Saturday, 9/16: NYC 0:0 NYRB ATL 5:2 MIA CLT 0:0 DC MTL 0:0 CHI ORL 4:3 CLB PHI 2:2 CIN TOR 1:2 VAN COL 2:1 NE Team Points Wins GD (GR, Max) CIN 58 17 +14 (6, 76) ORL 50 14 +11 (6, 68) NE 48 13 +13 (6, 66) PHI 47 14 +16 (7, 68) CLB 45 13 +16 (6, 63) ATL 42 11 +8 (6, 60) NSH 40 11 +5 (7, 61) MTL 36 11 -12 (6, 54) DC 35 9 -1 (5, 50) ----------------------------------- CHI 33 8 -10 (6, 51) CLT 32 7 -9 (7, 53) NYC 31 6 -8 (5, 46) RBNY 30 7 -9 (6, 48) MIA 28 8 -9 (8, 52) TOR 22 4 -17 (6, 40) Lotta draws tonight. The Red Bulls, by my scientific calculation, stay .86 points above Toastville. Stay tuned. The Crew go from being in 2nd place to 5th place in a matter of about ten minutes. Blah. Philly remains within reach for us after choking a 2-0 lead against Cincy (at least we're in good company, I guess). Atlanta beats Miami sans Messi, shrinking their margin of error for making a run.
I'm not ready to go that far. I know we just got kicked in the teeth, but we have a very winnable game against Chicago wednesday night. If we win that, depending on what happens elsewhere, we could be right back in the top 4.
Was hoping Miami would help us out, but Miami plays only two games against an above the line opponent: orlando and cincinnati.
New England's result has been added above. I don't mean to try to polish a turd here, but it turns out we didn't have the worst result tonight. If you told us ahead of the game tonight that we'd lose by one on the road to a team that's currently in the conference's top 4, we wouldn't have liked it, but we wouldn't have been surprised. New England lost to a godawful Rapids team whose fans are revolting in-stadium. That's a bad, BAD loss.
Well best case scenario is the 4 seed. NE looks to be imploding so we can jump them. We will not catch FCC they are almost a lock at #1. I have a hard time Believing we can catch Orlando , Even if we beat Philly it’s going to be hard to catch them. We need to hold off Atlanta and Nashville from jumping us. Most important factor is Away form!!! 3W-3D-8L (-7 GD) which is a 4 way tie for 15th place @Dallas - likely a loss @NE- Hope they really do implode because they have a better home record than we do, they have not been beat. @ATL- another tough place to play Let’s just say we secure all 9 home points. That’s 54 points even with some road draws that won’t be enough.
Wednesday: we beat Chicago & PHI @ CHA ATL @ DC CIN @ MTL ORL @ NYCFC NSH @SKCKU every team we need to lose is on the road. We probably won’t have a better chance to jump up the standings. If we were in 2nd place currently instead of 5th we really would have it made. If everything goes our way Wednesday then we could be tied for 3rd with NE who is falling apart. Which would be 2 points behind Orlando. Unfortunately the chances every single one of them losing Wednesday is not likely. But we need all the help we can get at this point.
NYCFC up 1-0 on Orlando Philly - Char 0-0 NSH-SKC 0-0 Only thing not going our way is ATL @DC Atl up 1-0 nobody cares about clinching vrs ATL staying right behind us in the standings
Unfortunately Philly & Atl got a point , Was hoping they would lose but we made up some ground. we need to manage a draw at Dallas . A win seems unlikely.
First Objective Achieved ☑️Thank you for another Massive night at our Fortress. Together, we have officially clinched a 2023 Audi MLS Playoff berth, but we're hungry for more.#Crew96 | @OhioHealth pic.twitter.com/01XGOaUTgE— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) September 21, 2023
Had we not choked we would be at 51 pts and in 2nd place with Philly at 48 with a game in hand. Orlando would have 47. As it currently stands 5 games left and we need to gain 2pts on Orlando. I have my doubts at Dallas but NE is vulnerable. Beating the Revs could help us still get 2nd. But we just have to start winning on the road or we will end up 5th behind NE.
