Basically I think its generally accepted that we want 7th place. It means we get to play a less than quality 2nd place team (aka Eastern Conference Champions). Most likely that will be Columbus, which is a far easier team to beat than the 1st seed LA or the 3rd seed San Jose. So how exactly do we get the 7th seed in playoffs? We actually would need to lose against the Revolution on saturday. Which sucks, i know. If Chicago loses on sunday they are out of the playoffs. If KC loses on friday that would put them in 8th place, cause even though we have the same point total, we own the tiebreaker over them. That would put the Metro in 7th place, since the Revs would be bumped up to 38 points with a win against us on saturday. The moral of the story is that a loss isn't so bad, but it puts a lot to chance. If chicago wins on saturday we are stuck in 8th place potentially against LA, a pretty dominant team. The MLS Playoff system sucks.
Or we could win, Cows lose and we make up a 5 goal difference. That way we are divison champs and get home field (whereever that may be) advantage as well. Hey, I can dream can't I. Sponge
The way this season has played out for the Metros, would anyone be surprised if this scenario came to pass?
Actually, a 2-0 win by Metro and a 3-0 loss by the Screw would make both teams exactly even. So what's the next tie-breaker?
It goes overall head-to-head, overall goal differential, goals scored, then road head-to-head (which makes no sense in a two-team tiebreak), then ROAD GOAL DIFFERENTIAL. I'd bet my lunch that we control the road goal differential tiebreak.
Just for fun... The next tiebreaker would be goal differential in all regular season away games. Right now, Metro are -2 in away goals, Crew are even. So if we are lucky enough to get these results on Saturday, we're in the #2 seed.
Its definately possible, likely is a different story though. Right about now i'd be happy if we make the playoffs, but I think we can do better than the 8th seed.
If we lose to NE, the issue will not be in our hands. The issue will be in the hands of Colombus. Who would THEY want to play? If they want to play the Metros then they would be highly motivated to beat Chicago. If they beat Chicago, they will play the Metros. If they draw with Chicago they will play KC, and if they lose to Chicago they will play Chicago. So while a win or draw will get us into the playoffs, there "should" be plenty of motivation for Colombus to beat Chicago. On the other hand, Colombus has to be thinking about resting players on Sunday while Chicago will be going out there 100%.
Re: Re: Re: Our best chance in the playoffs is if we lose on saturday One of those losses was in the Open Cup, so it obviously doesn't count toward the tiebreaker. Including that game, the visiting side has won each time. Summary of Metro v Crew this year in MLS (just FYI): 3/27: MetroStars 0 Columbus 1 (Cunningham) 4/6: Columbus 1 (Washington) MetroStars 2 (Faria, Davis gg) 7/6: Columbus 2 (McBride, Cunningham) MetroStars 3 (Faria, Paule pen, Jolley) 7/31: MetroStars 2 (Faria, Diallo) Columbus 3 (McBride pen, Cunningham, West) So let's hope we get the 7th seed and Columbus gets the home field disadvantage!