The Crew defeated the New York Red Bulls 3-1 to win their first ever MLS Cup, in their first trip to the MLS Cup.
Congratulation Crew!
Now we look forward to the expansion draft and a long off season. Can’t wait until next year, it should be another good season!
So the New York Red Bulls made it to MLS Cup. I was wrong. Alexi Lalas was wrong. He has consequences to pay. People should expect me to be wrong. I was so sure RSL was gonna beat the Red Bulls, I’m glad I didn’t agree to do anything in case of a Red Bulls victory. Lalas now has to shotgun a can of Red Bull before MLS Cup. The Red Bulls and the Columbus Crew have had a long journey to get to MLS Cup. They have had very different routes. The Crew were in 1st place in the league for a lot of the year and finished with the best record. They were the first team to qualify for the playoffs. The Red Bulls needed help from other teams to get in. They left the door open for both DC United and Colorado Rapids to take that playoff position if either team could get a win on the last week of the regular season. One soccer mom is involved in a very different road to MLS Cup. Watch and see what I mean.
The Columbus Crew had to overcome a 1-0 halftime defecit to beat the Chicago Fire 2-1 in the Eastern Conference final. The Fire looked pretty good throughout most of the first half. At halftime Alexi Lalas didn’t understand what was going on with the Crew. He had predicted them to win the game.
The second half was like a totally different game. The Crew looked like a championship team. Thanks to goals by defender of the year Chad Marshall and Eddie Gavin the Crew still have a chance to become that championship team.
This will be the first trip to the MLS Cup for the Columbus Crew. Their opponents will also be newcomers to the MLS Cup. The New York Red Bulls have been this far before but never won that conference final game. Real Salt Lake made the playoffs for the first time in their history this year.
I am going to go ahead and fully agree with Alexi Lalas that Real Salt Lake will play the Crew for the Cup and the Crew do become MLS champions. Lalas is going to shotgun some Red Bull if the Red Bulls are able to beat Real Salt Lake - that would be mildly interesting to see at least.
It was 2005 the last time the West was represented by someone other than two time defending champion Houston Dynamo. The New England revolution have represented the East even longer, 2004 was the last time someone other than the Revs made it to the MLS Cup. This year both of those teams dropped out in the first round thanks to the Chicago Fire and New York Red Bulls. Of the 4 remaining teams only the Chicago Fire have ever made it to the MLS Cup, so we will see at least one new team playing for the title this year.
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Chicago Fire (#2 East) @ Columbus Crew (#1 East)
Thursday November 13th - 6:30 PM
ESPN 2
The Eastern conference final has possibly the two favorites to win the MLS Cup. I know I would be happier to see these teams match up for the MLS Cup rather than what we will end up with. The Crew had the best record in the regular season and get to play at home. The Chicago Fire are hot right now. I think the Fire will be too much for the Crew to handle. Chicago wins 3-2.
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New York Red Bulls (#5 East) @ Real Salt Lake (#3 West)
Saturday November 15th - 8:30 PM
Fox Soccer Channel, HDNet
The Western conference final isn’t really the Western conference final. New York obviously plays in the East but due to the silly playoff setup they get to play in the Western conference half of the playoff bracket. Real Salt Lake has never been in the playoffs before. The Red Bulls have been here but not ever advanced to the final. After seeing what the Red Bulls did to Houston this is a tough game to predict. I’ll stick with the home team and say RSL 1-0.
What are your predictions?
The 2008 MLS playoffs will continue tonight and the first round games will wrap up this weekend. Eight teams remain - by next week there will be only 4. Starting with tonights game.
