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MLS Playoffs and CONCACAF Qualifying Schedule Draw: Live Commentary

Photos by ISIPhotos.com

It is a big night in American soccer, with three decisive MLS playoff games taking place and the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying schedule being drawn, and with so much to keep track of, tonight is as good a night to have one post dedicated to all the action.

In Miami, CONCACAF will be holding the draw for the schedule the Hexagonal Round of World Cup qualifying. The U.S. Men’s National Team will learn the dates of the ten match-ups against a qualifying group that includes Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and Jamaica.

MLS is set to have a big night as well, with three of the four places in the conference finals being determined by tonight’s three conference semifinal second legs. The New York Red Bulls play host to D.C. United (8pm, NBC Sports) after playing to a first-leg tie. Sporting Kansas City will look to erase a two-goal deficit when they take on the Houston Dynamo at LiveStrong Sporting Park (9pm, MLS Live). The nightcap will feature the San Jose Earthquakes taking on the LA Galaxy at Buck Shaw Stadium (11pm, ESPN2), with San Jose looking to defend the 1-0 lead the earned in the first leg.

SBI will be providing live commentary on tonight’s MLS matches, and the CONCACAF qualifying schedule draw, so please feel free to follow all the action here. As always,  you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump):

Comments

  1. Refs are swallowing the whistle a little more in the playoffs, making sure not to insert themselves into games. People who don’t like the play a little more physical need to remember that it is always like this.

    Meyers vs Clark was a good no-call. I don’t think it was a dive, but Meyers went down a little too easy on that one, and you have to really be sure it is a foul to call a PK in that situation. SJ vs LA was also very physical, and the ref let things go a little bit. We’ll see if this trend continues, but it sounds like the field refs have been instructed.

    Reply
    • H-town,
      You are full of crud. If the situation were reversed and Clark had gone down on a CLEAR tackle from Myers, I would at least have the decency to say that Myers shouldn’t have put himself in a position where a tackle was necessary. The definition of a foul is the impedment of an opposing player with no prior contact of the ball. Basically, if you don’t get the ball first and you take down the man, its a foul. I just wish homers like you would have the courage to state, yeah, we got away with one there because that no call was just another example of trashy mls officiating. Hopefully Garber and the powers that be will realize that to maximize their product impact, they have to get officials willing to make the right calls. They should look to the NFL for an example of the importance of proper officiating. If the refs were instructed to swallow their whistles as you so disturbingly state, then it saddens me to think the league would want to change the beautiful game in that way.

      Reply
  2. Easily some of the worst defending I’ve ever seen in an MLS game. I mean that was really atrocious. San Jose is done. Turning the game off.

    Reply
  3. Kinnear should be thanking his lucky stars because that was one of the uglier “just enough” negative tactical games I’ve seen him try this side of Puntarenas or Pachuca road games in CCL….barely had anyone forward to progress the ball upfield. But a result’s a result.

    One interesting aspect of the brackets if nothing changes is that the postponement will shrink the recovery time by one day for what would already be a quick turnaround game at Houston Sunday.

    Reply
  4. That’s an embarrassment for the league and the fans rightfully went nuts.

    The referee lets play go on and then makes a call several seconds later after LA players yell at him. Just a joke.

    Reply
  5. How did they not see this coming and plan better for it? I do watersports where I watch the forecasts days ahead, and in this computerized era you can get a generally reliable idea where the weather is headed a week out these days, and by 3 days out you can start pinpointing locations and hours, + or – a couple. I’ve been hearing for days this was coming on the day after election day. And you leave the game right then??

    But then MLS scheduled some early season games for afternoons at BBVA, seemingly unaware the stadium would turn into an oven on one of our 90F+ afternoons. Someone needs to show them NWS and Weather Underground have hourly functions where you can get forecast data for a particular hour of day, several days out.

    Reply
  6. Another prime example of terrible mls officiating. A clear foul by Clark in the box on Myers and he doesn’t give the call. I’m a skc fan and an ex official and I recognize not wanting to seem impartial but what the heck. Ricardo the hack Clark made no play on that ball. Give the pk and let it go to overtime. Ives, what are your thoughts?

    Reply
  7. Pretty gnarly no call on what should have been potential game tying penalty. Referee had a pretty bad game.

    But nobody was as bad as CJ Sapong. Wow.

    Reply
  8. This official is awful.

    These are yellow card offenses. You can’t decide to be nice and not card people for them. A tactical takedown on a breakaway is, by law, a caution.

    Reply
      • Still dont understand why the game wasnt at a neutral site. Yes it would be unfortunate for NY fans that wouldnt be able to make it, but I dont understand why DCU was punished for something out of their control. One team was going to get the short end of the stick no matter what in the end I guess. But thats probably a biased opinion, and an argument to be had on another board.

    • Except I had to work late and FS Houston’s response to the switch was to run something else for the first half, screwing up my DVRing of the game. So I got basically one half of it.

      I don’t think the playoffs should be on local tv anyway.

      Reply
  9. I guess I’m glad I missed the bus to NJ, but this does point up one thing. If the Revs ever get a stadium, they must invest in heating coils. Also, if the league proposes switching calendars, DCU should do that for their new field, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, NY would all have to put in heaters. Well, maybe not Montreal, since they play on plastic.

    Reply
  10. 1-@Honduras
    2-Costa Rica
    3-@Mexico
    4-@Jamaica?
    5-Panama
    6-Honduras
    7-@Costa Rica
    8-Mexico
    9-Jamaica
    10-@Panama

    Please correct if I got them wrong, I wrote as fast as I could…

    Reply
  11. I hate how the SKC and HOU match is not being broadcast on NBCSN OR ESPN. Can we get double header on at least one channel?

    Reply

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