(as of 10/13) EASTERN CONFERENCE 1. DC UNITED 55 PTS, 32 GP, 3 GR, 2 MLS, 1 CCL 10/18 vs Chicago 10/27 at Tauro FC (CCL - Panama) 10/25 at Montreal 2. New England Revolution 49 PTS, 32 GP, 2 GR, 2 MLS 10/16 at Houston 10/25 vs Toronto FC 3. Sporting KC 49 PTS, 32 GP, 3 GR, 2 MLS, 1 CCL 10/18 at Philadelphia 10/23 at Saprissa (CCL - Costa Rica) 10/26 vs NYRB 4. New York Red Bulls 47 PTS, 32 GP, 3 GR, 2 MLS, 1 CCL 10/19 vs Columbus 10/22 vs Montreal (CCL) 10/26 at Sporting KC 5. Columbus Crew 46 PTS, 32 GP, 2 GR, 2 MLS 10/19 at New York 10/26 vs Philadelphia 6. Toronto FC 40 PTS, 32 GP, 2 GR, 2 MLS 10/18 vs Montreal 10/25 at New England WESTERN CONFERENCE 1. Seattle Sounders 60 PTS, 32 GP, 2 GR, 2 MLS 10/19 at Los Angeles 10/25 vs Los Angeles 2. Los Angeles Galaxy 60 PTS, 32 GP, 2 GR, 2 MLS 10/19 vs Seattle 10/25 at Seattle 3. Real Salt Lake 52 PTS, 32 GP, 2 GR, 2 MLS 10/17 at Portland 10/22 vs Chivas USA 4. FC Dallas 51 PTS, 32 GP, 2 GR, 2 MLS 10/18 at cRapids 10/25 vs Portland 5. Vancouver Whitecaps 46 PTS, 32 PG, 2 GR, 2 MLS 10/18 at San Jose 10/25 vs cRapids 6. Portland Timbers 45 PTS, 32 GP, 3 GR, 2 MLS, 1 CCL 10/17 vs Real Salt Lake 10/21 at CD Olimpia (CCL - Honduras) 10/25 at FC Dallas OVERALL STANDINGS Seattle Sounders LA Galaxy DC United Real Salt Lake FC Dallas New England Sporting KC NYRB Columbus Vancouver Portland Toronto
So better to finish third or forth? Personally would rather face Seattle than L.A. That means we likely need to hold the third slot. Bummer is DC is ahead of us which will make getting a CCL birth less likely.
East Thoughts Crazy what one week can do in this part of the season. A lot of teams were in it until the week ended. Now the 5 teams are all but set. It would take a miracle for TFC to jump ahead of Columbus. And, lets be honest, TFC doesn't have that kind of miracles happen to them. The East will officially go through DC. Again, barring some miracle from New England or Sporting, DC has the top spot locked up. I for one would rather not see MLS Cup hosted at RFK, so someone please knock them out. The Sporting / New York game to end the season looks like it'll have some interesting implications. Most likely it'll be a battle for 3rd / 4th but there is the small chance that it becomes a preview of the 4 / 5 game. I'd like that. Though this might not be the best place for it, did you guys see the implosion by Philly against Columbus? That was just ridiculous stuff. I almost feel bad for Philly then I remember that they are well Philly. West We (meaning general MLS fans) got what we wanted. It'll be Seattle and LA playing a home and away series for the supporters shield. Seattle holds the tiebreaker as they would have more wins should they end even on points. I'm pulling for LA this first week as I want to see Seattle have to play from behind at home. This is going to be fun to watch. I'm a fan of the refs back pocket. Please please please get chippy. We've successfully turned what was the supposed easiest schedule in the West into a nail biter. Blowing those 3 points at Chivas now really stings as we're looking at a road game in Portland as essentially a must-win if we want to keep that 3rd place spot. I'm not overly confident in this as Portland will be playing for their playoff lives and, well, we haven't exactly been on fire of late. Then you have Dallas, a really strong team, going to play the cRapids. Maybe just maybe the cRapids will... yeah I'm not even going to think it's a possibility. Dallas is getting 3 points this weekend. RSL has to keep pace. With us behind them in the win category, we can't end level on points, either. Dallas will hold that edge through the rest of the season most likely so we have to straight beat them on points to take 3rd. The battle for 5th seems all but locked up for Vancouver. They have the point lead on Portland and should be favored to get 6 points. This is the biggest reason for avoiding that 4th place game. We would have to host Vancouver in a one-off game at the RioT. If that doesn't sound like a game we lose 1-0 on a counter goal late in the first half, I don't know what does.
3rd avoiding Vancouver is vital. I think we match-up better with LA but don't want to fall to 4th to supposedly play them. I'd put money on us losing the 4/5 game if we fell to it against Vancouver.
Agree win the last two and see what happens. As to the CCL slot. I think unless we win the cup, our only hope will be for L.A. To win it all and us to finish third in the west. In: Seattle open cup winner DC eastern conference winner L.A. MLS cup or western conference winner.
You don't have to have LA win it all. If LA gets SS with us in 3rd, all you'd need is an MLS Cup matchup between either Sea/LA plus the top east team.
