~Soccer Thread~

[ELA]

friendlies. nations league starts in Nov. i think

Looked it up, it starts next weekend, but USA doesn't play in the first window.  We play our group games in October and November.  Hopefully we can sneak out of our group of death with Canada and Cuba.  Should be tremendous for player development.

[Brutus Buckeye]

...and we have the Dreaded Double Draw in the two-legged Crew-Fire series. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

So we enter September with five weeks left in the Regular Season (ends Sun Oct 6).

In the Western Conference LAFC has a commanding 18 "point" cushion over the 2nd place San Jose Earthquakes. They are also the only team in the West that has clinched a playoff spot, while the Vancouver Whitecaps are the only team already eliminated from playoff contention.

LAFC also enjoys an 11 "point" cushion over Philly (1st in the East) in the Supporters Shield race.

The Eastern Conference race appears to be rounding into form, with Philly, NYCFC and Atlanta beginning to separate from the rest of the pack. Other than Atlanta, the other two members of that top trio have already clinched a playoff spot, while Cincy is the only team that has already been eliminated from Playoff contention.

Sorted by Points per Game
.
East

#	Club	PTS	PPG		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD		W-L-T		W-L-T
2	x - New York City FC	50	1.85		27	14	5	8	51	34	17		8-1-4		6-4-4
1	x - Philadelphia Union	51	1.76		29	15	8	6	54	42	12		10-2-3		5-6-3
3	Atlanta United FC	48	1.71		28	15	10	3	47	33	14		10-1-3		5-9-0
5	New York Red Bulls	41	1.41		29	12	12	5	47	44	3		8-5-2		4-7-3
4	D.C. United	42	1.4		30	11	10	9	39	38	1		6-4-5		5-6-4
6	New England Revolution	39	1.39		28	10	9	9	41	47	-6		7-5-3		3-4-6
7	Toronto FC	38	1.36		28	10	10	8	44	45	-1		7-4-4		3-6-4
8	Montreal Impact	37	1.23		30	11	15	4	42	56	-14		7-5-2		4-10-2
9	Orlando City SC	34	1.17		29	9	13	7	35	39	-4		6-7-1		3-6-6
10	Chicago Fire	34	1.13		30	8	12	10	44	43	1		7-2-6		1-10-4
11	Columbus Crew SC	31	1.03		30	8	15	7	33	44	-11		5-6-5		3-9-2
12	e - FC Cincinnati	18	0.64		28	5	20	3	28	67	-39		3-9-1		2-11-2

.
West

#	Club	PTS	PPG		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD		W-L-T		W-L-T
1	x - Los Angeles Football Club	62	2.3		27	19	3	5	74	28	46		11-0-2		8-3-3
5	Seattle Sounders FC	43	1.59		27	12	8	7	42	40	2		8-2-3		4-6-4
2	San Jose Earthquakes	44	1.57		28	13	10	5	48	43	5		10-3-2		3-7-3
7	Minnesota United FC	42	1.56		27	12	9	6	44	37	7		8-1-5		4-8-1
6	LA Galaxy	42	1.56		27	13	11	3	38	41	-3		9-4-1		4-7-2
3	Real Salt Lake	43	1.54		28	13	11	4	40	35	5		10-3-1		3-8-3
4	FC Dallas	43	1.48		29	12	10	7	47	38	9		9-1-5		3-9-2
8	Portland Timbers	40	1.48		27	12	11	4	43	40	3		6-3-2		6-8-2
9	Sporting Kansas City	37	1.32		28	10	11	7	41	45	-4		7-5-3		3-6-4
10	Houston Dynamo	31	1.11		28	9	15	4	38	49	-11		7-3-4		2-12-0
11	Colorado Rapids	30	1.07		28	8	14	6	45	54	-9		6-6-2		2-8-4
12	e - Vancouver Whitecaps FC	27	0.9		30	6	15	9	30	53	-23		4-6-4		2-9-5

.

[TyphonInc]

...and we have the Dreaded Double Draw in the two-legged Crew-Fire series.

94th minute tying goal by the Fire was infuriating. They played better than we did most of the 2nd half, but man I thought the Crew was going to hold on.

[rolltidefan]

2019-2020 nations league to officially be qualifying for 2021 gold cup for concacaf. link

[Brutus Buckeye]

Crew beat Atlanta. 




LAFC clinched the Western Conference, along with a Champions League bid. 

NYCFC is beginning to run away with the East, building a five "point" lead over second place Philly with less than a month to go. 

Atlanta clinched a playoff spot in defeat due to other scores around the league, and have already clinched a Champions League bid by winning the US Open Cup. 

[SFBadger96]

A dinged up Norwich over Man City in the Premier League. No one saw that coming.

[TyphonInc]

Crew beat Atlanta.

LAFC clinched the Western Conference, along with a Champions League bid.

NYCFC is beginning to run away with the East, building a five "point" lead over second place Philly with less than a month to go.

Atlanta clinched a playoff spot in defeat due to other scores around the league, and have already clinched a Champions League bid by winning the US Open Cup.

And with the win the Crew still have a 1% chance of making the playoffs. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Voyageurs Cup 

After suffering a humiliating loss to lowly Cincinnati over the weekend, the Montreal Impact pull off a stunning 1-0 upset of Toronto in the first leg of the Canadian Championship Final. 



The second leg is in Toronto on Sept 25, with Canada's lone Champions League bid on the line. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Voyageurs Cup

After trading 1-0 home wins, Montreal wins the resulting shootout and earns Canada's Champions League bid. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Supporters Shield

LAFC clinches. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

NYCFC clinched the Eastern Conference, nabbing a Champions League bid. 



So the MLS Champions League bids are all set except the MLS Cup winner. 
1 MLS Cup winner: ?
2 Supporters Shield winner: LAFC 
3 Opposite Division winner: NYCFC 
4 US Open Cup winner: Atlanta United
5 Voyageurs Cup winner: Montreal Impact

and, most importantly, the Crew actually won a game. 

[TyphonInc]

Go Crew!

[Brutus Buckeye]

2020 Champions League (Concacaf) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_CONCACAF_Champions_League

With the conclusion of the quarterfinal round of the 2019 Concacaf League Tourney ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_CONCACAF_League ) we now know the entire 2020 Champions League field, minus the MLS Cup winner. 

USA (4): Atlanta, LAFC, NYCFC, and the MLS Cup winner*
Mexico (4): America, UANL, Cruz Azul, and Leon
Canada (1): Montreal Impact
Jamaica (1): Portmore United
.
Costa Rica (2): Saprissa, and San Carlos
Honduras (2): Motagua, and Olimpia
El Salvadore (1): Alianza 
Guatamala (1): Comunicaciones 
.
*The MLS Playoff bracket will be revealed at the conclusion of Sunday's games. I will post it once it has been made available.