The MLS season is down to its final two weeks and while most of the playoff spots are locked up, there is still plenty to play for.
Today's matches will go a long way toward clearing up the playoff picture, particularly which ten teams will be in the post-season. Houston's win against Portland on Friday night pushed the Chicago Fire to the bring of elimination. Now, the only way the Fire can reach the playoffs is with two wins, two New York losses and two losses out of three games for D.C. United. Even then, Chicago must have an eight-goal edge in goal differential disappear for New York.
In other words, we are down to 12 teams having legitimate chances for the post-season.
Portland and D.C. United are chasing New York, Columbus, Sporting KC and Colorado for the final playoff spots, and the Timbers will travel to D.C. for what amounts to an elimination game at RFK Stadium.
Today's big game will be played at Livestrong Sporting Park, where Sporting Kansas City will face the Red Bulls. A KC win clinch a playoff berth and also move Sporting past Houston for second place in the East. KC could be in first place by the end of the day with a win and Philly loss to Toronto FC. The Red Bulls need the win to clinch their own playoff berth, and to move ahead of Sporting KC in the standings.
D.C. United find themselves in must-win mode tonight, taking on Chicago in the first of three home games to close out the season. A loss would leave D.C. on the bring of elimination, while a win would give Ben Olsen's squad new life heading into the Portland match.
Here is how the playoff standings look heading into today's action:
MLS PLAYOFF STANDINGS
EAST
1. Philadelphia…….47 pts……32 games……..vs. TFC, at NYRB
2. Houston…………46 pts……33 games……. vs. LA
3. Sporting KC……..45 pts……32 games…….. vs. NYRB, at D.C.
WEST
1. LA Galaxy………64pts……32 games……. vs. Chivas USA, at HOU
2. Seattle…………57 pts……32 games……. vs. SJ, at Chivas USA
3. Real Salt Lake….52 pts……33 games……. vs. Portland
WILD CARD
1. FC Dallas……….49 pts……32 games……. vs. VAN, at SJ
2. Colorado………..46 pts……33 games……. at VAN,
3. Columbus……….44 pts……32 games……. at NE, at Chicago
4. NY Red Bulls…….43 pts……32 games……. at Sporting KC, vs Philly
===============================================================================
5. Portland……….40 pts…..32 games……. at D.C., at RSL
6. D.C. United……38 pts……31 games…… vs. CHI, vs. Portland, vs. SKC
7. Chicago……….37 pts……32 games…… at D.C. United, vs. Columbus
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There is still something to play for in the Western Conference, with FC Dallas still in range of Real Salt Lake for the No. 3 seed. The real question is whether moving up to No. 3 would even be a reward considering the No. 4 seed means a move to the Eastern Conference bracket with a wild card victory.
Portland isn't quite dead in the water yet. If the Timbers win out, they could still qualify if either Columbus or New York fail to win either of their remaining matches, or of Sporting Kansas City loses their two remaining matches.
Philadelphia can clinch the Eastern Conference regular season title today with a win and a loss or tie by Columbus and loss or tie by Sporting Kansas City. The Crew still have a chance to win the East if they win out and both Philadelphia and Sporting Kansas City fail to win out.
What do you think of the MLS playoff race? Who do you see winning the East? Think D.C. or Portland can catch the pack for one of the final playoff spots?
Share your thoughts below.
Wondo would be even sicker with a proper midfield or striking partner
you havent g=heard Allen Hopkins for Chivas…biggest homer ever
BS…Henry will always be a legend no matter where he goes
DC has lost four in a row,…they deserve to make the playoffs. Nor do the Red Bulls for that matter. Chicago or Portland perhaps?
That was some finish! Wow! DC must be gutted. BTW,….acj is spot on Evan ? is a big time homer,…not to mention an overall bad commentator.
Please. The vast amount of pro-Henry comments I’ve seen are that the incident when handled by a strong ref would be a yellow. Yes, by strict letter of the law it’s red. But any good ref knows that this penny-ante garbage off the ball happens ALL the time. Henry did not “drop a knee” into Espinosa– he ran into the dude. Intentionally? Sure. But it was a very minor incident. Literally HUNDREDS of times I’ve seen refs in European leagues give players a strict talking to and a booking for stuff like that.
