Columbus Crew @ Colorado Rapids
So one team finishes their season and one team goes on to play Sporting KC. I got off to a bad start on the playoff predictions last night with the NY win, but I’m sure the Rapids are going to put me up to .500. I have to go with the Rapids because I’ll be able to watch the game because I happen to be close enough to Colorado that I get Altitude Sports and Entertainment on my satellite! Don’t miss this last wild card playoff game. Who do you got in this one?
Now that the Dynamo have finished off the season we finally know what the playoffs are going to look like. Next weekend the wildcard teams will play.
NY Red Bulls (4) @ FC Dallas (1)
Columbus Crew (3) @ Colorado Rapids (2)
The the rest of the team join in on the fun. The winners of those 2 games will be placed based on which is the higher seed of the winners. The rest of the schedule will look like this:
WEST:
1. LA Galaxy
Lower seeded wild card winner (NY Red Bulls, Columbus Crew, or Colorado Rapids)
3. Real Salt Lake
2. Seattle Sounders
EAST:
1. Sporting KC
Higher seeded wild card winner (FC Dallas, Colorado Rapids, or Columbus Crew)
3. Philadelphia Union
2. Houston Dynamo
So it is time for some predictions. I’m think both of the higher seeded wild card teams will overcome their weaker Eastern Conference opponents. Both of the West team will be at home. That would send the Rapids to play the Galaxy and FC Dallas to Sporting KC.
What do you think will happen on Wild Card Weekend?
Well not really, but at least we know who is in and who is out.
The in teams:
WEST: LA Galaxy, Seattle Sounders, Real Salt Lake
EAST: Sporting KC, Philadelphia Union, Columbus Crew
WILD CARDS: FC Dallas, Colorado Rapids, New York Red Bulls, Houston Dynamo
There is still a whole lot to be decided in the last couple days of the season. FC Dallas and the Houston Dynamo could move into a top 3 spot and out of the wildcard group. Real Salt Lake, Columbus Crew, and Philadelphia Union could all drop down into a wildcard position. That might not be all bad for Real Salt Lake actually.
The first round of the playoffs will be two game involving all the wild card teams. the top seed will play the bottom seed and the middle two will play each other. Of those winners, the team with the lower seed will play the LA Galaxy. The winner with the higher seed will play the winner in the East.
Right now FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake are tied for 3rd place in the West/1st wild card seed. Assuming they are able to win their wild-card round game, that means one of those teams will enter the East side of the playoffs against some combination of Sporting KC, Philadelphia Union, Columbus Crew, and Houston Dynamo. That sounds much easier than having the Galaxy and Sounders to get through.
The downside to FC Dallas or RSL for finishing 4th would be that one extra game they’d need to play just to get to the round of 8. That extra game will be against one of Colorado Rapids, New York Red Bulls, or Houston Dynamo. So you’ve got the defending champions, and the Red Bulls who a lot of people thought were going to be the top team in the league this year. Maybe it wouldn’t be beneficial to finish 4th over there?
On Saturday Real Salt Lake is at home to play Portland Timbers. FC Dallas goes to the San Jose Earthquakes. I’m sure both teams will be going for a win, but are you sure you’d want to win if you were in their situation?
The Galaxy have had the top spot wrapped up for a while. The Sounders and Real Salt Lake have also had their playoffs spot for a few weeks. Now there is one position remaining that 4 teams have a shot at with New York in the best position to take it.
The East side is kinda crazy right now. Sporting KC and Philadelphia Union are tied on points with Columbus Crew and Houston Dynamo 1 and 2 points back. Any of those teams could take 1st and any one could fall to the 3rd wildcard position. There are a ton of scenarios for those teams in the East. An article on Down The Byline makes it clear as mud what Sporting KC have to do.
I do hope Sporting KC end up on top, because when everyone else was saying NY was going to win the east, I was probably the only guy that was even thinking about KC as a playoff contender. It could be that KC finish only 2 points up on NY, so that isn’t such a big win, and you can’t blame anyone for thinking NY should have been up there, they have the team do it.
No matter what happens, it will be an exciting weekend for a bunch of teams starting with Portland Timbers and DC United. Likely one team will be eliminated and one team will still have hope after that game. Then Thursday night New York and Philadelphia will have big impact on several teams. Then the season is ended on Sunday with the LA Galaxy visiting the Houston Dynamo.
I see KC winning the East, with New York holding on to that last playoff spot. How do you see it all ending? Who gets in and who wins the East?
So Kasey Keller is retiring after this season :(
He is one of the greatest keepers we’ve ever seen, there is no doubt about that. But instead of showing of his complete awesome-ness in goal, I wanted to find a video of a goal he gave up to Mexico sometime in the 90’s. I remember seeing the goal on TV when it happened, but I don’t remember exactly what year or competition it was in.
