Revolution attack puts MetroStars under foot - Boston Globe Revolution claim Game 1: Blank MetroStars, 2-0, in playoff opener - Boston Herald Mathis scoreless in Metros’ defeat - Daily Record Revolution Silences MetroStars-NY Times Clint flips as Metros flop - NY Daily News Metros on Brink MetroStars' defeat gets ugly - Star-Ledger MetroStars: Mathis is quiet ... on the field - Star-Ledger Loss puts Metros in playoff hole - NJ Herald Mathis in scuffle with fan after game - Boston Globe Heaps' glancing blow a knockout for Revs - Boston Herald Mathis excited about playoff return - NJ Herald (day late-- "excited" is one word you could use) DC-Fire Fire doubles up against United - Chicago Sun-Times Razov's late goal gives Fire cushion - Chicago Tribune Fire makes all the right moves in playoff opener - Daily Southtown United puts itself in a hole by losing first playoff game - Washington Times In Game 1, United Flunks Trial by Fire - Washington Post LA-SJ Galaxy Shows It Has Plenty of Playoff Fight - LA Times Quakes stumble in Game 1 - Mercury News Galaxy wins 2-0 - Pasadena Star News Quakes find selves lost in Galaxy Shutout loss in playoff opener means 'hill to climb' next week - SF Gate Victorine, Ruiz deliver Galaxy upper hand - OC Register A stunning start for MLS champs - Press-Enterprise "As Coach Sigi Schmid and goalkeeper Kevin Hartman said last week, the Galaxy's mission is to make a mockery of this format." Hmm. Would you say that same if the Marlins won in six? (i.e. the home team never got to see the benefit of homefield advantage...) Galaxy believe they are ready to rumble against Quakes - Daily Breeze (day late) General MLS and other soccer Expansion Plans Are Revealed - LA Times Wizards star shows how to age gracefully - Houston Chronicle MLS season heats up - Miami Herald Diversity a Winner at Fairleigh Dickinson - NY Times Reserved star won't shy from exhibition - Dallas Morning News U.S. women's soccer passing off tradition - Star-Telegram Chelsea shares wealth - Sun-Sentitenl The Rodney Dangerfield of Cities - Washington Post (way at the bottom) NSR Terrific defensemen turning NHL into MLS - Denver Post (at least it's a mention...)
Um, wow. [edit]Choice quote you won't find in the paper this morning: http://martnet.com/~jgoodwin/hamlett.mp3
"They pull, they grab and then they look to the ref," Razov said. "And they bitch and complain to each other. We don't worry about that -- we just do our thing. . . . They think that's the only way they can stick with us." Razov isn't well-liked because he talks a lot of trash, but last night's game was pretty extreme. On Yahoo Platinum, they don't broadcast the commercials, so you hear the announcers chatter about the game. Last night it was "Someone should throw Nelsen off of a pier." Heh heh. Rough game.
Actually, Groundhog Day is 2/2. So if you're counting the "11" in 11/2 as a roman numeral two, then it's correct.
Someone explain to me just how the MLS season is too long? I've heard this 'complaint' before, and I don't get it at all. march or April to November seems a-ok to me. Baseball plays this long...so what's the deal?
Cancela's Evening a Complete Success - Haverhill Eagle-Tribune Noonan's Metro Mastery Continues - Haverhill Eagle-Tribune
yeah, thats exactly what i was saying. hmm see i really didnt know but i thought they just had the numbers backwards. i just know its in february
I think the Groundhog Day was sort of a reference to the movie that shared the same name as the "holiday" in which the same thing happened over and over. In this case, the same thing was three 2-0 playoff wins. I could be wrong, but that's how I interpreted it.
The title was Groundhog Day because of the date (II-2), the number of goals scored in every MLS playoff match was the same, because we're repeating home and homes, and because in the Metros-Revs match, the first two goal-scorers were the same as they have been for the last three weeks... Fabro and Noonan have both scored the Revs first two goals for the last three matches. You see, work went into that title.
Presumably the point is that while the Marlins had to win twice in New York, LA could advance over the conference champions even with a loss in San Jose (despite never winning on the road all season).
Re: Re: 11/2 Groundhog Day Well, the Marlins had to win only once in NY (although they did it twice). The Yankees never had any kind of homefield advantage. BUt I can't disagree with your point: in baseball, hockey, basketball, you need to actively take homefield advantage away to win as the underdog. But MLS is letting an underdog win with the series tied. But ultimately, that's the point: the series isn't tied. If a team wins the series, 2-1, it's like they've taken the series four games to two. And, from what I've seen, the format has led to better playoff soccer. I wasn't able to watch LA-Quakes (3 in the morning here!), but the other two games were contested for a full 90 (and they wouldn't have been last year...) Now, single elimination would be fine by me (as would the Mexican league tiebreaker-- to me, it's no less valid than away goals). But I think this is a big improvement over first to five (and I sincerely hope the Quakes show their class and beat the Gals)