Does Henry deserve blame for putting himself in that position? Yup. But with better refs (which is a major problem for the USSF) it doesn’t become a major incident. The game moves on and the players get to play.
I think you can get a single day pass for $4.
Wow, what a finish.
The announcer for the Chicago DC game is setting a record for homerism. “I’m not sure that even touched his hand” While watching replay of ball going up fast and then magically reversing direction while the players arm flew backwards. Clear foul in the box by Chicago “This team’s never shy about going down in the box”
I agree with everything you said except the first 2 paragraphs. Also, Henry was once a superstar, now he’s known to be the most unprofessional turd in Ireland and now the MLS.
Kneeing a player that is down is a Red card, end of discussion.
sounders!!!
can’t find a dc/chi stream anywhere….
does anybody have a stream for the dcu/fire game? I know, I’ll get MLS pass next year, I’m not going to buy it with this much time left in the season though.
Sapong is steadily turning into the back-flipping Bill Brasky of the eastern conference. It makes me nervous, but I’m pretty sure I’d take Sapong most days over Bunbury.
I’ve read 50 comments on other sites about how Henry just, you know, didn’t see the guy he dropped his knee into.
(One of them even called Henry the top individual talent in MLS.)
So yeah, look, we all know there’s a big chunk of NYRB fans out there… but seriously, you don’t have to make such hilarious excuses for Henry: “He was thinking about elephants and didn’t see the player 10 feet in front of him, and decided to bring his knee in a downward motion to Espinoza’s back because THAT’S WHAT THINKING ABOUT ELEPHANTS MAKES HIM DO. NOT A CLEAR RED EVAR!!!!!11one.”
Well, currently an MLS team plays every MLS team twice regardless of conference.
I wouldn’t mind looking at weighting games played within a conference, but in the end playing each side twice is way to go.
The conferences are for the playoff structure.
I don’t think that the format favors Dallas over RSL. Dallas has to play a single game play-in match against the 10th best team in the league. Even if you consider them 75% favorites to win that match (that’s high for a top of the table soccer team playing an average team in their league) then they’d have to be 50% more likely to make it through the subsequent matches to overcome that deficit. The simulations that the folks over at Sounder at Heart did bear that out. RSL has a ~8% chance of winning the cup whereas Dallas has a ~4% chance (http://www.sounderatheart.com/2011/10/11/2484270/state-of-the-mls-run-in-2-weeks-to-go) The teams that the conference system really benefits are the top teams in the east (Philly and KC right now)
yes, but a vet like Henry knows better
he definitely ran into him on purpose, you look at the replays and watch it slowly and espinoza really isn’t moving yet Henry completely runs into him. Bonehead move by Henry cost the team.
forgive the double post. And may I add that Sapong, in fact, may have singlehandedly eliminated RBNY from the playoffs.
OK. About the Henry red card. (This will be a little logic-gamey.) If it’s retaliation, retaliation for what? A slap to Henry’s face, directly in front of the referee? Referee doesn’t call anything, so obviously, there’s no foul. AND THEREFORE, there can be no “retaliation.” I mean, a straight red after allowing rough tackles on both ends — abd Espinola goes into the challenge that puts him on the ground studs up!
I’m sure Henry gets calls in his favor, but that was bullßhit, a straight red given to a superstar because he’s a superstar and the ref has decided he’s not going to let Henry off the hook. This referee possibly singlehandedly eliminated RBNY from the playoffs.
conferences are perfect for when MLS goes to an unbalanced schedule and add more then twenty teams. it will work out dont worry the country is way too big to copy the way europe does it
Watched the Henry foul again, and I agree with the ref’s decision 100%. Henry acted like it was incidental, but he saw Espinoza and had a good 3-4 seconds to move out of the way and not hit him in the back.
thanks bro. workin’ like a charm for me…although as a nyrb fan i’d almost rather not be watching. Agree w/ the red though. Wtf henry?
Just a quick glance. It’s mind boggling the gap between the top 4 in the west vs the east in a balanced schedule, yet the east has just as good a chance at MLS Cup as anyone. What a flawed play off system we have where it’s impossible for any combination of #’s 1,2 or 3 overall seeds ever meet in the finals.
dumb play & dumb call
Nah man, that was definitely retaliatory. Henry just didn’t feel like playing for the next two games I guess.
