This may be too early to track for now, but New England has already reached the halfway point of the season & leading the overall standings (albeit having played 2/3 more games than their closest rivals). Base on the standings as at Jun-25, the 2nd-5th teams (CLB, LA, TFC & CHI) can still overtake NE by halfway point if results go their way. Even RSL, DCU & NYRB can't be ruled out as well. Looks like an exciting race... Can NE hold on to win their first ever SS? # Team P W D L GF-GA Pts GD 1.New England 15 8 3 4 21-17 27 (+4) 2.Columbus 13 7 2 4 20-17 23 (+3) 3.Los Angeles 13 6 3 4 31-24 21 (+7) 4.Toronto FC 13 6 3 4 17-16 21 (+1) 5.Chicago 12 6 1 5 20-11 19 (+9) 6.Salt Lake 14 5 4 5 18-18 19 (+0) 7.D.C. United 14 6 1 7 24-25 19 (-1) 8.New York 13 5 4 4 14-17 19 (-3) 9.Houston 14 4 6 4 16-18 18 (-2) 10.Chivas USA 13 5 2 6 19-19 17 (+0) 11.Colorado 13 5 1 7 19-18 16 (+1) 12.Dallas 14 4 4 6 17-20 16 (-3) 13.Kansas City 12 3 4 5 10-16 13 (-6) 14.San José 13 3 2 8 10-20 11 (-10) As posted earlier on in Supporters' Shield Winners & Halfway Leaders, in the past 12 seasons: - 6 (50%) halfway leaders went on to win the SS, - 3 (25%) finished runners-up to the SS, - 2 (17%) finshed in 3rd place, - only 1 (8%) finished outside the top-3 (that's Colorado,). Year Winners--- 1/2# Runners-Up 1/2# 1/2 Leaders Fin# 1996 Tampa Bay- 2--- LA-------- 1--- LA--------- 2 1997 DC United- 1--- KansasCity 2--- DC United-- 1 1998 LA-------- 1--- DC United- 3--- LA--------- 1 1999 DC United- 2--- LA-------- 6--- Colorado--- 5 2000 KansasCity 1--- Chicago--- 3--- Kansas----- 1 2001 Miami----- 1--- Chicago--- 3--- Miami------ 1 2002 LA-------- 4--- San Jose-- 1--- San Jose--- 2 2003 Chicago--- 1--- San Jose-- 4--- Chicago---- 1 2004 Columbus-- 5--- KansasCity 2--- LA--------- 3 2005 San Jose-- 4--- NewEngland 1--- NewEngland- 2 2006 DC United- 1--- Dallas---- 3--- DC United-- 1 2007 DC United- 4--- Chivas---- 6--- Houston---- 3 2008 TBD------- TBD- TBD------- TBD- NewEngland? ?
My gut is telling me DC will take it. They are coming-on form and have a nice long home-stand to work with.
As much as I would love DC to take the shield, we simply have too many games on the back stretch of the season to take enough league points.
I agree - I think it will be Columbus simply due to the least amount of congestion on their schedule. The are not in SuperLiga, out of the Open Cup, and not in CCL. They are the only team in the Top 5 able to say that - LA is also a strong contender but they will really need some reinforcements in the back to make a true run and I don't think they have the cap space necessary.
Yes - but you are also one Reis injury away from disaster. As much as some of the other players have stepped up in the absence of Twellman and Joseph, Reis has almost been single handedly responsible for a good deal of your wins. Hands down he is the best goalie in the league, on the other hand Doug Warren is a disaster so there is a fine line between SS and eighth place. Matt is not afraid to throw his body around and if he goes down injured I think NE would be in serious trouble.
I believe the tie-breaking procedures as defined by MLS Rules of Competition are used to determine the Supporters' Shield standings. If so, then TFC should be ahead of LAG based on the first tie-breaker: head-to-head competition: wikipedia seems to agree
We don't have much cap space, but I think we have some moveable players (Jazic and Ruiz) who make a good chunk. Plus what to do with Pete Vagenas, he's got to be one of the highest paid bench players in the league. All indications point to us signing a defender or two (there's a few rumors floating around of which I have no idea of the validity, namely some central americans and a columbian). I think the real key to the Galaxy is going to be keeping positive when giving up mountains of goals and just fight through it and keep attacking.
You are right - for some reason I thought you were in SuperLiga but I think I had last year in my mind. The thing working against you is well - home games. If you could find a way to play every game on the road you would be set.
Hi everyoe Relatively new to these boards as well as following MLS. I primarily follow EPL and Bundesliga football. Good to see MLS plays like the rest of world. This "Supporter Shield" is what the champion gets correct? What do the #2,3,4 etc teams get? I know that your region reformatted your regional championship to a Chapions League style. Where does the relegation drop zone start? Last two spots? Where can I find info on MLS2? Thanks and good luck to all the teams!!!
The MLS champion is the winner of the playoffs like other American sports. The Supporters' Shield winner gets entry into the Concacaf Champions League (along with the champion, runner up, and US Open Cup winner), but that's it. There is no promotion/relegation in the USA.
Crash Courses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Soccer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLS_Cup http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLS_Supporters'_Shield
Thank you for the information. I skimmed through some of those sites you posted. Very interesting. So your regular season is meaningless in terms of determining the league winner? From what I've read, this "playoffs" is what deterines your champion correct? So would it be wrong to conclude that this phase of your competition is where the games matter most? If I recall, these payoffs are in October correct? Should I wait until then to tune in to the MLS? I was looking forward to going to my local MLS team to watch them play but I find it hard to do so knowing that October is when the real competition begins of sorts Any advice greatly appreciated.
If you want more information or to debate the merits of competition formats, kindly take it to the MLS: General forum. There are plenty there interested in such topics.
These are some good reads: MLS ‘08: Towards an ever-more meaningful regular season MLS Supporter's Shield - Untold Potential MLS Diary: Irregular Season... A Brief Explanation of US Soccer Prizes
Thank You so much, I will defintely read these over. One quick question, why in the table on page one, why do some teams havve more/fewer games played, don't every team play each round?
Basically there're 2 reasons: 1. The schedule is imbalanced (the teams play some teams more often than other teams) 2. Some games are rescheduled due to other domestic / international tournaments.
If the fixtures are not balanced then how can you award the team that finishes first, the Supporter Shield award? What if that team has played weaker teams more often than the 2nd or 3rd placed team? I hope that this is not the case for legitimacy's sake. Well despite these issues, I might go to a game, I'm sure quality must be cmparable to Bundesliga 2 or Coca Cola Championship. My local team is Los Angeles, I think that is the team Beckham plays for so it might not be too bad.
Nobody wants those players. MLS is a cap league therefore it will be very difficult for you guys to unload them on someone else. And on the topic of Supporters Shield, I think it's way too tight to really make a prediction at this point. I think we need to see the July 15 signings first, before a statement can be made.