MLS Cup 2009: Real Salt Lake vs LA Galaxy

posted by kidpurple November 15, 2009

MLS Cup 2009

real-salt-lakevs LA Galaxy

Real Salt Lake (#4 East) vs LA Galaxy (#1 West)

The semi-final tonight between Real Salt Lake and the Chicago Fire was a wild one.  Some people might say 120 minutes with no scoring is a boring game – but this was far from boring.  The game eventually went to a shootout and went to 7 shooters before Nick Rimando took over saving the last couple of Fire PKs.

Real Salt Lake had the better of the Galaxy during this past regular season with a single win and a single draw.  Will they be able to continue in their first ever MLS Cup Final?  Any predictions?  I’ll have mine later this coming week.

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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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Houston to New York – MLS single table at the all star break

posted by kidpurple August 1, 2009

Here is the Major League Soccer single table at the all star break.  It isn’t uncommon to see Houston on the top along with FC Dallas and San Jose near the bottom.

This table doesn’t take into effect any of the games that will be taking place today.  Ten teams will be seeing action later today while there is only one game tomorrow.  Of course the LA Galaxy are taking on FC Barcelona tonight in a friendly at the Rose Bowl.

32 Houston
30 Columbus
29 Seattle
29 Chicago
28 D.C. United
28 Los Angeles
27 Chivas USA
27 Colorado
 26 Toronto FC
23 New England
23 Real Salt Lake
21 Kansas City
17 FC Dallas
14 San Jose
10 New York

Teams in bold would be in the playoffs if they started today.

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The Major League Soccer single table

posted by kidpurple June 28, 2009

I used to try to keep the MLS single table up to date here, but quit doing that after last year.  I was too often several games behind and sometime would forget to update it for a whole week.  It was not very reliable so I quit doing it.  Today I started to miss the single table so I put together a very simple one.  Here is the current standing after the Galaxy upset league leaders Houston Dynamo.

28 Houston Dynamo
27 Chivas USA
25 Seattle Sounders FC
23 DC United
22 Columbus Crew
22 Toronto FC
21 Chicago Fire
21 Colorado Rapids
19 Kansas City Wizards
19 Real Salt Lake
18 Los Angeles Galaxy
16 New England Revolution
14 FC Dallas
12 San Jose Earthquakes
10 New York Red Bulls

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Taylor Twellman transfer rumors

posted by kidpurple December 8, 2008

Would the New England Revolution be willing to trade Taylor Twellman?  mls-rumors.net has a story that the Revolution might be getting ready to do just that.  They suggest that LA Galaxy might be his future home.

I couldn’t imagine this happening unless Donovan actually leaves the team full time to play in Germany.  Then they might need someone like Twellman to replace Donovan.  What do you think?  What are the chances Twellman goes to LA, and what would the Revolution get for him?

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Donovan Set for Bayern loan

posted by kidpurple November 20, 2008

Landon Donovan has been training with Bayern Munich the past week and a half and has impressed coach Jurgen Klinsmann enough to get him a loan. Klinsamann is going to bring Landon to Bayern on a loan contract that will run from the 1st of January through the middle of March. His goal will be to keep him longer – at least until the end of the German Bundesliga season, which runs through most of May.

Have we seen the end of Donovan’s days in Major League Soccer?

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Predicting the postseason

posted by kidpurple November 5, 2007

Well a weekend full of season ending games and a couple more end of the year awards have been finalized. How are my predictions going?

I correctly predicted that the 4th seed Chicago Fire took out overall league leaders DC United.

I also predicted that the 5th place (East) Kansas City Wizards would defeat 1st place (West) Chivas USA. That happened after a 1-0 KC win in KC and a scoreless draw back in LA this weekend.

Both of the #2 seeds advanced like I predicted, but Houston had to come back and use overtime to dispose of FC Dallas. The Revolution just got a single goal from Taylor Twellman to drop the Red Bulls.

I correctly picked the goalkeeper of the year and the fair play award. The newest awards were given to Eddie Johnson for comeback player of the year, and then the first one I got wrong was defender of the year. Eddie Robinson was my prediction but Michael Parkhurst won the award. So much for a perfect round of post season predictions…

So the next round looks like this:

Chicago Fire @ New England Revolution

Kansas City Wizards @ Houston Dynamo

It looks like we are set up for a repeat of last years MLS Cup, but I’m not making my predictions yet. I imagine KC and Houston both are hoping for a Revolution win on Thursday because no one can lose the big game quite like the Revolution can.

ps – I kinda thought the LA Galaxy might beat Hollywood United yesterday, which they apparently did, 12 – 4.

Posted in 2007 Playoffs, Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, DC United, Eddie Johnson, Eddie Robinson, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, Kansas City Wizards, Los Angeles Galaxy, Michael Parkhurst, New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls, Taylor Twellman | Tagged , | Comments (0)