It all comes down to this (As of 10/20) EASTERN CONFERENCE 1. DC UNITED 58 PTS, 33 GP, 2 GR, 1 MLS, 1 CCL 10/27 at Tauro FC (CCL - Panama) 10/25 at Montreal 2. New England Revolution 52 PTS, 33 GP, 1 GR, 1 MLS 10/25 vs Toronto FC 3. Sporting KC 49 PTS, 33 GP, 2 GR, 1 MLS, 1 CCL 10/23 at Saprissa (CCL - Costa Rica) 10/26 vs NYRB 4. Columbus Crew 49 PTS, 33 GP, 1 GR, 1 MLS 10/26 vs Philadelphia 5. New York Red Bulls 47 PTS, 33 GP, 2 GR, 1 MLS, 1 CCL 10/22 vs Montreal (CCL) 10/26 at Sporting KC WESTERN CONFERENCE 1. Seattle Sounders 61 PTS, 33 GP, 1 GR, 1 MLS 10/25 vs Los Angeles 2. Los Angeles Galaxy 61 PTS, 33 GP, 1 GR, 1 MLS 10/25 at Seattle 3. FC Dallas 54 PTS, 33 GP, 1 GR, 1 MLS 10/25 vs Portland 4. Real Salt Lake 53 PTS, 33 GP, 1 GR, 1 MLS 10/22 vs Chivas USA 5. Vancouver Whitecaps 47 PTS, 33 PG, 1 GR, 1 MLS 10/25 vs cRapids 6. Portland Timbers 46 PTS, 33 GP, 2 GR, 1 MLS, 1 CCL 10/21 at CD Olimpia (CCL - Honduras) 10/25 at FC Dallas OVERALL STANDINGS Seattle Sounders LA Galaxy DC United FC Dallas Real Salt Lake New England Sporting KC Columbus NYRB Vancouver Portland
Pretty amazing that Sporting could be finishing 5th in the East. It sure got AndyMead quiet (I will delete the @ to escape the wrath). Sabo's broken foot really screwed this season over. Oh well.
Thoughts East: DC has is locked up officially - but what is more important is that with a win and a LA loss, they would finish 2nd overall and would host anybody except Seattle for MLS Cup. Yeah, RFK is not only the place that the East will be won in, but MLS in general. That's a joke. Watch out for New England. This team is on fire. They'll destroy TFC this week putting them at 55 points and really put the pressure on RSL/FCD. It's rather sad that all these teams that share stadiums with american football teams are doing well. Not saying they don't deserve it, but an MLS Cup at Gilette would be the ********ing worst. Sporting has their hands full this week. They go to Saprissa in a game they need to not lose (badly) if they want to get out of group play in CCL. They've said that matters, so I think you see a good squad. However, they host NY and have the very real possibility of falling all the way to 5th if Columbus and New York (who they play) win. If our form coming into the playoffs is bad, Sporting's is god awful. Columbus, like New England, is a team to be feared. They are really coming into their own and look a realistic threat. Crazy that they could go from outside the playoffs all the way to 3rd (can't finish 2nd as they lose tiebreaker to NE). They and New England would be a hell of a series to start the playoffs. New York's horrible CCL form is going to actually be a blessing at this point of the season. Nobody of value will play against Montreal this week leaving the weekend game with Sporting very much in their favor in the players rested department. If things go the way I think they will (ha!) this is a preview of the 4 / 5 game just a few days later in New York. West LA had the thing so in their favor. They were up 2 goals, at home, with Bruce Arena coaching. You'd have bet a good chunk of money that LA would pull the win out. Instead, they barely get by on a draw and lose Gonzalez for the return leg. Seattle has to be the favorite now, but they're Seattle at home against LA. If they open themselves too much, LA will destroy them. Still, I think this performance won Seattle the shield. It stings, but give Dallas the respect they deserve. They've gone through their hell of a schedule and pushed us to play. We haven't and thus they've jumped us. All they have to do is beat Portland at home and they move to third for sure. As for us, we have to beat Chivas if for nothing other than the mental aspect of it. We got really lucky in this in that should we fall to the play-in game, it isn't as much of a scheduling nightmare as it is for others. We're at home, get a full week's rest, at home and, should we find a way to beat Vancouver, are at home again. It's not horrific but it's far from ideal. We need to pray, still, that Portland wants to make the playoffs. They have the CCL game in Honduras that hurts. To advance out of their group they can lose, just not be 3 or more goals. So, if they do value their playoff lives, they'll send a mixed team on charter to Honduras while resting the important (valeri) guys for Dallas. It likely will all be a moot point, though, for Portland as Vancouver hosts the cRapis and should lock up a spot. We matchup horribly with Vancouver so as RSL fans we need to... we need to... weneedtocheerforthecrapids
MLS Cup was held at Gilette in 2002 where LA beat New England 1-0. It was the highest attended final to date. The Patriots had a bye the week of MLS Cup (10/20/02), so there were no football lines on the field. MLS Cup will be held on 12/7/14. The Patriots will be at San Diego that week, so Gilette wouldn't have football lines for the Cup. But that could end up being as cold as last year's cup in KC. The Seahawks have an away game as well that week, so CLink would be free of football lines as well.
I can't guarantee it, but there were a lot of Revs games last year that didn't have football games. I'm also pretty sure The Don would require the field to be free of lines.
Even if home support was poor, I could guarantee that stadium fills up between away fans and the various neutrals/MLS gifted tickets.
Updates through 2014 Regular Season: A new record has been set this season for the Highest Goal Difference Disparity between the Top-2 teams in SS Standings @15-32 = -17. (Sounds alike to @15 to 32 ) IIRC, the previous record was set in 1998 at 15 (+41 by LAG vs +26 by DCU), which was almost matched in 2012 season at 14 (+29 by SJE vs +15 by SKC). As "SS"FC won the SS, it would be: The only 2nd season where the SS Winners had a worse GD than the Runners-up, after 2010 (+18 by LAG vs +25 by RSL), and The only 3rd season where the SS Winners did not have the Best GD league wide, after 2010 & 2013 (+17 by NYRB vs +21 by POR).