CarlosT will be posting a story or two here and Sunday morning I may be able to finish my
write-up on Vagenas and Ianni. I may not make my old deadline, but I will do what I can.
If you aren't going to the Supporters Summit you will be able to watch the Summit Proper at
MLSNet.com (1PM EST/10AM PST) in its live stream tomorrow.
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WVHooligan 16 November @ 07:23 PM EST
Garber sees growth in MLS. (Getty Images)
I've spent a good portion of the day collecting my thoughts on a couple subjects and then it
happen to be the same day that MLS commish Don Garber had his State of the League address. Yeah,
let's just say some of his comments just made my head go nuts (and your's too judging by some
emails).
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The Offside 14 November @ 11:47 PM EST
Final score 0-0 aet, RSL takes it on penalties, 5-4. First, just like last year, we have to go with
the "AMERICANS: A GEOGRAPHICALLY CHALLENGED PEOPLE award," (given last year under a different name
to): MLS. So...yeah. Salt Lake. In the Eastern Conference finals. Why am I getting visions of MLS
Commissioner Don [.
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RSL and Chicago are going to square off on Saturday in a match where the Fire of Chicago have
the unenviable task of playing the one team in the entire that no one wants a piece of anymore.
If you asked me this is the perfect storm for the boys from Salt Lake and the worst storm for the
Windy City squad.
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The Netminder 12 November @ 02:03 PM EST
Salt Lake vs. Chicago: Saturday's MLS playoff teams have one thing in common --
their goalkeepers are the shortest starting netminders in the league. Chicago's Jon Busch is listed
at 5-10; Salt Lake's Nick Rimando at 5-9.
"People that tell me I wasn't going to achieve anything because I was too short, I just remember
that, and I like to shove it in their face whenever I can," Rimando says.
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WVHooligan 12 November @ 11:11 AM EST
I know this news came down yesterday but I just never got the time to talk about it until this
morning. Funny how only a couple days before RSL's big conference final in Chicago the big news
surrounding the club isn't an injury to a key player or anything like that but the pending sale of
49% of the team to a local businessman from current owner Dave Checketts.
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Du Nord 09 November @ 05:28 PM EST
QUESTION ON MY MINDWho will help save my team?
The Minnesota Thunder is all but dead. This is horrible news. The team has been around since 1990
and won many amazing games & trophies, but currently finds itself in the hands of ownership who
appear to be lying to everyone in sight, and have no money at all.
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Now tell me truthfully. What is your abiding image of the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs? Is
it Schelotto steaming on the bench in Salt Lake? Maybe Onstad "chesting" Flopping Fredy? Perhaps
Ching's flying finish? Not me. I'll go with Mike...
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The playoff numbers look like this...
5 year comparison Conference Semifinals 1st Leg Avg +/- Home Teams 2005 12,147 NA
Chicago NY Colorado Los Angeles 2006 9,533 -21.52% Chicago NY Colorado
Chivas USA 2007 14,245 49.
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The 2009 MLS regular season saw overall average attendance drop to an average of 16,037. Down from
last years 16,459. It did, though, see a new record for attendance set by the expansion Seattle
Sounders FC, who averaged 30,897 over the course of the season. Here are the averages of all the
teams in the league this year.
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Jason Kreis and RSL are the most frustrating duo in MLS. Former listeners to the American Soccer
Show on CSRN will know that I have a soft spot for the club, not because of any geographic tie, but
because of the presence of former Miami Fusion players up and down the organization, starting with
GM Garth Lagerway.
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Well, sometimes you're wrong. Like tonight. I've got to admit, I'm a little gutted considering that
was my team. Salt Lake by two clear goals? Wow. Just wow.
First off, you've got to say well done by RSL. They came to play, they weren't intimidated.
And yet I'm going to lay all of this on the Columbus Crew.
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I'm still going with the Crew. They'll need to come out with a positive attitude and some
creativity to break down Salt Lake, but there's no question they're capable of it.
