Welcome to the final PBP thread of the 2017 MLS regular season. As always, keep it civil and respectful or the mods will go all Baldomero Toledo on your ass. All times Eastern, national broadcasts noted. I'm assuming the US national broadcast(s) will be announced soon. Portland/Vancouver seems the obvious choice as first in the West is up for grabs. MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER Sunday, October 22 Atlanta United FC vs Toronto FC, 16:00, TSN4 D.C. United vs Red Bull New York, 16:00 Montreal Impact vs New England Revolution, 16:00, TSN5/TVAS New York City FC vs Columbus Crew SC, 16:00 Philadelphia Union vs Orlando City SC, 16:00 FC Dallas vs Los Angeles Galaxy, 16:00 Real Salt Lake vs Sporting Kansas City, 16:00 Portland Timbers vs Vancouver Whitecaps FC, 16:00, TSN1 San Jose Earthquakes vs Minnesota United FC, 16:00 Seattle Sounders vs Colorado Rapids, 16:00 Houston Dynamo vs Chicago Fire, 16:00 NASL Wednesday, October 18 San Francisco Deltas vs Miami FC, 17:00 Jacksonville Armada vs FC Edmonton, 19:00 Puerto Rico FC vs New York Cosmos, 19:30 Saturday, October 21 Indy Eleven vs Puerto Rico FC, 15:00 North Carolina vs San Francisco Deltas, 19:30 FC Edmonton vs Miami FC, 21:00 Sunday, October 22 Jacksonville Armada vs New York Cosmos, 16:00 USL Conference Quarterfinals Friday, October 20 Louisville City vs Bethlehem Steel, 19:30 Real Monarchs SLC vs Sacramento Republic, 22:00 Saturday, October 21 Rochester Rhinos vs Charlotte Independence, 18:05 Charleston Battery vs Red Bull New York II, 19:00 Tampa Bay Rowdies vs FC Cincinnati, 19:30 San Antonio FC vs Tulsa Roughnecks, 20:30 Swope Park Rangers vs Phoenix Rising, 20:30 Reno 1868 vs OKC Energy, 20:45 FIFA U-17 WORLD CUP Round of 16 Wednesday, October 18 Ghana vs Niger, 7:30, FS2 Brazil vs Honduras, 10:30, FS2 Quarterfinals Saturday, October 21 Mali vs Ghana/Niger, 7:30, FS2 United States vs England, 10:30, FS2 Sunday, October 22 Spain vs Iran, 7:30, FS2 Germany vs Brazil/Honduras, 10:30, Fox Soccer Plus
Decision Day: a day so important that PRO was able to assign trial referees to three of the eleven games. Hail to you DC/NY, MTL/NE, and PHI/ORL, for you are all playing Officially Meaningless Games to end the season. Yeah, the Red Bulls get to go to the playoffs, but they're stuck in 6th place so who cares? Special shoutout to PHI/ORL for not only getting a rookie whistle but a rookie whistle who doesn't even have any other MLS assignments, fourth official or otherwise. Without further ado, your final regular season set of games and referee stats. 