MLS Cup Playoff Schedue is set

posted by kidpurple October 26, 2009

Columbus Crew Logo VS Real Salt Lake

Columbus Crew (#1 East) vs Real Salt Lake (#5 West)
Game 1: Saturday October 31st – 5:30 PM @ Salt Lake
Game 2: Thursday November 5th – 7:00 PM @ Columbus (ESPN2)
Regular Season Series tied 1-1

Chicago Fire vs New England Revolution

Chicago Fire (#2 East) vs New England Revolution (#3 East)
Game 1: Sunday November 1st- 1:00 PM @ New England (Fox Soccer Channel)
Game 2: Saturday November 7th – 7:30 PM @ Chicago (Fox Soccer Channel)
Regular Season Seried tied 0-0-2

LA Galaxy vs Chivas USA

LA Galaxy (#1 West) vs Chivas USA (#4 West)
Game 1: Sunday November 1st – 4:00 PM @ Chivas (ESPN2)
Game 2: Sunday November 8th – 6:30 PM @ Galaxy (ESPN2)
Regular Season Series: Galaxy lead 2-0-1

Houston Dynamo vs Seattle Sounders

Houston Dynamo (#2 West) vs Seattle Sounders FC (#3 West)
Game 1: Thursday October 29th – 9:00 PM (ESPN2) @ Seattle
Game 2: Sunday November 8th – 2:00 PM @ Houston
Regular Season Series: Seattle lead 1-0-1

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Chivas USA and Seattle Sounders FC join playoffs

posted by kidpurple October 20, 2009

Chivas USA and Seattle Sounders FC both have guaranteed themselves a spot in the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs. They are joining defending champions Columbus Crew along with Houston Dynamo and LA Galaxy.

That leaves 3 positions up for grabs on the last weekend of the year. Those 3 spots that are up for grabs will have 7 teams possibly still alive to grab one of them. Right now the 3 teams that control their own fate are Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, and Toronto FC. If they win, they are in. Chicago Fire only need a single point to ensure their spot.

The other teams that need to win and get some help are FC Dallas, New England Revolution, DC United, and Real Salt Lake. Real Salt Lake would almost need a miracle to sneak their way in, but it is still possible.

This is what the single table looks like going into the last week:

49 Columbus
45 Los Angeles
45 Houston
45 Chivas USA
44 Seattle
42 Chicago
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

I think DC United might be able to sneak in there at the expense of the Rapids. Colorado has to play at Real Salt Lake while DC United has the Kansas City Wizards. Chicago Fire and Toronto FC will keep their positions.

What do you think? Who will grab those final 3 spots?

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Galaxy, Dynamo and Crew reserve spots in playoffs

posted by kidpurple October 6, 2009

Three teams have booked their spots in the 2009 Major League Soccer playoffs.  The defending champions Columbus Crew are in and currently leading the whole league with 46 points and even a game in hand over several of the teams chasing them. At 44 points the champions of 2006 and 2007 Houston Dynamo are in. The LA Galaxy are also in the playoffs with 44 points as well. The Galaxy also happen to be 2005 MLS Cup champions. Although they haven’t done much since then Bruce Arena has them moving in the right direction now.

If we keep going like this the 2004 champions should be the next team to qualify. That would have to take quite an amazing run from DC United as they are currently 5 points behind 4th place Seattle Sounders FC.

Here is the current situation:

46 Columbus
44 Los Angeles
44 Houston
41 Seattle [@KC, FC Dallas]
41 Chivas USA [KC, San Jose, @Chicago, Houston]
41 Chicago [@New England, Chivas USA]
40 Colorado [@FC Dallas, @RSL]
38 New England [Columbus, Chicago, @Columbus]
—
36 D.C. United [Columbus, @KC]
35 Toronto FC [San Jose, RSL, @NY]
34 Real Salt Lake [NY, @Toronto FC, Colorado]
33 FC Dallas [@San Jose, Colorado, @Seattle]
32 Kansas City [@Chivas USA, Seattle, DC United]
28 San Jose
18 New York

Seattle Sounders FC, Chivas USA, and Chicago Fire should all be okay to get into the playoffs. Colorado has 2 games against slightly weaker opponents than others, but they are both on the road. New England has 3 games left, but they have to face league leading Crew twice and Chicago once. I think Toronto FC has a good chance of jumping over DC United and New England to get that last playoff stop. That is my prediction today at least.

Who do you think will be in the playoffs?

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Bad day for MLS in US Open Cup

posted by kidpurple June 30, 2009

US Open CupSeveral MLS teams took place in the 3rd round of the US Open Cup today.  A few of those teams will play again in the 4th round – several will not.

Defending MLS Champions Columbus Crew went to OT and then to PKs against the always dangerous Rochester Rhinos.  The Rhinos came out on top in PKs at 5-3 to move on.

The Chicago Fire have been hot in MLS play – but they couldn’t keep it up against Wilmington Hammerheads.   The only goal of the game went to the Hammerheads in the first half.  Four time US Open Cup champions Chicago Fire can now focus on the MLS regular season.

