Zusi scored two goals in a 3-1 win over the Portland Timbers midweek, and turned in another strong performance in his team’s 1-0 defeat of D.C. United on Sunday, as Sporting Kansas City moved into second place in the Eastern Conference Standings.

On the day before his 25th birthday, Zusi opened the scoring against the Timbers in the 25th minute with a 30-yard blast to the top-left corner of the goal. Zusi added to Sporting’s lead in the 40th minute, when he scored from close range off a rebound from a corner kick play.

Four days later, Zusi played a full 90 minutes as Sporting KC earned an important victory against fellow playoff contenders D.C. United.

The Longwood, Fla., native is enjoying a breakout season in his third year with Sporting Kansas City, with five goals and four assists so far this season. Earlier this season, he was named MLS Player of the Month for the month of June, and his sterling play has continued with his team entering the final stages of a closely contested playoff race.

CSN Vote: Zusi. He was the outright choice of the week. His play in midfield, and a home stadium, have turned KC into a rising power in the East. Kudos.

For the third consecutive week, a D.C. United attacker has claimed Player of the Week honors, as voted on by the North American Soccer Reporters. After two straight weeks of honors for Dwayne De Rosario, winger Chris Pontius got into the act this week.

The 24-year-old scored two goals in DC’s 4-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps, which helped United continue their rise up the Eastern Conference standings.

The third-year player opened the scoring in first-half stoppage time, knocking home a pass from De Rosario. He put the result out of reach with the game’s third goal in the 70th minute, pouncing on a deflected Stephen King shot.

Pontius, who has a career-high seven goals on the season, earned eight of 16 first-place votes among the media ballots with teammates Willis and De Rosario also receiving consideration. Toronto FC goalkeeper Milos Kocic earned the second most first-place votes with four.

It’s the second career Player of the Week award for Pontius after earning the honor in Week 12 of last year.

It’s not the first time that a club has claimed three straight Player of the Week awards and the all-time mark is set at four, when the expansion Chicago Fire claimed four straight weeks of honors between Week 14 and Week 17 in 1998.

CSN Vote: I have to disagree. The ColoradoSoccerNow.com vote went to Sebastien Le Toux for his overall excellent play and cool delivery of two penalty kicks that rescued a point for Philadelphia.

The second went to a different D.C. United player. Joe Willis, the third-string keeper, earned six saves and a clean sheet in D.C.’s win over Vancouver. Coming on to handle a team and facing that many chances deserved consideration.

De Rosario has won the award in consecutive weeks – the first player to do so since Kenny Cooper, then with FC Dallas, did so for Weeks 18 and 19 of the 2008 season. The LA Galaxy’s Landon Donovan also won consecutive Player of the Week awards, for Weeks 4 and 5 of 2008.

De Rosario put his team ahead in the 19th minute with a powerful long-range effort that over-powered Toronto goalkeeper Stefan Frei’s hands on its way to the top corner of the goal. Early in the second half, after Toronto had equalized, De Rosario put United ahead again by taking advantage of a missed clearance to coolly finish past Frei.

Toronto then scored twice to take a 3-2 lead, but in the 88th minute, D.C. midfielder Austin da Luz was fouled while chasing a rebound in front of goal. De Rosario converted the ensuing penalty kick to tie the game and complete his hat trick.

De Rosario has been on a great run since joining D.C. United in June from the New York Red Bulls, scoring six goals in six games for the club. The six-time MLS All-Star has been especially dangerous against three of his former teams, scoring in each of the contests against Toronto, San Jose, and New York.

De Rosario’s nine goals this season have him tied for fourth in MLS with FC Dallas’ Brek Shea.

CSN Vote: De Ro. The fact that his scored thrice against the team that brought him home as the face of the franchise only made it more bittersweet.

Hartman started six games and recorded four shutouts as the club went 3-1-2 during the month of July.

The 15-year MLS veteran joined FC Dallas in 2010, and is enjoying a stellar second season at the club. Hartman set a new club record for shutouts in a season when he earned his 12th clean sheet in a 1-0 victory over Chivas USA on July 31. Hartman has started every game in goal for FC Dallas this season, leading them to the second-best record in the league through 23 games (12-5-6, 42 points).

Hartman made five saves in shutout wins over Columbus and Toronto, and is seventh in saves this season among MLS goalkeepers. The MLS single-season record for shutouts is held by Tony Meola, who kept 16 clean sheets in the 2000 season. Hartman is on pace to break that record with 11 regular season games remaining. Hartman is also the all-time MLS career leader with 105 regular season shutouts; Real Salt Lake’s Nick Rimando is second with 83. Hartman’s 15 career playoff shutouts are also a League record.

