ChivasUSA took care of busines on Saturday beating FCD 3-0. Makes the Dynamo 1-1 draw with Chivas look a little better and the Western Conference is starting to tighten up at the top: FCD - 15 games played - 27 pts Dynamo - 14 g - 23 pts ChivasUSA - 15 g - 22 pts The next 6 weeks look really big for the Dynamo: 07/04 - Tuesday Columbus Crew 07/08 - Saturday Chivas USA 07/15 - Saturday @ Kansas City Wizards 07/22 - Saturday New England Revolution 07/26 - Wednesday @ Colorado Rapids 07/29 - Saturday New York Red Bulls 08/09 - Wednesday Los Angeles Galaxy 08/12 - Saturday FC Dallas We have 8 games in this span with only two on the road and in particular we get ChivasUSA and FCD here at Robertson. The Dynamo really need to rack up some points if we want to win the Western Conference. Especially since following this we get 5 straight road games in 23 days from Aug. 19 to Sept. 10. Which includes games with Chivas and FCD. We need points in these next 8 games.
Re: Upcoming schedule Great points. For all the somewhat justifiable poo pooing of the MLS regular season, I'd much rather have FCD or Chivas come to Robertson for the Western Conf championship game than go on the road.
Re: Upcoming schedule That's my dream scenario. Beat FCD at Robertson for the Western Conference championship and then play for the MLS Cup in their stadium. Wouldn't that be sweet?
Re: Upcoming schedule Yeah, I guess the good news is that there's no way Houston can play Dallas in their home stadium for the MLS Champsionship I agree, the next 8 games are important. Not only for the reasons cited above, but also because Dallas has got to be wondering if they are going to do the same thing this year that they did last year. In a matter of about 4-5 weeks last year, Dallas lost a double digit point lead over San Jose, and never seriously threatened for first place in the West again. If Houston can make a similar move in July, it might really get into the heads of the Dallas players. It's important for Houston to start winning games, not just tying. And to do that, they need to find their offense. Tomorrow's game against Columbus would seem to be a great chance to do that, since the Crew have given up 14 goals in 8 road games so far. And it's time for the defense to get some clean sheets. How will the team hold up during the real summer heat and humidity......we'll soon see.
Re: Upcoming schedule I must correct you. The September game in Frisco is a home game for us....especially if the Texian Army and El Batallon make the trip.
Re: Upcoming schedule OK. We are halfway through this 8 game stretch with a lot of home games. The team has gone 2-0-2 for 8 points with 8 goals scored and 5 allowed on three home games and 1 away. I would liked to have seen 10 points but not terrible. However, FCD has went 3-1-0 over the same stretch for 9 points and gained a point in the standings. FCD - 19 g.p. 36 points Dynamo - 18 g.p. 31 points The Dynamo play at Colorado on Wednesday, which will even up the games played, and then have three more in a row back here in Houston against the Red Bulls, Galaxy, and FCD. FCD only has an MLS game against Colorado before coming here on August 12 so we really need to rack up some points as we gain two in the games-played number. I know this is a long post basically saying that we need to win games and not just tie them.
Re: Upcoming schedule We have now finished this 8 game stretch with mostly home games and it was not the outcome I was hoping for. Three wins, three ties and two losses over this span for 12 points with a 10-8 goal differential. Standings on July 3: FCD - 15 games played - 27 pts Dynamo - 14 g - 23 pts ChivasUSA - 15 g - 22 pts Standings on August 13: FCD - 21 games played - 39 pts Dynamo - 22 g - 35 pts Rapids - 21 g - 31 pts So we are still 4 points behind FCD but now they have the game in hand. Next 5 games, all on the road: 08/19 - Saturday @ Real Salt Lake 08/26 - Saturday @ Chivas USA 08/30 - Wednesday @ Chicago Fire 09/02 - Saturday @ FC Dallas 09/10 - Sunday @ Los Angeles Galaxy This is looking like a very tough stretch but I think we can get a couple of wins out of this depending on how the team reacts to the loss of Ching.
Re: Upcoming schedule Well, things are a little tougher now. With six of our last nine games against West opponents, pretty much anything can still happen - both good and bad. There's a lot of parity in the West right now and the standings may see a lot of change before the dust settles for the playoffs.
I wouldn't be too worried as I don't see the Dynamo losing so many points that they don't make the play-offs. I think even with Ching out, DeRo and maybe Dalglish can make up for his lost goals. Just hope everyone is fit for the play-offs.
Good news for the Dynamo... FC Frisco loses to the Galaxatives 2-nil Sunday night. Bad news.... RSl, Chivas and the Crapids are right behind us and within 3 pts. Dynamo have to sack up and get it done.
