Playoff Procedures

First tiebreaker is head-to-head, so with Rochester having won here, and us getting a tie up there, they have the tiebreaker. So we need to beat them on points.

 

I am going to cry when I lose my soccer fields to ACL.

 

As long as the stadium remains far enough north to avoid downtown gridlock during ACL and SXSW and the like... Of course I'm biased towards its location, since I live north of the stadium.

 

Thanks for that link Barbaro.

I think I'd rather play Montreal rather than Tampa in the first round. Only bad thing would be not having Yordany for the away leg.

 

As long as it didn't drift too far downstream in the flash floods last night.

 

We now have a choice for pregame tailgating. Both the Tavern and the Shoal Creek Saloon are floating somewhere around the 18 yard box.

 

Since playoffs aren't a common form of deciding soccer league champions I don't think I've seen the use of 'Magic Number" but in this case it seems relevant.

So the Aztex currently have a magic number of 12. This basically means that if the Aztex gain at least 12 points out of their next 5 matches they are guaranteed the top spot in the USL and USSF D2 playoffs. 12 points would leave us with 61 total points.

Currently we sit in second place behind the Rhinos who have a 2 point advantage with 3 matches left and cannot have more than 60 points at the end of the season.

The good news is, the Aztex control their place in the playoffs. The challenge for the Aztex is they might have to win 4 of their last 5 to achieve the top spot. So any combination of earned points for the RAW and dropped points by the rhinohoes will decrease the magic number.

So bring your self and your friends to Mr. Tramps to the watch event tonight and help cheer on your Aztex!

Current table here--> http://ussf.demosphere.com/Schedules/2010/20952154.20104.html

 

I couldn't agree more. We need everyone at Mr. Tramps, so unless you're losing a lung, get your A$$ down and join the Army and the rest of the Aztex Nation in supporting our boys. It's crunch time!!

 

Aztex magic number is down to just 8. A drop of 4 points in just 2 days. Saturday could decrease that number by 3 more when the boys visit St. Louis. Join the Army at MrTramps for the match!

 

What's it looking like at the other end of the table, in terms of who the first and second seeds will likely play in the first round?

 

Here is your best source for all things Aztex.

ChanticosArmy---> http://www.chanticosarmy.com/cajoom...-table&catid=1:matches&Itemid=2#disqus_thread

mgrayscale has no peers on Aztex scoop and information.

 

Man, talk about props. I owe you a beer, ATX.

To the question, if the playoffs started right now (not including today's results), the matches would be...

Seed #1 v. #8
Rochester Rhinos v. NSC Minnesota

Seed #2 v. #7
Vancouver Whitecaps v. Montreal Impact

Seed #3 v. #6
Austin Aztex v. Puerto Rico Islanders

Seed #4 v. #5
Portland Timbers v. Carolina Railhawks

The higher see has the choice of when they play home and away. You can see how important it is that the Aztex win the league, not just for bragging rights, but taking on NSC Minnesota, based on history (this season) is preferable to Puerto Rico. If we win the USL Conference, we're #1. We cannot climb beyond #3 if we do not win it (#1 in NASL will take #2 USSF D2 position.

 

There ya go...thanks for the beer offer but it is I that owe you one.

 

Thank you, Miami!!!

 

So after tonight, the Aztex number is still 8. Unfortunately, due to our *#@! loss at St. Louis, we have 3 games to get it in. So we must win every match remaining or else our #3 seed stands. That means beating AC St. Louis in Austin, Carolina in Cary, NC, and Montreal in Montreal.

Crap.

 

Not that it necessarily matters that much because the bottom half of the table is shuffling all over the place, but with the way things have been going, there's a chance that Portland could catch us. Actually, if they win both theirs (Baltimore and Vancouver) and we lose all of ours, they'd pass us, but as annoying as this weekend was, I can't see us losing all three of our remaining games. But I can imagine us only getting a tie.

If that happens (us getting only 1 point, and Portland winning their remaining two), that puts us tied with Portland, and our head-to-head is also knotted up, with ties both here and there.

So, I'm wondering what the second tiebreaker is.

 

I'm not sure. I looked online, and there is very little outside of NSC Minnesota's & Inside Minnesota Soccer's articles on the Playoff Clarification call (not record of it at www.ussoccer.com). Goal differential maybe? Or is that too practical for the league this year?

The biggest things I saw were the lack of the away ball rule, and the new ball that would be used for the playoffs.

 

New ball for the playoffs? Just when I thought D2 soccer couldn't get any dumber.

 

I have always felt it important to play for the hardware at hand. Austin can still win the league and the hardware that goes with it (even if we have to make the trophy ourselves). We can see how damning this is if we can't climb over Rochester.

I think having this week to regroup will let the Aztex find their rhythm. We need to focus on playing well now. If we do that, points will come. A victory at home will be a great tonic for this team. And as the great Carlos Bianchi says, "Each new win calls out to another." Let's hope that is true.

 

So with Rochester losing to Miami, our magic number is 2, with 2 games to play.

Come on you Aztex! (also, much as I hate to say it, come on ACSL!)

 

The other thing is that Puerto Rico has now locked in the 8th place spot, so if we maintain our current #1 position, we will face them in teh Quarterfinals. We will have to find our form in Bayamon, in order to move on to the Semifinals.

One other playoff note of interest is that with Carolina's win over Puerto Rico last night, and Vancouver's loss to Montreal on Friday, the Railhawks have jumped into the #1 position in the NASL. You can find the latest matchings for the quarterfinals (if they were played today) at the Chantico's Army website.

 

And one other bit of information that I heard: If we play Puerto Rico, our playoff game will be Sunday rather than Saturday. Because Puerto Rico can't get their home stadium on Wednesday.

 

Works for me. I would be quite happy to get to watch the USA-Poland game in real time.