September 25, 2009 by f4denz.

Real Salt Lake sat idle this year as the rest of MLS got underway but next year we will be part of the opening weekend, as we head to San Jose (road trip anyone?) on March 27^th to face the Quakes. The home opener for RSL won’t be until week 3 as the Seattle Sounders come to Rio Tinto on April 10^th, a week later than the 2009 Home opener which suffered poor attendance due to rain and cold. Hopefully we will get good weather this year for the home opener, RSL is one of 4 teams that won’t have a home match until week 3 (Philly, New England, and Chicago are the others). The MLS regular season will end on October 24^th and the MLS Cup will take place on November 21^st (gonna bet on New York to be the host city).

It was also announced last week that MLS will take a two week break during the group stages of the 2010 World Cup, so no matches between June 11^th and the 25^th for RSL, I do hope that Real’s management will look for ways of having events for at least the US matches.

MLS has unveiled a Playoff Standing table (http://web.mlsnet.com/standings/) then chose the playoff standing link and this is what it looks like as of today:


So with the playoff race so very, very close MLS has also put the rules about the playoffs in a easy to find place on their site, but for your convenience here is the info:

WHO QUALIFIES: Eight teams qualify for the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs. Playoff berths will be determined by points in the standings upon the completion of the regular season. All 15 teams will have played 30 games.

• The top two teams in each conference qualify and are seeded 1 & 2 in their respective four-team playoff conference brackets.
  
• The four MLS teams with the next most points, regardless of conference, receive “wildcard” berths.
  
  • The four wildcard teams will be seeded according to conference first.
    
  • If more than four teams qualify from one conference, the team finishing lower than fourth in its conference will shift over to the other conference bracket.
    
  • A team switching conference brackets will be seeded below all other teams in its new conference playoff bracket.
    

TEAM-STANDINGS TIE-BREAKING PROCEDURES
The team awarded the highest position in the MLS standings will be the team with the greatest number of points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss). In the event that two teams finish the regular season with an equal number of points, the following system will be used to break the tie:

1. The highest position shall be awarded to the team with the better win/loss record in current regular season games against all other teams equal in points. (head-to-head competition)
   
2. If the teams are still equal in the standings, the highest position shall be awarded to the team with the greater goal difference against all other teams during the regular season. (goal differential)
   
3. If the teams are still equal in the standings, the highest position shall be awarded to the team scoring the greatest number of total goals against all other teams during the regular season. (total goals)
   
4. If the teams are still equal in the standings, the procedures described in this section shall be applied only to games played on the road by each team against all other teams during the regular season. (road 1-3)
   
5. If the teams are still equal in the standings, the procedures described in this section shall be applied only to games played at home by each team against all other teams during the regular season. (home 1-3)
   
6. If the teams are still equal in the standings, the highest position shall be awarded to the team with the fewest team disciplinary points in the League Fair Play table during the regular season.
   
7. If the teams are still equal in the standings, the highest position in the standings shall be determined by the toss of a coin.
   
8. The first tiebreaker in a three-way tie is also head-to-head, but it is determined via points-per-game versus the other two teams. If two teams are tied in points-per-game head-to-head, the next tie breaker is goal difference.
   

NOTE: If two clubs remain tied after another club with the same number of points advances during any step, the tie breaker reverts to step 1 of the two-club format.

PLAYOFF FORMAT: Conference Semifinal series are conducted in a home-and-home, aggregate-goal format. The lower seeded team in the Conference Semifinal hosts the first game. The winners of those four series advance to single-game Conference Championships that will determine the MLS Cup Finalists.

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.

Utah vs. Utah State at Rio Tinto

OK, now that I have your attention it isn’t pointyball, but tonight the Women’s soccer teams from the two schools will matchup at our beautiful stadium here are the details:
Utah State University Women’s Soccer team is hosting the University of Utah at Rio Tinto Stadium (this is a home game for USU).
Date: Thursday, September 24th
Time: 7:00pm

Tickets are $10 for Club seats, $5 for all other seats.
Kids are Free with and Adult purchase if they are wearing a Soccer jersey.
Offer available only at the Box office.

