Last week’s preseason brawl between Real Salt Lake and Sporting Kansas City has resulted in some supplemental justice from MLS. RSL defender Jamison Olave got a US$250 fine for Tweeting about his displeasure for the match official after last Wednesday’s game was abandoned in the second half because of the fisticuffs. That’s right. The fighting and fouling hasn’t earned anyone a suspension or fine as of yet — but Tweeting about a referee losing control of the game… well

It’s become obligatory for every sports journalist to provide season previews for the league he or she covers. It’s automatic, and a great space killer! In that vein, The 11 presents its “waited until the last possible second before the regular season” season preview! Why the wait? Because it’s hard to figure out the East. The West? Wow, a lot of power and depth there. As for the East? Last season, New York and Columbus and six other mediocre to bad to awful clubs were in the conference. New York and Columbus left them all in the dust.

On Tuesday night, a preseason game between Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake was abandoned in the second half because of what’s being described as an ugly brawl.

On a brisk but tolerable night at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, Real Salt Lake was able to show what many had expected out of it coming into this CONCACAF Champions League Quarter-final matchup against the Columbus Crew. Its 4-1 victory showed the dominance over their opponent that many had expected given the relative stability of the two lineups.

The11 caught up with Will Johnson at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, in the midst of final preparations with Real Salt Lake for the final leg of their CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal matchup against the Columbus Crew. We asked Will about the rumors swirling that FIFA may be set to grant CONCACAF a fourth spot for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and about Team Canada’s important summer this year in Gold Cup action.

With less than a month to go before First Kick, Major League Soccer has finally confirmed the new playoff structure for 2011. As hinted by commissioner Don Garber at last year’s MLS Cup in Toronto, the playoffs will expand to 10 teams from eight.

The announced attendance was officially 4,665 but the few brave souls that turned out to Crew Stadium for the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal numbered less than that.

Football in February. It’s rare in Ohio. And for good reason. With the temperature clocking in below the freezing mark, the 10-man Columbus Crew and nine-man Real Salt Lake battled to a first-leg 0-0 draw in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals in extreme conditions at Crew Stadium.

Columbus hosts Real Salt Lake Tuesday night in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final. Tuesday’s weather forecast for Columbus? A chilly -2 C with a chance of snow — maybe just a tad colder than it was for last year’s MLS Cup in Toronto.

It was a fascinating exercise to go through a couple of hours worth of tweets after Arsenal’s stunning 2-1 win over Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie. The pundits are one thing, but when the tweets come from players or, in the case of Eskandarian, recently retired players, it’s amazing to see people who are (or recently were) paid to play the game become fans.