New England and Houston clinch playoff spots
September 17, 2007 - Major League Soccer (MLS) News Release
NEW YORK (Monday, Sept. 17, 2007) - By winning their respective matches over the weekend, the New England Revolution and Houston Dynamo secured berths in the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs, bringing the total number of teams to clinch a spot to three. D.C. United clinched a spot last Wednesday.
Five spots remain unclaimed as 10 teams vie for a chance to reach MLS Cup 2007 on Nov. 18 in Washington, D.C. Among those, Chivas USA is the closest to clinching, as only a wild sequence of outcomes could remove them from playoff contention. While the Colorado Rapids could match Chivas USA's current point total of 44, they would need to make up a large margin in goal differential to win the tiebreaker. Thus, Chivas USA can clinch with a win or a tie in their next game. FC Dallas could also clinch this week with a win and some help from other results.
Chivas USA:
Will clinch a playoff spot IF:
Chivas USA defeats or ties Kansas City on Saturday
FC Dallas:
Will clinch a playoff spot IF:
FC Dallas defeats Chicago on Thursday AND
Colorado loses to Real Salt Lake on Saturday AND
Columbus fails to win against Toronto FC on Saturday
No other teams can clinch playoff berths this weekend, but none can be mathematically eliminated, either. The regular season ends Oct. 21, MLS Cup Playoffs begin Thursday, Oct. 25 on ESPN2.
If the season ended today, the eight teams below would qualify. They are listed according to their would-be opponents in two-game, aggregate goals playoff series:
Eastern Conference Semifinals Western Conference Semifinals
D.C. United vs. Kansas City Wizards Houston Dynamo vs. Chicago Fire*
New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls Chivas USA vs. FC Dallas
*As the fifth team to qualify from the Eastern Conference, Chicago would shift over to become the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket. Full qualification and seeding procedure is below.
MLS CUP PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
Individual clubs have information on specific dates for their respective home matches.
EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS:
Game 1: Thurs., Oct. 25 - Sun., Oct. 28
Game 2: Thurs., Nov. 1 - Sun., Nov. 4
WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS:
Game 1: Thurs., Oct. 25 - Sun., Oct. 28
Game 2: Thurs., Nov. 1 - Sun., Nov. 4
CONFERENCE FINALS :
Thurs., Nov. 8 teams and site TBD (ESPN2)
Sat., Nov. 10 teams and site TBD
MLS CUP
Sun., Nov. 18, Noon (ABC) at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.
MLS PLAYOFF RACE
Team Points Games Left Max Pts.
*D.C. United 49 5 64
*NE Revolution 45 5 60
*Houston Dynamo 45 4 57
Chivas USA 44 6 62
FC Dallas 39 6 57
NY Red Bulls 37 5 52
Kansas City Wizards 36 5 51
Chicago Fire 30 6 48
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Colorado Rapids 29 5 44
Columbus Crew 28 5 43
Toronto FC 21 6 39
Real Salt Lake 19 6 37
LA Galaxy 17 8 41
Key:
* Has clinched a playoff spot
Blue - Automatic berths in MLS Cup Playoffs
Black - Wildcard berths in MLS Cup Playoffs
Red - Out of playoffs
The qualification and seeding are as follow:
Eight teams qualify for the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs
Playoff berths will be determined by points in the standings upon the completion of the regular season on Oct. 21; all 13 teams will have played 30 games.
If two teams are tied on points, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head results, the second tiebreaker is goal differential, and the third is goals scored for the season. (Subsequent tiebreakers are available in the Fact and Record Book).
The top two teams in each conference qualify and are seeded 1 & 2 in their respective four-team playoff conference brackets.
The four MLS teams with the next most points, regardless of conference, receive "wildcard" berths.
The four wildcard teams will be seeded according to conference first.
If more than four teams qualify from one conference, those finishing lower than fourth in their 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.
MLS GAMES THIS WEEK
(All times Eastern)
Wednesday, September 19
Los Angeles Galaxy at Real Salt Lake, 9:00 p.m. (HDNet)
Thursday, September 20
Chicago Fire at FC Dallas, 8:00 p.m. (ESPN2)
Saturday, September 22
Columbus Crew at Toronto FC, 3:30 p.m. (CBC)
New England Revolution at New York Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m. (HDNet)
Colorado Rapids at Real Salt Lake, 9:30 p.m. (FSC, FSE)
Kansas City Wizards at Chivas USA, 10: 30 p.m.
Sunday, September 23
D.C. United at Chicago Fire, 3:00 p.m. (TeleFutura)
FC Dallas at Los Angeles Galaxy, 8:00 p.m. (HDNet)
Major League Soccer Stories from September 17, 2007
- Kansas City Wizards Weekly Update - Sporting Kansas City
- Major League Soccer Hires Paul Mott, Expands Team Services Department - MLS
- Chicago Fire Weekly Notes - Chicago Fire FC
- Revs travel to rival New York for key conference game on Saturday night - New England Revolution
- Kansas City Wizards Forward Scott Sealy Named MLS Player of the Week - Sporting Kansas City
- New England and Houston clinch playoff spots - MLS
- Revolution Clinch Sixth Straight Playoff Berth - New England Revolution
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