Season Ticket Holders are invited to attend the Utah State University versus University of Utah NCAA Women’s Division I soccer match for free. Call the Season Ticket Holder Hot Line (801) 727-2702 to reserve 4 free tickets to this match. Match Details: Thursday, September 24th 7 PM Rio Tinto Stadium. Season Ticket Holders must reserve their free tickets in advance of the game. No free tickets issued the day of the game.

Well that is it for a midday update

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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September 24, 2009 by f4denz.

Well it is Wednesday and time to look at how the numbers stack up for RSL, I took a quick look the other day at how the playoff race is stacking up and as I type this San Jose is doing RSL a favor as they lead the Rapids 1-0 in the 80^th minute at a very empty Dick’s. But I wanted to look at a couple interesting stats for RSL, first one is one of the things that I think RSL has to address during the rest of this season. Scoring from outside of the area, RSL have scored 38 goals so far in 2009 but when you look at the goal chart below (not updated with the 2 goals in Houston):

you should notice something right away, RSL has only 3 goals from outside of the 18 yard box. That is 8%, not a very impressive number in fact I believe that it may be one of the reasons RSL has faced issues on the road, teams can crowd passing lanes because they know that RSL will try to either go over the top to get a ball into the box or they will try to pass it into the box and if they cut off those lanes and prevent RSL from scoring. I have noticed a real reduction in the shots being taken from distance as Will Johnson and Kyle Beckerman have been playing in a more defensive role, even his goal against Houston was inside the area, it is likely caused by the change to the 4-3-3 formation which is built around playing the ball from the wings into the area.

Well San Jose got jobbed a bit on a very late call in which it looked like Cummings took a nice dive and got a PK with just second left and Colorado gets a 1-1 draw and ups their total to 38 pts and move up to 3^rd in the West based on their +8 goal differential. This means they are now 4 points ahead of RSL and a single weekend won’t allow us to catch them, it will take multiple matches. The draw did help RSL by a couple percentage points in their likelihood to make the playoffs but that chance is just 32% going into this weekends action.

Given the late goal given up in Houston, I have heard a bit of rumbling about RSL’s ability to finish matches and while RSL has given up 6 goals in the last 15 minutes of matches and 4 more in the 60^th-75^th minutes of matches, so in the final 30 RSL has given up 10 of the 31 goals they have allowed, which is 1/3^rd of their goals allowed in the final 1/3^rd of matches. If you look at the number of goals RSL has scored in the second half of matches their 26 lead MLS for second half scoring, and their incredible 15 goals in the final 15 minutes of matches also leads MLS, so they are +9 in the final 15 minutes of matches. If anything RSL has found a way to get results in the second half and put matches away in the final 15 minutes.

If anything I say RSL has a huge issue getting off to good starts, the example of the two quick goals Houston scored last weekend aside is rare and RSL has allowed only 4 goals in the first 15 minutes of matches, the downside is that RSL has scored only twice in the first 15 minutes of matches. RSL has far too often come out with a big burst of energy both at home and on the road for the first couple minutes but then often struggled for the majority of the first half and had to play catchup in the second half. For those who are critics of Jason’s use of subs, I would challenge them to explain why so many goals have come so late in matches after RSL has made changes to their lineup?

So with 34 points RSL is dead even with their point total from last year, but this year RSL will need to improve on their 1-0-3 finish last year and if they can manage to get draws on the road and wins at home they will end with 42 points. If that happens they will likely have to rely on tiebreakers and as I showed earlier in the week, RSL holds and edge, not in the season matchups with most of the teams we would be in competition against, but we do have a very strong goal differential. If RSL can pull of a win against FC Dallas, that road will be much easier but RSL will need help from other teams unless they can turn last years final 4 record into 3-0-1 this year. At 44 points RSL would virtual lock to make the playoffs, at 43 points RSL has a 90% chance, but drop a single point and at 42 points RSL is only a 70% chance of making it to the postseason.

