Huge Day for Football in Cascadia

The final day of the month may be the first day of Freddie-free life for one club, but today has far more meaning across our region than just that.

Starting with the Sounders themselves, their match in San Jose is a big a match as they have left. The much improved Quakes are one of those sides eyeing up a top eight place and a loss for Seattle could make the gap with this side close to unbridgeable.

Seattle lie just a solitary point behind San Jose but the Northern California side have two games in hand. A loss would leave Sounders trailing them by four, plus whatever they gleaned in those two spare games. On top of that, Sounders would trail on the head to head which would be a tie breaker if points were level. It may have the effect of reducing the catchable sides from three to two.

Even beyond the West Coast derby, there are a slew of MLS matches that could make Sounders late charge for a play-off place easier or harder. Take a look at Saturday’s fixtures.

12:30pm	Philadelphia	v	New England
1:00pm	Colorado	v	FC Dallas
5:30pm	Houston	v	New York
5:30pm	Kansas City	v	Toronto FC
6:00pm	Real Salt Lake	v	D.C. United
7:00pm	San Jose	v	Seattle
7:30pm	Chivas USA	v	Columbus

Toronto at Kansas and Colorado v Dallas look vital to Seattle’s aspirations.

Should they go Sounders way, coupled with a revenge win at the Buckshaw, then Seattle are right back in the scrap. Houston could cling on to the chasing pack by upsetting New York at the Robertson, but nobody at this point expects a Thierry Henry boosted Big Apple side, to who Rafa Marquez may also be heading, to do anything but improve.

More worrying for Seattle is the spectre of Chicago Fire over their shoulder. Freddie Ljungberg will make his Fire debut at Los Angeles on Sunday. The Illinois side have only played 14 games. If their new addition spurs them on to a better record than their four wins in fourteen, they are very much rivals for that place eight. Dallas are a win or two away, or more likely a win and four draws away, of pulling out of Seattle’s reach.

MLS FULL TABLE (before today’s games)

Pos		GP	W	D	L	GD	PTS
1	LA Galaxy (W1)	18	12	4	2	20	40
2	Columbus Crew (E1)	17	10	4	3	13	34
3	Real Salt Lake (W2)	17	9	4	4	15	31
4	FC Dallas	16	6	8	2	6	26
5	New York (E2)	16	8	2	6	-1	26
6	Colorado Rapids	16	6	5	5	2	23
7	San Jose	16	6	5	4	1	23
8	Toronto FC	16	6	5	5	1	23
9	Sounders FC	18	6	4	8	-5	22
10	Houston Dynamo	17	5	4	8	-5	19
11	Chicago Fire	14	4	5	5	-1	17
12	Kansas City	16	4	4	8	-7	16
13	Chivas USA	16	4	3	9	-4	15
14	Philadelphia Union	14	4	2	8	-8	14
15	New England Revs	15	4	2	9	-11	14
16	DC United	17	3	3	11	-16	12

Outside MLS, it is a huge day for Pete Fewing and James Richie’s Kitsap Pumas. They won the bid to host the Western PDL play-offs and face the Ventura County Fusion at the Memorial Stadium in Bremerton at 5pm. Portland’s Under 23 side meet the Hollywood Hitmen in the other semi final earlier in the day. There is a good contingent of the Timbers Army coming up from Oregon to support their ‘Twigs’ and should they be victorious, camping out to remain on the Peninsula for the final. Fans like that will be a welcome addition to the MLS.

Portland’s fully grown Timbers are at Tampa Bay in a match vital to their USL/NASL play-off hopes, while Vancouver Whitecaps are at Carolina Railhawks.

Match Reports:

Land of the Rising Son – San Jose Earthquakes 0 : 1 Sounders FC

Drama on the Peninsula as Semi Goes the full Way – Kitsap Pumas 1 : Ventura County Fusion (Pumas win 5-4 on penalties)

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