Wednesday, 9/20: CLT 2:2 PHI CLB 3:0 CHI DC 1:1 ATL MIA 4:0 TOR MTL 1:1 CIN NYC 2:0 ORL RBNY 1:1 ATX SKC 0:3 NSH Team Points Wins GD (GR, Max) CIN 59 17 +14 (5, 74) ORL 50 14 +9 (5, 65) CLB 48 14 +19 (5, 63) PHI 48 14 +16 (6, 66) NE 48 13 +13 (6, 66) ATL 46 12 +8 (4, 58) NSH 43 12 +8 (6, 61) MTL 37 11 -12 (5, 52) DC 36 9 -1 (4, 48) ----------------------------------- NYC 34 7 -6 (4, 46) CHI 33 8 -13 (5, 48) CLT 33 7 -9 (6, 51) MIA 31 9 -5 (6, 49) RBNY 31 7 -9 (5, 46) TOR 22 4 -21 (5, 37) Busy night. The Crew clinch a playoff spot, along with Orlando and Philadelphia. Toronto got blasted, and they're now one matchday away from elimination. NYC gains two points on DC, gets within two of the line, and proves that my TOAST formula isn't sophisticated enough because they're right back in it.
Of note: 11/4/2018: The last time we had a home playoff game without social distancing requirements, which means that date was the last time many of us were at a Crew playoff game.
MLS Spots for CONCACAF Champions Cup 9/21 Update (Glory to Columbus Version) MLS 1. MLS Cup Champion 2. Supporters Shield Winner (FCC) 3. Conference Winner opposite of SS (STL) 4. Next Best in Shield standings (Orlando) 5. Next Best in Shield standings (Columbus Crew) League's Cup 1. Miami 2. Philly 3. Nashville US Open Cup 1. Houston (Qualified due to Miami already qualifying for CCC) Canadian Championship 1. Vancouver Currently Sheild Standings 1. Cincy (q as stands) 2. STL City (q as stands) 3. Orlando (q as stands) 4. Columbus Crew (q as stands) 5. Philly (Q) 6. NER 7. Atlanta 8. Seattle 9. LAFC 10. Houston (Q) 11. Nashville (Q) 12. Vancouver (Q)
I am still smarting from that loss/meltdown in Orlando. I mean, the offense was brilliant. At least SOME of the choke was due to correctable individual errors (Schulte whiffing on the cross, Cheberko heading the ball back intonthe center). But NE losing at Colorado later that night was worse. Orlando just lost 0-2 at the Pigeons. Cincy needed a stupid late PK to rescue a point at Montreal (where we won 4-2), likewise Philly in Charlotte. Atlanta drew DC. All top 5 teams dropped points recently. I still do not think we are contenders until we win vs a good team on the road, but one such win could give us a decent shot at top 4. Two may clinch one if we hold serve at home. We are integrating new players at every spot save GK & CM. Camacho at CB, Gressel at RWB, and Rossi up top (LW/CF). Plus Nancy looks to have dropped Ramirez for Matan lately..Looking on the bright side, our cohesion/chemistry should improve some on both ends. We have more room for growth there relative to the other top teams. Yes, the schedule is tough, but so to for many of the others. And atm, our GD/GF is tops, and only CINCY has more wins. Wins at FCD and home to Philly would put us in a great spot heading into the last three, and both results are obtainable, and we have a rest advantage on Philly. #, Team, PTS, MP, WDL, GD, GF 1. FCC, 59, 29, 17-8-4, +14, 47 --------- 2. ORL, 50, 29, 14-8-7, +9, 45 3. CLB, 48, 29, 14-6-9, +19, 60 4. PHI, 48, 28, 14-6-8, +16, 51 --------- 5. NE, 48, 28, 13-9-6, +13, 47 6. ATL, 46, 30, 12-10-8, +11, 57 7. NSH, 43, 28, 12-7-9, +8, 35 Schedule: H/A CIN: 3/2: CLT, at TFC, RBNY, at MIA, ATL ----------- ORL: 3/2: MIA, MTL, at NSH, NE, at TFC CLB: 2/3: at FCD, PHI, at NE, at ATL, MTL. PHI: 4/2: LAFC, FCD, at CLB, ATL, NSH, at NE -------- NE: 3/3: at CHI, CLT, CLB, at ORL, at NSH, PHI ATL: 2/2: MTL, at PHI, CLB, at FCC NSH: 4/2: at SJ, SEA, ORL, at PHI, NE, RBNY
Mook and I were there. It still didn't make him forgive me for not taking him to LA with me in 2008, but it was good.
I wish that was true. The team opened sales to the public before the time slot I was given to buy as a season ticket holder.
Pretty funny that the Crew, Philly, and New England are all tied on 48 points, but only the Crew and Philly have clinched the playoffs. (Yes, I understand that NE has 1 less win for the tiebreaker, but it's still pretty funny.)