Group A played the 2nd round of games yesterday and neither of our MLS teams fared very well. Chivas scored the only goal of the game to beat Houston 1-0. This put Chivas into the semifinals. Atlante secured a 3-2 victory over DC United which ensures that DC United has no chance at the semi-finals. So this is what the table looks like now.
Group A
pts – w – l – t – (gf – ga) team
6 – 2 – 0 – 0 – (3-1) CD Guadalajara
3 – 1 – 1 – 0 – (4-1) Houston Dynamo
3 – 1 – 1 – 0 – (3-6) Atlante
0 – 0 – 2 – 0 – (3-5) D.C. United
The remaining games are Houston Dynamo vs DC United and Chivas vs Atlante.
What if Houston and Atlante both win?
Chivas, Houston and Atlante all end with 6 points. Only the top 2 teams advance to the semi-finals.
In that case goal difference would be the first tie-breaker. Houston is already +3 and would improve that with a victory. Chivas is +2 but would go lower with a loss. This would make sure Houston is ranked higher than Chivas. Atlante is -3 currently meaning they would need to beat Chivas by at least 7 goals to match Houston’s total – and that is if Houston only gets a victory by 1 goal difference. In this situation Houston would likely win the group.
What if Chivas and DC United win?
In this case Chivas win the group with a perfect 9 points. Houston, Atlante and DC United all have 3 points. Houston is +3, DC United is -2 and Atlante is -3 on goal difference. Houston and Atlante’s GD goes down and DC’s goes up. If DC were able to beat Houston by 3 goals they would have the best GD of these three teams, sending them onto the semi-finals.
To simplify it a little bit: Chivas will probably advance and DC United is probably done. Houston is in better position to take 2nd place in the group, but Atlante has a shot at it.
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