A lot has been made of Schelotto getting benched, but I don't think it will be a problem in the
end. Warzycha's approach to this series was to make it two different games - defensive and nasty in
Salt Lake, and wide open and attacking in Columbus.
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U-17 World Cup on Galavision: Mexico - Korea at 10am. Europa League on GolTV: Hamburgh - Celtic at
1pm, Villarreal - Lazio at 3pm, and Everton - Benfica at 8pm. MLS playoffs on ESPN2: Salt Lake -
Columbus at 8pm. Copa Sudamericana on Fox SPorts en Espanol: Universidad - Fluminense at 6pm and
LDU Quito - Velez Sarsfield at 8:30pm.
Click to continue reading...
The MLS Playoffs opened up on Thursday night with a draw between Houston and Seattle. Given
that Houston win in almost from the beginning of the season and Seattle had to pull it together at
the last minute to get in I'd say this leaves a great deal of promise for the playoffs.
On Saturday Columbus and Salt Lake square in their first Semi-Final match and if they go
anything like Houston and Columbus this should be a doozy.
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WVHooligan 29 October @ 09:22 AM EST
Jimmy Conrad and Josh Wolff lead the way in 2009 for Kansas City. (WVH Photo Correspondent Brian
Stevens)
The bandwagon was getting bigger for this club going into 2009. Many folks had hoped this was
the year the Kansas City Wizards would get over the hump and make a big splash in the eastern
conference.
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The Rapids choked away a chance at their best season ever with a 7 game winless streak culminating
in the embarrassing 3-0 loss to FaKe SaLt Lake Saturday night. They finish in a tie for the last
playoff spot but lose the tibreakers, missing the playoffs for a 3rd straight year. 2 years in a
row they've missed the playoffs by a point.
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kenn.com 26 October @ 02:50 PM EST
Major League Soccer's regular season wrapped up yesterday and here are the final attendance
figures:
Team G Total Avg Med Hi Lo Change Seattle 15 463,455 30,897 32,404 33,108 28,548 NA Los Angeles 15
306,240 20,416 19,718 27,000 16,649 -21.5% Toronto 15 305,167 20,344 20,384 20,902 19,843 1.
Click to continue reading...
Ok. I was wrong. Columbus shut it down. They let New England into the Playoffs. I get it.
I'm a dummy. Now I know.
Here's the thing. Columbus backs into the Playoffs and L.A. wins the West on Saturday. L.A.
didn't need that West crown THAT bad, you know, but they went out and won it anyways.
Click to continue reading...
Du Nord 25 October @ 07:03 PM EST
With all of the regular season games in the bag, the playoffs are finally all set to go.
Los Angeles has won the top spot in the Western Conference by winning their game over San Jose, and
also holding the tie breaker over both Houston and Chivas USA no matter what either of those teams
does in their match up on Sunday.
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Despite tonight's heartbreaking, gut-wrenching 2-2 draw in Kansas City, there is still a chance
for United to advance to the post-season. The only way the Black-and-Red book a ticket to the MLS
Cup playoffs is if Seattle and Dallas play to a draw tonight and New England loses to Columbus
tomorrow.
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I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! Salt Lake won yesterday to put themselves in the MLS Playoffs
and now only New England is playing for their life when they suit up today. They win and they're
in. They lose and Colorado squeaks in by the skin of their teeth.
I must say that I'm disappointed in Dallas because when I first came on the block they had just
scored 5000 goals in a game and I thought they could keep it up.
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Six teams, two playoff berths. We'll keep the standings atop the post and update them with final
results. Standings include opponent, goal difference (for/against), and tiebreakers. All times
ET
40 Colorado: +7 (42/35), even on tiebreakers
39 Toronto: -4 (37/41), beats NE and DC, loses to DAL
39 D. Click to continue reading...
MLS on Fox Soccer Channel: Salt Lake - Colorado at 9pm. Under-17 World Cup on Galavision: Mexico -
Switzerland at 11am. EPL on ESPN2: Wolves - Aston Villa at 7:30am. on Setanta: Spurs - Stoke City
at 9:30am and Hull - Portsmouth at 5pm. On Fox Soccer: Birmingham City - Sunderland at 10am,
Chelsea - Blackburn at 12:30pm, and Burnley - Wigan Athletic at 5pm.