Chivas USA was the third MLS side to fall to a lower division opponent.  They ran into the Charleston Battery and went home 3-1 losers.

Some MLS teams did advance out of this round.  DC United beat the Ocean City Barons 2-0 and The Kansas City Wizards snuck out of Minnesota with after winning 4-2 on PKs after a 3-3 draw.

A couple teams will still be in action on July 1st.  The Houston Dynamo will be playing at the Austin Aztecs while Seattle Sounders FC will be playing at their old USL rivals Portland Timbers.

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Seattle Sounders FC in trouble before first game played

posted by kidpurple December 12, 2008

The new team on the block could be in trouble with the league well before their first game is ever played.  Recently Sigi Schmid announced he would not return to Columbus after winning the MLS Cup with them this year.  Rumors flew that Schmid was going to take the job at Seattle Sounders FC for their first season in the league.

Now the Columbus Crew have filed a complaint with the league office saying that Seattle had improperly contacted Schmid before they should have.  The likely outcome will be a payment from Seattle to Columbus if the league does determine that Seattle acted inappropriately.

Hopefully this isn’t a sign of things to come for Seattle.  You don’t really want your team getting in trouble even before playing their first ever game.

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2009 TFC Season Tickets Sold Out

posted by kidpurple December 11, 2008

If you were planning on getting season tickets for Toronto FC you better have picked those up already – other wise you are out of luck.

TFC play at the 20,000 capacity BMO Field.  They restrict the number of season tickets sold to 16,000, all of which have already been purchased for the 2009 season.  It is impressive that they’ve sold out their season tickets already, but even more impressive is the fact that 95% of those season tickets purchased were renewals of season ticket holders from last year.  For a team that finished close to the bottom of the league that is very impressive.  This means they’ve sold more season tickets than the reigning champions Columbus Crew had average attendance.

Good job Toronto!  Some other MLS cities could learn a lesson from you on how to support your team.

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Former Rookie of the Year Parkhurst on his way to Europe

posted by kidpurple December 9, 2008

New England Revolution defender and former Rookie of the Year Michael Parkhurst is leaving Major League Soccer after 4 seasons.  Parkhurst is finishing up contract negotiations with FC Nordsjaelland, a team from Denmark’s Superligaen.

Parkhurst’s contract was up at the end of this past season so his move is free for FC Nordsjaelland.  He didn’t make it a secret that he wanted to go overseas at the end of his contract, so it was no surprise to the Revolution.  The 24 year old defender thought this was going to be the right time in his career to make the move.

This past season’s rookie of the year, Chad Marshall, is also trying out Europe.  Marshall defends for the Columbus Crew but will be appearing in a test match for Mainz05 as a guest player.  Only time will tell if he will fill a more permanent role with the team than “guest”.

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Congratulations Columbus Crew – MLS Cup Champions

posted by kidpurple November 24, 2008

The Crew defeated the New York Red Bulls 3-1 to win their first ever MLS Cup, in their first trip to the MLS Cup.

Congratulation Crew!

Now we look forward to the expansion draft and a long off season. Can’t wait until next year, it should be another good season!

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Different paths to MLS Cup

posted by kidpurple November 18, 2008

So the New York Red Bulls made it to MLS Cup. I was wrong. Alexi Lalas was wrong. He has consequences to pay. People should expect me to be wrong. I was so sure RSL was gonna beat the Red Bulls, I’m glad I didn’t agree to do anything in case of a Red Bulls victory. Lalas now has to shotgun a can of Red Bull before MLS Cup.

The Red Bulls and the Columbus Crew have had a long journey to get to MLS Cup. They have had very different routes. The Crew were in 1st place in the league for a lot of the year and finished with the best record. They were the first team to qualify for the playoffs. The Red Bulls needed help from other teams to get in. They left the door open for both DC United and Colorado Rapids to take that playoff position if either team could get a win on the last week of the regular season.

One soccer mom is involved in a very different road to MLS Cup. Watch and see what I mean.

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Crew advance to first MLS Cup

posted by kidpurple November 13, 2008

The Columbus Crew had to overcome a 1-0 halftime defecit to beat the Chicago Fire 2-1 in the Eastern Conference final.  The Fire looked pretty good throughout most of the first half.  At halftime Alexi Lalas didn’t understand what was going on with the Crew.  He had predicted them to win the game.

The second half was like a totally different game.  The Crew looked like a championship team.  Thanks to goals by defender of the year Chad Marshall and Eddie Gavin the Crew still have a chance to become that championship team.

This will be the first trip to the MLS Cup for the Columbus Crew. Their opponents will also be newcomers to the MLS Cup.  The New York Red Bulls have been this far before but never won that conference final game.  Real Salt Lake made the playoffs for the first time in their history this year.

I am going to go ahead and fully agree with Alexi Lalas that Real Salt Lake will play the Crew for the Cup and the Crew do become MLS champions.  Lalas is going to shotgun some Red Bull if the Red Bulls are able to beat Real Salt Lake – that would be mildly interesting to see at least.

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