2017 Stats: 363 (of 374) games, 3.55 Y/g, 88 R (0.24/g) All-Time: 5066 games, 3.42 Y/g, 1297 R (0.26/g) Sunday, October 22 Atlanta United FC vs Toronto FC R: Robert SIBIGA - 45 games, 3.60 Y/g, 9 R (0.20/g) 2017: 23 g, 3.96 Y/g, 4 R (0.17/g) ATL: 2 g, 2.00 Y/g, 0 R OPP: 0.50 Y/g, 0 R REC: 0 W - 1 D - 1 L (0.500 PPG) TOR: 5 g, 1.00 Y/g, 0 R OPP: 2.20 Y/g, 1 R (0.20/g) REC: 1 W - 3 D - 1 L (1.200 PPG) Previous matching or reverse fixtures: NONE D.C. United vs Red Bull New York R: David GANTAR - 52 games, 2.54 Y/g, 21 R (0.40/g) 2017: 7 g, 2.71 Y/g, 3 R (0.43/g) DC: 6 g, 1.33 Y/g, 0 R OPP: 1.17 Y/g, 4 R (0.67/g) REC: 2 W - 1 D - 3 L (1.167 PPG) NY: 3 g, 0.33 Y/g, 0 R OPP: 0.67 Y/g, 2 R (0.67/g) REC: 1 W - 0 D - 2 L (1.000 PPG) Previous matching or reverse fixtures: NONE Montreal Impact vs New England Revolution R: Rubiel VAZQUEZ - 3 games, 2.67 Y/g, 1 R (0.33/g) 2017: 3 g, 2.67 Y/g, 1 R (0.33/g) MTL: 1 g, 2.00 Y/g, 0 R OPP: 0.00 Y/g, 0 R REC: 1 W - 0 D - 0 L (3.000 PPG) NE: 1st game Previous matching or reverse fixtures: NONE New York City FC vs Columbus Crew SC R: Ismail ELFATH - 102 games, 3.14 Y/g, 25 R (0.25/g) 2017: 20 g, 3.00 Y/g, 7 R (0.35/g) NYC: 4 g, 1.75 Y/g, 0 R OPP: 2.25 Y/g, 0 R REC: 1 W - 0 D - 3 L (0.750 PPG) CLB: 10 g, 1.00 Y/g, 3 R (0.30/g) OPP: 2.00 Y/g, 2 R (0.20/g) REC: 3 W - 1 D - 6 L (1.000 PPG) Previous matching or reverse fixtures: NONE Philadelphia Union vs Orlando City SC R: Joseph DICKERSON - 1st game Previous matching or reverse fixtures: NONE FC Dallas vs Los Angeles Galaxy R: Jose Carlos RIVERO - 89 games, 3.93 Y/g, 24 R (0.27/g) 2017: 21 g, 4.29 Y/g, 7 R (0.33/g) DAL: 9 g, 2.00 Y/g, 1 R (0.11/g) OPP: 2.33 Y/g, 2 R (0.22/g) REC: 5 W - 1 D - 3 L (1.778 PPG) LA: 5 g, 1.80 Y/g, 2 R (0.40/g) OPP: 1.40 Y/g, 0 R REC: 1 W - 2 D - 2 L (1.000 PPG) Previous matching or reverse fixtures: NONE Real Salt Lake vs Sporting Kansas City R: Ricardo SALAZAR - 248 games, 3.66 Y/g, 70 R (0.28/g) 2017: 20 g, 3.40 Y/g, 4 R (0.20/g) RSL: 30 g, 1.67 Y/g, 3 R (0.10/g) OPP: 2.10 Y/g, 6 R (0.20/g) REC: 13 W - 8 D - 9 L (1.567 PPG) SKC: 35 g, 1.86 Y/g, 3 R (0.09/g) OPP: 1.91 Y/g, 7 R (0.20/g) REC: 11 W - 10 D - 14 L (1.229 PPG) Previous matching or reverse fixtures: 7/16/2005 KC 3 - 2 RSL 5/29/2010 RSL 4 - 1 KC 9/17/2011 RSL 1 - 0 SKC 5/21/2016 SKC 1 - 3 RSL Portland Timbers vs Vancouver Whitecaps FC R: Allen CHAPMAN - 107 games, 3.64 Y/g, 24 R (0.22/g) 2017: 21 g, 3.29 Y/g, 5 R (0.24/g) POR: 11 g, 1.82 Y/g, 1 R (0.09/g) OPP: 2.45 Y/g, 0 R REC: 3 W - 6 D - 2 L (1.364 PPG) VAN: 14 g, 2.21 Y/g, 1 R (0.07/g) OPP: 1.71 Y/g, 2 R (0.14/g) REC: 7 W - 4 D - 3 L (1.786 PPG) Previous matching or reverse fixtures: 3/28/2015 VAN 2 - 1 POR 5/2/2015 POR 0 - 0 VAN 11/1/2015 POR 0 - 0 VAN (Playoffs) San Jose Earthquakes vs Minnesota United FC R: Hilario GRAJEDA - 155 games, 3.46 Y/g, 24 R (0.15/g) 2017: 16 g, 3.94 Y/g, 1 R (0.06/g) SJ: 13 g, 1.92 Y/g, 1 R (0.08/g) OPP: 1.38 Y/g, 1 R (0.08/g) REC: 4 W - 4 D - 5 L (1.231 PPG) MIN: 1 g, 2.00 Y/g, 0 R OPP: 1.00 Y/g, 0 R REC: 0 W - 0 D - 1 L (0.000 PPG) Previous matching or reverse fixtures: NONE Seattle Sounders FC vs Colorado Rapids R: Chris PENSO - 122 games, 3.68 Y/g, 34 R (0.28/g) 2017: 24 g, 4.13 Y/g, 3 R (0.13/g) SEA: 9 g, 1.44 Y/g, 2 R (0.22/g) OPP: 1.67 Y/g, 1 R (0.11/g) REC: 5 W - 2 D - 2 L (1.889 PPG) COL: 12 g, 1.75 Y/g, 1 R (0.08/g) OPP: 1.17 Y/g, 2 R (0.17/g) REC: 5 W - 5 D - 2 L (1.667 PPG) Previous matching or reverse fixtures: 11/22/2016 SEA 2 - 1 COL (Playoffs) Houston Dynamo vs Chicago Fire R: Alan KELLY - 84 games, 3.36 Y/g, 14 R (0.17/g) 2017: 24 g, 3.50 Y/g, 2 R (0.08/g) HOU: 4 g, 2.00 Y/g, 1 R (0.25/g) OPP: 1.75 Y/g, 0 R REC: 0 W - 2 D - 2 L (0.500 PPG) CHI: 6 g, 2.17 Y/g, 0 R OPP: 1.17 Y/g, 0 R REC: 2 W - 2 D - 2 L (1.333 PPG) Previous matching or reverse fixtures: NONE *All team stats include playoff games
