Fire Clinches Post-Season Berth... But MLSNet has not caught on to that fact. Columbus has four games left, and trails the Fire by 12 points. In order to get those 12 points, the Crew would need to defeat DC United twice. DC has four games left and is currently six points behind the Fire. If Columbus does beat them twice, the only way DC could catch the Fire--and surpass us since they outdid us Head to Head, is if they win their other two, one of which is against NE. The Revs are ten points behind us, with four games left. If they lose to DC, there is no way they could catch us. Since there is no way that C-bus, New England and DC can get past the Fire in the standings, a post-season spot is already guaranteed. Let's see if someone down at headquarters does this math before the game this Wednesday. I'm eager to see that "x" by our team in the standings.
have you not figured out yet that they coulda put an x by 8 teams at the beginning of the season when the revolution tied the fire. geez...
Ususally for stuff like this standings-wise they stick to one-dimensional math... Technically, yes, we've clinched a playoff spot but in the magic number formula we're at 1 still. It really doesn't make a difference at this point, but this is how they've always done it.
http://www.chicago-fire.com/pressbox/pressrelease/releasetext.asp?prID=1335 BTW, the MLSnet page and the MLS Playoff Race thread already reflect this.