Looking at the potential results in the remaining games, San Jose and Chicago could wind up tied on points for the Supporters' Shield. Currently San Jose has 49 points and I'd expect them to beat New York, lose at Colorado and split with Los Angeles giving them 55 points. Currently Chicago has 43 points and I'd expect them to win 4 of their last 5 to also finish with 55 points. If that happens, what is the tiebreaker? Goal differential or head-to-head? If it's head-to-head, Chicago wins with 1 win and 2 draws. If it's goal differential, right now SJ leads at +15 to Chicago's +9.
In 2000 the Wizards and Fire tied on 57 points. KC had a +18 and Chicago had a +16. The two tied their season series at 1-1. I would guess that because the league is not balanced in its schedule that head to head is first and GD is second. But then again, that wouldnt seem fair in our current state because SJ and Chicago played three times, thus one team had a home field advantage. Unlike in 2000 where it worked out that we played equal games with equal points and had to go to GD, even though back then with three divisions the schedules were balanced either. Just more ammo for those of us that favor a SINGLE TABLE!
Why is this award called the Supporters Shield? Why 'Supporters'? It would make more sense if the Supporters Shield was an award given to the Supporter Club of the team that recorded the best attendance and the Supporter Club that best represented the league (in terms of no riots or fights and just providing a great soccer environment). And give the best team in MLS the... I don't know, "Kick @$$ award"
I recall there being much debate on this back in the day. I thought the consensus amongst the old North American Soccer list at the time was goal differential. The 2000 example doesn't settle anything, because both GD and head-to-head would have produced the same result. Did Sam already clarify this in another thread?
Uh, I realize this is a theoretical question but predicting that the Quakes and Fire are going to tie at 55 points based on predicting future results is a bit like predicting what is going to come out of Foudy's mouth next. No one has the slightest clue what the Quakes or Fire are going to do over the next 4 or 5 games. Now back to figuring out the tiebreaker.
Yes, one team had a home field advantage, but that was SJ. Chicago had 1 home game (drawn 0-0) and San Jose had 2 home games (lost 1-4 and drawn 0-0). Since head to head is the criteria for determining who wins playoffs, it should be the same for the Supporters' Shield.
The Supporters Shield tiebreakers are the same as whatever tiebreakers are in effect in MLS for league standings at the time. Jeez.