with 37 points the Union have tied last years point total with 8 left and have scored 3 more goals than all of last season to boot.
Toronto taking care of a home OCFC is probably bigger (as far as making playoffs). All good road results tonight.
I don't remember who it was but someone on here turned me on to MLS Live. It's awesome. Once in awhile you can't watch one live, but fortunately its not too hard to avoid Union news as long as you stay away from scoreline scrolls and social media (unlike the NFL where I find its near impossible to avoid news of the Eagles). The condensed versions of all the other matches are great too. 90 shrunken down to 20, perfect for quick perusing. So we aren't among the very best, but we can go on the road and beat the pretenders. I'd say that's pretty damn good for Year 1 AE.
Not the funnest game to watch, but there were some good moments and 3 points are 3 points. Blake playing like Blake plays. Damn I enjoy watching him in net. Fabinho played his ass off again. For a guy that doesn't get much accolades I feel like you really can't ask for more from him. Rosenberry the hero, proving time and time again I was wrong for scratching my head at the draft. Being a product of this team and how he's taken to MLS makes me so damn proud. Yaro is not perfect. He may make some questionable decisions and tackle too hard sometimes, but god damn if that speed doesn't make up for at least some of it. I would take him starting every time over Tribbet. Warren didn't suck tonight. Can't wait for Bedoya to continue to find his place on this team and contribute. Pontius didn't show up on the score sheet, but he again hustled his ass off and I'll gladly accept that. I only ask his first touches become a little more soft. Tranquillo is Tranquillo. Herbers deserved that goal. Yeah his passes aren't always on point, nor his crosses, nor his shots, and sometimes he looks a little lost, but I put that to him needing more time to develop. His potential is sky high. The combination of him running off of CJ holding up play is what we need and it's entertaining to watch. Like Tommy was saying during the broadcast he has a very bright future. CJ played strong as always but like I said, we need Herbers or someone similar to make runs off him for him to be effective.
If my math is right, it's 30 points out of 37 from Eastern conference teams below us in the standings. 3-5-5 against playoff teams (DC twice and NYC all at home). 20gf / 22ga in those 13 games.7gf-14ga on the road vs playoff teams. Fundamentally, not great, nor really surprising. We feast on bottom table teams, especially at home. We look like a 4/5 seed who may struggle mightily to win a road playoff game. If The MLS had a strength of schedule rating, I think it's fair to say the Union's has been favorable to date. We now hit a stretch of 6 playoff teams in the last 8. DC has 4/9 playoff teams. OCSC has 8/9 against playoff teams. MTL 4/9. I think your EC final standings will be: 1-TFC 2-NYC 3-RBNY (tempted to say 2nd but CCL matches may impact them) 4-MTL 5-PHL 6-DCU 7-OCSC 8-CHI 9-NER just free fallin Petty style 10- CMB I'd bet it going chalk, MTL over PHL, RB over DC. TFC over MTL and RB over NYC in a DARBY. It's TFCs conference and we just living in it. I'll let someone else figure the CCL implications of a Canuck team winning it all.
The CCL spot would then go to the team that finished highest in the Supporters Shield standings (entire league) that didn't qualify through another method (western conference winner, MLS Cup winner and USOC winner).
They are blacked out. What a nightmare to watch out of market and without cable. That was a nice win. And a surprising one after that first half. That was painful to watch.
2016 Union picking up points against teams they should be getting points from. That is how you make the playoffs. Convinced there is no stumble to the endline this year, but not convinced we're up to the task of being the best in the East, just yet. But, we are definitely going to get extra-season Soccer this year, and anything can happen.
September 10 is looming HUGE. maybe TRE can be loud for an entire 90 minute game by then... although that seems like a lot to ask for anymore
40 (going 1-7-0 or 0-4-3 in the remaining games) seems like a good number for an away playoff game (6th place). DCU currently is on pace for only 40 points. 48 (3-3-2 in the remaining games) seems like a good number for a home playoff game (4th place). 50 points (4-3-1 or 3-1-4) seems like enough for third place. The goal should be to get to third place. Finishing third gets a home game against the 6 seed (likely DCU or ORL) and then a second round matchup against a team other than Toronto. Getting at least 4 points from the two NYRB games may be enough to get to third place as long as Montreal continues to suck.
I'll be optimistic saying this but with Montreal slipping a bit as of late this was an important 3 points... Impact draw with DCU, we have a 3 point lead over them in the 4 spot. (although they do have one game in hand) Looking up to the Red Bulls, we are now even with them on points and Games Played... all of the sudden it looks feasible for us to claw our way back into 3rd very soon. Then there is the question of 2nd place...I think TFC wins the east easily at this point, but could NYCFC really hold on to 2nd and the CCL spot? I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for us to sneak up and grab it.
Even though we're tied with RBNY today, I think the only way to really cement 3rd is to suddenly be able to beat playoff caliber teams on the road. RB has an extra home game more than we do. As for MTL sucking, they're 2-2-2 in their last 6 league matches, more like inconsistent (or "MLSesque" if you will). That includes a 0-3 loss to the Fire and drubbing the U 5-1. 9/10 will shake a lot out.
3 points v Chicago on the road would be a nice bonus, but I'm not terribly optimistic with Local Helmet in goal
Agree; also Chicago is starting to play quite well. They had a 2-2 tie against LA last night and a good result last Saturday.
That was more of a relief than enjoyable. The first half was pretty grim. We were very cautious, but that's understandable given the shell shock they must have had from TFC. Bedoya looked good, popping up all over the place and getting into the rhythm of things. Too bad he couldn't buy a call from Chapman, who was pretty spotty throughout. Better second half, nervy at the end though. I'm in love with Keegan, but what's new? Hopefully this will be a confidence booster to a bit more calm play. I'm fine with Yaro getting more starts. I really hope in the off season we can cash in on CJ and find someone else up top. I don't know what kinda money was rumored to be coming out of Portugal, but we should grab that first chance they get. I just don't see it from CJ for a number of reasons, and I think we should move on in the off season.