I alluded to the fact that the west could send five teams to the postseason a couple of posts ago. I actually wrote about the fact that the Western Conference is now showing more than the Eastern Conference in my weekly PE column.
All you have to do is look at recent results to see that.
Chivas USA have won five out of six and four of those wins have come against Eastern teams - Toronto FC twice, Kansas City and DC. Two of those wins were on the road.
Recently, FC Dallas demolished DC United and Colorado beat New York. Those results not only gave each respective Western teams a shot at the playoffs but might ultimately account for spots 4 and 5 in the playoff race.
We might even see the West overtake the East this week. If RSL beats New York at home, which is a strong possibility, RSL would improve to 38 points while New York would stay on 35. FC Dallas has Toronto FC at home, and a win by FC Dallas would give them 37 points. Colorado would do well to beat the Galaxy and also improve to 37 points but even a draw would give Colorado 35 points and the tiebreaker over New York as Colorado beat New York twice this season.
The East is strong, there's no doubt about that. But it's top heavy and even Chicago and New England have gone through their inconsistent spells. New England is currently in a funk, and for that matter so is Chicago. New England has two wins since July 4 while Chicago has lost five of its last 11 games.
Many, myself included, wrote the Western Conference off as a lost cause but there were a few who held firm their belief that the West was superior. Seems those few may have been right all along.
7 comments:
Its going to be a very interesting playoffs, if Chivas USA and Houston meet up in the Western conference final.
Luis, in your biased opinion, does Chivas USA a chance in the playoffs? Will San Jose continue to surge? Is Colorado and RSL dnagerous outside of their stadiums?
I meant un-biased. Sorry.
In my biased opinion I think the Dodgers won't lose this postseason ;)
Okay, in terms of soccer... well, I didnt' think Chivas had a shot of making the playoffs sometime in August. I still can't really believe that they've won five of six without a healthy Ante Razov, with Jesse Marsch out for half of those games, with two goalkeepers in there, basically with all the adversity that they've had.
At this point you can't count Chivas out. You just can't. I think this season has gone the opposite of last year, where everything just seemed to go right for them until the very end. This year, everything has gone very wrong for them most of the season but now the team is tough because of everything that went down with injuries from the first part of the season; injuries, losing Brad, newcomers, etc.
They've got some money players in Ante Razov, Jesse Marsch, Claudio Suarez, Alecko Eskandarian, Sasha Victorine... all guys who have won titles and know what it takes to win.
Yes they have a shot. I'll take them and Houston to reach the conference final right now. I can't see RSL, Colorado or FC Dallas in the conference final. Colorado is too inconsistent. I still don't trust RSL on the road. I barely trust them at home!
San Jose is done. Nice run while it lasted and plenty of hope for next year. They blew it by losing to RSL.
Thanks, Luis. Are you going to San Jose for the game this weekend? The Ultras will make room on the bus for the road trip to NoCal for you. LOL! Seriously, though.
You're proabably going by private jet or not going at all. LOL!
That sounds like fun actually (the bus, not the jet :) ) but I've got daughters and they just had to have a birthday party. I guess they don't understand the significance of Chivas USA-San Jose quite yet :)
I guess they don't understand the significance of Chivas USA-San Jose quite yet :)
Luis Bueno keeping it real. Thanks.
luis, what's your take on this whole carlos martinez situation?
any chance he signs with chivas?
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