Toronto FC needs another win to get into the playoffs for the first time. (Getty Images)

It all comes down to one final weekend in Major League Soccer. I don’t believe the league front office could have even dreamed up this kind of weekend that puts a lot of meaning on the regular season as a whole. Six clubs remain in contention for two playoff spots after Chicago clinched their birth (finally) into the playoffs last night with a win over Chivas. The win also gave the Columbus Crew their second straight Supporter’s Shield trophy.

Before we break down the games we need to break down some key playoff scenarios (below is from the league’s front office) that will come into effect after this weekend. I’ll go team-by-team here. Colorado is sitting the prettiest with 40 points right now while four others sit at 39 points and Real Salt Lake at 37 points.

Colorado Rapids will qualify IF:
Colorado defeats Real Salt Lake on Saturday OR
Colorado ties Real Salt Lake AND
The four teams with 39 points all lose or all tie OR IF
Only one of TFC, NE, DC and FCD win

Note: If Colorado loses to Real Salt Lake, it hopes to do so by less than a two-goal margin and it hopes that less than two teams with 39 points win this week.

Real Salt Lake will qualify IF:
Real Salt Lake need to defeat Colorado on Saturday and hope that no more than one of the teams on 39 points wins. Unless all four teams with 39 points lose, RSL need to defeat Colorado by more than a one-goal margin because a win leaves them tied on points and in head-to-head (1-1-1), so goal differential could decide their fate.

If two or more teams tied on 39 points win, or if two or more tie on 40 points along with RSL (in the case of an RSLwin), there are some concurrent results that will favor them based on tiebreakers. This is a brief overview of what will help each team:

DC United will qualify IF
If DC is the only team tied on 39 points to win, they will qualify
If DC wins and Colorado wins AND New England OR Toronto win, they cannot qualify (unless DAL, DC AND TOR win – decided by goal differential)
In the case of a tie on 40 points (RSL win, DC tie), DC will qualify ONLY if FC Dallas AND DC tie, or if DAL AND DC AND TOR tie

Note: Needless to say DC has a lot of things that need to happen.

FC Dallas will qualify IF:
If FC Dallas is the only team tied on 39 points to win, they will qualify
If FC Dallas wins and Colorado wins, FC Dallas must hope that DC or New England do not win, as this lessens their chances
In the case of a tie on 40 points (RSL win, DAL tie), FC Dallas must hope that DC does not also tie

Note: It’s simple for Dallas win and hope for the best. That’s all they’ve done recently and it’s worked for them.

New England Revolution qualify IF:
If New England is the only team tied on 39 points to win, they will qualify
If New England wins and Colorado wins, New England must hope that Toronto does not also win (unless ONLY DAL and NE win)
If New England wins and Colorado loses or ties, the ONLY way New England will NOT qualify is if DAL AND NE AND TOR (ONLY) WIN
In the case of a multiple tie on 40 points (RSL win, NE tie), New England must hope DC ALSO ties or TOR does not tie (unless all four on 39 tie)

Toronto FC will qualify IF:
If Toronto is the only team tied on 39 points to win, they will qualify
If Toronto wins and Colorado wins, TOR must hope FC Dallas does NOT win – unless ALL four teams on 39 points win (DAL AND DC AND NE AND TOR)
If Toronto wins and Colorado loses or ties, Toronto is all but assured of qualifying
In the case of a multiple tie on 40 points (RSL win, TOR tie), TOR is all but assured of qualifying UNLESS DAL, NE AND TOR all tie

Note: Toronto may have the best shot at things since they currently own tiebreakers with those surrounding them. Just win and they will be fine.

Get all that? Okay, time to get to the previews for the weekend. As always feel free to post your predictions below. Continue Reading…

It's do or die for Toronto FC. (Getty Images)

Big time weekend ahead for Major League Soccer. Four clubs have punched their tickets to the post season dance with four remaining spots left open to possibly all get snatched up this weekend.

You can pretty much put a playoff implication on every game this weekend. Either a team will come closer to clinching a spot, will clinch a spot or will be eliminated from contention. Its pretty much as simple as that as we head into the final two weeks of the regular season.

Going into the weekend it is important to see where everyone stands. There will be plenty of scoreboard watching from players, coaches and fans this weekend.

Eastern Conference
1. Columbus (13-5-10, 49 pts., 2 games remaining) – X
2. Chicago (10-7-11, 41 pts., 2 games remaining)
Western Conference
T1. Chivas USA (13-9-5, 44 pts., 3 games remaining) – X
T1. Houston (12-8-8, 44 pts., 2 games remaining) – X
T1. Los Angeles (11-6-11, 44 pts., 2 games remaining) – X
Wild Cards
2. Seattle (10-7-11, 41 pts., 2 games remaining)
3. Colorado (10-8-10, 40 pts., 2 games remaining)
4. New England (10-10-8, 38 pts., 2 games remaining)
BOTTOM SEVEN OUT
Real Salt Lake (10-11-7, 37 pts., 2 games remaining)
FC Dallas (10-12-6, 36 pts., 2 games remaining)
D.C. United (8-8-12, 36 pts., 2 games remaining)
Toronto FC (9-10-9, 36 pts., 2 games remaining)
Kansas City (8-12-8, 32 pts., 2 games remaining)
San Jose (7-13-8, 29 pts., 2 games remaining) – Eliminated from contention
New York (4-19-6, 18 pts., 1 games remaining) – Eliminated from contention

