PBP: MLS 2019 Season Week 8 Game Thread (R)

Two massive games in the West.

Unbeaten (4-1-0) Houston at LA Galaxy (5-0-1) would be the big game of the week, if it wasn't for unbeaten (5-1-0) Seattle at unbeaten (6-1-0) LAFC. That's #3 at #4 and #2 at #1 in the Supporters' Shield standings, using ppg.

 

Weekly MLR update! Things went about as expected over the weekend with NOLA Gold and the Seawolves beating their opponents and the Legion grinding out a victory over RUNY. Alas, the Austin/Toronto game was postponed due to poor weather that resulted in Toronto's flights down to Austin being cancelled.

With RUNY's loss and the Seawolves getting the full 5 points, the Seawolves were able to jump into 2nd place in the standings, while RUNY fell to fifth and San Diego moving into 3rd place. Toronto's game cancellation means they didn't move in the standings, but are now 9 points behind the playoff race and the Raptors bye week saw them drop down to 4th with a scant 1 point lead over RUNY.

This week should be an exciting week as all 4 games have playoff implications. Glendale travels to San Diego to face the red hot Legion who are looking to continue their winning ways and put space between them and the 4th place Raptors, while Glendale is in dire need of a win or else see themselves fall out of the playoffs as RUNY will be hosting the Utah Warriors and should easily win their game. On Sunday, Toronto are hoping to get a full 5 points against the Sabercats in the hope of clawing their way into the playoff race and the final match of the weekend will have the #1 team facing the #2 team in the league. Regardless of the games result, NOLA Gold will remain in 1st place, while the Seawolves need a win if they hope to keep NOLA Gold in striking distance and remain ahead of the teams behind them who can all at least catch the Seawolves with a win.

 

Nice game for the young Sounders in the GA Cup, knocking River Plate out of the competition in the quarterfinals 1-0 after extra time.

 

That was nuts.

 

Saw the highlights. City's defense was channeling their inner United. 2017 and 18 Minnesota United.

Also see that PSG is trying to no win the Ligue 1 title. Of course they'd need to lose every game from here on out and Lille would need to win out. There are still 6 games left.

 

I don't want more.

 

Stat of the day

For players who have at least 3 goals, here are the top 10 for goals per 90 minutes.

10. Johnny Russell, SKC, 0.77
9. Diego Rossi, LAFC, 0.89
8. Ezequiel Barco, Atlanta, 0.92
7. Ignacio Piatti, Montreal, 1.02
6. David Accam, Philadelphia, 1.12
5. Gianluca Busio, SKC, 1.13
4. Carlos Vela, LAFC, 1.16
3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, LAG, 1.50
2. Jozy Altidore, Toronto, 1.55
1. Memo Rodriguez, Houston, 1.82

 

RBII is laying a smackdown on Hartford right now. Fun to watch.

 

Good news!

Vancouver isn't losing yet.

 

Vancouver still isn't losing.

In fact, they've had the better chances so far.

 

Clearly Vancouver and LAFC are not popular with the BigSoccer game thread.

(Or do I have everyone on ignore?)

 

This has been a decent game. Better than I expected, quite frankly.

 

Goal for Cascadia!

Vancouver 1-0 LAFC

 

Inbeom is a nice little player. But the whole Whitecaps team is playing well.

 

Unfortunately, Blessing seems to be injured. I am surprised he is still in the game.

 

By the way, I see that Doneil Henry still manages to be a disaster at least 3 times a game.

 

LAFC's right back is a mean mother...

 

He's hanging in there still

 

Ali Adnan despite his poor judgment, is an excellent left back. N'Bomb burried it, but that play was all Adnan.

 

And Blessing looks to be done, thanks to a shoulder injury. Will be interesting to see if he can recover in time for the game against Seattle.

 

Until he wasn't