MLS Thursday: Her name is Rio (Week 29)

Real Salt Lake pulled the tarp off Rio Tinto* Stadium on Thursday, but could only manage a draw against the visiting New York Red Bulls. NY's Dave van den Bergh scored off a rebound in the 31st minute, and RSL's Jamison Olave equalized 10 minutes later. Even an 83rd minute ejection of Juan Pietravallo couldn't deliver the winner for RSL in their new stadium's debut.



*Rio Tinto is a London, England-based corporation specializing in mining and exploration.

Hey-dude Rulez!

How does Frankie spend his red card suspension? Chillaxing with Crew fans.

Columbus close in on MLS crown

As any TYH reader will tell you, we don't fancy an end of the year Cup playoff to determine the best in MLS when the previous 30 matches will tell the story just fine. Last year's true MLS champions were DC United and this year it will likely be Columbus Crew as they close in on securing the Supporters Shield, MLS's regular season champion.

Although the league still wrong-headedly calls the winner of the MLS Cup, the champion of MLS, the Supporters Shield is the true definition of a champion. The Supporters Shield goes to the club finishing with the most points after the 30-game season. In any other league in the world, the Supporters Shield would be the championship, but alas MLS execs drink far to often from the tainted well water of America's other (inferior) sports.

This MLS Cup "playoff" is a farce, however, as the Supporters Shield winner receives all the same rights and benefits as the winner of the MLS Cup "playoffs" -- an invitation to the various international tournaments (SuperLiga, CCL, etc.) and monetary benefits. It is as ridiculous as MLS's East/West bracket and seeding system.

The top three teams in each conference qualify and are seeded 1, 2 & 3 in their respective four-team playoff conference brackets. The two MLS teams with the next most points, regardless of conference, receive "wildcard" berths. The two 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.

Now, go get a lawyer to figure it out.

Ok, Ok, I'll do it for you ... stop whining. If the regular season ended today. the seeding would look like this.

Eastern Conference

#1 Columbus

#2 New England

#3 Chicago

#4 New York

Western Conference

#1 Houston

#2 Chivas USA

#3 Real Salt Lake

#4 Colorado (based on head-to-head tiebreaker)

The last two spots are awarded regardlesss of conferences, which means that it is possible that a club like Kansas City could sneak in past Colorado. If there are five Eastern Conference teams in the playoffs, then the fifth team switches over to the Western Conference. I know, I know, it is confusing and seems like a stupid way to go about it -- especially given the per conference seeding, since the Supporters Shield winner doesn't get to play the 8th seed. Instead, #1 plays #4 and #2 plays #3 in each conference.

If MLS were a single table league (like it should be), a Cup tournament would be simpler and seeding would actually reward a club for a successful regular season. In a single-table format, the playoffs would look like this if the season ended now:

#1 CLB vs. #8 COL

#2 HOU vs. #7 NY

#3 NE vs. #6 RSL

#4 CHI vs. #5 CHV

Ok, so maybe it isn't radically different than the system they have now. After all, Houston and Columbus could end up in the Final still, but it would create far better second round match-ups. And shouldn't the playoffs get better, not worse, each round?

TYH'S MLS BEST 11 (Week 28)

GOALKEEPER

G. Sutton (TFC)

DEFENDERS

M. Wynne (TFC), A. Iro (CLB), M. Harrington (KC), J. Hernandez (SJ)

MIDFIELDERS

Dejair (CHV), J. Morales (RSL), S. Joseph (NE)

FORWARDS

A. Eskandarian (CHV), C. Barrett (TFC), B. Ching (HOU)

MLS Saturday & Sunday (Week 28)

Saturday
Chivas USA 3-0 DC United (RFK Stadium)
A tale of two teams headed in opposite directions, as Chivas put three past United at RFK. Ex-United striker Alecko Eskandarian scored in the first half (after a horrendous gaffe by United keeper Louis Crayton) and added an assist in the second. Sasha Victorine and new-Goat Dejair provided the second and third goals.

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Los Angeles 0-1 Columbus (Crew Stadium)
Alejandro Moreno's 43rd-minute goal was all the Crew needed to fend off the LA Beckhams who have won just once in their last 15 matches. Ouch. Can that be right? Yes it can. Highlights
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Salt Lake 2-2 New England (Gillette Stadium)
Javier Morales scored a beauty in the 13th minute and then set-up Andy Williams in the 73rd minute. With the 2-0 lead it looked like RSL would coast. Well, it looked like that for about four minutes, as Steve Ralston scored in the 77th and Taylor Twellman added the equalizer just two minutes later. BTW, Williams received his walking papers in extra time.

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Toronto 3-1 New York (Giants Stadium)
TFC broke an eight-game winless streak in style, thanks two goals by Chad Barrett. Sandwiched in between was a goal by Dane Richards, and then, TFC's added a icing goal in the 86th minute. Check out the extra gear on defender Marvell Wynne:

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Houston 3-1 Colorado (DSG Park)
After three goals in nine minutes, Hawaii 5-0 Brian Ching's two goals had Houston up 2-1. Conor Casey's goal would prove to be a conciliation goal, as Ricardo Clark iced it in the 19th minute. No goals in the second half, despite the 53rd minute double-caution ejection of Casey.

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Sunday
Chicago 1-1 Kansas City (CAB)
Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Michael Harrington traded goals on either side of halftime and the Wiz and Fire split the points.

Is Torres just a Mexican David Regis?

Bradley named the U.S. national team roster for the October 11th qualifier against Cuba in Washington, D.C. We should run a sweepstakes where you have to guess the member of the Cuban national team that will defect this time.

Here's the roster:
GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan, Tim Howard, Troy Perkins

Why three goalkeepers? And no love for Dominic Cervi who was recently bought by Scottish powerhouse Celtic.

DEFENDERS: Carlos Bocanegra, Danny Califf, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Frankie Hejduk, Oguchi Onyewu, Michael Orozco, Heath Pearce

No surprises in this bunch but Bradley's lack of imagination when it comes to roster selection, particularly at left back) continues to astound me. Orozco is not ready and Danny Califf's and Frankie Hejduk's better days are behind them.

MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu, DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan, Danny Szetela, José Francisco Torres

Decent selections in the middle of the pitch, but will Jose Torres prove to be a Mexican David Regis?

FORWARDS: Jozy Altidore, Brian Ching, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan

It's about damn time Jozy made this team, but there are still better options than sacred cow Brian Ching (Franken-Cooper or Cristman for example). And when did Charlie Davies earn a call-up?

MLS Thursday: No break for Quakes (Week 28)

Los Angeles 1-3 Chicago Fire (CAB)
An 89th minute PK, converted by Kenny Cooper (his 16th goal of the year), saved a draw for the Hoops at home against San Jose. Ryan Johnson scored for the Quakes in the 58th minute after collecting a ball chipped over (and dummied by Scott Sealy) the Dallas backline and beating the keeper. But a Francisco Lima handball in the box gave Dallas the equalizer from the spot.

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TYH'S MLS BEST 11 (Week 27)

GOALKEEPER

W. Hesmer (CLB)

DEFENDERS

M. Wynne (TFC), C. Marshall (CLB), P. Ianni (HOU)

MIDFIELDERS

S. Victorine (CHV), R. Rogers (CLB), J. Morales (RSL)

FORWARDS

C. Rolfe (CHI), C. Casey (COL), Y. Movsisyan (RSL), D. Huckerby