Remember the good old days of 2014?
You know, the season where (at least relative to this one) we could come to expect certain things to happen on a regular basis? The good old days, when the MLS Cup Playoff picture wasn’t so hazy? That was when we knew that Bradley Wright-Phillips would score, Chivas’ attendance would be lower than five figures, and that Chicago would reinforce every non-soccer fan’s perception of our “boring” game by playing to a draw.
TWC: MLS Cup Favourite M.I.A.
Most important among these givens were that if your side was lining up against Los Angeles or Seattle, they were going to get trucked. Sure, D.C. had brought in some vets and made a huge worst-to-first jump in the East, and teams like Dallas and New England had flashes when their kids looked ready to set the world on fire. But not even those teams could be mentioned in the same breath as the Galaxy or the Sounders.
This past weekend proved that these past certainties are anything but this season, which could make this year’s MLS Cup Playoffs a real spectacle.
How close is the race at the top? In a word, very.
The top eight teams in terms of total points are separated by three points, or the equivalent of one win. It is almost certain that the Supporter’s Shield race will have many lead changes in the coming weeks, potentially even having multiple lead changes over the course of a single Saturday. Throw in an always pesky, Benny Feilhaber-led Sporting Kansas City side who at 44 points are just four back of the Shield, and that’s a nine club free-for-all for home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
That’s a whack load of meaningful games to close out the season. And if results like the ones from this past weekend continue, those games will all be must-see TV.
Of the nine clubs that I think have any hope of winning the Shield, Vancouver, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New England are all well in the mix. Knowing my track record with predictions, as well as the fact that the New York Red Bulls are looking more and more like the trendy pick to win, I won’t try and guess who takes home the silverware.
What’s important to note is that all four lost over the weekend, two of them to non-Shield contenders. The matches weren’t close, either. Vancouver, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New England got outscored by a combined 12-1 over the weekend. Combined, the four clubs had 37 more points than their opposition.
The soccer gods snapped their fingers and that 37 turned into a 25. If I lived on a farm, I’d be sacrificing a cow or two after seeing that kind of demonstration of power.
Only one team, the Red Bulls, have clinched a playoff berth. Though there are some clubs that are pretty much eliminated from postseason contention (Colorado and Chicago for example), nobody has been struck down by mathematical elimination just yet.
While DC and Toronto have fallen out of the race in the East, Columbus has stepped up their game and looks like a force to be reckoned with. The Sounders haven’t been great at all this season, but everyone’s healthy again and suddenly they could find themselves back in the mix.
Heck, Real Salt Lake, a side that I thought two weeks ago would finally see its perennial playoff participation end, is just three points back of sixth-place Portland in the West. Up next for the Claret-and-Cobalt are two road fixtures (San Jose and Colorado) that aren’t too tough to get points out of. After those games, guess who they return home to host on October 14?
That’s right, the Timbers. This is the kind of coincidental combination of even standings and lucky scheduling that makes you want to jump out of your seat, and this is just one of a few examples coming up in the next month or so. And unless there’s a seismic shift in the landscape in the next month (which I think is unlikely), it’ll remain that way come playoff time.
If the playoffs started today…
Where do we begin?
Even with most clubs just having around five matches left in the regular season, it still feels too early to be posing such a question.
There is no clear MLS Cup favourite. The Red Bulls have pulled a Galaxy-esque second-half-of-the-season hot streak and boast quality throughout their roster. The Galaxy have won three of the last four MLS Cups and on paper make about half of the other teams in MLS look like Sunday league sides. Vancouver and Dallas have avoided end-of-season slumps, but are also pretty untested in postseason waters.
What happens if a Drogba or a Giovinco goes on a tear like we know they’re capable of? What happens if Sporting KC or RSL rediscover their 2013 form? What happens if Columbus finally shows up?
This past weekend proved that there is no clear cut answer to how the rest of the season will unfold. Unless your club is currently occupying the ninth or tenth spot in your conference, your season is definitely not over.
Somewhere, the person who decided that adding two more playoff spots to this year’s Cup is grinning from ear to ear. Their objectives of increasing the number of meaningful matches late in the season and setting up a more enticing postseason have been met.
Whether your club will meet the ultimate objective of MLS Cup is something even the best predictors in the game would have trouble telling you at this point.
GIF of the Week:
I normally put the GIF of the Week at the start as a segue into my topic. The GIF itself is only soccer-related on special occasions, like today.
After watching the highlights of the RSL-Galaxy match, I couldn’t help but give an extra special shout-out to RSL duo Nick Rimando and Luke Mulholland. If I was a first-hand witness of a point-blank miss as bad as Edson Buddle’s was, I would probably be laughing too.
Main Photo:
