The Official Major League Soccer Thread

[LittleOzzy]

Looking at the confusing MLS playoff table I'm really hoping they move to a single table next year.

Top 10 teams make the playoffs, no matter where they play. East vs. West should be a thing of the past.

i should probably know this, but teams play every other team, right?

if that's the case, then i agree with you 100%

They do right now, but they have also talked about changing that which I think is beyond stupid.

Every team should play every team, home and away on a single table. Keep it simple.

[LittleOzzy]

Wild Card

FC Dallas (WC1) vs. New York Red Bulls (WC4)
Colorado Rapids (WC2) vs. Columbus Crew (WC3)

Eastern Conference Semifinals

Sporting Kansas City (E1) vs. higher-seeded Wild Card winner
Houston Dynamo (E2) vs. Philadelphia Union (E3)

Western Conference Semifinals

LA Galaxy (W1) vs. lower-seeded Wild Card winner
Seattle Sounders (W2) vs. Real Salt Lake (W3)

I'll have the dates and times up tomorrow.

[LittleOzzy]

Final Standings

[edfmx86]

Im way to excited for these playoffs. Even with the poor form RSL has had this last month. Hopefully getting Kyle Beckerman back motivates our team. I have my money saved up for the trip to LA if we make it to the finals. No heart breakers, please lol

[nghedman]

Me too edfmx, I am loving the MLS more and more and I am probably more excited for this years playoffs than any others in the past.

I'm tempted to breakout a playoff guess em game here in the threads but I think I will leave that to later, maybe next year.

[nghedman]

Looking at the confusing MLS playoff table I'm really hoping they move to a single table next year.

Top 10 teams make the playoffs, no matter where they play. East vs. West should be a thing of the past.

A single table makes sense being that every team only plays each team twice, once at home once away. It makes no sense to have a division where the teams aren't playing the division teams more than the non-division teams

That said I think division are better and a playoff system with divisions are better, so once the MLS can warrent it I think they need to play MORE games with division foes and then the records will reflect for division playoffs. This creates rivalrys too. This forced rivalry with RSL and Colorado is really not there with the fans. But if they play each other 4-6 times a year it would become a rivalry quickly.

The MLS is expanding the wrong way with more teams they ought to expand with more games first.

[jerrod]

i'm really excited for the playoffs too, even though i don't really have an mls team.

[LittleOzzy]

The problem with the MLS divisions is that New York has a chance at winning the West this year and Houston can win the East.

Just makes the whole thing weird.

I also disagree with having an unbalanced schedule. It makes the Supporters Shield less important when you possibly may skip playing the second best team. Rivalries will be created over time, they don't need to be forced by adding more games against each other.

In 10 years for example the two games between Colorado and RSL will be way more important then if they water it down with 4 games a season.

Also extending the season is the wrong way to go, between MLS play, The US Open Cup, The Canadian Championship and Champions League some MLS teams already have plenty of games.

I actually think less games is a good thing, they really need to do away with the Exhibition games in the middle of the season.

[LittleOzzy]

i'm really excited for the playoffs too, even though i don't really have an mls team.

I say pick one at random and jump on board. Would love to have you join in on more MLS stuff here.

[jerrod]

I say pick one at random and jump on board. Would love to have you join in on more MLS stuff here.

i've always had a thing for green jerseys, they happen to be in the playoffs and i saw a lot of their games this year.

so Seattle it is.


Go Sounders!

[LittleOzzy]

I say pick one at random and jump on board. Would love to have you join in on more MLS stuff here.

i've always had a thing for green jerseys, they happen to be in the playoffs and i saw a lot of their games this year.

so Seattle it is.


Go Sounders!

Awesome choice! Now you'll be able to join in with the Champions League discussion too!

[magik9113]

pumped for NY tomorrow. Gonna be tough game @ Dallas, specially with Luke Rodgers out with a knee injury...they are only 1-3-7 when he doesn't play.

[LittleOzzy]

I don't know, FIFA has always made the World Cup Spanish/English bid winner in the United States carry the MLS and promote them as well. I just can't think of a worse thing for the MLS if FOX is able to obtain the league rights again.

Just listening to the ExtraTime Radio podcast about the rights and they mentioned the bid is not tied to airing any MLS games.

MLS walked from Fox and will not be returning until possibly after all their current TV deals are done in 2014.

ESPN is also meeting this week about their soccer division as they have been left with basically no rights to any soccer properties.

One interesting thing they also mentioned was the Fox Soccer Channel not existing as it does now by the time the World Cup rolls around. The expert they had on feels they are going to change it simply to another sports network like a Vs. or ESPN.

You can listen to it here: http://www.mlssoccer.com/extratime

Starts at the 37th minute.

[jerrod]

Awesome choice! Now you'll be able to join in with the Champions League discussion too!

[LittleOzzy]

Let's get some predictions going for tonight's game?

Who wins and moves on to the next round, New York or FC Dallas?

[jerrod]

i'm leaning towards dallas tonight. i think ny will have trouble without rodgers.

[nghedman]

I say pick one at random and jump on board. Would love to have you join in on more MLS stuff here.

i've always had a thing for green jerseys, they happen to be in the playoffs and i saw a lot of their games this year.

so Seattle it is.


Go Sounders!

Let the smack talk begin. Seattle sucks! You picked the wrong team. Go RSL!!!!

Just kidding welcome to the fanboard discussion. The RSL/Seatle game will be a good one.



This NY/DAllas game is very interesting. Will NY pull it together when it counts. They have diffinitly under achieved this year and many believe their record doesn't reflect how good they are. To bad for Dallas because they pulled a tough opponent the first round.
I don''t think NY has the character to play up when the pressure is on. Dallas wins with 3 counter attacks to score 3-0. They play a defensive game but make it look like an offensive game when one looks at the scoreboard.

[jerrod]

It's on!

[LittleOzzy]

Things will be interesting tomorrow night in Colorado. Here is a picture from their stadium today.

As for tonight, I don't see New York winning without Rogers. I would love to see them move on as a New York/L.A series would be fantastic, but it's going to be hard to get past the defense of Dallas.

[LittleOzzy]

Sad how empty the stadium in Dallas is tonight...