I understand why many are doubting, it is a tough road for RSL over the final 4 matches but if you consider that most experts say that a visiting team starts with a one goal disadvantage and of course the home team gets a one goal advantage, let’s look at those 4 remaining matches:

RSL @ FC Dallas, if the two teams play the same way they did in Sandy a few weeks ago you can expect FC Dallas to come out on fire and score early (likely Jeff Cunningham) but RSL will battle back and if the 1 goal home advantage sticks and all other factors are the same RSL should win.

RSL vs. New York, Well this one proves more difficult as New York won the early season matchup 2-0 in New Jersey but since that week 5 match up the Red Bulls have gotten 3 wins, 3 draws, and 15 losses. History isn’t in RSL’s favor as they have never beat the Red Bulls, but history in sports was made to be broken and with New York having a -21 goal differential on the road to go with their 2 road goals this year, yes they have scored a total of 2 goals on the road and none since July 4^th this one should be a RSL win.

RSL @ TFC, RSL handled Toronto 3-0 at home but at BMO field TFC is a much better team and with their new DP Julian De Guzman it could be a real battle and while I think RSL can outplay TFC but this one will likely end in a draw.

RSL vs. Colorado, throw out everything you know or think about the rivalry as Colorado may have their ticket booked to the playoffs and could be resting some or all of their starters. The biggest factor will be how many times and how loud the “Nobody likes Conor Casey” chant is as RSL will win this match and hopefully by enough of a margin to also secure the Rocky Mountain Cup.

OK enough of that for now, I am

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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September 21, 2009 by f4denz.

So for the past month or so I have read comments of “RSL fans” on some of the other blogs and boards and I have to say it has been a revealing look at the state of what passes as dedicated fans in the state of Utah. I want to give you all a little history lesson about MLS and the playoffs, so there is an established team that suffered a number of bad seasons in fact they hadn’t made the playoffs since 2004 and they made changes by bringing in new coaches, staff, heck they made so many changes that their fans couldn’t keep track of them anyhow in 2005 they finished out of the playoffs and with the exception of the two expansion teams were the worst team in MLS, they brought in a new coach Sigi and sure enough in 2006 they won the MLS Cup because they had a new coach, or wait they didn’t win the cup in fact they were the very worst team in MLS with just 33 points (in a 32 match season). It was the next year in 2007 that they won the MLS Cup, oh wait they didn’t in fact they won just 9 matches in 2007 and didn’t make the playoffs (how many wins does RSL have right now?). No in fact it wasn’t until 2008 that the team even made the playoffs, and yes they went on to win their first ever MLS Cup, 12 years after they started play in the league.

How about another team, this team has a long history in MLS and wears a couple stars over their logo but they struggled a bit (2006 was the first time they didn’t make the playoffs) and went out and hired themselves a big name coach but they weren’t done, they then picked up one of the alltime leading scorers in MLS, and tossed in David Beckham to boot and had to have the league rewrite the rules to allow them 3 players over the top of the MLS salary cap, they went on to win the 2007 MLS Cup, wait no they didn’t, they didn’t even make the playoffs. In fact their big name coach didn’t cut it for long so they fired him and hired a big name European coach and he bombed, so they went out and got another big name coach and they went on to win the 2008 MLS Cup, wait they didn’t even make the playoffs and were tied for the worst team in the league. Now they have improved this year and likely will return to the playoffs but it didn’t happen overnight, it didn’t happen when they went out and got new coaches, it is happening because they brought in a coach who knows the league and has build their team back up.

