Domestic Soccer 2009-10

[BrySmalls]

Rio Tinto is no treat for the Crew as RSL shocks the defending champs 1-0.

on the other hand Crew Stadium will not be a nice to RSL. Columbus will win 2-1 aggregate

Yeah all the Crew have to do is win by 1 and force PKs right? Or is it by road goals?

2009 Rules of Competition, Playoffs:

The team that scores the most goals in the home-and-home series advances to the single elimination Conference Championship. If the teams are tied after 180 minutes in the Conference Semifinal series, a 30-minute extra time period (divided into two 15-minute periods) will be played followed by kicks from the penalty mark, if necessary. The team with the higher seed between the two Conference finalists will host the Conference Championship game.

In the case of ties after 90 minutes of regulation in the Eastern and Western Conference Championship games and MLS Cup, 30 minutes of extra time (divided into two 15-minute periods) would be played followed by kicks from the penalty mark, if necessary, to determine the winners.

So if say Columbus Crew leads 2-1 after the first 15-minute period they still play the second? And RSL still has a chance to come back after the Crew would score correct?

(Oh and yes that was supposed to sound like Sunny Day in Backyard Soccer)

Correct.

[TFoA]

Rio Tinto is no treat for the Crew as RSL shocks the defending champs 1-0.

on the other hand Crew Stadium will not be a nice to RSL. Columbus will win 2-1 aggregate

Yeah all the Crew have to do is win by 1 and force PKs right? Or is it by road goals?

2009 Rules of Competition, Playoffs:

The team that scores the most goals in the home-and-home series advances to the single elimination Conference Championship. If the teams are tied after 180 minutes in the Conference Semifinal series, a 30-minute extra time period (divided into two 15-minute periods) will be played followed by kicks from the penalty mark, if necessary. The team with the higher seed between the two Conference finalists will host the Conference Championship game.

In the case of ties after 90 minutes of regulation in the Eastern and Western Conference Championship games and MLS Cup, 30 minutes of extra time (divided into two 15-minute periods) would be played followed by kicks from the penalty mark, if necessary, to determine the winners.

So if say Columbus Crew leads 2-1 after the first 15-minute period they still play the second? And RSL still has a chance to come back after the Crew would score correct?

(Oh and yes that was supposed to sound like Sunny Day in Backyard Soccer)

Correct.

There was a time in the 90s & earlier this decade where FIFA messed around with the idea of a golden goal (basically, sudden death) & silver goal (if a team is leading at the end of the any 15-minute period, game over.). I thought it was cool, but it was abolished because the fans didn't like it and it got to the point where teams were basically playing amazingly conservative so as to not give up the Golden Goal.

In the Silver Goal's case, people got mad about the fact that a team could score in the waning moments of a half & leave the other team with literally no time left (as Greece did against some team in Euro 04 IIRC) to eqaulize, compared to scoring a goal at the beginning of the period & leaving the team too much time to equalize.

Basically, it was abolished because they didn't want them "MESSIN' WIT OUR FOOTBALZLZZLLLL" & that's why we're back to the old "doesn't matter if you score, you play the extra 30 minutes." thing.

(I know I didn't have to explain that, but it's helpful to know. )

[Don]

-- Chivas USA vs. Los Angeles (5 p.m. ET, ESPN2) at Home Depot Center in what, according to Elias Sports Bureau, is one of the few times in American sports history that the same venue will be used by both teams in the playoffs. The others:

-- 1921 and '22 World Series between the New York Yankees and Giants at the Polo Grounds.

-- 1944 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns at Sportsman's Park.

-- 1927 and '28 hockey playoffs between the Montreal Canadiens and Maroons at the Forum.

-- 1929 and '38 hockey playoffs between the New York Rangers and Americans and Madison Square Garden.

from Soccer Insider.

[BrySmalls]

Revs 2 - 1 Fire

Galaxy 2 - 2 Chivas

[TFoA]

The Galaxy-Chivas game was pretty exciting, very close contest as I figured it'd be. The Galaxy got the best of the game since they were the road team, and any time you can get multiple goals in the away half a two-legged affair and either be ahead or level, it's a good sign. Still, it's just a slight advantage and it's anybody's game still. The return match is gonna be a must-watch, IMO.

[WJMorris3]

The Galaxy-Chivas game was pretty exciting, very close contest as I figured it'd be. The Galaxy got the best of the game since they were the road team, and any time you can get multiple goals in the away half a two-legged affair and either be ahead or level, it's a good sign. Still, it's just a slight advantage and it's anybody's game still. The return match is gonna be a must-watch, IMO.