I hadn't looked that closely at FCD's schedule. It is very strange after the FCD-Dynamo game on Sept. 2. 09/09 - Saturday @ Chivas USA 09/13 - Wednesday Chivas USA 09/16 - Saturday @ Real Salt Lake 09/23 - Saturday Real Salt Lake 09/30 - Saturday @ Columbus Crew 10/07 - Saturday Los Angeles Galaxy 10/14 - Saturday @ Los Angeles Galaxy They play Chivas twice in 5 days, then RSL two in a row, a trip to Columbus, and then finish up with the Galaxy twice in a row. With RSL and the Galaxy surging there is a possibility of picking up some ground if the Dynamo can figure out how to score some goals. On the other hand this could be good news for Colorado if Dallas gets on a roll.
Yeah, it's hard to even figure out what to root for. On the one hand it was good to see Dallas lose last night, but on the other, it would have been nice to see LA virtually get buried by losing. A couple more LA losses, and you can stick a fork in them. Now, RSL is within shouting distance, and LA is within reach if they get on a heckuva roll. And LA has been on a nice roll the last couple of months. Check out these results; I took the records for each of the 6 Western teams for their last 10 league games, and their last 5 league games, to see who is the hottest: Last 10 (W-L-T) ----------- LA 5-2-3 18 points RSL 5-3-2 17 points FCD 5-5-0 15 points Hou 3-3-4 13 points Col 3-4-3 12 points Chv 2-1-7 10 points Last 5 ---------- RSL 4-0-1 13 points FCD 3-2-0 9 points LA 2-1-2 8 points Col 2-2-1 7 points Chv 1-0-4 7 points Hou 1-3-1 4 points Houston is bringing up the rear over the past month, and is in the bottom half for the past 2 months. Not very good, and notice who are the hottest teams in both tables -- RSL, LA, and Dallas. Now take one more theoretical "what if". What if all of the teams finish out their last 9 or 10 games winning at the same rate as their last 5 games, or at the same rate as their last 10 games? This would give the following standings: Based on most recent trend, last 5 games, I figured out how many points each team would end up with based on their 9 or 10 games remaining, and here's how the final standings would look: Dallas 55 points RSL 52 points Col 45 points Chv 44 points Hou 42 points LA 40 points Based on continuing the winning rate of the last 10 games, the final standings would be: Dal 54 points Hou 47 points Col 44 points RSL 44 points LA 42 points Chv 40 points As you can see, other than Dallas, it really looks like it could be anyone's game as to who gets into the playoffs. I know stats don't tell everything, but in this case it shows that it is very possible that Houston could drop out of the playoffs if they don't get their act back together. And RSL particularly is far from dead at this point, while LA is a long shot but not out of it. This doesn't take into account who everyone is playing, but it gives an indication of the possible trends to watch.
The Dynamo have finished their 5 game road trip with 4 points in total but it mostly just means that we probably just can't catch Dallas. Before the road trip on August 13: FCD - 21 games played - 39 pts Dynamo - 22 g - 35 pts Rapids - 21 g - 31 pts Chivas USA - 22 g - 30 pts RSL - 21 g - 23 pts Galaxy - 22 g - 23 pts September 11: FC Dallas - 26 games played - 46 pts Dynamo - 27 g - 39 pts Chivas USA - 26 g - 35 pts Rapids - 26 g - 35 pts RSL - 27 g - 33 pts Galaxy - 27 g - 32 pts So over that span the Dynamo lost 3 points on FCD and 1 point to Chivas (who only played 4 games) but stayed even with Colorado. The real difference over that time was the move by RSL and the Galaxy to tighten up the West. Upcoming games: Wednesday - FCD v. Chivas and Rapids v. Fire. That will even everyone in the West up on games played. Losses by Chivas and the Rapids certainly wouldn't hurt. Remaining for the Dynamo: 09/17 - Sunday Chivas USA 7:30 p.m. 09/23 - Saturday @ Columbus Crew 6:30 p.m. 09/30 - Saturday D.C. United 10/07 - Saturday @ Real Salt Lake 8:00 p.m. 10/14 - Saturday Colorado Rapids 7:30 p.m. We play both Chivas and Colorado here at Robertson. Those are obviously huge games.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if we beat Chivas and RSL and Colorado, we should be makin the playoffs, regardless of what happens with Columbus and DC, right? Or even if we win 2/3 of those?
If we win all three of those we would be in the playoffs. Houston - 48 or more points Galaxy - 47 points maximum RSL - 45 points maximum Any three wins would be enough unless we give up a lot of goals.
The worst possible outcomes on Wednesday. It looks like the Dynamo-Chivas game on Sunday will be for 2nd place. Or even 3rd. Chivas and Colorado both win on Wednesday and gain three points on Houston. Standings as of the end of the day September 13: 1. FC Dallas 27 g - 46 pts 2. Houston 27 g - 39 pts 3. Chivas USA 27 g - 38 pts 4. Colorado 27 g - 38 pts ----------------------------- 5. RSL 27 g - 33 pts 6. Galaxy 27 g - 32 pts Colorado plays the Galaxy on Saturday. The Rapids could be in 2nd by Sunday and a tie between Houston and Chivas would keep them there. We have to win this game on Sunday.
