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Real Madrid has asked FIFA president Sepp Blatter to apologize for making fun of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Blatter recently told an audience at Oxford University that Ronaldo "is like a commander on the field of play" before strutting around the stage to the laughs of the students in attendance.

Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said Tuesday that club president Florentino Perez has sent a letter to Blatter asking him to "rectify what I consider a lack of respect for a serious and professional player."

While slighting Ronaldo, Blatter said he preferred Barcelona rival Lionel Messi, the Argentina forward who has won FIFA's world player of the year award for the past four years.

Ronaldo won the award in 2008, finishing second in voting behind Messi in 2009, 2011 and 2012.

On Tuesday, FIFA included Ronaldo and Messi on its list of 23 finalists for this year's world player of the year award. The list will be pared down to three players in early December.

"Messi is a good boy, that every father and every mother would like to have at home," Blatter said. "He's a kind man, a good boy. That's what makes him so popular, and naturally he'll always get a lot of votes because he plays well and scores goals."

Then, while comparing Messi and Ronaldo, Blatter made a joke about Ronaldo's hair.

"They don't have the same attitude and that gives life to football. One has more expenses for the hairdresser than the other but that doesn't matter," Blatter said.

Ancelotti defended Ronaldo's character.

"I completely agree with the president (Perez)," Ancelotti said. "I haven't spoken to Ronaldo about this. I think he shows every day and in every match that he is a serious and professional player that respects everyone."

Of the 10 teams that reached this season's MLS playoffs, nobody has scored fewer goals than the Houston Dynamo. No team has a worse goal differential than Houston as well, which sits at an even +0.

None of that matters anymore though.

When Houston defeated D.C. United on Sunday and clinched a playoff berth, the Dynamo turned into one of the classic sports clichés: The Team Nobody Wants To Play.

When the postseason arrives, Dominic Kinnear's team morphs into an entirely different group, as exemplified by the last two seasons, when the Dynamo have reached the MLS Cup final, losing to the Galaxy both times.

In 2011, Houston reached the MLS Cup as a two seed and in 2012, the club advanced to the final as a five seed. After clinching the four seed in 2013, the team will look to make it three finals in a row, beginning the postseason by hosting the Montreal Impact in a play-in game on Thursday.

“We've always said you just have to get in and finish as high as you can,” Kinnear told reporters after Sunday's win at D.C. United. “If you get to the playoffs, it's anybody's game. We've seemed to perform well in the playoffs.”

That may be an understatement. Since the Dynamo moved from San Jose in 2006, Kinnear has guided the team to the MLS Cup in four of its six postseason appearances, including wins in 2006 and 2007.

Continuity has been a key to Houston's success, as the team has retained its coach and four players – Mike Chabala, Ricardo Clark, Brian Ching and Brad Davis – from those back-to-back championships, which is no small feat considering how much time has passed.

“I know there will be moments when we can look back – not even the past two years but 2006, 2007, where we've won – you can look back at those moments and know what you need to do in the current position that you're in,” Davis said. “I think the experience being there can help us out a lot.”

Last season, despite being the fifth and final seed in the East, Houston rolled through the conference playoffs, leaving Chicago, Sporting Kansas City and D.C. United in its wake en route to MLS Cup. This season, the Dynamo will once again have to go through the play-in game and although it does create one additional fixture, it also presents an opportunity to gather momentum.

“I think that the play-in game can make you pretty dangerous,” defender Bobby Boswell said. “The play-in game is one game and if you're in that game and you can get hot, then you're obviously the most dangerous team. You're only as good as your last game so that can be in a way an advantage.”

Davis concurred with his teammate.

“I do feel like last year, the run we made, that play-in game did help us,” he said. “We were on a little bit of a roll at the end of the year ... we were able to get right back out on the field again and continue that momentum and that push. We were feeling good, the confidence was high and we wanted to get back out on the field as quick as possible. So I think in that situation, the game did help us.”

Should the Dynamo go on another playoff run this season, it will not only have to defy the odds against a low seed once again, it will also have to defy regular season results.