Not particularly. I don't think the MLS uses the away goals rule.

[TFoA]

The Galaxy-Chivas game was pretty exciting, very close contest as I figured it'd be. The Galaxy got the best of the game since they were the road team, and any time you can get multiple goals in the away half a two-legged affair and either be ahead or level, it's a good sign. Still, it's just a slight advantage and it's anybody's game still. The return match is gonna be a must-watch, IMO.

Not particularly. I don't think the MLS uses the away goals rule.

Ah crap, you're right. It was either Alecko Eskandarian or the Galaxy on twitter that had me thinking that they used the away goals rule.

I guess everything's square one then. Still gonna be a huge match to decide the Playoff Superclasico.

[rams80]

The Galaxy-Chivas game was pretty exciting, very close contest as I figured it'd be. The Galaxy got the best of the game since they were the road team, and any time you can get multiple goals in the away half a two-legged affair and either be ahead or level, it's a good sign. Still, it's just a slight advantage and it's anybody's game still. The return match is gonna be a must-watch, IMO.

Not particularly. I don't think the MLS uses the away goals rule.

Ah crap, you're right. It was either Alecko Eskandarian or the Galaxy on twitter that had me thinking that they used the away goals rule.

I guess everything's square one then. Still gonna be a huge match to decide the Playoff Superclasico.

Doesn't a shared stadium tend to moot the meaning of an "away goal"?

[TFoA]

The Galaxy-Chivas game was pretty exciting, very close contest as I figured it'd be. The Galaxy got the best of the game since they were the road team, and any time you can get multiple goals in the away half a two-legged affair and either be ahead or level, it's a good sign. Still, it's just a slight advantage and it's anybody's game still. The return match is gonna be a must-watch, IMO.

Not particularly. I don't think the MLS uses the away goals rule.

Ah crap, you're right. It was either Alecko Eskandarian or the Galaxy on twitter that had me thinking that they used the away goals rule.

I guess everything's square one then. Still gonna be a huge match to decide the Playoff Superclasico.

Doesn't a shared stadium tend to moot the meaning of an "away goal"?

Depends on who's the designated home and away team for the game. AC Milan & Inter Milan played an aggregate in the UEFA CL a while back that Inter lost on away goals, despite the fact that they shared a stadium with Milan. So there's definitely precedent of two teams sharing a stadium and playing an aggregate against each other, though it's different since MLS doesn't use away goals.

[BrySmalls]

The Galaxy-Chivas game was pretty exciting, very close contest as I figured it'd be. The Galaxy got the best of the game since they were the road team, and any time you can get multiple goals in the away half a two-legged affair and either be ahead or level, it's a good sign. Still, it's just a slight advantage and it's anybody's game still. The return match is gonna be a must-watch, IMO.

Not particularly. I don't think the MLS uses the away goals rule.

Ah crap, you're right. It was either Alecko Eskandarian or the Galaxy on twitter that had me thinking that they used the away goals rule.

I guess everything's square one then. Still gonna be a huge match to decide the Playoff Superclasico.

Doesn't a shared stadium tend to moot the meaning of an "away goal"?

Depends on who's the designated home and away team for the game. AC Milan & Inter Milan played an aggregate in the UEFA CL a while back that Inter lost on away goals, despite the fact that they shared a stadium with Milan. So there's definitely precedent of two teams sharing a stadium and playing an aggregate against each other, though it's different since MLS doesn't use away goals.

Just scroll up for the 2009 Rules of Competition in the playoffs.

[bterreson]

Something that's on my mind: Why is the MLS CUP final scheduled on a Sunday? I feel like the would've been smarter to schedule it on a weeknight, rather than try and compete with NFL... game day viewers, as well as highlight reel. I just think that it would be "showcased" on shows like Sports Center better if it didn't have to compete with NFL Sunday, rather something like a weeknight.. where you got a some NBA/NHL games... seems like they'd want to get as much coverage as possible.

Just Curious.

If the Sounders make it to the Cup, my fanny will be in a seat at Quest field.

[TFoA]

The Galaxy & AC Milan have officially agreed to the loan of David Beckham (again). He'll be playing for Milan by January and will come back in the July 2010 transfer window. I'm pretty sure that the main reason that he's going back to Milan is simply because Capello drew a line in the sand and said that if he didn't get quality time in Europe, there'd be no World Cup for Becks. So off to Italy he goes again.

