal series on Sunday. The Red Bulls won the first leg at RFK, 1-0, to lead on aggregate as well as away goals. Two other teams also scored away goals but face one-goal deficits as they host the second legs. The Cascadia matchup between Portland and Vancouver is dead even at 0-0.

Only four more games remain -- Sunday's FC Dallas-Seattle and Vancouver-Portland games and one game during each of the two legs of the conference finals -- before it's a wrap on Fox Sports 1's first year of coverage of MLS under the new eight-year agreement MLS reached with Fox Sports, ESPN and Univision.

MLS announced the finalists for its awards this week and aside from a couple of obvious choices, choosing between several worthy candidates shows a steady upgrade in the caliber of players coming to the league.