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New England Revolution @ Chicago Fire (0 - 0)
7:30 PM - ESPN 2
I predicted a 2-0 victory for Chicago last week when they were at New England. Now they come home with no score in the series yet. New England has the edge by one game (6 to 5) in the history of these teams meeting in the MLS Cup Playoffs. I expect Chicago to tie that up tonight. Chicago 2-0. Two more of the first round series will end on Saturday: Kansas City @ Columbus Crew (1-1) The Wizards waited until the last week of the season to secure their position in the playoffs. The Crew have the best record in the league. The Wizards can alway knock off a higher seeded team in the playoffs, but it was the Crew who needed a last minute goal to earn a draw last week. Columbus Crew defender Chad Marshall was just named the leagues Defender of the Year. Unfortunately for him that doesn’t guarantee passage to the conference final. Kansas City has a way of beating higher seeded teams in the first round of the playoffs. Kansas City gets their 1-0 win and advances 2-1 aggregate. Get Real Salt Lake @ Chivas USA (1-0) Real Salt Lake is the only team to have a goal advantage going into the final leg of this first round. I think the one goal will be enough to get Real Salt Lake through to the Western Conference final their first year in the playoffs. Chivas will have another dissiapointing first round exit. No score - RSL wins 1-0 on aggregate. New York Red Bulls @ Houston Dynamo (1-1) The two time defending champs Dynamo had to come back from 1 goal down to get a draw in New York last weekend. Going into Houston will be too much for even Juan Pablo Angel. Houston will win 3-1 on Sunday, 4-2 aggregate. Get MLS Cup Playoff tickets to any of the games listed above at Barrys Tickets.The regular season is over. The Columbus Crew are the best team in the league but they only get a trophy that most people don’t even know exists for that feat. Eight teams will continue their quest for the MLS Cup this weekend while 6 teams are done for the winter. This is how the playoffs look:
Columbus Crew (1 East) vs. (1st Wildcard) Kansas City Wizards
Chicago Fire (2 East) vs. (3 East) New England Revolution
Houston Dynamo (1 West) vs. (2nd Wildcard) New York Red Bulls
Chivas USA (2 West) vs (3 West) Real Salt Lake
The top 3 teams from each side qualify along with the next 2 best teams in the league reguardless of where they come from. In this case both wildcards are East teams. The lower of the 2 wildcards moves to the other conference and takes the place where the 4th seed from that conference would normally start the playoffs.
You could argue that when one conference has both of the wildcards, they are the tougher conference. This creates could reward the lower seeded wildcard by moving them to the playoff bracket with the weaker conference.
Kansas City was the higher seeded wildcard while New York is the lower seeded wildcard. To reward the Wizards for their accomplishment they get to play the Columbus Crew who just happen to have the best record in MLS this year. The New York Red Bulls go to the Western Conference and play the Houston Dynamo. I don’t want to say that playing Houston is any easy task, but it is almost like New York has been rewarded by having a lower number of points than the Kansas City Wizards.
This setup prevent the guarantee of an East vs. West final - so why keep it divided up at all. Why not have a playoffs that simple puts the top 8 teams against each other. The number 1 seed plays the 8th, 2nd vs 7th, 3rd vs 6th, and 4th vs 5th. This sets up a potential #1 vs. #2 game for the MLS Cup. If those teams happen to be from opposite conferences - so be it. It doesn’t make sense to have the best 2 teams in the league play each other in the semi-finals just so you can have an East vs. West final. Remember that the East vs. West final is not even guaranteed with the 2 wildcard system that is used.
Here is how the playoffs would look if the conferences were ignored:
(1) Columbus Crew vs. New York Red Bulls (8)
(4) New England Revolution vs Chivas USA (5)
(3) Chicago Fire vs Kansas City Wizards (6)
(2) Houston Dynamo vs Real Salt Lake (7)
What do you think of this playoff format? It keeps the same teams in the playoffs and I’m sure most years it would do so. I don’t know if it is mathematically possible that 6 teams could ever go from one conference, but I would bet it to be highly unlikely.
Of course with the constant expansion of the league they have to continually change the format of the conferences and the playoff structure. No matter how the conferences are balanced they could still do a playoff like this.
The regular season is over and the playoffs are set to begin in two days. The first semifinal 1st leg will be played on Thursday night in New England. We will see the 2nd and 3rd seeded teams from the East in this first semifinal matchup between the Chicago Fire and New England Revolution.