[rams80]

The Galaxy-Chivas game was pretty exciting, very close contest as I figured it'd be. The Galaxy got the best of the game since they were the road team, and any time you can get multiple goals in the away half a two-legged affair and either be ahead or level, it's a good sign. Still, it's just a slight advantage and it's anybody's game still. The return match is gonna be a must-watch, IMO.

Not particularly. I don't think the MLS uses the away goals rule.

Ah crap, you're right. It was either Alecko Eskandarian or the Galaxy on twitter that had me thinking that they used the away goals rule.

I guess everything's square one then. Still gonna be a huge match to decide the Playoff Superclasico.

Doesn't a shared stadium tend to moot the meaning of an "away goal"?

Depends on who's the designated home and away team for the game. AC Milan & Inter Milan played an aggregate in the UEFA CL a while back that Inter lost on away goals, despite the fact that they shared a stadium with Milan. So there's definitely precedent of two teams sharing a stadium and playing an aggregate against each other, though it's different since MLS doesn't use away goals.

But I was under the impression that "away goals" count more because of the perceived difficulty of scoring them away from your friendly confines as opposed to your friendly confines. If you're doing this in a shared stadium, does the difficulty of scoring really go up?

[BrySmalls]

2009 Awards Finalist and Schedule of Awards Announced.

Goalkeeper of the Year Finalists

Kasey Keller - Seattle Sounders FC

Donovan Ricketts - Los Angeles Galaxy

Zach Thornton - Chivas USA

Fair Play Finalists - Individual

Kasey Keller - Seattle Sounders FC

Pat Onstad - Houston Dynamo

Steve Ralston - New England Revolution

Comeback Player of the Year Finalists

Brian McBride - Chicago Fire

Ben Olsen - D.C. United

Zach Thornton - Chivas USA

Visa Defender of the Year Finalists

Geoff Cameron - Houston Dynamo

Jhon Kennedy Hurtado - Seattle Sounders FC

Chad Marshall - Columbus Crew

adidas Referee of the Year Finalists - anyone but Salazar.

Alex Prus

Ricardo Salazar

Kevin Stott

Rookie of the Year Finalists

Stefan Frei - Toronto FC

Omar Gonzalez - Los Angeles Galaxy

Chris Pontius - D.C. United

Coach of the Year Finalists - Arena got all the egos to play as one.

Bruce Arena - Los Angeles Galaxy

Sigi Schmid - Seattle Sounders FC

Robert Warzycha - Columbus Crew

Newcomer of the Year Finalists

Kasey Keller - Seattle Sounders FC

Freddie Ljungberg - Seattle Sounders FC

Fredy Montero - Seattle Sounders FC

Volkswagen MLS Most Valuable Player Finalists - probably be Landon

Jeff Cunningham - FC Dallas

Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy

Shalrie Joseph - New England Revolution

Picks in Bold

[Don]

DC United parts ways with coach Tom Soehn. Huzzah!

[-kj]

But I was under the impression that "away goals" count more because of the perceived difficulty of scoring them away from your friendly confines as opposed to your friendly confines. If you're doing this in a shared stadium, does the difficulty of scoring really go up?

First of all, could everyone--including the game announcers--please quit saying "count more" or "count double" in regards to away goals? They don't. They're used as the first tiebreaker. Gah. </pedant>

The away-goals rule, as I understand it, was made to try and keep road teams for simply bunkering down and hoping for 0-0, which is quite common. It was an attempt to try and add some action to the games.

Yes, away goals, in theory, are more difficult to get because you're in unfriendly territory. I imagine in a shared-stadium situation like the San Siro (perhaps not so much at the HDC), the atmosphere changes wildly according to which team is selling the majority of the tickets.

MLS doesn't use the away-goals rule, but I would personally like to see them do it.

[BrySmalls]

Zach Thornton of Chivas USA is Goalkeeper of the Year.

[BrySmalls]

Chad Marshall of the Crew is Defender of the Year (again).

[BrySmalls]

RSL currently up 2 goals in the aggregate against Columbus with under 15 minutes left.

Upset complete.

[Sport]

Upset in Columbus. If I would tell you that I'm angry I'd be lying, I really don't care about the Crew, but I did enjoy watching an Ohio team actually win a championship last year. I live with some Crew die-hards and they are breaking stuff right now.