The Fire's LEAGUES CUP®! 2024 campaign has come to an end. While other teams are still battling for the "Richest Prize in ALL of Sports" (perhaps, a bit of an exaggeration) the Fire will be resting comfortably at home. The Fire must be content in their knowledge that the team really gave it their ALL, and they battled to the end (of the first of the first match). The final game in the "West 4" Region pits the mighty Toluca v. the mightier Sporks of Kansas City. The teams are locked in a battle for first place tie with 3 points from 1 win apiece (both wins coming at the expense of our Chicago Fire, thank you very much). Toluca sits on top, since the Fire sucked worse against Toluca than we sucked versus Sporting KC. The big tilt is tonight, at "Children's Mercy Park" as KC plays at home (but it is NOT a home match) against Toluca. With everything to play for tonight, the Fire sit at home with absolutely, positively nothing to play for, or even play at all, since the Fire have the 'you suck' three week vacation. Recap and the game stats were remarkably similar: In Game 1, the Fire lost 2-1. KC had 54% of the possession, out shot the Fire 17-9, SoG 6-5, Passes 468-401. The Fire, for their part did actually take the lead in the 22nd minute, only to give up the lead 17 minutes later. In Game 2, the Fire bettered Game 1 by losing 3-1. Toluca had 57% of the possession, out shot the Fire 22-11, SoG 11-5, Passes 437-384. Again, the Fire took the lead early, this time with 8th minute Koutsias goal. The Fire managed to hold onto the lead for a whopping 22 minutes, giving up the tying goal in the 30th minute and then allowing Toluca to score again before halftime. The match was over at that point. However, just to show Toluca how sporting the Fire are, the Fire decided to give up another goal in the 66th minute. This messed with KC's route to the second round (no idea what the call the second round in LEAGUES CUP®! and I don't care to look now.). The Fire then unleashed all hell on Toluca by bringing in Koffi, Navarro, Gutman and Omsberg in the 74th minute. That must have terrified Toluca. Frankly, I am shocked they didn't just cower and forfeit. For the coup de grace! we were treated to an extended Peanut Butter Barlow Time, as Mighty Tom Barlow made his appearance just two minutes later in the 76th. (you all get this GIF as we don't have another match for three weeks, until 8/24). Of course, Federico Navarro had already picked up a yellow card in the 75th minutes (yes, just 1 minute after entering the match), because Navarro gonna Navarro! The only bright spot was young Koutsias picking up his first goals of 2024 (both assisted by young Brian G) filling in for regular starting forward Hugo Cuypers. Koutsias' last goal was on September 30th v. RBNY, as the season was already lost. He had two goals in May, 2023, but nothing until September and then nothing until this past week. Killing a bit of time, MLS teams: Fire, NYRB, Atlanta, Charlotte, Minnesota, Dallas (they were worse than the Fire 2 losses, 1 goal scored) have been eliminated. Mexican teams: San Luis, Puebla, Monterrey, Chivas, Tijuana have been eliminated. NO Canadian teams have been eliminated. I suspect it is due to all of the drone spying those rascal Canadians do! Oh, cheating in soccer, when will it end! Prediction: Tonight? I don't give a rat's ass! LEAGUES CUP®! winner? I don't give half a rat's ass! Hey, I have an observation! The Final for LEAGUES CUP®! is scheduled for August 25th. The Fire are scheduled play August 24th. It seems like there were no plans for the Fire to ever play in the Final. This is "bad booking," giving away the ending like that. It's a conspiracy (or just the realization that the Fire suck and had virtually no chance of making the Final).
Is NYCFC still in it? Like, what if they get to the final, are we gifted another sweet, beautiful week without the Fire?
Rankings for the next round, Courtesy of @JasonMa in the Leagues Cup thread: "The Leagues Cup Ranking Table will be used to determine the Host Club for the Knockout Stage Matches, including the Final, as follows: i. If an MLS Club plays another MLS Club, the higher seeded team in the Leagues Cup Ranking Table will be the Host Club. 12 ii. If an MLS Club plays a LIGA MX Club, the MLS Club will be the Host Club, with the exception of the Tier 1 LIGA MX Clubs (i.e., Club América, CF Monterrey, and Chivas de Guadalajara) who will have “hub” hosting rights. iii. If a LIGA MX Club plays another LIGA MX Club, the Organizing Committee will select the Stadium in its sole discretion. https://mlssoccer.app.box.com/s/np9w1o6fcqhlqu31th1q4p93ee2tqhx2/file/1598277044619 One other exception: For the 2024 edition of the Tournament, Columbus Crew (as the MLS Champion) has the right to host until the Final even if their opposing team is ranked higher, and Club América (as the LIGA MX Champion) will advance directly to the Round of 32 and will have hub privileges until Semifinals." https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/2024-leagues-cup.2129273/page-41#post-42440364 Nothing confusing about this!
I "forgot" to mention (because I just saw it on Dish Network Guide) that the Big Toluca v. KC SporKS match is on FS1