So what does any of this mean, do I think that Jason is a great coach? No I don’t think he is a great coach, I do think he is one of the most driven people I have ever encountered. He was as a player and despite not being the most talented striker in MLS, he was the first to get to 100 goals. He is a guy who one day was playing soccer and the next day was asked to become a coach, without any training, without any experience and he took the challenge. Then he did the unthinkable, he started to build a team of players who would fight for each other, who understood that if they put the team first and themselves second that great things could happen. He let go a number of fan favorites, and players who have a ton of talent, one example is Jeff Cunningham, who will become the MLS all time leading goal scorer one day, who is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. So I have heard some great theories about why, first was that Jason must be a racist, well look at our roster and you will see that isn’t true Andy Williams still here as well as people of many ethnic backgrounds, next up was the well he didn’t like Jeff, I can’t answer that one but I think there might have been a bunch more to the story. So ask yourself, why did Columbus ship him off to Colorado, I mean Jeff had 62 goals and 43 assists in 182 minutes? Then why did Colorado ship out a player with 12 goals and 3 assists, by far their most productive player to RSL for Clint Mathis who struggled in 2005? So we then have to wonder it was that the team that RSL traded Jeff to, Toronto who would themselves trade him for a 3^rd round draft pick, one has to wonder why it is that so many teams are willing to trade away such a great goal scorer. But yup it must be that Jason is just an evil person, stupid, and unfit to be a coach.

I do think Jason has made a number of mistakes, things I question like bringing LME into RSL only to let him go without much playing time. I understand that LME didn’t get the practice hard thing, heck a lot of players from South America don’t get the practice hard thing. Just read my blog on a regular basis and you will know that I think Jason is trying his best but I think he struggles when players don’t get his methods, his practice hard, play hard, team first mentality. You have to understand that some of our players have never had to fight for anything they have played soccer all their lives and been told how good they are. Now they have a coach saying, your good but no stars and team first is what we do here. It was about this point last year that a lot of fans got crazy about how the team was run and complained about a lot of things including wanting Jason to be fired, but when we made the playoffs everyone was happy for a while. Now here we sit with 4 matches left with the same amount of points and on the outside of playoffs but let’s take a real look at the chances we have to make a run and get into the playoffs.

So I am confident that we have to battle a few teams to get into the playoffs but let’s look at the teams we will be battling (Western Conference and teams fighting for a wildcard spot out of the Eastern Conference):
Houston Dynamo, currently first in the West with 43 points but they only have 3 matches remaining in their MLS season but have 4 other matches to play before the end of the regular season. I can see them getting at least 6 more points as they face LA and KC at home and end the season against Chivas at the HDC. So let’s say they end with 49 points.

LA Galaxy, currently second in the West with 41 points, and while they have 4 matches left they have a very rough schedule with matches at Houston (one loss at home) and at Columbus (undefeated at home). Their home matches are a mixed bag as they will face the Chicago Fire, who have lost only twice on the road in 2009 and they end with the Quakes who have yet to win a match on the road. So I can see them getting 5 points and ending with 46.

Seattle Sounders, 3^rd in the West with 38 points (1^st wildcard) but 3 of their final 4 matches are on the road and two will be tough battles as they face Columbus (again undefeated at home), New England (a team fighting for the playoffs) and KC, which some weeks can pose a tough challenge and other weeks a cupcake. They end the season at home against another team that you never know what you are facing in FC Dallas. With their current form, I only see them getting 4 points out of these matches and ending with 42 points.

Colorado Rapids, 4^th in the West with 37 points (2^nd wildcard) but they have 5 matches left and 3 of them are against teams on the outside of the playoffs looking in, but only one of those will be played at home (San Jose), they also get to face the playoff seeking New England at home. On the road they will face off against KC and FC Dallas, before ending their season at Rio Tinto Stadium a week before Halloween. I can see them getting 7 points out of those final matches and ending with 44 points.

Chivas, 5^th in the West with 37 points (3^rd wildcard) and they have a huge 6 matches left in their season but 4 of them are on the road (New York, KC, San Jose, Houston) and they get DC United and the Chicago Fire at home. You would think they should be able to pick up 11 points from those matches and end with 48 points.

