By Jose M. Romero / 

It’s Halloween Week. The NFL remains king of American sports, the NBA 2012-13 regular season tips off on Tuesday with openers all week and baseball is over.

But soccer still has a place here, and the Major League Soccer postseason starts Tuesday as well just outside of Chicago when the hometown Fire host the Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference knockout round.

With 19 teams in the league, the decision was made to add two teams to the postseason. They are the fifth-place finishers in both the East and West, and they face the No. 4 seed at the home of the fourth-place team Tuesday in the East and Wednesday in the West.

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By Jose M. Romero / @RomeroJoseM

Way up in the left corner of the United States, a place so often overlooked in other sports except soccer, a 25-year-old newlywed originally from Colombia is coming into his own as one of Seattle’s most beloved sports stars.

Se llama Fredy Montero, and as the Seattle Sounders’ ace striker, he’s leading his club up the standings in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference as Seattle steams toward its fourth playoff appearance in four seasons of existence in MLS.

Four in four years would be impressive, but what Montero has done individually since he arrived alone to Puget Sound from South America in early 2009 is equally if not more impressive. Montero, a slight 5-9 and 160 pounds, has led the team in goals the past three seasons and is in position to win the team’s Golden Boot for a fourth year in a row and surpass his career mark of 12 goals in a season.

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By Jose M. Romero /@RomeroJoseM

For FOX Deportes

PORTLAND, Ore. – One member of the Portland Timbers’ Colombian crew is gone, part of a trade during the long hiatus for many Major League Soccer clubs recently.

But the leader of the group remains. Midfielder Diego Chara is the guy who has been in town the longest out of the four Colombian Timbers. He’s the one who has worn the  captain’s armband, as recently as May 20. And he is being asked to not only help guide the Portland attack on offense, but help his countrymen/teammates adjust to life in the Rose City and the U.S.

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