MLS Cup Playoffs - Preview (Part 1)
The regular MLS season 2010 came to a close in midweek. These 7 months have been great from the debut of Philadelphia Union in the league, F.C. Dallas’ amazing 19 game unbeaten run, New York Red Bulls' new stadium, new stars and change in fortunes to David
Beckham’s contribution to help L.A. Galaxy win Supporters Shield.
This time, 6 western conference and 2 Eastern Conference teams would be competing in the playoffs and every participating team will have the chance to qualify for CONCAF Champions League.
In the quarterfinals and semi-finals, all participating teams would be playing two matches home and away with the team scoring more goals in both ties progressing to the next round.
The final will take place on November 21st, 2010 at BMO Field in Toronto, the home of MLS side Toronto F.C.
A lot is at stake in the playoffs, so let’s take head to head look at the playoff teams:
Final MLS standings of the playoff teams:
· Los Angeles Galaxy, 59 points (1st West)* · Real Salt Lake, 56 points (2nd West)* · New York Red Bulls, 51 points (1st East)* · FC Dallas, 50 points (3rd West)* · Columbus Crew, 50 points (2nd East)* · Seattle Sounders FC, 48 points (4th West)* · Colorado Rapids, 46 points (5th West)* · San Jose Earthquakes, 46 points (6th West)* · Kansas City Wizards, 39 points (3rd East) · Chicago Fire, 36 points (4th East) · Toronto FC, 35 points (5th East) · Houston Dynamo, 33 points (7th West) · New England Revolution, 32 points (6th East) · Philadelphia Union, 31 points (7th East) · Chivas USA, 28 points (8th West) · D.C. United, 22 points (8th East)
Legend: * teams participating in the playoffs
Quarterfinal Matches:
Eastern Conference
E1) New York Red Bulls vs. E4) San Jose Earthquakes
October 30th- @ San Jose November 4th- @ New York
E2) Columbus Crew vs. E3) Colorado Rapids
October 28th- @ Colorado November 6th- @ Columbus
Western Conference
W1) Los Angeles Galaxy vs. W4) Seattle Sounders FC
October 31st- @ Seattle November 7th- @ Los Angeles
W2) Real Salt Lake vs. W3) FC Dallas
October 30th- @ Dallas November 6th- @ Salt Lake
E1) New York Red Bulls Vs E4) San Jose Earthquakes:
League Record
New York Red Bulls- 15-9-6 (51 points), First in Eastern Conference
San Jose Earthquakes- 13-10-7 (46 points), Sixth in Western Conference
Players to watch out
New York- Thierry Henry, Dane Richards, Juan Pablo Angel, Rafa Marquez, Bouna Coundoul, Joel Lindpere, Medhi Ballouchy
San Jose- Jon Busch, Chris Wondolowski, Bobby Convey, Geovanni, Ramiro Corrales, Jason Hernandez
San Jose Earthquakes had a great season this time that saw them beat some of MLS’ finest teams. But New York Red Bulls are far superior to them, having good players and backup in all positions. This season’s top scorer, Chris Wondolowski and his San Jose
team will find it hard to break down a good New York defence.
Prediction
New York Red Bulls are expected to easily win this game and an aggregate score of 4-0 will not be a surprising one.
E2) Columbus Crew Vs E3) Colorado Rapids:
League Record
Columbus- 14-8-8 (50 points), Second in Eastern Conference
Colorado- 12-8-10 (46 points), Fifth in Western Conference
Players to watch out
Columbus- Guillermo Barrios Schelotto, Chad Marshall, Eddie Gaven, Frankie Hejduk, Robbie Rogers, Steven Lenhart
Colorado- Connor Casey, Pablo Mastroeni, Jeff Larentowicz, Omar Cummings, Marvell Wynne, Matt Pickens
Both teams have had a successful season so far so counter attack might be the key to victory for any team. Colorado are a good team on the counter but they can be equally bad when they are one or two goals down and seem to put the towels down. When both
sides played each other, they won their respective home fixtures. If Colorado hold on to a 1-0 win at home in the first tie, they would go into the 2nd leg with great confidence.
Prediction
The match would be a nail biter but Colorado Rapids might be able to pull off an upset with a 2-1 aggregate win.
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