I'm watching an old recording of an MST3K aired in syndication that includes the original commercials. It's a delight. When this aired, the #1 movie in America was THE ROCK. EDIT: OMG the Corn Pops Mission: Impossible sweepstakes!
As a practical matter, Decision Day is once again over-hyped. In the EC, spots 1 and 6 are set. The rest can jostle around. In the WC, spots 1 to 5 can jostle around in various ways. Seeding is of dubious importance, so who really cares? Spot 6 in the WC is still up for grabs as the only real playoff decision left for decision day. SJE, FCD, and RSL could all claim 6th place. The only other thing of note to be decided on Decision Day is last place, which I don't expect MLS will be touting.
I mean eventually in that at some point, maybe we get 5-7 games that matter and it will be a unique event. I don't think we will ever truly get what is advertised, the possibility exists. At the same time, what is "excitement". Is it having the SS being challenged on the last day? Is it having no seeds decided until the last day? Is it having 3 or more teams competing for the last spot? Is it all three happening? One of those alone isn't that great. Even in the europe, it often isn't that exciting. As I finish this, I realize I have become a terrible strawman and accept any punishment.
Let's just be honest, Decision Day this year is all about Cascadia: who will win the Cascadia Cup (Seattle or Portland) and who will win the West (Vancouver or Portland)? Cascadia has taken over, deal with it!
I think the only national TV coverage will be the whiparound coverage on ESPN, so for full games you'll need local TV or MLS Live, or, for the truly desperate, to move to Canada.
But if I'm watching local TV I can't be watching the whip-around show (I only have one TV and can't access the local team on MLS Live due to blackouts). So the result will be Sounders on TV. Unfortunately I can't do Portland - Vancouver on MLS Live due to the local blackout in Seattle .
If you have a device that can get WatchESPN streaming, you could put the whiparound on that while you watch the Sounders on local TV. I'll be at the stadium, so I won't have to deal with any of this.
49' | GOOOOOOOAL! GET IN @Luisespino16! pic.twitter.com/7N1WHKm43a— Sacramento Republic FC (@SacRepublicFC) October 21, 2017 SRFC 1 :: 0 Real
So, that didn't go as planned. There's the FT whistle for regulation time which means we now head into extra time. Two 15 minutes half to be played. #SLCvSAC— Sacramento Republic FC (@SacRepublicFC) October 21, 2017