Buckle up as wild West playoff picture shakes out
The two best teams in MLS lost on the weekend and the worst team, shutout nine times during an 11- game summer losing streak, actually won a game 2- 1 to make it two victories in a row.
All three teams — Seattle, Los Angeles and Chivas USA — are part of the wild, wild Western Conference. So buckle up and get ready for more madness as conference playoff positioning is decided over the next two weekends.
The Whitecaps started the craziness on Friday by beating the Seattle Sounders, who were tied for the Western Conference lead with the Los Angeles Galaxy, 1- 0 at Century-Link Field. The win put the fifth- place Caps in position to potentially catch fourth- place FC Dallas and play host to the Texas club in the single- game knockout playoff round.
But on Sunday, FC Dallas scored twice in the second half at home to upset the red- hot Galaxy, who were 8- 0- 2 going in, 2- 1 to stay five points ahead of the Caps.
“I was asked if you were hoping for Dallas to lose,” Vancouver head coach Carl Robinson said in a phone interview on Monday. “But it doesn’t matter what other teams do, it really only matters about us.
“I’m disappointed Dallas got points because we maybe could have caught them, but Dallas is also competing with Real Salt Lake for third place ... and that’s massive.”
The third- place team avoids the knockout- round game and goes directly to a two- game conference semifinal.
The fact RSL and Dallas are in that dogfight is good for the Caps in that each of those teams plays Portland in the next two weeks. The Timbers are just a point behind the Caps in the battle for the fifth and final playoff spot.
“Both teams can help us as well ... both teams have to get something off Portland, so you can spin this any way you want,” said Robinson.
You could spin yourself dizzy just trying to figure out how things will shake out. It’s a long shot, but the Caps could still catch either RSL or Dallas, if one of them was to lose twice and Vancouver collects wins at San Jose ( Saturday) and at home to Colorado a week later. The Caps could finish fifth and head to either Salt Lake or Dallas in the first round. Or, they could miss the playoffs altogether with a loss or two wins by Portland.
While Vancouver’s final two games look like potential gifts given that San Jose is winless in 13 and Colorado, which lost to Chivas on Saturday night, is winless in 12, last weekend’s upsets show anything is possible.
“It’s not a guaranteed six points,” insisted Robinson. “Those are going to be extremely tough games. San Jose, it’s their last home game of the season, in front of their supporters and you’re going to have guys fighting for contracts, for their livelihoods.
“It’s probably going to be a harder game for us than it was in Seattle on Friday. They’ve got nothing to lose ... and they’re going to snap out of it at some time.”
The Earthquakes, who lost 2- 0 to RSL on Saturday, would like that to be Saturday, so they can avoid setting a team record for franchise futility.
“I know I’m not beaten,” veteran fullback Jordan Stewart told MLSsoccer. com. “I’m sure the rest of the boys would say the same. We need to win.
“I feel disappointed and angry at the same time. The only positive we can take is we’ve got some more games left. It’s going to be vital to get a win in the next couple of weeks and end the season on a good note.”
CORNER KICKS: The Caps will be without dominating centre back Kendall Waston in San Jose after the towering Costa Rican picked up his fifth yellow card in his nine games with the club. Honduran international Johnny Leveron is likely to take his place. ... Kekuta Manneh, whose 45th minute goal was the winner in Seattle, appears to be OK after a bruised hip forced him to miss the second half. ... A group of about 40 Caps’ supporters were at practice Monday to sing Happy Birthday to Robinson, who turned 38.