DC United, 3^rd in the East with 36 points (4^th wildcard), like most teams they have just 4 matches left but 3 are on the road and sandwiched between them are 3 Champions league matches. Their road matches are San Jose, Chivas, and Columbus and they end the season at home against KC, but with a lot of road travel they are likely to only get 6 points out of their final 4 and end with 42 points.

Toronto FC, 4^th in the East with 34 points (out of playoffs) with just 4 matches remaining the Reds are making a bid for a playoff spot for the first time since joining the league, they go to Chicago this weekend and then return home to face San Jose and RSL (more on this match later) and end the season in New York and I think they are likely to get 7 points out of their final matches to end the season with 41 points

New England, 5^th in the East 34 points (out of playoffs), the team most likely to move up and take one of those playoff spots has to be the Revolution who have 6 matches remaining which are evenly split between home and away. They face a number of other playoff contending teams, Seattle, @ Colorado, Columbus, Chicago, and ending the season @ Columbus and also a match against FC Dallas (who really could be the spoiler of a lot of playoff dreams) and I can see them ending with 10 more points for a total of 44 points.

I am tempted to toss KC into the mix but with just 30 points and 5 matches left they would need a miracle to get back into the hunt.

So that means I see the race ending with Chicago and Columbus getting the automatic spots in the East and Houston and Chivas getting the automatic spots in the West. That leaves the 4 wildcard spots that I expect will end like this:

LA Galaxy – 46 points
Colorado – 44 points
New England – 44 points
Seattle – 42 points
DC United – 42 points
Toronto – 41 points

So this leaves us with RSL, 6^th in the West with 34 points (out of the playoffs) and 4 matches remaining. This weekend they face off against FC Dallas, another team that took an early lead on RSL just weeks ago but gave up 4 second half goals to let RSL get the full 3 points at home, but can RSL come off the emotional and physical draining match against Houston to recover and get a road result? I think they can, RSL understand that they need every point they can get and they know that no matter what they can battle back against FCD, a win might be a stretch so let’s say they get a 3-3 draw in an exciting match. That means RSL comes home after a couple weeks off to face off against New York, a team they simply have never beaten and while the Red Bulls have been out of the playoffs for some time but in recent weeks have gotten better with 2 wins in their last 4, but at home with their playoff lives on the line I expect RSL will finally get the Red Bull off their back and get the win. Then comes the match that I have thought could be the key since the All Star match, TFC away, a win and RSL could almost seal up a playoff spot depending on other results, a draw is again a more reasonable expectation. This very likely means that once again RSL’s playoff hopes will come down to the last match, and once again it will the Rapids in the cross hairs, but unlike last year a draw will not be enough and RSL will need to focus on getting a win, and while winning by 3 would give them the Rocky Mountain Cup, a win by any total would likely put RSL into the playoffs. 4 matches left, two wins and two draws would add 8 points to RSL’s 34 and give us a 11-10-9 record with 42 points, but with a great +7 goal differential it will very likely come down to which team can score more goals between RSL and SSFC who also have a +7.

I do think RSL could pull a win out at FCD and that would combined with wins at home secure a playoff spot for RSL but even if they don’t make it, those who have tossed in the towel already might be making a huge mistake. I get the frustration that everyone feels, I don’t think the fans expect this season to be a battle to make the playoffs but in MLS it is always a battle to make the playoffs. I think the players expected to secure their spot before the final weekend, but mental mistakes, blown coverages, and the inability to finish on the road have cost them and now their backs are against the wall. I think the staff expected more from their players, and I would not be surprised by a number of off season moves if we miss out on the playoffs.

I am a fan but I also am a realist when it comes to sports, and when it comes to RSL I try to look at both the positive and the negative as I write my blog posts, I tend to watch every match at least twice, I try to make it out to practices when I can (I do have a real job) and maybe it is doing those things that has me unwilling to become hyper critical of every move, or lack of a move. I have seen Jason doing things to make himself a better coach, not things that would impress a lot of fans even if they noticed, but he has become a student of the coaching craft and that will pay off for RSL. As a fan I am going to error on being too positive, and I will do it without reservation. I love it how when I question those who are bitter about everything and point out opinions counter of theirs that I get called names, and people accuse me of being a RSL stooge, but I don’t do this for those folks I do it to show my support for the team. I do this in an attempt to make things better, it is funny that some in the RSL front office think that things like my open letter to Bill Manning were too public and too critical, but from that a number of good things have come about and in the upcoming weeks you will begin to hear how providing positive feedback and suggestions as opposed to just complaining about everything can make a difference.

