Playoff race

Looks like we're not only going to come home in a must win situation, we probably are in a must win on the road situation right now.

 

42 points will get us in... bank on it. Even just 41 pts gives us about 50-50 shot.

It's far from dire at this point. We're still in a better position than DC United. New England has a very difficult remaining schedule (includes home and away vs Columbus, @Colorado, home vs Chicago). Colorado has been in poor form lately and finishes with 2 road games.

Clearly the Sounders need to play better than this. But we're still in decent shape to make the playoffs.

 

Yeah, Sounders are in decent shape, but so are 8 or 9 other teams. Its going to be close and if we don't get a win, we'll be planning for next year.

 

Updated playoff race.. Thanks to some key losses this weekend, the Sounders loss isn't nearly as traumatic as it should have been.

Code:

Rank      Club          Home PPG   Away PPG   Est. Final Points
1 (1)   Columbus          2.38       1.15            54
2 (2)   Houston           2.15       1.07            49
3 (3)   Chivas USA        2.17       0.92            47
4 (5)   Chicago           1.29       1.77            46
5 (4)   Los Angeles       1.46       1.57            46
6 (9)   New England       1.85       1.08            44
7 (6)   Colorado          2.00       0.85            43
8 (7)   Seattle           1.71       1.08            42
-------------------------------------------------------
9 (8)   D.C. United       1.77       0.93            41
10 (11) Toronto FC        1.85       0.79            40
11 (10) Real Salt Lake    2.00       0.57            39
12 (12) Kansas City       1.23       1.15            36
13 (13) FC Dallas         1.69       0.62            35
14 (14) San Jose          1.46       0.50            30
15 (15) New York          1.14       0.15            20

 

If we make the playoffs we need to send Frank Yallop a case of beer or two. San Jose going into DC and beating United was HUGE.

 

Too bad they couldn't keep Colorado at 0 points. For those two ties, I say he gets a half case.

 

But those 2 points could have been 4 or 6 points so I say back up to a full case

 

So I'm in Kansas City for business this weekend and decided to head to the Wizards vs. Rapids game. While my blood pumps Rave Green, when I heard the result of the Sounders game during half time at the Wizards game, I became a Kansas City fan for one half. Unfortunately, they didn't pull off a win, but 1 point is better than 3 when the playoff race is this close with Colorado. They did a good job shutting down Casey, but just could not finish when it came to some good chances.

Oh well, the game ended and I left the game whistling "Sounders Till I Die" on my way out the gates.

 

Here's the issues i have seattle plays Columbus next followed by KC then FC Dallas at last game of season.

Question is can Seattle stop Cunningham who has bet hot lately 6 goals in the last 4 matches.

Columbus and FC Dallas are the two games i see where Seattle can have problems. KC i see where Seattle gets 1 or 3 points. But we have to treat FC Dallas as a must win to make it to the playoffs with a chance of making it to MLS CUP final.

If we can force a draw at Columbus that makes FC Dallas not a must win game but a draw which then puts seattle over colorado assuming they'll be at 43 points.

If Seattle wants to make it to MLS final they must be 4th in the conference with better odds in the Western Conference in the playoffs. East conference they would have to beat crew (must win home game) then new england or Chicago on the road.

If we lose to Crew in first round playoffs unless there is some other tournament Seattle enters for making it into the playoffs and not making it to the final I'll treat a loss to Crew IMO like Seattle was eliminated from playoffs all together (and don't harp on me for thinking that)

I just don't see Seattle making it to the playoffs at all unless seattle gets help from other teams like DC or TFC losing.

 

The teams you have to worry about catching you from behind are:

1) New England. Tough schedule, and just lost Ralston for the year, but they do have two games in hand.

2) TFC. A downright easy schedule: SJ, RSL, @NY. Two of the worst road teams in the league (besides NY) at home, and then NY on the road. I wouldn't rule out 43 points, or at least the threat of 43 going into the last week.

3) Dallas. Don't laugh. They are the highest scoring team in the league, Cunningham is hot, and they can still max out at 42. With NE, @SJ, COL the next three, three wins before the game with Seattle is certainly a possibility.

Teams you can catch pretty easy:

1) Colorado. NE, @RCD, @RSL. May only be 3 points in their future, if that.

If you guys catch anyone else: Chivas, LA, Chicago, Houston, Columbus, you'll have so many points that making the playoffs won't be an issue.Though some top teams have pretty nasty schedules. Take LA: Chi, @Hou, SJ. If they stumble vs. the Fire this week, they could be stuck on 41 playing the Quakes with a playoff spot on the line. And you know the Quakes would love to knock someone out.