Houston went 1-2-0 in the regular season against Montreal, including a 5-0 shellacking at Stade Saputo in August. Should the Dynamo advance, they will face New York in the conference semifinal, a team which has given Houston even more trouble this year. In 2013, Kinnear's men lost all three regular season games against the Red Bulls by a combined score of 9-1, including a 3-0 trouncing at BBVA Compass Stadium just last weekend.

“We got beat by New York a lot this year, so law of ratios would maybe say we're due to owe them one,” Boswell said.

Based on regular season results, the Red Bulls would presumably be hoping for a Dynamo victory on Thursday night, but given Houston's history, New York may be awfully relieved if the Canadian side turns up at Red Bull Arena for the Eastern Conference semifinal next month.

“We're not going to be overawed, because we've been in this position before,” Kinnear said.

Though they may not have the strongest regular season optics, Kinnears men have the postseason chops to intimidate teams that on paper, would be considered big favorites.

"I don't think we're a team that you necessarily want to play," Boswell said.

"Depending on who gets matched up with us, I don't think we're a team that people are saying 'Oh, we're matched up with the Dynamo, good.' It's kind of one of those 'Oh boy, what are we in for?'"

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The Montreal Impact will play at least one Major League Soccer playoff game for the first time in franchise history, and all it took was a little help from the New York Red Bulls who thrashed the Chicago Fire 5-2 on Sunday.

After Montreal's 1-0 loss to Toronto F.C. on Saturday, and wins by Houston and New England on Sunday, the Impact (14-13-7) were forced to put their fate in the hands of the Red Bulls.

Chicago (49 points) would have knocked Montreal (49 points) out of playoff contention if it had beaten or tied New York — or if Chicago had lost and scored six or more goals to move past the Impact according to tiebreaker rules.

Though the Impact can breathe a sigh of relief, Montreal has a difficult playoff route ahead of them.

As the fifth-place team, it must now play fourth-place Houston — who beat D.C. United 2-1 on Sunday — to determine who will join the top three teams in the East in the conference semifinals. Had Montreal beaten Toronto, it would have clinched third and avoided the additional playoff game.

New England shut out Columbus 1-0 to seal third place.

With the Red Bulls' victory over Chicago, New York captured the Supporters' Shield — awarded to the team that finishes first in the regular season standings — and earned home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

New York will face the winner of the Montreal-Houston playoff game in the Eastern semifinal.

With the Impact making the playoffs in its second year in MLS existence, TFC is now the only Canadian team to not have a playoff appearance.

LONDON (Reuters) - Russia will still stage the 2018 World Cup finals despite the continuing blight of racism in the country's soccer, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Sunday.

Asked at a media round table event if Russia risked losing the World Cup, Blatter replied: "We have never said we will take the competition out of the country. That is impossible.

"Sporting boycotts are rarely a solution to any problem.

"But every country must follow the resolution taken by the FIFA Congress in Mauriutius in May and have a zero tolerance policy towards racism."

Manchester City's Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure said last week that black players should consider boycotting the tournament after he was subjected to racist chants from CSKA Moscow fans during a Champions League match in Moscow.

It was the sixth racist incident in the last five years involving Russian fans.

Speaking the day after attending a gala dinner marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of the English FA, Blatter said the problem of Russian racism in soccer would be discussed at the next executive committee meeting in December.

FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said he would be speaking to Russian authorities about the problem during a scheduled visit to Moscow this week.

"We will go back to the executive committee and see exactly what the situation is (in Russia) and what the latest incidents have been," Blatter said.

Blatter said he was absolutely determined to stamp racism out of football but added that FIFA could not be the world's policeman.

"The committees responsible for enforcing discipline in a competition must follow FIFA's rules and apply a zero tolerance policy when incidents of racism occur in matches they control," he said.

"We cannot go to a country or a society and tell them to stop, that is not FIFA's right. But we can stop it in football and the disciplinary committees have to impose suspensions or deduct points. We are dealing with actual problems, the problems of racism today."

Valcke told reporters he would meet Alexei Sorkin, the chief executive of Russia's 2018 World Cup organising committee and said the topic of racism would be high on the agenda.

"Of course we can use sanctions, but there is also an education programme in place in Russia and the Russian authorities and the local organising committee are working together to try and solve this problem," he said.