The 2014 playoff picture

Since I can't seem to find anything current on the USL website about the playoff format....is it 1 v 8, 2 v 7, etc. or do some teams get 1st round byes?

 

Wilmington has a hell of a schedule to finish out the season. Something like 5 games in 10 days with 2 against Orlando and 1 against Sacramento.

Looking forward to a possible win and you're in match against Arizona as the last game of the season.

 

Arizona could be eliminated this weekend.

Also, just so you have it, the tiebreakers:

Standings tiebreakers
The breaking of ties in the final league standings, playoffs and finals is accomplished by applying the following criteria, listed in order of importance:

The following two guidelines will be followed during the implementation of USL tiebreakers for all ties involving three or more teams:
1) The tiebreaker will determine the winner first.
2) The tiebreaker will continue to be followed in order to determine the ranking of the remaining teams without restarting from the beginning.

1) Head-to-head record based on total points in league games
2) Total wins in league games
3) Goal difference in league games
4) Goals scored in league games
5) Total points within smallest grouping. If number of games is unequal, then point percentage will be used.
6) Ranking based on points earned against top four group finishers. This tiebreaker will not be used if four or fewer teams comprise the group. If number of games is unequal, then point percentage applies.
7) Point percentage outside/smallest division or conference in League games
8) Total points in all regular season and Open Cup Qualifying games combined. If number of games is unequal, then point percentage applies
9) FIFA Fair Play – Team with fewest disciplinary points in League games. (If number of games is unequal, points will be divided by games played to arrive at a common basis for comparison.)
10) Lottery conducted by USL at league office Point Percentage: number of total points earned / maximum possible points (3 per game)

 

And they have. That -2 sure came back to haunt them. Second year in a row that happened to a team.

Anyways Dayton, OC Blues, and Arizona are now eliminated.

 

See if I have this right as it pertains to Pittsburgh:

If Wilmington gets a win or two draws and Harrisburg gets a win, the best Pittsburgh could potentially do is tie Rochester or OKC for the eighth spot (if OKC were to win its last two). They have the tiebreaker against Rochester (having gone 2-1 against them) but lost their only game against OKC.

Rochester's finale isn't until Sunday, so it's also possible things could be up in the air until then.

Wilmington seems to be in the best position, with three games (though two of them are not easy games).

 

Good effort by Arizona in its final game. Tough loss for Pittsburgh with the playoffs at stake. Harrisburg and Rochester take the last two slots. Some seedings still up in the air.

 

It's actually WAY better for Wilmington if they don't win in Rochester tomorrow, ensure they finish sixth and get to go to Richmond rather than win and finish fifth and have to go to LA.

 

I've been looking at this. The head-to-head tie-break (Richmond Kickers and LA Galaxy II) is a single 1-1 draw. The next tie-break is net wins: LAG2 15, RICH 13, so LAG2 should be in third place.

 

You basically have to download the media guide: http://www.uslsoccer.com/docs/2014 USL PRO Media Guide.pdf

They sure hide the media guide on the web site. Watch for it in the rotating box under the header bar

 

My bad. I was going by a Twitter conversation with the league last night BEFORE LAGII won.

So Wilmington needs to win today to avoid going to LA. They hold the tiebreaker over Charleston. If Rochester wins, they finish sixth (tiebreak with Wilmington) and go to LA, and if they lose, they finish 8th and go to Orlando.

A draw sends Wilmington to LA and Rochester to Orlando.

So it looks like:

#1 Orlando vs. either Rochester or Harrisburg
#2 Sacramento vs. either Wilmington or Harrisburg
#3 LAII vs. Wilmington, Rochester or Charleston
#4 Richmond vs. either Charleston or Wilmington

I think that's right.

 

Playoff matchups are set:

#1 Orlando City -v- #8 Harrisburg City Islanders, *Usl Pro, QF
Sat, September 13, 7:30pm
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, 700 S Victory Way, Kissimmee, FL

#4 Richmond Kickers -v- #5 Charleston Battery, *Usl Pro, QF
Sat, September 13, 7:30pm
City Stadium, Richmond, VA

#2 Sacramento Republic -v- #7 Wilmington Hammerheads, *Usl Pro, QF
Sat, September 13, 10:30pm
Bonney Field, Sacramento, CA

#3 LA Galaxy II -v- #6 Rochester Rhinos, *Usl Pro, QF
Sat, September 13, 10:30pm
StubHub Center, Carson, CA

weekend of Friday, September 19
(#1 Orlando City -v- #8 Harrisburg City Islanders) -v- (#4 Richmond Kickers -v- #5 Charleston Battery), *Usl Pro, SF

weekend of Friday, September 19
(#2 Sacramento Republic -v- #7 Wilmington Hammerheads) -v- (#3 LA Galaxy II -v- #6 Rochester Rhinos), *Usl Pro, SF

weekend of Friday, September 26
(#1 Orlando City -v- #8 Harrisburg City Islanders -v- #4 Richmond Kickers -v- #5 Charleston Battery) -v- (#2 Sacramento Republic -v- #7 Wilmington Hammerheads -v- #3 LA Galaxy II -v- #6 Rochester Rhinos), *Usl Pro, F

 

Interesting: there were two ties in the standings: LAG2-Richmond for third, and Rochester-Wilmington for sixth. In both cases, the head-to-head were tied (Roch-Wil ended 1-1-1), and the net-wins tie-breaker caused both standings to switch (over the goal-diff tie-breaker).

 

I would imagine the best scenario is Richmond and Sacramento win and Sacramento hosts the final.

 

To be fair, they gave away free tickets to their first playoff game and had their biggest crowd of the year. With the big team playing at home on Sunday, they could have moved it to before or after and probably done fine.