Click to continue reading...
Toronto @ NY, DC @ Kansas City, Colorado @ Salt Lake, Dallas @ Seattle, San Jose @ LA, Houston @
Chivas, and New England @ Columbus. This, my friends, is your final weekend of the 2009 MLS
Regular Season.
Chicago already locked up a spot with a win at Chivas and Seattle jumped into the playoffs as
well.
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Seven teams, three berths, endless combinations.
The tiebreakers for MLS playoff berths go in this order:
1. Head-to-head (points per game if more than two teams tied)
2. Overall goal difference
3. Overall goals scored
The list below shows all seven teams, their final opponents (all times ET) and their head-to-head
records (U.
Click to continue reading...
A whole Saturday of Soccer went by and nothing that I thought would happen did. Toronto beat
Salt Lake, D.C. beat Columbus, New England drew Chicago and on and on. The biggest surprise, for
me, was Salt Lake (who was on a roll) losing to Toronto. They totally messed up my preconceived
notions of how the playoffs would shake out.
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It took a lot longer than I think many people expected it to, but the Wizards are now officially
eliminated from the playoff race. The Wizards were eliminated before they even took the field
against Seattle after Toronto's win over Salt Lake yesterday. Still it wouldn't have mattered, as
the Wizards blew another lead and once again lost at home, this time to Seattle, 3-2 last night.
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The next-to-last weekend of MLS action sees the teams broken down into three groups:
1. In the playoffs, still alive for Supporters Shield
2. Not yet in the playoffs
3. Out of the playoffs
Every contending team has two games left except Chivas USA, which has three.
We'll update this glance as the day goes on, pressbox wi-fi permitting (wi-fi or not, check Twitter
updates).
Click to continue reading...
The Wizards are back home to close out the MLS season with 2 home games against Seattle and DC.
They start tomorrow against Seattle. While they are extremely slim, the Wizards are still barely in
the playoff picture. By the time they take the field, though, KC could be eliminated if either
Toronto or Salt Lake win.
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Here's a sad stat for you on this Friday, along with a breakdown of what KC needs this weekend to
stay alive in the playoff race.
This season the Wizards have taken 345 shots, that's tied for the second most in the league with
Dallas. Only RSL has taken more shots. The Wizards have taken 142 shots on goal this season, that's
good for 4th in the league.
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I was going to write about this yesterday but...... (well, you don't have time for my saga of
yesterday.) Let's just say it involved lots of lost work and headaches...and some rain. I'm
down here in Atlanta and it's raining ALL the time.
Anyways, so when I saw that Salt Lake had won its match from Wednesday I was very, very
happy.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying: Costa Rica - USA is on ESPN2 with the pre-game starting at 7:30pm
and Mexico - Trinidad & Tobago is on Telemundo at 8pm. Salt Lake - New York is on ESPN2 at 10pm.
WCQ on GolTV: Germany - Finland at noon and Italy - Cyprus at 2pm. On Setanta: Portugal - Malta at
2:40pm and Greece - Luxembourg at 5pm.
Click to continue reading...
Week 31 (10/13)
Last Week's Ranking in Parenthesis...
- Columbus (1): The Crew knocked off the Revs on the road, so they stay at
#1.
- Chivas USA (2): The Goats held strong @ home so they will also be staying
put.
Click to continue reading...
Week 30 (10/07)
Last Week's Ranking in Parenthesis...
- Columbus (1): The Crew finally lost @ home, but still lead the race for the
Shield.
- Chivas USA (3): Preki's Goats got a huge W @ RFK and have the most
games left.
Click to continue reading...
