FCD News Recap
September 19th, 2007 . 7:16 am . By: Chamo JonesGuerrero still hurting – Chicago Tribune – Luis Arroyave Daily Ticket – Star Telegram
Sept. 18 – Evening Training – FCD Blog Ruiz focuses on team goals, not own – MLSnet.com – Steve Hunt
M.L.S. Playoff Picture Coming Into Focus - NY Times – Jack Bell
I have this to say to Jack: Making the playoffs is a given this year; what Dallas fans are interested in is securing one of the top two seeds of the division to guarantee their 2008 Super Liga appearance followed by a playoff run that extends past the first round of the playoffs. Luciano Emilio is front-runner for MLS honors – Soccer America – Ridge Mahoney
Juan Toja’s chances are slipping away on his injured ankle. 2 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
To improve next year’s playoff tournament, I would like to see the following:
1. a complete separation from the east/west conference thing. Conferences are still important for travel/scheduling so keep them for the normal season. Plus we already have several rivalries going. However take the conference thing out of the tournament.
2. seed the tournament with the top eight season points regardless of conference
3. set it up like a real tournament with one group having seeds 1, 8, 3, 6 and the other group having seeds 2, 7, 4, 5
4. home and away for for group play, higher seed home goes first
5. single elimination afterwards with game played at higher seed
6. if two finalist are from same conference, who cares, the best plays the best on neutral ground
I think as the league approaches 16 teams, many of the points you bring up will be more feasible than they are now.
As far as playoff tie breakers go, I really like the way the Mexican League handles it. If teams are tied after the home and away series, the higher seed advances.
This tie breakere method impacts the playoff games because the lower seed is already down a goal, and they are forced to come out playing attacking soccer from the first minute. It would effectively end the boring 0-0 first legs that seem to plague the playoffs currently. And it also impacts the regular season because it gives teams another incentive for winning as many regular season games as possible.