Soccer update

[Snaxx]

The USA has clinched a spot in South Africa 2010! USA won 3-2 vs Honduras in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Earlier Mexico was the first in the CONCACAF region to clinch a spot with a 4-1 home spanking of El Salvador. Of Honduras and Costa Rica, one will be assured a spot and the other will have to play off vs the fifth-ranked team in South America. There was World Cup qualifying play throughout the world; the latest to clinch include Italy, Germany, Serbia, and Chile.

[Snaxx]

One of the stars of the team, Charlie Davies, was badly injured in a car wreck in the DC area.

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_i ... overy.html

[snomaim]

And the US won the CONCACAF group by pulling out a 2-2 tie against Costa Rica is stoppage time. Great comeback after being down 2-0!

[Bob78164]

And the US won the CONCACAF group by pulling out a 2-2 tie against Costa Rica is stoppage time. Great comeback after being down 2-0!

Will that affect the U.S. team's seeding at all? --Bob

[snomaim]

And the US won the CONCACAF group by pulling out a 2-2 tie against Costa Rica is stoppage time. Great comeback after being down 2-0!

Will that affect the U.S. team's seeding at all? --Bob

Under FIFA's formula, seeding is based 50% on current world rankings and 50% of performance in the past World Cups. Tonight's tie probably won't affect the U'S' team's seeding at all.

[Snaxx]

And the US won the CONCACAF group by pulling out a 2-2 tie against Costa Rica is stoppage time. Great comeback after being down 2-0!

Will that affect the U.S. team's seeding at all? --Bob

Under FIFA's formula, seeding is based 50% on current world rankings and 50% of performance in the past World Cups. Tonight's tie probably won't affect the U'S' team's seeding at all.

The last-minute tying goal knocked Costa Rica down from a sure World Cup spot to a playoff vs Uruguay for one of the final berths in South Africa. I was there in DC and just got back to my hotel. This is the first time I've been to all five of the final round home qualifying matches.

snomaim: I like the Chicago Sting avatar.

[Appa23]

And the US won the CONCACAF group by pulling out a 2-2 tie against Costa Rica is stoppage time. Great comeback after being down 2-0!

Will that affect the U.S. team's seeding at all? --Bob

Under FIFA's formula, seeding is based 50% on current world rankings and 50% of performance in the past World Cups. Tonight's tie probably won't affect the U'S' team's seeding at all.

Just a point of clarification/accuracy -- FIFA has not stated how it will be determining the seeds, other than South Africa gets one as the host country. In the past, it has based seeding on that 50-50 split, with the "past performance" being weighted heaviest to the most recent World Cup,and then diminshing weight for the next two most recent Cups.

However, there have been some indications that FIFA might give more weight or complete emphasis on its own rankings. With the USA being highly ranked, but only getting out of the group stage on 2002, its seeding would be higher with greater weight on rankings, and its ranking remains higher with a tie than a loss.

Most likely, the USA had no shot at gathering one of the 7 seeds in 2010. However, if it does well in South Africa, it would have a great shot at being seeded in 2014 in Brazil.

[snomaim]

[snomaim: I like the Chicago Sting avatar.

Thanks. The Sting was a colorful, exciting team, especially in 1981 when they beat the Cosmos for the NASL title and kept winning games with goals in the closing minutes. They played some games in Wrigley Field that season and it was a terrific place to watch soccer.

[Snaxx]

[snomaim: I like the Chicago Sting avatar.

Thanks. The Sting was a colorful, exciting team, especially in 1981 when they beat the Cosmos for the NASL title and kept winning games with goals in the closing minutes. They played some games in Wrigley Field that season and it was a terrific place to watch soccer.

My father took me and my sister to Cosmos games in NJ during the late 70s until the NASL folded. They were like the Yankees with all the stars and payroll and winning the title every other year.

[andrewjackson]

Woooo Hooooo for the USA.

I was anxiously trying to find internet access while on my safari to check soccer scores especially the U.S. result against Honduras. I was very happy to see the next morning that the U.S. had won the game and qualified.

Houston Dynamo results were not so good while I was gone.

[andrewjackson]

The Major League Soccer regular season has ended for 2009. Columbus wins back-to-back Supporters' Shields for the best record in the regular season. Soccer is 3 points for a win and 1 point for a tie. It's a little more complex but basically the top 8 teams make the playoffs.

Final League Standings:

1. Columbus Crew 49 pts
2. Los Angeles Galaxy 48 pts
3. Houston Dynamo 48 pts
4. Seattle Sounders FC 47 pts
5. Chicago Fire 45 pts
6. Chivas USA 45 pts
7. New England Revolution 42 pts
8. Real Salt Lake 40 pts
--------------------------
9. Colorado Rapids 40 pts
10. D.C. United 40 pts
11. Toronto FC 39 pts
12. FC Dallas 39 pts
13. Kansas City Wizards 33 pts
14. San Jose Earthquakes 30 pts
15. New York Red Bulls 21 pts

2009 Playoff matchups

The first round is two games home-and-away, the team with the most total goals in the two games advances. The lower seeded team hosts the first game:

East
#1 Columbus v. #4 Real Salt Lake
#2 Chicago v. #3 New England

West
#1 LA Galaxy v. #4 Chivas USA
#2 Houston v. #3 Seattle

The first game is on Thursday, Oct. 29 with Houston visiting Seattle. The game is on ESPN2 at 10 pm EDT. Also of note is the Galaxy v. Chivas USA series. It is the ultimate subway series since the two teams share a stadium in Carson, CA. The first game in that series is on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 5 pm EST. It looks like that game will be on ESPN2 as well.

[andrewjackson]

First result on Thursday night:

Seattle 0-0 Houston

It was a very hard fought, physical game in Seattle but no goals. That's a good result for Houston since we just need the win by any number of goals at home on November 8 to win the series. If that game is tied then there is overtime and potentially a shootout but we get all that at our stadium.

BTW, 35,800 in attendance last night in Seattle. And that was for a game that was announced on Sunday. Soccer is doing quite well in Seattle. We should have around 30,000 for the game in Houston.

Next up in the playoffs is Columbus at Salt Lake on Saturday at 6 pm EDT. No national TV coverage for that one.

[Rexer25]

...

No national TV coverage for that one.

Yeah, or Annie's game either. What's up with that?

[earendel]

First result on Thursday night:

Seattle 0-0 Houston

It was a very hard fought, physical game in Seattle but no goals. That's a good result for Houston since we just need the win by any number of goals at home on November 8 to win the series. If that game is tied then there is overtime and potentially a shootout but we get all that at our stadium.

BTW, 35,800 in attendance last night in Seattle. And that was for a game that was announced on Sunday. Soccer is doing quite well in Seattle. We should have around 30,000 for the game in Houston.

Next up in the playoffs is Columbus at Salt Lake on Saturday at 6 pm EDT. No national TV coverage for that one.

So what was the deal with the goalie getting a yellow card?

[andrewjackson]

First result on Thursday night:

Seattle 0-0 Houston

It was a very hard fought, physical game in Seattle but no goals. That's a good result for Houston since we just need the win by any number of goals at home on November 8 to win the series. If that game is tied then there is overtime and potentially a shootout but we get all that at our stadium.

BTW, 35,800 in attendance last night in Seattle. And that was for a game that was announced on Sunday. Soccer is doing quite well in Seattle. We should have around 30,000 for the game in Houston.

Next up in the playoffs is Columbus at Salt Lake on Saturday at 6 pm EDT. No national TV coverage for that one.

So what was the deal with the goalie getting a yellow card?

He bumped into that whiny bitch Montero who promptly fell down. As usual.

[earendel]

First result on Thursday night:

Seattle 0-0 Houston

It was a very hard fought, physical game in Seattle but no goals. That's a good result for Houston since we just need the win by any number of goals at home on November 8 to win the series. If that game is tied then there is overtime and potentially a shootout but we get all that at our stadium.

BTW, 35,800 in attendance last night in Seattle. And that was for a game that was announced on Sunday. Soccer is doing quite well in Seattle. We should have around 30,000 for the game in Houston.

Next up in the playoffs is Columbus at Salt Lake on Saturday at 6 pm EDT. No national TV coverage for that one.

So what was the deal with the goalie getting a yellow card?

He bumped into that whiny bitch Montero who promptly fell down. As usual.

It looked like more than just an incidental bump. Granted Montero took a dive, but still...

[andrewjackson]

So what was the deal with the goalie getting a yellow card?

He bumped into that whiny bitch Montero who promptly fell down. As usual.

It looked like more than just an incidental bump. Granted Montero took a dive, but still...

Varying opinions on that. I guess I'll have to go back and look at the replay again. Onstad can get a little fired up at times. While watching live I didn't see Onstad do anything that bad. Wearing the orange shirt can sometimes affect my impartiality. Of course, the Seattle fans are calling for him to be indicted on assault charges.

[andrewjackson]

I found an online clip. It looks to me like Onstad was charging out to dispute something with the ref and collided with Montero.

It's about two minutes into this highlight package.

http://web.mlsnet.com/media/video.jsp?c ... id=7103829

Onstad definitely threw his chest out to make it more of a collision but I don't think his original intent was to contact Montero. It looks to me like he was looking over Montero and ran into him.