The final 4 matches are going to be exciting and if RSL can show the heart they did to battle back in Houston, despite losing, I have a feeling we will see more than 2 MLS matches at Rio Tinto this year.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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September 21, 2009 by f4denz.

No Home match last weekend, none this weekend, can’t make the midweek matchup with the Goats in October, well RSL just announced another chance for you to catch some RSL action:

REAL SALT LAKE TO PLAY EXHIBITION AT BYU COUGARS ON FRIDAY, OCT. 2

“Futbol Before Football” Contest to Kickoff at South Stadium at 5:00 p.m.;

SANDY, UTAH (Monday, September 21, 2009) – Real Salt Lake today announced that Utah’s MLS squad will head south to Provo for its annual exhibition match against the Brigham Young University Cougars on Friday, Oct. 2.  The “Futbol Before Football” match will take place at 5:00 p.m. MT at South Stadium on the BYU campus, with the match leading up to 7:00 p.m. kickoff of the BYU-Utah State football game at Lovell Edwards Stadium.  Tickets are $6 for adults and children and $5 for BYU students with their student IDs.  Tickets are available now and can be purchased in advance by visiting www.byutickets.com or at South Stadium on gameday.

“We would like to thank coach Chris Watkins and the BYU Soccer family for inviting us back to South Stadium for what should be an exciting night in Provo,” said RSL General Manager Garth Lagerwey. “With a long break in our schedule, the chance to play this match against quality opposition is appreciated, and we’re thrilled to be able to do so in front of our fans in Utah County.”

Brigham Young University is coming off a fourth place finish in the Southwest Division of the USL Premier Development League (PDL), posting a 7-5-4 record over the summer and just missing out on the division’s third and final playoff spot.  Real Salt Lake will be the second of BYU’s four opponents during the Cougars’ fall exhibition schedule, with the match marking RSL’s first visit to South Stadium since the Claret-and-Cobalt helped open the renovated venue last July.  For more information about BYU’s soccer program, please visit www.byusoccer.com

The “Futbol Before Football” contest will be held during an 18-day layoff in MLS play for Real Salt Lake and will be the first of two exhibition matches during the stretch, the other taking place on Wednesday, Oct. 7, when RSL will host Chivas de Guadalajara at Rio Tinto Stadium.  RSL will enter the layoff following its match at FC Dallas this Saturday, Sept. 26, with kickoff from Pizza Hut Park scheduled for 6:30 p.m. MT (live on KUTV 2.2 Digital / Comcast 111 beginning with the America First Credit Union Pre-match Report at 6:00 p.m.).  At the conclusion of the break from League play, RSL will be back in action Wednesday, Oct. 14, when it takes on the New York Red Bulls in a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Final at Rio Tinto Stadium.

So if you need your fix, then this is your chance. It was a good time last year, well as good of a time as you can have in Provo.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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September 19, 2009 by f4denz.

Wow RSL fans likely packed it in a number of times tonight, like after the Houston goal in the second minute, if not then it may have been 3 minutes later as Houston took a 2-0 lead just 5 minutes into the match. When Kyle got RSL on the board in the 27^th minute it looked like RSL might just find a way to once again come back from early mistakes, but nope I knew this match would be decided by the official and when a very, very soft red card was shown to Olave the writing was on the wall for RSL. It was interesting that despite being down a man that RSL actually outplayed Houston for the remainder of the first half and was the aggressive team in the second half and when Yura Movsisyan came on to replace Pablo Campos it only took him a few minutes to do the unthinkable and get RSL even despite being a man down. RSL continued to play well but as the clock hit 75 it was Houston who turned up the energy and the RSL players started to drag after 40 plus minutes, and Houston scored just their 5^th goal after the 75^th minute and took the 3-2 lead. It was just after the restart that Brian Ching was shown red but it was too little and too late as RSL after 50 minutes of playing a man down simply didn’t have enough energy to battle the fatigue, heat and humidity and Houston simply spread out and made RSL chase them.

