The Fire joined the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs tonight with a victory over Chivas USA. A single point would have put them in, but they ended up with a 1-0 victory on an own goal scored by Eduardo Lillingston in the 67th minute.
Here is the updated standings:
49 Columbus
45 Los Angeles
45 Houston
45 Chivas USA
45 Chicago
44 Seattle
40 Colorado
39 Toronto FC
—
39 FC Dallas
39 New England
39 D.C. United
37 Real Salt Lake
32 Kansas City
30 San Jose
18 New York
Who is next?
With just about 5 weeks remaining in the regular season schedule the race to the playoffs is heating up. Here is a quick look at the current situation of each team
Columbus Crew 14-6-5 47pts
The Crew missed the playoffs last year and are on the top this year. They have at least a spot in the playoffs clinched and are the only team to do so yet.
Last 5: W T W W W (13pts)
Remaining Schedule:
@ New England Revolution
LA GALAXY
@ Chicago Fire
@ New York Red Bulls
DC UNITED
New England Revolution 12-7-6 42pts
The Revolution are always near the top, usually going far into the playoffs and collecing some trophies (just not the MLS Cup). This could be the year they get that MLS Cup. They got SuperLiga and aren’t doing so bad at 2nd place in the league.
Last 5: T W L L T
Remaining Schedule:
COLUMBUS CREW
REAL SALT LAKE
@ Kansas City Wizards
@ DC United
Kansas City Wizards
Houston Dynamo 10-5-9 39pts
Defending MLS Cup champions have a habit of starting the season slow and peaking at the right time and they could do it again this year.
Last 5: T W W L W
Remaining Schedule:
@ Toronto FC
@ Colorado Rapids
DC UNITED
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
LA GALAXY
Chicago Fire 11-9-5 38pts
The Fire started out with a bang this season – for a while they held the top spot in the league. Now they are in a slump but if they come out of it at the right time they can bean anyone and could add to their collection of silverware.
Last 5: L L W L L
Remaining Schedule:
LA GALAXY
@ Kansas City Wizards
COLUMBUS CREW
@ Toronto FC
NEW YORK RED BULLS
New York Red Bulls 9-8-8 35pts
The Red Bulls have been all over the place, near the top and near the bottom. You never know what the Red Bulls are gonna do. They are currently 5th overall but currently 4th in the East with DC and KC within striking distance. They could go either way in the playoff hunt but I’d expect to see them get in.
Last 5: L W L T W
Remaining Schedule:
COLORADO RAPIDS
TORONTO FC
@ Real Salt Lake
COLUMBUS CREW
@ Chicago Fire
DC United 10-12-3 33pts
One of the most successful clubs in MLS History, defenders of the Supporters’ Shield, DC United is going to make it close to the playoffs this year. If they playoffs were to start today, they’d be the last team in. There are a couple teams right on their heels.
Last 5: L T L T W
Remaining Schedule:
@ FC Dallas
CHIVAS USA
@ Houston Dynamo
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
@ Columbus Crew
Chivas USA 9-10-6 33pts
Chivas USA were winners of the Western Conference last year and then took a first round exit from the playoffs. Right now they have 2nd position in the West although they are 7th overall.
Last 5: W L W W T
Remaining Schedule:
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
@ DC United
@ San Jose Earthquakes
COLORADO RAPIDS
HOUSTON DYNAMO
Kansas City Wizards 8-9-8 32pts
The Wizards must like to cut it close. They’ve gone down to the very last day of the regular season to determine their playoff fate a couple times in the past few years. Right now they’ve got some ground to make up to get in this year.
Last 5: W W L L T
Remaining Schedule:
@ Chivas USA
CHICAGO FIRE
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
@ New England Revolution
Colorado Rapids 9-12-4 31pts
The Rapids have been up and down this year. They missed the playoffs last year and hope to change that this year. They are current tied on points with RSL for the 3rd position in the West – which will likely be the last position to get into the playoffs from the West.
Last 5: T W W L L
Remaining Schedule:
@ New York Red Bulls
HOUSTON DYNAMO
@ LA Galaxy
@ Chivas USA
REAL SALT LAKE
Real Salt Lake 8-10-7 31pts
RSL have had a bit of a slide lately. They had been on top of the West and looking forward to making the playoffs for the first time in their history. Now they’ve got a battle to get there. This could come down to the last game of the saeson when they play Colorado.