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Chicago Fire (#2 East) @ New England Revolution (#3 East)
Season Series: Chicago 2-1-0
Thursday October 30th, 6:30 PM
ESPN 2
My prediction: Chicago Fire 2-0. What do you predict?
By gaining a single point this weekend, Chicago became the 5th team to guarantee themselves a spot in the playoffs. The next 6 teams are all withing 2 points of each other and will be fighting for only 3 remaining positions.
Here are those 6 teams and their remaining schedules:
Kansas City Wizards
The Wizards are currently tied on points (36) with the Red Bulls, but own the tiebreaker to put them into 4th place and hold the first wildcard spot.
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
@ New England Revolution
New York Red Bulls
The Red Bulls are currently in 5th place, but they have the last wildcard position as of today. The Red Bulls might have the toughest remaining 2 games of any of these six teams.
COLUMBUS CREW
@ Chicago Fire
Real Salt Lake
RSL have the 3rd position in the West right now, but only 1 point ahead of FC Dallas and 2 ahead of the Colorado Rapids - the two teams they have to face yet this year.
FC DALLAS
@ Colorado Rapids
FC Dallas
FCD is the only one of these teams that won’t get back home in either of their remaining games. This game against RSL is going to be a critical game for both teams.
@ Real Salt Lake
@ LA Galaxy
DC United
You could argue that DC United have the toughest remaining games. One plus is that when they have to go to Columbus on the last day of the season - the Crew won’t have a lot to play for. The Crew have already wrapped up the best record in the league.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
@ Columbus Crew
Colorado Rapids
The Rapids have a habit recently of sticking around right outside the playoff picture. While Chivas USA and FC Dallas are playing each other - the Rapids will have a tough game at Chivas USA. Then the fate of several teams could be decided by the Rapids vs. Chivas USA on the last day of the season.
@ Chivas USA
REAL SALT LAKE
So how is this all going to end up? My predictions: Real Salt Lake stay in 3rd place to get that automatic spot in the West. The Kansas City Wizards keep the top wildcard spot, but FC Dallas sneaks ahead of NYRB to take the last wildcard.
1. Columbus Crew vs. 4. Kansas City Wizards
2 Chicago Fire vs. 3. New England Revolution
1. Houston Dynamo vs 4. FC Dallas
2. Chivas USA vs. Real Salt Lake
What do you think?
With a 1-0 win over expansion San Jose Earthquakes, Chivas USA have guaranteed themselves a spot in the post season. They are the 4th team to wrap up a playoff spot after the Columbus Crew, New England Revolution and Houston Dynamo.
As the league stands before today’s game the Chicago Fire, New York Red Bulls, Kansas City Wizards and Real Salt Lake would fill up the remaining 4 positions. But there are more games to be played today.
At the moment the Red Bulls, Wizards and Real Salt Lake all have 36 points. The Colorado Rapids could move up to 37 with a win today, and DC United to make it a 4 way tie at 36 if they manage to get a win today as well.
It looks like it will be another very exciting end of the regular season as teams are fighting for their playoff lives.
This morning I found a great site that tracks the odds that your team is going to make the playoffs at each week. Sports Club Stats tracks 8 different sports including Major League Soccer. It looks like a pretty neat thing Mr. Ken Roberts has built, a bit complex but still pretty cool.
So lets look at the chances of all the MLS teams as of right now:
99.0% Revolution
95.2% Crew
80.3% Fire
70.3% Real Salt Lake
62.2% CD Chivas
62.0% D.C. United
60.8% Dynamo
51.7% Wizards
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51.4% Toronto FC
48.6% Galaxy
41.5% FC Dallas
39.0% Red Bulls
33.3% Rapids
4.7% Earthquakes
Looks pretty bleak for Earthquakes fans and very bright for Revolution fans. Only one time out of 100 would the Revs fail to make the playoffs according to his calculations.
I like Major League Soccer, you should too!
