MLS – The Week Ahead: Watch the Razor!
Real Salt Lakes’ late win on Wednesday has meant that no other issues were resolved in MLS leaving Saturday, and a little part of Sunday, to do it all for us.
Toronto v Real Salt Lake
RSL now have a valuable point lead over FC Dallas, DC United and Toronto FC. They now have to go to Toronto and keep the pressure up on New England who lie a further point ahead. If Toronto don’t win, they will need a whole host of other results to go their way to stay in with any chance of making the play-offs.
New England Revs v Chicago Fire
New England will need eyes at the back of their Bostonian heads. Looking in front of them, they can see that a win over Chicago Fire suddenly puts them in with a chance of second place in the Eastern Conference and automatic qualification. Ignore goal difference, a Saturday win would put them ahead of Chicago on the head-to-head and leave them in pole position to achieve that second place in their last match. Looking behind them, they can see a nightmare scenario where at least one of the chasing pack behind them wins on Saturday, worse still two.
DC United v Columbus Crew
Moving down the match list, DC United host the Crew. The latter haven’t quite wrapped up the Supporters Shield due to Chivas late run and will probably see a match at off form United as the perfect place to do it. Chivas would still need to drop points for Columbus to clinch it on Saturday, and the likelihood is that both will win, leaving Columbus a little more to do (against the Revs in their last game). United have to win the game although New England losing would leave the door open just a little longer for any team on 37 points with a match remaining. It probably would be fair to say that the New England v Fire game is the game of the day, at least in terms of how many other sides are nervously awaiting the outcome at the Gillette Stadium.
FC Dallas v Colorado Rapids
On form Dallas host the Rapids, who will welcome back US goal hero Connor Casey. He will come up against his Golden Boot rival Jeff Cunningham in a battle of the goalscorers. The Rapids have gone four matches without scoring an outfield goal, all three of their goals having come from penalties. Dallas will have to be aware of MLS referees’ predilection for awarding Colorado spot kicks. The Texans are the form side but even if they can continue their late charge up the table with a win, they will still need to keep their fingers crossed and hope that New England and RSL don’t win.
That said, they go to Seattle on the last day of the season, and can overtake them if Sounders fail to win at Kansas. Colorado have drawn their last four and may well take that outcome now. Two draws will see Rapids unmatchable by Real Salt Lake, FC Dallas, DC United or Toronto, as they either hold a head-to-head advantage or can rely on a very good goal difference. In the case of RSL, they are Rapids’ last day opponents.
Kansas City Wizards v Seattle Sounders
The two remaining game feature the sides who cannot qualify. Seattle go to Kansas City for the very first time seeking revenge for the home defeat at Qwest Field. A draw would probably be enough to secure the Sounders post season play. A whole tranche of results would have to go against them for that not to be the case. A victory would put a little pressure on the sides above them in the Western Conference but given that two of them play each other on Sunday, there is only a very small chance of Seattle capturing that second place. To complicate that even further, Houston’s two remaining fixtures are against LA Galaxy and Chivas USA. Sounders cannot lose and qualify on Saturday because Toronto and RSL cannot both lose.
Chivas USA v San Jose Earthquakes
Chivas have a California derby against San Jose. It looks like a home banker and a win would propel them to top place in the West at least temporarily. If they don’t win and Columbus do, the Supporters Shield will remain in Ohio. more likely Chivas will win, and put a whole heap of pressure on LAG and Houston who meet Sunday. If that match isn’t drawn, Sounders can ensure they finish ahead of at least one of them with two victories themselves. Neither is in too much danger however of being caught by Colorado and being therefore catapulted into the Eastern Conference play-offs.
FIXTURES
| Saturday, October 17 | All Times Pacific | |
| Toronto FC | Real Salt Lake | 1:00 p.m. |
| New England Revolution | Chicago Fire | 3:00 p.m. |
| D.C. United | Columbus Crew | 5:00 p.m. |
| FC Dallas | Colorado Rapids | 5:30 p.m. |
| Kansas City Wizards | Seattle Sounders FC | 5:30 p.m. |
| Chivas USA | San Jose Earthquakes | 7:30 p.m. |
| Sunday, October 18 | All Times Pacific | |
| Houston Dynamo | Los Angeles Galaxy | 12:00 p.m. |
USA League Table
| P | W | D | L | PTS | GD | ||
| 1 | Columbus Crew (E1) | 28 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 49 | 12 |
| 2 | Houston Dynamo (W1) | 28 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 44 | 9 |
| 3 | Chivas USA (W2) | 27 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 44 | 5 |
| 4 | LA Galaxy | 28 | 11 | 11 | 6 | 44 | 3 |
| 5 | Seattle Sounders | 28 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 41 | 7 |
| 6 | Chicago Fire (E2) | 28 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 41 | 4 |
| 7 | Colorado Rapids | 28 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 40 | 8 |
| 8 | New England Revs | 28 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 38 | -5 |
| 9 | Real Salt Lake | 28 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 37 | 2 |
| 10 | FC Dallas | 28 | 10 | 6 | 12 | 36 | 3 |
| 11 | DC United | 28 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 36 | -2 |
| 12 | Toronto FC | 28 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 36 | -5 |
| 13 | Kansas City Wizards | 28 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 32 | -8 |
| 14 | San Jose Earthquakes | 28 | 7 | 8 | 13 | 29 | -12 |
| 15 | New York | 29 | 4 | 6 | 19 | 18 | -25 |
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