In the postseason, the top six teams will qualify for the playoffs with the top two teams gaining byes into the semifinal round. The remaining four teams (6th seed @ 3rd seed, 5th seed @ 4th seed) will play each other in single games to advance to the semifinals with the lowest remaining seed facing the top seed and the highest facing the second seed The two-game, aggregate-goal NASL Championship Series will take place the weekends of October 22 and 29 with the higher seeded team hosting the second game. Is it just me or weren't MLS fans wanting the same system?
That's if they have a season. And what happened to tradition? This league had a different championship Final format in the 70s and 80s.
Some, and only on websites such as this, but those would be the same that would bring up the fact that 75% of the NASL will make the playoffs thus making the regular season meaningless, like they whine about on MLS boards. These are not the people to ally yourself with in some sort of "I told you so" pro-NASL crotch-grabbing celebration...
They also had artificial turf, 35 yard lines for offside, shootouts and refused to play in tournaments like the US Open Cup and the Concacaf Champions Cup.
This league didn't exist in the 70s and 80s. That league did, and this league took that league's name because most of the other halfway decent league names had been used or rejected and because I guess they wanted people to think they somehow had some connection to something some people remember fondly as a simpler time in their lives. If you want to get technical, the original NASL had no playoff format one year and many different playoff formats over the years. They had single game, two-legged, best-of-three, no playoffs at all. There is no one tradition.
Now that you put it that way, I just lost all interest in this league. I was interested because I thought it was the original league returning after a 27 year hibernation. I thought it had a connection to something I remember fondly in a simple time in my life.
It does have a tenuous connection, but it's not the same league. Corporations don't hibernate for 27 years, they fold.
Yeah, bummer. I looked at it like the ressurection of Jesus. Instead it's some new guy named Hessoos.
It's some new guy trying his best to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, and not yet getting it right. Better than nothing.
I personally don't like the play-offs, but deal with it and try and accept it. ( I don't think a sub-par team throughout the season deserves to win a "Championship"). I like the idea of having a regular season champion ( the team that finishes with the most points at the end of the season). Now with that said, why not have a NASL Cup go throughout the entire season with all the teams participating. For example, in the case of the NASL teams this year, using the points from last year and letting the two new teams( FC Edmonton and Atlanta Silverbacks) take up the bottom part of the standings, it would be: First Round: Carolina Railhawks against Atlanta Silverbacks, Montreal Impact against FC Edmonton, etc etc... Then have the remaining four teams(same pairing as in first round, based on most points from previous season) play a home and home series, winner on aggregate advances to the NASL Cup Finals after the regular season. Can do the same thing for MLS. However you would have enough teams for semis and quarters after the regular season. Don't even get me started on my pro/reg idea between NASL and MLS...
Don't worry, we won't. I do like the idea of a league cup though. Sure now we only have 8 teams, but why not start the tradition?
Thanks for the support. It would be a great tradition, especially this year since/if "NASL teams are ineligable for the US Open Cup..."
It would be nice to have something to fill the void left by the USOC this year, but having a League Cup that would essentially be the same thing as the playoffs would be pretty redundant. Unlike say the Carling Cup and FA Cup, and USOC, that have teams from multiple divisions of the game, it would just be playoffs where everyone gets in. Kinda pointless, plus it invites the possibility of injury to players during the run up to the actual playoffs that count for the title. Since the NASL(and MLS) will in all likelihood always have playoffs, something like this really has no place in the North American game as it would just clog up the schedule. I think the system in our D1 and D2 as of now are just about perfect. A Balanced regular season, so the true best clubs qualify for the playoffs, and then the knockout stage for the title. You get the best of both worlds. The only beef I have is that MLS, despite playing a balanced schedule where conferences mean absolutely nothing, still seeds the playoffs by the conferences(sort of).
Sure, same thing as playoffs but instead of having it at the end of the season, have it throughout the season. Then just have the cup finals after the regular season. Not the Cup and the playoffs. The Cup IS the playoffs, include ALL the teams, THROUGHOUT the season. Not like it is that many extra games. However, yes I agree that would be too much for D2 players to handle, even though they are "professional atheletes". Players have just as much of a chance getting injured during the regular season as they do towards the end of the season by play off time. Actually, they probably have more of a chance getting injured towards the end of the season, after such a long grueling season. Anyway... Looking at the 2010 regular season, you think that Puerto Rico was one of the best clubs in NASL 2010? with 36pts, 9W-10L-9T. Don't get me wrong, I think that puerto Rico is a very talented team. You also think that Colorado Rapids were one of the best clubs in MLS 2010? with 46pts, 12W-8L-10T. I just don't think it is representative. So these teams had a good run of a few games in the playoffs, they got a lucky call or made a few good plays with some bad luck on the opposing team. Its the endless battle between Playoff minded people and not...almost like the endless battle of Pro/Rel. But, I also like to support the underdogs once in a while.
That's the way it goes sometimes with playoffs. That's why I prefer home and away aggregate series for EVERY round, it lessens the impact of some of the "fluke" factors like officiating, luck, etc. I'm not totally against the sort of "play in" first round NASL will have this year that will be one-off matches to get to round two, where the two best teams will be waiting. I also like how MLS has the setup of awarding the Supporters Shield winner a CCL spot. I don't know what kind of incentive/reward NASL could give for the regular season champions, but it's nice to recognize the team that played the best all year long. As an American sports fan, if there were no playoffs in other sports, I never would have seen my Marlins win two World Series, the Heat win their title, and the Panthers make their magical run to the Stanley Cup in the Year of the Rat(then again, the Fusion would have been MLS champions in 2001 with no playoffs). Some of my most cherished childhood memories are being in downtown FTL on the New River celebrating the Marlins titles, saluting the Panthers on a great season in '96 and standing in the throngs of people on Biscayne Blvd. in Miami after the Heat won it all(not so much childhood memory on that one but still). In soccer, a sport that is still trying to gain a serious foothold in the minds and wallets of sports fans in North America, I feel the playoffs are an important part of the game. By having a system that allows teams like Colorado, RSL, Puerto Rico etc. to win it all despite not being the best team record-wise in the league, it keeps those markets interested in the teams. We don't have the kind of history for soccer that will keep fans of teams with ZERO chance of an outright title interested, your Wolverhamptons, Wigans, Birminghams etc. Maybe, in a few decades we'll have that kind of devotion for soccer, like we see for perennial loser teams in other sports(Chicago Cubs, anything in Cleveland, etc.). Then and only then can we think about getting rid of the playoffs. Hopefully at that point, there will be a bigger and better Open Cup and CCL, and maybe pro/rel, that will give the smaller clubs something to play for outside of the league title.
Well said. I agree for the most part. But I will still have to disagree on the lesser teams winning a cup. We will have to agree to disagree on that one.
