Domestic Soccer 2011

[Breakwood]

Would it be so hard to swap Columbus and Dallas in the brackets?

Those matchups are only on each side because it looks better. After the play-ins they'll be re-seeded, with the lowest remaing seed playing LA and the higher remaining seed playing Kansas City.

[max]

Playoff predictions based on 2011 results.

*Wild card Playoffs (result from higher-seed's home match vs opp.)

**Conference Semifinals (higher-seed plays away for first leg, home for second leg)

WILDCARD PLAYOFFS*

COL 2

CLB 0

FCD 0

NYRB 1

WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIS**

LA 0 1- 1

NYRB 2 1- 3

SEA 2 1- 3 (SEA advances to conference finals because PK results are tough to predict, higher seed advances)

RSL 1 2- 3

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIS**

KC 1 1- 2 (KC advances to conference finals because PK results are tough to predict, higher seed advances)

COL 1 1- 2

HOU 1 0- 1

PHI 1 1- 2

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS*

SEA 4

NYRB 2

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS*

KC 1 (KC advances to mls cup finals because PK results are tough to predict, higher seed advances)

PHI 1

MLS CUP FINALS (carson, ca)

Sounders vs. Sporting

Sounders beat Sporting in Seattle May 21st, 1-0.

Sounders beat Sporting in Kansas City August 6th, 2-1

(All three of the Sounders goals in the two matches against Sporting have come during or after the 90-minute mark.)

Sporting- goal at 20' in match at Kansas City.

Sounders- goal at 90' in match at Seattle. goals at 90' and 92' in match in Kansas City.

KC Time Leading: 1 hour, 10 minutes

KC-SEA Time Drawn: 1 hour, 52 minutes

SEA Time Leading: <1 minute

Go Wiz.

[max]

Hey!

The best soccer league in North America ditched the arbitrary divisional alignment this year, (it's taken me 14 weeks to notice) another league that also plays a completely balanced schedule.

FMF Apertura 2010 (Top 2 of each 6-team division and 2 wild card teams make playoffs)

FMF Apertura 2011 (Top 8 of 18 teams make playoffs)

[BrySmalls]

2011 MLS Predictions:

MLS Cup Final:

Real Salt Lake over Philadelphia

Might as well stick with this prediction. Also, I want throw out that I would be comfortably okay with any club winning the title, except for Los Angeles (likely winner) or Red Bull New York (not as likely).

[BrySmalls]

Playoff Results so far:

Wild Card Round:

Colorado defeated Columbus, 1 - 0

Red Bull New York defeated FC Dallas, 2 - 0

Semifinal Round:

West:

Los Angeles vs. Red Bull New York

Seattle vs. Real Salt Lake

East:

Sporting Kansas City vs. Colorado

Houston vs. Philadelphia

[Still MIGHTY]

Semifinal Round:

West:

Los Angeles vs. Red Bull New York

Seattle vs. Real Salt Lake

East:

Sporting Kansas City vs. Colorado

Houston vs. Philadelphia

you, MLS.

[Viper]

NSC Minnesota has done it! They draw Ft. Lauderdale 0-0 in the second leg to capture the 2011 NASL championship!

Forget Cloud 9... between this and the Cardinals, Mockba must be through the stratosphere and over the moon by now.

Update: Wow... RSL sure took the Sounders to the woodshed tonight.

[Breakwood]

Update: Wow... RSL sure took the Sounders to the woodshed tonight.

Seattle invented sucking in the playoffs.

And PS. Congrats Mockba on your finals win! I can't imagine what it would be like to have my local team win a league.

[-kj]

Thanks, fellas. Not the best game ever, but it was enough. Getting to drink local MN beer from the championship trophy was fantastic.

[-kj]

Waiting to find a better picture, but...

[BrySmalls]

Houston beat Sporting Kansas City 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Final to advance to the MLS Cup in Los Angeles. Speaking of Los Angeles, the Galaxy square off against Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference Final tonight at 9:00 PM EST on ESPN.