This is the second time since joining FC Dallas that Hartman has been named the MLS Player of the Month, after earning the honor in August 2010.

He will need to continue his excellent form in the team’s first game this month, as they face an important clash with league-leading LA Galaxy on August 6. Other players receiving multiple first-choice votes from NASR members for July Player of the Month were Sporting Kansas City forward Omar Bravo and Houston Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall.

The MLS Player of the Month is selected after each calendar month of the regular season by a panel of journalists from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.

De Rosario, cast off by the floundering New York Red Bulls, provided further evidence over the weekend as his two goals gave United a 2-0 win away to San Jose Earthquakes.

The performance pushed the club’s record to 2-1-1 since DeRo’s arrival via a trade with the Red Bulls, and it earned the Canadian attacking midfielder MLS Player of the Week honors for Week 20, as voted on by the North American Soccer Reporters.

De Rosario, who is the first United player to be named Player of the Week this year, earned the award ahead of a pair of fellow two-goal-scorers, LA Galaxy’s Landon Donovan, who struck a brace in a 4-0 win over Vancouver, and Brian Ching, who returned from suspension to lead the Dynamo past Seattle.

CSN Vote: Donovan. There were a number of worthy performances from the week. We liked Donovan’s leadership in the 4-0 pounding of Vancouver.

Our second choice was Brian Ching. His brace lead Houston to a 3-1 win over Seattle.

No fault to DeRo, we just prefered Donovan’s work. Ching was, admittedly, a sentimental choice.

Tim Ream and the rest if the Red Bulls couldn't stop Sanna Nyassi on Wednesday. Nyassi's hat trick helped him earn MLS honors on Monday. (Photograph by Jessica Taves/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

The Colorado Rapids finally had a player named MLS Player of the Week, and it only took one of the best debuts by a forward ever to get it.

Sanna Nyassi, who scored a hat trick and picked up an assist in a 4-1 beating of the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday, was named the player of the week on Monday. The North American Soccer Reporters vote for the honor, and Nyassi is the first Rapid to win the honor this season.

Nyassi, who also earned a penalty kick in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with New England, moved from the midfield to forward for Wednesday’s match. The move was necessitated by the loss of forward Conor Casey for the season due to an ruptured left Achilles tendon.

Nyassi repaid the move by delivering slashing through the center of the New York defense. Working in deft combination with Omar Cummings, who picked up assists on all three goals, Nyassi became only the seventh Rapids player to score three games in a goal. No Rapids player has ever scored more.

Nyassi also picked up an assist on Wells Thompson’s first half goal.

Nyassi and the Rapids (7-6-10, 31 points) travel to Philadelphia to take on the Union on Friday. Meanwhile, Cummings will be in New York for the MLS All-Star game against Manchester United on Wednesday.

CSN Vote: Nyassi, Nyassi, Nyassi. If we could have voted three times we would have. Not only did he deliver on a chance taken by coach Gary Smith, but he reopened the question about who will play in central defense for the U.S. Men’s National Team. Nyassi didn’t score on clever flicks or off dead ball situations. He scored by running at the teeth of the defense and outplaying the New York center backs.

For an encore, Nyassi earned the penalty kick that reduced New England to 10 men on Saturday and allowed the Rapids to pull even at 1-1 en route to a 2-2 draw. Quite a week for the Gambian who rarely saw the field for the first two-thirds of the season.

Cummings, who struggled with injury earlier this season, will be on the side that faces Manchester United on July 27 at the New York Red Bull’s arena in Harrison, N.J.

For the complete roster, announced by Backe on Monday, click here.

Cummings, who has two goals and two assists in 13 matches this season, led the team with 14 goals in 2010. He suffered an ankle injury against Houston in April, and has only recently rejoined the starting lineup.

This marks the first all-star selection for the speedy Jamaican.

For more on Cummings and past Rapids all-stars, click here.

The MLS All-Stars will take on reigning English Premier League champions Manchester United on July 27, 2011 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey (6:30 p.m., ESPN2, Galavisión, TSN2).

Agudelo, 18, burst on to the scene at the end of the 2010 MLS season after signing as a Homegrown Player from the Red Bulls Academy. Since then, he has established himself as one of the most exciting young forwards in the league. A native of Colombia who moved to New Jersey at age eight and joined the Red Bulls Academy in 2007, he was the first graduate of the Academy in the club’s history to make a first-team appearance.

The first MLS Homegrown player named to an MLS All-Star team, Agudelo has received significant playing time for the Red Bulls this season, scoring four goals in 14 appearances for the league’s highest-scoring team. He has also earned 10 caps with the U.S. National Team and scored two goals since making his international debut in November of 2010.

“Juan Agudelo is one of the bright young stars in Major League Soccer and a prime example of the benefits of the MLS Homegrown player initiative and our focus on MLS club academies,” Garber said.