Last 5: L L T W L
Remaining Schedule:
@ San Jose Earthquakes
@ New England Revolution
NEW YORK RED BULLS
FC DALLAS
@ Colorado Rapids
FC Dallas 7-9-9 30pts
FC Dallas could likely be one of the team that made the cut last year to drop out. They have had their moments but not enough of them. They are only 1 point away, but I think it is unlikely they move up.
Last 5: W T L L T
Remaining Schedule:
DC UNITED
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
TORONTO FC
@ Real Salt Lake
@ LA Galaxy
LA Galaxy 7-10-8 29pts
The Galaxy have had ups and downs as much as anyone in the leage. For a while they got hot and led the west, they’ve also been on the bottom on the single table. Chances of the Galaxy getting into the playoffs are not looking very good.
Last 5: W L T T L
Remaining Schedule:
@ Chicago Fire
@ Columbus Crew
COLORADO RAPIDS
@ Houston Dynamo
FC DALLAS
San Jose Earthquakes 7-9-8 29pts
The Earthquakes have been close to or at the very bottom for most of the year. A first year team isn’t expected much more, but they have had a hot run in the 2nd half of the season. They came up and threatened to take a playoff position, but now they’ve fallen back a little bit.
Last 5: T W W T W
Remaining Schedule:
REAL SALT LAKE
@ FC Dallas
CHIVAS USA
@ Houston Dynamo
@ Kansas City Wizards
TORONTO FC
Toronto FC 7-12-6 27pts
TFC spent some impressive time in the playoff hunt, but now they sit at the bottom of the league. It would take an amazing run to get them in now.
Last 5: L T L L T
Remaining Schedule:
HOUSTON DYNAMO
@ New York Red Bulls
@ FC Dallas
CHICAGO FIRE
@ San Jose Earthquakes
Two embarassing results for Majore League Soccer in the CONCACAF Champions League happened yesterday. Last years MLS Cup runners up and the Western Conference champions both dropped out of the regional tournament yesterday.
The New England Revolution lost 0-4 at home to Joe Public of Trinidad and Tobago. This was the first time a Caribbean team beat an MLS team in a CONCACAF club competition. Joe Public advanced on a 6-1 aggregate score.
Chivas USA has a slightly closer series with Tauro of Panama, but they came away with a 1-3 aggregate defeat after a 1-1 draw at the Home Depot Center yesterday.
The Montreal Impact of the USL beat out Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps to represent Canada. Our Canadian USL representatives managed to win their series to move on to the group stage. This is rather embarassing for MLS as far as I’m concerned. New England did have a lot of players on the bench due to injury – but they got thrashed by a team from a region that has never beat an MLS side on CONCACAF club competition. San Jose would have done better than that.
What do you think? Is this embarassing for MLS – or is this a competition that they shouldn’t care about?
After a bad for for MLS at SuperLiga on Tuesday group B came alive for MLS as the New England Revolution and Chivas USA both came up with important 1-0 wins today over Pachuca and Santos Languna respectively. The Revolution are in good position to advance to the semi-finals, but have not been guaranteed anything yet. The next games will see MLS vs MLS and Mexico vs Mexico. This is the current standings:
PTS – W – L – T (GF-GA) Team
6 – 2 – 0 – 0 (2-0) New England Revolution
3 – 1 – 1 – 0 (2-2) Pachuca CF
3 – 1 – 1 – 0 (2-2) Chivas USA
0 – 0 – 2 – 0 (0-2) Santos Languna
Brad Guzan couldn’t go to Aston Villa in January when they agreed to pay $4 million for him. Now he’s set to leave MLS for $1.5 million. Too bad for MLS – but they can’t blame themselves for that, they’ll have to blame Bob Bradley for it.
In January Guzan could not get a work permit because he hadn’t played a high enough percentage games for his country. Now Guzan has played in 5 of the last 8 US games and he is expected to get a work permit that will allow him to play for Aston Villa.
If you look at the Chivas roster you see they have only one other keeper on the senior squad. Dan Kennedy is that other keeper. He has played 1 game for Chivas this season – last year he was playing in Chile.
Good luck in England Brad!
The third round of the US Open Cup is upon us. There are 8 MLS teams remaining in the tournament – each of which will face a non-MLS team.