Really, everything is so tightly bunched, except for the already qualified Crew, Houston, Chivas, and whomever wins the Fire/Galaxy game, no one is safe. And some of those teams aren't safe yet.

Plus, we'll go all out tomorrow to beat Saprissa and qualify for the QF of the CCL. Your game with us is the end of 7 games in 21 days, and some players will certainly be rested or out of gas. Hejduk is suspended, and Hesmer is day to day with a groin pull.

 

True but Key is seattle needs to get points especially 3 points and not relay on the other teams helping them make it into the playoffs and i'll feel more comfortable if seattle manages to go above and stay above lets say colorado, LA or chivas.

IF NE wins, DC wins and even TFC starts wining and seattle can't get points its not looking good for seattle for the playoffs.

 

DC's starting keeper is out for the rest of the season.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2009/09/wicks_out_4-6_weeks.html

 

I'm sure DCU fans are quite pleased with that turn of events...

 

Don't be so sure. Yeah, Wicks is a hothead who helped deliver the Open Cup to you guys, but Wicks also kept us in quite a number of games this year (including the Open Cup right up until he lost his head). Sure people have a love/hate relationship with Wicks, but he was by far the best keeper we have on the roster. It's a big, big hit to our defense.

 

karma

 

FCD just did all playoff contenders a favor by taking down New England. The Revs are one point behind with a single game in hand. Now FCD needs to cool down before they themselves come into the playoff picture. A win against Columbus this weekend will go a long way for the Sounders.

 

Not looking forward to playing FCD now. Heh. They are on fire. They have to keep up their winning ways if they plan on making it to the playoffs though. If they fail to get full points on their remaining 3 games, their season is pretty much over. They do seem to be playing the spoiler quite well though. Sounders could be looking for trouble if they need a win against FCD to make it into the playoffs.

 

jeff cunningham is on fire. the rest of fc espndallas is very blah. but yea, if the sounders don't start taking this playoff race seriously, that last game against dallas could very well have the winner advance and the loser out of the playoffs. that said, i like our chances for getting points in both of our next two games.

 

I'd really love to see how far SFC can get in the Cup race, but if they lose out on even making the playoffs due to their current run of form I won't lose any sleep. Just waitin' for them to get their sh!t together.

 

Wasn't it you who said "Don't be so sure about taking 3 from Dallas at home?" I blame you entirely for egging them on

 

After a "surprise" victory in Columbus, the Sounders have put themselves into the driver's seat on making the playoffs. The teams behind them are far enough back that a lot of things have to go wrong for the Sounders for those teams to catch them. DCU is eliminated from catching the Sounders in one point, FCD is eliminated in 2 points, and RSL and Toronto are eliminated in 3 points.

Code:

Rank       Club          Home PPG      Away PPG  Est. Final Points
1 (1)    Columbus          2.21          1.15          51
2 (3)    Chivas USA        2.17          1.07          49
3 (2)    Houston           2.07          1.07          48
4 (5)    Los Angeles       1.57          1.57          48
5 (4)    Chicago           1.29          1.64          44
6 (8)    Seattle           1.71          1.21          44
7 (6)    New England       1.85          1.00          43
8 (7)    Colorado          1.93          0.85          42
---------------------------------------------------------
9 (10)   Toronto FC        1.85          0.79          40
10 (9)   D.C. United       1.64          0.93          39
11 (12)  Real Salt Lake    2.00          0.57          39
12 (13)  FC Dallas         1.79          0.62          37
13 (12)  Kansas City       1.23          1.14          36
14 (14)  San Jose          1.57          0.50          32
15 (15)  New York          1.14          0.14          20

 

Updated estimated final points. There were four teams at 39 points this week, but considering that's outside the playoffs, I didn't bother with figuring out the tie breakers for them.

Code:

Rank    Club          Home PPG   Away PPG       Est. Final Points
1 (1)   Columbus        2.21       1.29              53
2 (2)   Chivas USA      2.23       1.07              50
3 (3)   Los Angeles     1.57       1.57              48
4 (4)   Houston         2.07       1.07              48
5 (5)   Seattle         1.71       1.21              44
6 (6)   Chicago         1.29       1.64              44
7 (8)   Colorado        1.93       0.85              42
8 (7)   New England     1.71       1.00              41
----------------------------------------------------------
9 (11)  D.C. United     1.64       0.93              39
10 (12) FC Dallas       1.79       0.79              39
11 (10) Real Salt Lake  2.00       0.57              39
12 (9)  Toronto FC      1.79       0.79              39
13 (12) Kansas City     1.23       1.07              35
14 (14) San Jose        1.47       0.54              31
15 (15) New York        1.14       0.14              20