A time change for RSL?
Well with the decision of New England to move their match from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, nobody is really sure why but since MLS prevents playoff teams from playing at the same time (stupid rules because not all matches are covered by national media). Anyhow this opens up a chance for RSL to make a last minute change to their scheduled match, which currently is scheduled for 4pm on Saturday and for many is conflicting with Halloween and the U of U football (pointyball) game. So there is a chance that RSL may move their match up a couple hours to allow more fans to attend the match and still have time to get home for trick or treaters or make their way up to Rice Eccles for the game. All of this will add to some confusion for fans but I think the earlier start time could be helpful to allow people to enjoy their choice of activities this weekend.
So it is Halloween on Saturday and RSL is trying to take advantage of that by having some fun, first they are going to have the first 250 kids in costumes be on the field for the prematch Parade of Kings (you have to meet at 3:15 above section 13) and remember only the first 250 kids get to take part. They also are going to be doing some version of trick or treating before the match, still waiting on details if that will be part of carnival real or inside the stadium (maybe both?). Anyhow I love that they are trying to turn a bad situation of having to play a match on a holiday into a good thing and given the chilly nights having the match while the sun is still up should allow everyone to enjoy a great match without getting too cold.
So I have to laugh that I got a copy of the MLS official playoff guide, and it has 9 pages of all the scenarios about yellow and red cards in the playoffs. Hey MLS here is a hint if your rules need 9 pages of graphs to explain you have way too complicated of rules, and maybe if you focused more on the officials than on how to suspend and fine players for cards you might just have fewer fans upset at the horrible quality of your officials.
So the playoffs kick off tomorrow evening on ESPN2, with Houston going up to Seattle to face the most favored team of the networks. Trust me you will hear at least a half dozen times how great it is that Seattle made the playoffs, and how it would be so awesome that Seattle made to MLS Cup. That match will kick off at 8pm MST, and should be a good match and I have to admit I find it funny that even MLS has jumped on the Seattle bandwagon so hard (here is there preview of the matchup) and they totally ignore the fact that since July 25th Seattle has struggled at home:
0-0 draw against Chicago
2-0 win against LA Galaxy
1-0 loss against New England
0-0 draw against Toronto
0-0 draw against Chivas
2-1 win over FC Dallas
So to me seeing that they have just 4 goals at home in their last 6 matches it is hard to think they would be a favorite against Houston the league’s second best road team with 6 wins and 16 goals for and 16 goals against. I think the recent form for Houston has had a lot to do with their busy schedule that included 4 Champions League matches in the last two months on top of their 5 MLS matches and a Charity match, while Seattle has played just 6 matches in the last two months, so Seattle might be a bit fresher and rested but after their first round loss to New York I believe that Houston will not be so easy to beat this time around. Yes Seattle has a lot of fans, and are on the verge of becoming some of the best fans in the league and they are all seeing visions of MLS Cup, but one has to wonder how they will do if they can’t get a home win against Houston? I am going to pick this first match to end up as either a 0-0 or 1-1 draw and with Ricardo Salazar being the head official one thing is clear there should be no shortage of calls and cards in the match.
A late update for RSL fans, it was announced tonight that Robbie Findley can add the goal of the week honors to his player of the week honors. I think it is a great call and the effort that Robbie showed on that second goal was very impressive.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
Win 4 and shock the world
This entry was posted on October 29, 2009 at 12:42 am and is filed under The soapbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
October 30, 2009 at 1:14 am
Seattle went and got 3 very interesting players to watch. That is how you build a team quickly from a fanbase point of view. Montero, Keller, and Ljunchip are all fan favorites. That draws fans. That draws tv coverage. They all have the ability to win, and they hired a coach that knows how to build a team.
I think they are a pretty good team. I hate Houston… so I’d be fine with them losing. Ching is a punk.
Building organizations that draw fans and create interest in the sport is excellent…. even if they are teams you love to hate. We all know that we will all hate Philly, right? Their fans are insufferable. Those are the markets you need to move into.
Hopefully the playoffs are entertaining and RSL goes all the way. I’d be darned proud of these guys if they did. I am not expecting it… but I wasn’t expecting anything last year. So we shall see. Best of luck boys. Give ‘em heck.
October 30, 2009 at 8:15 am
I would say that their early success was much more due to the core that they had from the USL side, they are a huge market and with an NFL organization running the MLS operations for them they had a huge advantage over any other MLS team. Even those with common ownership like New England, are run by two different organizations but in Seattle there is a lot of cross over between the NFL group and the MLS one. I think the league has been in love with them ever since they leveraged their NFL seat license holders to create an instant 16,000 season ticket holders. To the Sounders credit they have turned a lot of pointy ball fans into soccer fans, or is that more due to the fact that the Seahawks suck so bad?
There is no doubt that the size of their market has helped them with money for loans and in getting a DP all of which has helped their season, but down the stretch they have really struggled to score and will likely not get past Houston. I thing Ching is a waste of space and Houston’s DP Landin looks like a robot when he tries to run, but their core with Holden, Davis, Boswell, Clark,Mullin, and Onstad they are the most consistent team in MLS over the last 3 years. You can tell offensively that they still miss DeRo, who probably wishes he had never left.