[TFoA]

After an absolutely crushing defensive performance, the Houston Dynamo have won the Eastern Conference and are going to the MLS Cup Final. I want to see LA win, if only so that we can see a repeat of the Blackout Match (w/o any actual blackouts this time. ).

[lordsketor]

It will be Houston Dynamo vs. LA Galaxy for the 2011 MLS Cup in 2 weeks.

[WJMorris3]

Okay, the voters are clueless. No way Sebastian Le Toux deserves any award after the kid of year he had.

[BrySmalls]

Goodbye D.C. United?

D.C. United Could Leave D.C.

“I’m shocked to say that I believe they could be paying more for their lease in RFK than any other team we have in the league,” Don Garber said yesterday during a conference call. “And there is no doubt in my mind that it is a stadium that is substandard to what soccer fans are able to experience in many other markets in the United State and Canada.”

D.C. United would likely relocate to a venue elsewhere in the region. In the past, the team has looked at building a stadium near Camden Yards in Baltimore.

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray says the city values the team, but he is not optimistic a deal can be reached to build a new stadium. The District is facing some fiscal challenges, he tweeted, and finding the money for a new stadium may not be possible right now.

Thank you Garber for stating the obvious! I figured that once Nats Park was built that any future plans to build sports stadias within or immediately around the District would be shot to hell. However, the lone exception would be building another stadium for the Washington Redskins.

Garber increasingly concerned over D.C. United's future.

This struck me the most:

"If they can’t get a new improved lease in D.C., they’ve got to move to another facility in the region,” Garber said. “I will be supportive of that and help them do that. If they can’t find a solution in Baltimore, then we’ll have to go through the same process as we did with San Jose to think about potentially moving the team.”

So the tradition would stay in D.C. and "we" would be readmitted into the League as an expansion team? If the (ongoing) stadium issue is not resolved soon, then I highly doubt that MLS would ever return to D.C. or Baltimore due to interest from other potential markets such as Atlanta, Detroit, Miami, New York (not sure why they need two clubs), and San Diego to name a few.

MLS commissioner expresses concern over fizzling D.C. United stadium talks.

Added one more link.

[Jer15]

It'd be a crying shame if DC United had to relocate. They are such an important part of MLS history and frankly, the fans in DC deserve a new stadium. A crying shame really.

I'm also with you mindless, besides trying to revive the Cosmos name (which I don't think is worth it), I don't think New York is a smart expansion spot. MLS has had success in admitting teams that have had financial success in NASL markets, they should just work out a deal to "promote" another NASL team and leave it be at 20.

[Don]

I would support a team in Baltimore (I live equidistant to both cities) but it wouldnt be the same. Losing the MLS flagship franchise would be an utter disaster. Its all about DC stonewalling them at every turn. They dont want to renegotiate the lease and they dont want to work with the team which has not asked for a dime in stadium funding. If they even got on the pathway to a new stadium DC United would be able to attract a new investor which would help pay for the stadium (Ted Leonsis has been floated out there and would be a godsend for this franchise).

[Don]

USA loses to France 1-0 in Paris. When do we get concerned about the lack of goals?

[Still MIGHTY]

2 goals in 6 games. 1-4-1.

They're playing fine, almost excellent, defensively and in goal. But unfortunately, you do need to start scoring goals. Donovan wasn't out there today, and Altidore and Dempsey had decent games. But they obviously still need more. More possession, more tries into the box. This string really points out how badly the USMNT needs someone with a an even slightly dynamic touch to get something going up front.

If they don't get a positive result against Slovenia, I'd say it's high time to be concerned.

[TFoA]

USA loses to France 1-0 in Paris. When do we get concerned about the lack of goals?

If they aren't scoring when it's Hex time, that's when I'll hit the concerned button. But for now, I'm just annoyed. They didn't even threaten France in this one, and if it weren't for Timmy Howard, this would've been uglier.