[andrewjackson]

The rest of the MLS playoff results from the weekend:

Real Salt Lake 1-0 Columbus
New England 2-1 Chicago
Chivas USA 2-2 LA Galaxy

2nd leg schedule (times are EST, home team is first):

Thursday, November 5
Columbus Crew v. Real Salt Lake 8:00 p.m. ESPN2

Saturday, November 7
Chicago Fire v. New England 8:30 p.m. FSC

Sunday, November 8
Houston Dynamo v. Seattle Sounders FC 3:00 p.m. TeleFutura
Los Angeles Galaxy v. Chivas USA 7:30 p.m. ESPN2

One more notable fact. The Galaxy v. Chivas USA playoff series is the first in U.S. pro sports history to be played between teams that share a stadium since the World Series of 1944. Who were the teams?

Oh, and the USA Under-17 boys soccer team has advanced to the round of 16 in the U-17 World Cup being played in Nigeria. They face Italy on Wednesday.

[snomaim]

One more notable fact. The Galaxy v. Chivas USA playoff series is the first in U.S. pro sports history to be played between teams that share a stadium since the World Series of 1944. Who were the teams?

Spoiler

The St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns with the Cardinals winning 4 games to 2.

[andrewjackson]

One more notable fact. The Galaxy v. Chivas USA playoff series is the first in U.S. pro sports history to be played between teams that share a stadium since the World Series of 1944. Who were the teams?

Spoiler

The St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns with the Cardinals winning 4 games to 2.

You got it.

The complete list:

1921 World Series - Polo Grounds - NY Yankees v. NY Giants
1922 World Series - Polo Grounds - NY Yankees v. NY Giants
1927 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals - Montreal Forum - Montreal Canadiens v. Montreal Maroons
1928 Stanley Cup Semifinals - Montreal Forum- Montreal Canadiens v. Montreal Maroons
1929 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals - Madison Square Garden - NY Rangers v. NY Americans
1938 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals - Madison Square Garden - NY Rangers v. NY Americans
1944 World Series - Sportsman's Park - St. Louis Cardinals v. St. Louis Browns
2009 MLS Conference Semifinals - Home Depot Center - LA Galaxy v. Chivas USA

[andrewjackson]

Huge upset in the MLS playoffs last night:

Columbus 2-3 Real Salt Lake, so RSL wins the series on total goals 4-2. Columbus scored the first two last night to take a 2-1 overall lead in the series but Salt Lake came back with three straight goals to win the series. RSL was the last team to make it into the playoffs and Columbus is the defending MLS Cup champ and had the best record in the league the last two years.

It's right up there with Houston's collapse against New York in the first round last year as far as biggest upsets in the league's history.

Real Salt Lake moves on to face the winner of the Chicago-New England series which concludes on Saturday night.

[andrewjackson]

Final first round results:

RSL defeats Columbus on aggregate: 4-2
Chicago defeats New England on aggregate:
LA Galaxy defeats Chivas USA on aggregate: 3-2
Houston defeats Seattle on aggregate: 1-0

The Houston-Seattle game on Sunday went to overtime but Houston won it on a goal in the 95th minute. Wooooooo Hoooooooooooooo. I'm still hoarse. 120 minutes is a long time to sing.

Conference Finals

WESTERN: Friday, Nov. 13, Houston Dynamo @ LA Galaxy, 8 pm PST
EASTERN: Saturday, Nov. 14, Real Salt Lake @ Chicago Fire, 7 pm CST

I'm flying to LA on Friday and back on Saturday.

[Bob78164]

The USA has clinched a spot in South Africa 2010! USA won 3-2 vs Honduras in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Earlier Mexico was the first in the CONCACAF region to clinch a spot with a 4-1 home spanking of El Salvador. Of Honduras and Costa Rica, one will be assured a spot and the other will have to play off vs the fifth-ranked team in South America. There was World Cup qualifying play throughout the world; the latest to clinch include Italy, Germany, Serbia, and Chile.

Nate Silver (formerly of Baseball Prospectus and more recently of FiveThirtyEight.com) unveiled today on ESPN his soccer rankings, which are explicitly intended to be predictive. The link explains Nate's methodology in his usual exhaustive detail. --Bob

[Appa23]

The USA has clinched a spot in South Africa 2010! USA won 3-2 vs Honduras in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Earlier Mexico was the first in the CONCACAF region to clinch a spot with a 4-1 home spanking of El Salvador. Of Honduras and Costa Rica, one will be assured a spot and the other will have to play off vs the fifth-ranked team in South America. There was World Cup qualifying play throughout the world; the latest to clinch include Italy, Germany, Serbia, and Chile.

Nate Silver (formerly of Baseball Prospectus and more recently of FiveThirtyEight.com) unveiled today on ESPN his soccer rankings, which are explicitly intended to be predictive. The link explains Nate's methodology in his usual exhaustive detail. --Bob

Exhaustive detail or not, the rankings have some obvious mistakes. Obviously, Uruguay and Chile are ranked much too high at this time. (His ranking of Uruguay, which still needs to get past Costa Rica to qualify, especially is laughable.)

I will examine the methodology to see how he incorporates some of the nuances of the "beautiful game", particularly with international competition.