It was probably a back pass to Keller that was being chased by Luis Hernandez. Keller smacked the ball directly into the oncoming Mexican striker’s head which went straight into the goal.
I searched a little bit for the video but maybe my memory is not working right. I know it was USA vs. Mexico, I’m pretty sure it was Keller, and it might not have been Hernandez. But anyway….
In the 1998 Gold Cup semi-final the US beat Brazil 1-0. According to Wikipedia, Brazilian legend Romario said “That is the best performance by a goalkeeper I have ever seen” about Keller’s game in that shutout. Keller was the MVP of that tournament even though the US went on to lose to Mexico in the final. A song was written about Keller’s performance in that game. So that is what you are left with here because I couldn’t find the goofy goal he gave up sometime in the 90’s.
Kasey Keller by Barcelona:
I was supposed to be at the game tonight in Seattle but due to shit I couldn’t control, I’m stuck at home. It is going to be a special time in Seattle. They expect over 60,000 in attendance!
If you can think of the goal I was trying to find, leave a comment and let me know what game that happened in.
I put together a Twitter list that is each of the MLS teams’ official Twitter account. You can follow the list here: http://twitter.com/#!/mlsfanblog/mls-teams
In the process of putting this list together I started noting the other social network-y type sites some of these teams had accounts with and thought it might be interesting to share here. Almost every team had Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube covered. A few teams had some extra links in addition to those standard three.
Chicago Fire only seems to have an account at Facebook.
Chivas USA also had Facebook and YouTube.
Colorado Rapids on Facebook and YouTube.
Columbus Crew on Facebook and YouTube.
DC United on Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr.
FC Dallas on Facebook and YouTube.
Houston Dynamo on Facebook and YouTube.
LA Galaxy on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
New England Revolution on Facebook and YouTube.
New York Red Bulls on Facebook and YouTube.
Philadelphia Union on Facebook, and YouTube.
Portland Timbers on Facebook and YouTube.
Real Salt Lake on Facebook and YouTube.
San Jose EarthQuakes on Facebook and YouTube (a little bit out of date).
Seattle Sounders on Facebook. Apparently they do videos on their own website - and might not have a YouTube channel.
Sporting Kansas City on Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr. Sporting KC even have a page with links to many Twitter accounts of players and staff. You can see that at http://www.sportingkc.com/social-media
Toronto FC on Facebook and YouTube.
Vancouver Whitecaps on Facebook and YouTube.
The LA Galaxy have clinched the Supporters’ Shield for a 2nd year in a row and a 4th title overall. The 4th title pulls them into a tie with D.C. United for most times having won the Supporters’ Shield.
Last year the Galaxy won the Supporters’ Shield and what happened to them in the playoffs? Will this year be different? The Galaxy haven’t won an MLS Cup since 2005 and a lot of people will be expecting one this year.
Will this be the year the Galaxy get the MLS Cup back?
This is the question everyone wants to know the answer to - how good is Rafa Marquez? Okay, maybe everyone isn’t waiting to find an answer to that question - but Marquez certainly knows. Better than the rest of the NY defense. After a recent 3-1 loss to Real Salt Lake Marquez had this to say according to mlssoccer.com
“I think this is a team game and, unfortunately, there isn’t an equal level between my teammates and me,” Marquez said through a translator on Wednesday. “I am trying to play at my level [and if] that doesn’t mean that the whole back line can perform at that same level, that’s a problem.”These comments were rewarded by his head coach who gave him the weekend off. Saturday NY will host the Portland Timbers in a very important game to determine who will go to the playoffs and who will be staying home. I previously predicted that the Timbers would win this game, but now that I know NY is so good they can not even play their best defender I’m a little skeptical about my prediction. What do you think - was this right to suspend Marquez for this important game because of his comments?свети георги
With just over a month of the MLS regular season remaining the LA Galaxy are the only team to have secured a playoff spot. Seattle Sounders FC and Real Salt Lake are looking to wrap up their playoff spots this weekend. 58 LA Galaxy * 51 Seattle Sounders FC 48 Real Salt Lake 46 FC Dallas 41 Colorado Rapids 41 Columbus Crew 40 Sporting Kansas City 39 Philadelphia Union 39 Houston Dynamo 36 New York Red Bulls ————————————— 36 Portland Timbers 34 D.C. United 31 Chivas USA 30 Chicago Fire 30 Toronto FC 29 San Jose Earthquakes 27 New England Revolution 22 Vancouver Whitecaps FC With the current standings the way they are right now, the match in New York on Saturday evening will have huge playoff implications.
Portland Timbers @ New York Red Bulls
Saturday, September 24, 2011 7:30pm EST
Red Bull Arena
The teams are currently even on points with 36 which has New York in the last wildcard playoff spot and the Timbers on the outside looking in. My prediction is a 2-1 victory for the visitors which will leave NYRB on the outside. What is your prediction?
