New England is major trap game. Seattle going directly from central america to New England and 3 days before open cup. And no Rosales. Roster juggling will be a big challenge. I'm much more pessimistic than you are: I see draw at Van, win vs SJ, draw or loss at NE, Draw vs Phila, and what happens at Chivas depends on playoff positioning going into that last game.
If ever something don't feel right to you, remember what Pancho said to the Cisco Kid: "Let's win this, before we are dancing at the end of a rope without music." [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuRJhKqFTEk"]Wild At Heart - David Lynch Sailor Rula and his son - YouTube[/ame]
Hah... Gals played an A+ team last night. The 3 DPs all playing the whole 90. Looks like Crew had a chance. Now, would Arena play a tired A+ team or would he use a B+ team (adding Juninho to the mix) Alajuelense is indeed a good team, beating the Gals. Now, if the Gals are still interested in going through the group stages, they should play the A+ team against Morelia. I don't think their B+ team would have a chance against a Mexican team and also I heard that Beckham is suspended. If they lose to Morelia and Alajuelense wins against Montagua, it would be over for them. One more thing to note is that Union w/o Ruiz is beatable. If we can beat DCU (w/ Davies & Dero), we can these teams. I think anything less than 15 pts in our last 5 games would be a disappointment.
Wow, care to share whatever you're smokin'? I see 5-7 points in next 4 games. Honestly, it's hard to know if Chivas will end up being an important game or not. If it doesn't change playoff positioning then it will be essentially a throwaway game.
It's called optimism. I had to admit that I was very pessimistic earlier this season thinking that we might not even make it to the play-offs. (Of course I'm happy to be wrong) Anyway, what the hell with the Crew? They can't beat LA w/o Keane & Beckham. Now, two more wins for LA and it's over.
I think we're looking at trying to get 2nd for the Home advantage in Conference semis, then if we win that, hope LA loses to whatever hot team earned the wildcard.
We are tied with RSL on the head-to-head, so if we end up tied on league points at the end of the season, the tie-breaker will be league goal differential. Here are the current standings: Code: GP Pts W D L GF GA GD Los Angeles 30 [b]61[/b] 17 10 3 44 22 22 Seattle 30 [b]54[/b] 15 9 6 49 32 17 Salt Lake 29 [b]51[/b] 15 6 8 42 27 15 I can't believe Columbus shit the bed against LA. But the Sounders are still alive in the Supporters Shield race despite the odds getting longer. Here is what the remaining schedule looks like: Code: Week 31: [color=red]Real Salt Lake[/color] - Chicago [color=gray](Wednesday, Sept 28)[/color] New England - [color=green]Seattle[/color] [color=gray](Saturday, Oct 1)[/color] [color=blue]Los Angeles[/color] - [color=red]Real Salt Lake[/color] [color=gray](Saturday, Oct 1)[/color] Week 32: New York - [color=blue]Los Angeles[/color] [color=gray](Tuesday, Oct 4)[/color] Vancouver - [color=red]Real Salt Lake[/color] [color=gray](Thursday, Oct 6)[/color] [color=green]Seattle[/color] - Philadelphia [color=gray](Saturday, Oct 8)[/color] Week 33: Colorado - [color=red]Real Salt Lake[/color] [color=gray](Friday, Oct 14)[/color] [color=green]Seattle[/color] - San Jose [color=gray](Saturday, Oct 15)[/color] [color=blue]Los Angeles[/color] - Chivas USA [color=gray](Sunday, Oct 16)[/color] Week 34: [color=red]Real Salt Lake[/color] - Portland [color=gray](Saturday, Oct 22)[/color] Chivas USA - [color=green]Seattle[/color] [color=gray](Saturday, Oct 22)[/color] Houston - [color=blue]Los Angeles[/color] [color=gray](Sunday, Oct 23)[/color] The best-case scenario for our SS hopes next week will be for RSL to lose to Chicago and then beat LA, with the Sounders beating New England. Then the following week, LA loses to New York and the Sounders beat Philadelphia. That will put us 1 point behind LA with two weeks to go. Maybe an RSL-LA draw will be better overall so RSL doesn't get too close. That would leave us only 2 points back if we can win both our games and New York beats LA.
Los Angeles just defeated Morelia in the 5th game of their group. They are now tied at 9 points each, with Alajuelense (currently at 9 points, as well) playing Motagua (currently at 0 points) tomorrow. This is a good result for the Sounders in the context of the Supporters Shield race. Los Angeles will travel to Motagua on Thursday, October 20th, for a mid-week must-win match smack dab in the middle of their last two MLS matches. The RSL loss to Chicago is also a good result for the Sounders. However, I hope that doesn't take the wind out of RSL's sails for their match against LA this weekend. Beckerman will be suspended due to a red card. We want RSL to at least tie against LA. And since they lost tonight, an RSL win against LA will no longer be a double-edged sword.