One of the top goal scorers in Mexican soccer history, Bravo joined Sporting Kansas City as a Designated Player before the 2011 season. Bravo has been a key figure in the club’s dramatic turnaround from the bottom of the standings in May to its current 10-game unbeaten streak in MLS play. He has played 12 games this season for Kansas City, scoring four goals and adding two assists.

Bravo has a terrific history in Mexico’s First Division, where he has scored more than 150 goals, and ranks second all-time in goals scored for Club Deportivo Guadalajara (Chivas). He also has 65 appearances with the Mexican National team, scoring 16 goals.

All-Star coach Hans Backe and his staff will select the entire game day roster, which will be announced on MLSsoccer.com on Monday.

Montero scored twice in his team’s 3-2 win over arch-rival Portland Timbers in front of a fervent sellout crowd at Portland’s JELD-WEN Field.

Montero’s first goal came on a 57th minute free kick. With the Sounders trailing 1-0, he curled a 25-yard shot over the Timbers wall and into the lower near corner of the goal behind goalkeeper Troy Perkins.

The Sounders fell behind again several minutes later, but Montero rescued them in the 74th minute when he capped a smooth passing sequence by tapping in a goal mouth feed from teammate Mauro Rosales. Seattle’s Osvaldo Alonso converted a late penalty kick for the winning goal after a foul by Portland’s Eric Brunner on Lamar Neagle. The win is the first by either team in the MLS chapter of the storied Pacific Northwest rivalry, after the two sides drew 1-1 in the season’s first meeting in Seattle on May 14.

The Player of the Week award is Montero’s first of the 2011 season, and third of his MLS career; he earned the honor on one occasion in March of 2009 and August 2010. He is the second Sounders FC player to be named Player of the Week this season, after defender Jeff Parke took home the award in Week 10.

The Colombian forward’s brace brings his 2011 goal total to five, and Seattle will hope he can continue his form as they aim to extend their unbeaten streak, which now stands at eight games. Montero has been one of the most dynamic forwards in the league since joining the Sounders in 2009, tallying 22 goals and 17 assists in his first two seasons, and earning MLS Newcomer of the Year in 2009.

CSN Vote: Nope, I went with Joel Lindpere of the New York Red Bulls for his one goal and two assists in the Wednesday 5-0 thrashing of Toronto. And, in a bow to sentimentality, I tabbed Dwayne De Rosario as the second for his play against his former teammates on Saturday in D.C. United’s 1-0 win.

And, if I look deep within my heart, I would pick Lindpere and DeRo for my team ahead of Montero.

A 12th All-Star, the winner of the AT&T Text Voting, was revealed on Sunday on MLSsoccer.com.

On July 27, at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., the MLS All-Stars will face the defending English Premier League champions Manchester United in the 2011 AT&T MLS All-Star Game (live on ESPN2, Galavision, and TSN at 6:30 p.m.).

The First XI received the most votes at their respective positions from combined fan voting on three platforms – online at MLSsoccer.com, via text message, and via Twitter. The online and text voting ballot consisted of six players from each club, as chosen by a panel of media members. A 4-3-3 formation was selected for this year’s First XI because the third-ranked forward received more than twice as many votes as the fourth-place midfielder.

2011 MLS All-Star First XI

Goalkeeper: Kasey Keller (Seattle Sounder FC)
Defenders: Sean Franklin (LA Galaxy), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Rafa Marquez (New York Red Bulls), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls).
Midfielders: David Beckham (LA Galaxy), Jack Jewsbury (Portland Timbers), Brek Shea (FC Dallas)
Forwards: Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

AT&T Text Voting Winner: Defender: Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City)

Fan participation in All-Star voting increased by 53 percent this year compared to 2010, according to the league. The MLS All-Star First XI includes three of the top four goal scorers through July 8 – Thierry Henry, Landon Donovan and Brek Shea, who combined have netted 25 goals in the first half of the season. Donovan’s selection ties him with Eddie Pope for the most All-Star nods in MLS history – each have 11.

Besler received 30 percent of all text votes submitted between June 8 and July 5 and he received nearly three times as many text votes as the next closest player.

The First XI is not necessarily the starting lineup. MLS All-Star coach Hans Backe will select the starters based on player availability and tactical considerations. If First XI selections are unavailable due to injury, international duty or other commitments, Backe will select alternates for the game day roster, but all First XI players are All-Stars.

Two selections by MLS Commissioner Don Garber will be announced July 16. The complete game day roster will be announced on July 18. Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, a total of 32 players will be named All-Stars. After the game day roster, the remaining players receiving the All-Star honor will come from voting among MLS players and be announced July 25.