Not sure so many people would agree with you.
def a yellow in such a big match
That’s how H rolls… All season and he finally got called for his chippy play. Marquez red coming soon?
Found a KC stream.
Boy are these guys insane about Henry. Seems that Henry deserved a yellow but he also too a shot to the face, no?
WOW, YET ANOTHER DISGRACEFUL REF IN MLS.
Seriously, I want to like this league but these horrible blind retarded refs are making it hard.
THat was a DISGRACE!!!! He ran into him by accident, how the hell is that even a yellow!!!!! im losing my desire to watch this mickey mouse league now
Wow, Ti Ti, just run around him!
Once is a typo, twice, you’re confused…
It’s “brink of elimination”.
Otherwise, great summary.
Haha. Not only does the Fire need to make up that GD advantage that NY has on them, they need Portland to get 2 or fewer points from their final 2 games, and they need DC to win no more than one of their remaining games. This of course assumes the Fire wins their 2 games and NY loses their 2.
As a Fire fan, I’m just having fun calculating how ridiculously long our odds are. The funny thing is that we could indirectly knock the Red Bulls out if we end up tied on points with both them and Portland for the last playoff spot. Even though NY wins the head-to-head tiebreaker against Portland and has the GD edge on the Fire, they would finish below Portland simply because the Fire lost twice to Portland this year.
Evgeni? That you?
http://www.justin.tv/arbitro_ratero1#/w/1914259040
Not a great stream, so if anybody has another, please do.
SKC is pretty tough at home…
Fire fans are wusses
Vamos, Toros Rojos!
Yeah I’m actually pretty sure NY will make it to the finals; they seem to be rounding into form at the right time, unfortunately.
stream for red bulls vs kc??
I like your thinking, but I also think 3 game series would make the playoffs less exciting and last too long. The do or die nature of teh NFL playoffs is a huge part of the appeal and why it is rated higher than the other sports. Long series are possible in the NBA and MLB because you can play games every other day, so they don’t last too long. With the NFL and MLS, you need a larger break between games, so a series would extend the postseason too long. Maybe if you just play a home and home series each round that would work. The higher ranked team would get to play their homegame last on the weekend. The lower ranked team has to play midweek. I think the championship should remain a single game though. I think a casual fan is much more likely to tune into the MLS championship if it is just a single game.
So just throwing this out there…
the general consensus seems to be playoffs=good in other sports because of large sample size(best of 7 series, etc.) and bad in soccer because there is no clear advantage for the higher seed, too small sample size, etc. My question is, why don’t we try meeting in the middle?
People will automatically backlash to this because it’s not ‘european’, but what about a best of three series up until the MLS cup final? It’s not a true best of three series in the American sense because there can be draws, but whoever has the most points after the three games would win the series. If a team won both the first two games, the third wouldn’t be necessary. The higher seeded team gets games 1 and 3, giving them a clear material advantage. If the lower seeded team upsets the higher seeded team in this framework, the chances that it was ‘random’ seem much lower than the status quo.
I don’t mind the conferences. I actually think the conferences are necessary as we add more teams. Single tables work in other countries because they’re much smaller geographically. It is easy to travel to every other team. The US is too big for constant travel from coast to coast. There’s a reason why every other American sports league uses conferences. I just with they would simplify the playoff structure. They should just take the top 5 teams from each conference. I don’t understand why they have teams trading conferences in the playoffs at all.
What I say goes. What I say is NY reaches MLS Cup. What I say goes. What I say is NY will win the MLS Cup. I know this. Because. What I say goes.
umm . . . go Fire?
(somehow, I don’t like our odds)
+1, this was how Colorado won the title last season. Getting the Eastern Conference “wild card” and playing inferior competition while the West pummeled each other.
Honestly, this needs to be single table and end the shenanigans.
I definitely feel like they should just take the top 5 teams from each division. I don’t think there should be a West vs West or E vs E championship because then wwat is the point of conferences?
Any seeding system that benefits a lower seed (in this case, FC Dallas) over a higher seed (RSL) needs to be blown up.
With the 3 best teams all in the West, MLS is guaranteeing a team no better than #4 will make the championship game. What a joke.