I have to say I was disappointed with the effort of Javi tonight, he simply looked rather disinterested in the match after coming on in the 45^th minute for Rachid. I was hoping that the move to bring Robbie on after Yura’s goal would give RSL a real boost of energy but he was unable to create much and RSL was unable to get the ball behind the defense for him to run onto. I know they were tired and I know we were a man down on defense but Robbie Russell looked great for minutes and then looked awful for other stretches and it is clear the Beltran was missed, and I am not sure what Wingert was doing but Houston took full advantage of his side of the pitch most of the night and he has to stop trying to take shots from distance, they simply are wasted opportunities. I was impressed with the work rate and the leadership shown by Kyle Beckerman tonight, it was the most involved I have seen him in a match in a long, long time.

So what does this do to the RSL playoff hunt? Well with Chivas and Seattle only getting a point each in their match, with KC beating Dallas, Colorado only getting a point against San Jose, and New York and New England ending knotted and getting a point each, nobody stepped up and made a strong case to separate themselves from the jumbled race for the wildcard spots. RSL sits two points behind DC United for the final spot and with LA leading Toronto (who also is stuck on 34) so anything can happen but RSL will need to work harder than ever to prove that they belong in the playoffs. Last year they got a lot of help from other teams, just like this weekend but I think they still have to find a way to get 3 wins. Next weekend they probably have their best chance away from Rio Tinto as they face FC Dallas who looked great beating LA last weekend and then got beat by KC this weekend, it is clear that RSL will need to handle their business at home and do something they have never done and get a win over New York.

With one match underway (LA 1- TFC 0) and one tomorrow here is how the playoffs stack up:
Houston – 43 pts (1^st in West) – 3 games remaining
Columbus – 42 pts (1^st in East) – 6 games remaining
Chicago – 39 pts (2^nd in East) – 5 games remaining
Seattle – 38 pts (2^nd in West) – 4 games remaining

LA Galaxy – 38 pts (1^st wildcard) – 5 games remaining
Colorado – 37 pts (2^nd wildcard) – 5 games remaining
Chivas – 37 pts (3^rd wildcard) – 6 games remaining
DC United – 36 pts (4^th wildcard) – 4 games remaining

Real Salt Lake – 34 pts – 4 games remaining
Toronto FC – 34 pts – 5 games remaining
New England – 34 pts – 6 games remaining

All the other teams are out of the running, so RSL faces two teams out of the playoffs (@ FC Dallas, and New York) which they need to get the full 6 points against and two matches against teams they are battling for a playoff spot against (@ TFC and Colorado) and I believe that it will come down to the results in these two matches that will really be the ones that matter. The first tiebreaker in the playoffs is head to head record and the only playoff teams that hold the edge over RSL are Houston and Chicago, the second tiebreaker is overall goal differential and with their +7 RSL holds an edge over New England (-4), TFC (-3), DC United (+1), Chivas (+1), LA (+2) and are right now even with Seattle (+7) and trail Colorado (+8) and Columbus (+10). So finishing the season tied on points with many of the team in the playoff race would not be a bad thing, I would much rather see us finish strong and work our way in and not have to rely on other teams finishing weak for us to make it.

While the team and many fans will be very disheartened after the loss in Houston after battling back, I think RSL showed that they can play with the best teams in MLS and even when down a man they are a very solid team but few teams can play down a man for 60 minutes and come back to earn a tie and on this night RSL simply could not withstand the onslaught that Houston was able to put together. It wasn’t a moral victory but it did show that we are very, very close to breaking through for another road win.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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