Great win for LA! They have to make it out of group play in CCL now, they are playing against the worst side in the group, and the other 9 pointers are playing each other. RSL NEEDS to beat LA for any shot of us getting that shield. (Although I still say it's never going to happen)
Are RSL trying to beat out Dallas for the chance to play for the Eastern Conf title? Two heavy losses in a week Unless Sigi is holding out for the SS we should field a reserve squad at NE
Keane and Beckham are supposedly injured, but I wouldn't be shocked to see them in the game.. RSL got Morales back, but Beckerman is gone with a red.. It is not looking like a good day for RSL, but with LA's propensity to go bunker, who knows?
With the lineup he rolled out in the CCL I expect to see a reserve heavy line-up in NE with our full side rolling out for the Open Cup.
I was watching the LA-RSL game on Matchday Live before heading out to Neumo's, and it looked like RSL was going to win. But Kreis took out Espindola who was working really hard up front and scored RSL's goal. Both LA's goals were junk, although I guess you can say Barrett was skillful on the first. Oh well. RSL are now out of the race. Seattle has to win all three remaining games, and hope that LA only gains at most 1 point in their three remaining games. Here are the current standings: Code: GP Pts W D L GF GA GD Los Angeles 31 [b]64[/b] 18 10 3 46 23 23 Seattle 31 [b]57[/b] 16 9 6 51 33 18 Here is what the remaining schedule looks like: Code: Week 32: New York - [color=blue]Los Angeles[/color] [color=gray](Tuesday, Oct 4)[/color] [color=green]Seattle[/color] - Philadelphia [color=gray](Saturday, Oct 8)[/color] Week 33: [color=green]Seattle[/color] - San Jose [color=gray](Saturday, Oct 15)[/color] [color=blue]Los Angeles[/color] - Chivas USA [color=gray](Sunday, Oct 16)[/color] Week 34: Chivas USA - [color=green]Seattle[/color] [color=gray](Saturday, Oct 22)[/color] Houston - [color=blue]Los Angeles[/color] [color=gray](Sunday, Oct 23)[/color] Hopefully New York can beat LA on Tuesday. They are hungry for points to stay in the playoff race after yesterday's draw. If New York can pull off the win (or even a draw, but a win would be better) and the Sounders can win on Saturday against Philadelphia, there is still some hope as LA's last two MLS matches straddle a very important mid-week CCL match in Honduras against Motagua.
I think we need to rest up for the playoffs. If LA gets that point on Tuesday I hope Sigi digs deep into the bench for the last two league matches.
yep. At least we have 2nd or 3rd locked up I guess. Considering our schedule congestion right now I would never advocate playing for 4th and having that extra playoff game, but we've really beat the crap out of the eastern conference this season. What I wouldn't give to be in that side of the bracket...sigh.
The odds are now very long, but it's not really over yet. When it's actually over, then those who have enjoyed saying so these past few weeks can finally say "over" with validity. I so look forward to the gleeful exclamations of "over" after the first playoff game, as well. 2nd place isn't locked up yet. RSL is 6 points behind with 3 games to go. It is still a good idea to play for the win at Philadelphia this weekend in order to lock up home-field advantage in the quarterfinals. After the Philly game and LA's game against NY on Tuesday, we will have a firmer picture of the race -- either closed and shut, or still hanging by a thread with 2 games to go.
Los Angeles Galaxy will win the Supporters' Shield if: Los Angeles win against New York Red Bulls OR Los Angeles tie AND Seattle tie OR Seattle lose to Philadelphia Union Seattle Sounders FC cannot win the Supporters Shield if: Seattle lose to Philadelphia Union
wow, nyc do us a solid and pull a win out of nowhere. i think this may move us up to 2% chance of taking this? lol
Wow, great result for us. I believed New York would beat LA. They were at home and are desperately in need of points. Most of me wants so badly to say something snide about the so-called Sounders "fans/supporters" who have wished for a 4th-place finish or continually over the past few weeks took so much pleasure in announcing the end to the Supporters Shield race. But tonight's US Open Cup victory gives me a sense of unity. So I'll just be passive-aggressive instead. I hope that now that the US Open Cup is in the bag along with getting out of the CCL group, that those-of-little-faith can finally spare some heart to get behind the push for the Supporters Shield. It is a long shot. We have to win the next three games and hope that LA only earns 1 point in their final 2 games. I think the latter is very much within the realm of possibilities, especially because of the must-win away match against Motagua that falls between these two games that will distract and tire LA. The Sounders winning three in a row, however, is harder to believe. But it's not impossible. It starts this Saturday at Philadelphia. There is no reason to sit on our asses for this game. We have to go in there and try to win. It's all about taking it one game at a time.
here is our longshot picture all: 10/8 sea v phi 2nd place east, but looking to hold 10/15 sea v snj done, playing for honor, maybe hatred of la 10/16 la v chiv will be 1st team derby game, chivas never won before 10/22 sea v chiv another honor game, maybe given as revenge v la 10/23 la v hous houston may or may not be still fighting for a playoff spot
I think this is something that we should look-out for. Chivas has never won against the Gals. However, Chivas treats this rivalry very seriously. I hope Angel would get his revenge against his old team.