For Colorado, Seattle and Chicago it is simple this weekend. You win and you are in. New England can do the same with a win along with a couple other items (DC, Dallas, TFC, and RSL all draw or losing their games this weekend).On the flip side for Kansas City they are all but mathematically eliminated here, they would need about 40 different things to happen to even have hope of reaching the playoffs. In other words this weekend will should put their eliminated status in for good.

Everyone is in action this weekend except for New York who played and lost again in the midweek. As always feel free to leave your score predictions and thoughts below. Continue Reading…

BMO Field will be rocking this weekend as the Reds host San Jose. (Getty Images)

Week 30 is a short one for Major League Soccer. Once again the international dates for World Cup qualifiers are taking over the majority of the weekend but three games were still scheduled during it. Not a bad thing as we gear towards the playoffs though as this weekend should gives us a better indication out of a couple clubs on whether or not they are playoff bound or will be staying home this fall.

For playoff purposes let’s go ahead and look at where we are going into this weekend:

The Playoff Picture Heading Into Week 30
(X – Denotes clinched a playoff spot)

Eastern Conference
1. Columbus (12-5-10, 46 pts., 3 games remaining) – X
2. Chicago (10-7-11, 41 pts., 2 games remaining)
Western Conference
1. Houston (12-8-8, 44 pts., 2 games remaining) – X
2. Los Angeles (11-6-11, 44 pts., 2 games remaining) – X
Wild Cards
T1. Chivas USA (12-9-5, 41 pts., 4 games remaining)
T1. Seattle (10-7-11, 41 pts., 2 games remaining)
3. Colorado (10-8-10, 40 pts., 2 games remaining)
4. New England (10-9-8, 38 pts., 3 games remaining)
Bottom 7 Out
D.C. United (8-8-12, 36 pts., 2 games remaining)
FC Dallas (10-12-6, 36 pts., 2 games remaining)
Toronto FC (9-10-8, 35 pts., 3 games remaining)
Real Salt Lake (9-11-7, 34 pts., 3 games remaining)
Kansas City (8-11-8, 32 pts., 3 games remaining)
San Jose (7-13-7, 28 pts., 3 games remaining)
New York (4-18-6, 18 pts., 2 games remaining)

With the three games this weekend we could see a slight shake up near the bottom of the playoff table. Two clubs are playing spoilers this weekend and one hopes to possibly inch closer to the Supporter’s Shield.

As always feel free to leave your score predictions below. Continue Reading…

Landon Donovan and Blanco battle tonight in LA. (Getty Images)

This weeks previews fall into the shorter than normal bracket. As I mentioned the other day I am going to be in Austin for the weekend for the Austin City Limits Music Festival. This weekend gears to be another weekend that will let us know who will make it into the playoffs, we may even see another team clinch a playoff birth.

As always feel free to post your score predictions below as well.

We have six games in all on three days starting with tonight. Continue Reading…

GBS is returning to MVP form, that is dangerous for everyone else. (Getty Images)

A full weekend is upon us here as we head into the final month of the season. Once again we have a weekend that has a lot of playoff implications from top to bottom. Can the spoilers like KC and San Jose step up and bring down some clubs gunning for the playoffs? Can teams like Columbus or Chicago make a push for the Supporter’s Shield once and for all? Or will someone like LA or Chivas step up and surprise them?

Lots of questions to be asked this weekend. Nearly every club is in action except for the Houston Dynamo who are busy putting the wraps on Brian Ching’s new four year deal.

As always feel free to post your score predictions below. Continue Reading…

Seattle needs another big game out of Fredy Montero this weekend. (Getty Images)

There’s not too many more weekends left in the 2009 regular season. Week 27 is a full one as we gear towards the playoffs in a few weeks. With so many clubs still in contention the action this weekend should promise to be very good.

More than likely after this weekend we will have a new group of wild-card clubs as right now three of the four clubs currently in the wild card spots are tied, and just one point behind the top wild card club Seattle. Plus the three or so clubs just right outside the playoff zone are just a couple points back as it is. So a shake up should go down just as it has over the last several weeks.

Plenty of good matchups this weekend, especially that Chicago-Columbus game which should shed some light on if the Crew will hold off the Fire for first in the east and in the Supporter’s Shield race.

As always feel free to post your score predictions below. Continue Reading…

Well I am back folks! Thank to the many of you who sent well wishes for my wedding last week. Everything went well with that but now I am recovering from the lovely thing that is jet lag. So once again this week’s  previews are going to be cut very short until I can get back in the swing of things.

It is a very loaded weekend in on the MLS slate. Five games tonight and two tomorrow. Continue Reading…