Three teams from the USL Second Division have made it to the round of 16. These teams all face MLS teams in this round. Here are those matchups:
Crystal Palace Baltimore vs. New York Red Bulls
Richmond Kickers vs. New England Revolution
Cleveland City Stars vs. Chicago Fire
The remaining lower level teams all came from the USL First Division:
Rochester Rhinos vs. DC United
Miami FC Blues vs. FC Dallas
Charsleston Battery vs. Houston Dynamo
Carolina Railhawks vs. Kansas City Wizards
Seattle Sounders vs. Chivas USA
The previous round saw the exit of 8 more USL First and Second Division teams along with the only team from outside USL to make it that far – Hollywood United. Hollywood United are a part of the United States Adult Soccer Association.
What MLS teams may fall to their lower league opponents?
It sounds like a joke, but the New England Revolution have been drawn against Joe Public FC in the first round of the CONCACAF Champions League. Joe Public FC is actually a real team and they are two time champions of Trinidad & Tobago. They played DC United in 1998 in the Champions Cup – DC United beat them 8-0 on their way to winning that Champions Cup.
Chivas USA will also be playing in the first round of the Champions League. They have drawn Tauro FC – the most successful Panamanian club in the history of their professional league.
DC United and Houston Dynamo are also in the tournament but they will skip the first round and go directly to the group stage. Here is the full schedule for the first round of the tournament. The group stage starts September 16th.
First leg (Aug. 26-28, 2008)
CD Municipal or Deportivo Jalapa (GUA) – San Francisco FC (PAN)
Joe Public FC (TRI) – New England Revolution (USA)
LD Alajuelense (CRC) – Puerto Rico Islanders
CDSC Cruz Azul (MEX) – Hankook Verdes (BLZ)
Harbour View FC (JAM) – Pumas UNAM (MEX)
Tauro FC (PAN) – Chivas USA (USA)
Canadian champion – Nicaraguan champion
CD Isidro Metapan (SLV) – CD Olimpia or CD Marathon (HON)
Second leg (Sept. 2-4, 2008)
San Francisco FC (PAN) – CD Municipal or Deportivo Jalapa (GUA)
New England Revolution (USA) – Joe Public FC (TRI)
Puerto Rico Islanders – LD Alajuelense (CRC)
Hankook Verdes (BLZ) – CDSC Cruz Azul (MEX)
Pumas UNAM (MEX) – Harbour View FC (JAM)
Chivas USA (USA) – Tauro FC (PAN)
Nicaraguan champion – Canadian champion
CD Olimpia or CD Marathon (HON) – CD Isidro Metapan (SLV)
Four MLS teams are already qualified for the very first CONCACAF Champions League, and Toronto FC have a good chance of going as well. Since the spots in the tournament are given out to countries and not leagues – Toronto FC have a qualifying tournament with the Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps.
Representing the MLS will be:
Mexico will also be sending 4 teams while Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama will each send 2 teams. Beleize, Nicaragua and Canada each send 1 team while 3 teams will come out of the Caribbean.
The first round of the tournament starts August 26th with all but the top 6 seeded teams playing home and away matches. Houston Dynamo and DC United are 2 of the 6 seeded teams that don’t have to play in the first round of matches.
Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan isn’t leaving the team and MLS just quite yet. Guzan was about to make a move to England to play with EPL team Aston Villa on a $2 million transfer, but a work permit was denied. Now Guzan says he is excited to remain with Chivas USA for another year.
This made me wonder what goes into determining if a person gets a work permit and why would Guzan not be able to get one? With only minimal research, I’ve found that sports & entertainment is one of 6 types of work permits that can be granted for the UK. I’m not sure why Guzan would be denied a work permit. Maybe they have too many American goalkeepers over there already? Who happens to know the answer to that question?
It would be hard to argue that American goal keepers are the hottest soccer export going out of the United States and thus out of Major League Soccer. Brad Guzan is the next potential target for big European clubs to take away from MLS.
Yahoo! Sports reports that teams such as Celtic, Liverpool, Arsenal, Olympiacos and Auxerre might be some of the teams interested in last years MLS goalkeeper of the year.
This would be a huge loss for Chivas and MLS, but probably a great gain for some other club, and aslo for Guzan’s career. Guzan is only 23 years old and should have a wonderful career ahead of him.
Good luck whatever happens Brad!
