I guess 2007 SS winner DC and MLS Cup winner Houston for the first two spots, but what about the other 2? Whatever deiced for 2008 will carry on in the future years? I think this need to be decided ASAP so that teams plan ahead.
it's just a thought and nothing's official? those +2 teams might get big time fixture conjestion in Sep. Oct. among the League, US Open cup, and first round CCL.
Goff has indicated that it is the SS and MLS Cup winners to the group state and the SS and MLS Cup runners-up to the qualification stage. It's possible that he's wrong, but he generally has inside info on this type of stuff. My only question is whether the NE bid is truly for being MLS Cup runner up or whether it might be from their USOC win. It wouldn't surprise me if MLS/USSF changes their mind about that criteria, though I'd expect to see a final decision when the USOC setup for 2008 are announced.
I don't recall that they've actually stated the criteria, just who the four teams are, and Goff's (and others) conjecture has lead people to ignore the Cup-winning aspect. The last time MLS had four teams (from 2002 for the 2003 CCC) the Open Cup winner was given a spot. That year the next in line was the top team in regular season standing who not already qualified (San Jose, 2nd overall), since the Galaxy won MLS Cup and the SS. In fact, 2006 is the only year that the MLS Cup finalists, the Open Cup winner, and the Shield winner were four different clubs, so this kind of confusion will probably happen every year.