Let's start with general info..If you don't know, the top 8 make the playoffs. KC and Chicago qualified on the last game of the season with KC pulling the upset win in Dallas and Chicago beating the LA Galaxy 1-0 in a winner advance match.
here's the matchups and first round game totals. The playoffs in MLS work in a 2 game series with home and home...
MLS Cup playoffs first leg
D.C. United vs. Chicago,
Oct. 25
Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Ill.
8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2
New England vs. New York,
Oct. 27
Giants Stadium, Meadowlands, N.J.
7:30 p.m. ET
Houston vs. Dallas,
Oct. 27
Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, Texas
8 p.m. ET
Chivas USA vs. Kansas,
Oct. 27
Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.
8:30 p.m. ET
Here are the odds in first leg games:
:00 PM10 /25 /07#
29751 DC UNITED o2½-105 +165
29752 CHICAGO FIRE u2½-125 +145
29753 Draw +205
USA SOCCER - Oct 27 6:00 PM
10 /27 /07
29755 HOUSTON DYNAMO o2½+110 +135
29756 FC DALLAS u2½-140 +185
29757 Draw +210
5:30 PM10 /27 /07#
29755 NE REVOLUTION o2½-150 +240
29756 NY RED BULLS u2½+120 +105
29757 Draw +205
6:00 PM10 /27 /07#
29759 CHIVAS USA o2½-130 +140
29760 KC WIZARDS u2½EV +175
29761 Draw +205
These games start this weekend. Here's a preview article from http://www.soccernet.com [soccernet.com]">www.soccernet.com (An ESPN owned/affiliated site)
MLS Cup playoff lineup setSteve Davis, ESPNsoccernet
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The goofy thing about MLS: Teams must shift in a hurry, accelerating from matches that don't mean much (62 percent of the clubs do make the playoffs, after all) to matches that mean everything.
Clubs that can quickly locate the next gear move on. Teams that can't, well, we hear that Cancun is nice right now.
Tony Quinn/WireImage
Can anyone stop Ben Olsen and D.C. United?Houston blew a chance to win the West when it couldn't score against 10-man Chivas USA over the weekend. Still, Dominic Kinnear's side has reason to feel good about a title defense, with Chivas suddenly knocked woozy by injury.
In the East, only something special from Juan Pablo Angel appears to stand between a D.C. United-New England conference final. Here's how all the teams look with the playoffs starting Thursday.
D.C. United (16-7-7 record, 55 points)
Good: The team continues to move the ball with authority through midfield, although a concerning disconnect with the forwards has stifled goal-scoring chances lately. The defense stabilized once Greg Vanney got acquainted with everyone. Ben Olsen is playing well and has the leadership chops that others feed off.
Bad: Goalkeeper Troy Perkins continues to have wobbly moments. Not by the bucket load, but in the playoffs, one can get you eliminated. And two points of a possible nine to finish the season is no way to go boldly into the postseason. Left back Marc Burch seemed to hit a rookie wall in the past few weeks.
Prospects: Just OK if Perkins can't get it together, or if Golden Boot winner Luciano Emilio (20 goals in 29 games) can't bounce back from the ankle injury he picked up over the weekend.
Chivas USA (15-7-8, 53 points)
Good: In terms of playing within well-defined roles, Preki's men do it as well as Houston or New England. Brad Guzan is the best goalkeeper in the playoffs, and no team was better at home; Chivas finished with a 10-1-4 record and a plus-20 goal difference. Jesse Marsch's contributions are underrated.
Bad: Injuries, not much of a problem this year, are dragging down the team at the worst possible time. Ante Razov's knee injury has probably eliminated him from the eight-team tournament. Now, Maykel Galindo is dealing with an ankle knock and an abdominal strain. Marsch, as valuable to his team as anybody in the league, and Francisco Mendoza are dealing with groin strains.
Prospects: In just two weeks they've gone from delicious to dicey because of the injuries. They do have the potential homefield advantage for the conference final, and no team was better at home in 2007.
Houston (15-8-7, 52 points)
Good: The Dynamo's back line is the gold standard in cohesion, allowing a league-fewest 23 goals. Goalkeeper Pat Onstad, even at 39, had a good season, crushing the previous league record for GAA (0.82). The team hasn't been this healthy in months, with Brad Davis and Stuart Holden now back from injury. With two good options to partner with Joseph Ngwenya, manager Dominic Kinnear can work the matchups.
Bad: Ricardo Clark's ridiculous whack at Carlos Ruiz and subsequent suspension won't help. Richard Mulrooney is a good replacement but can't cover the same ground. Houston has lost a little fizz since midsummer, when it was kicking everybody sideways. And now would be a good time for the Dwayne De Rosario of 2006 to step forward as opposed to the De Ro-lite of 2007.
Prospects: A favorable first-round matchup could sharpen the side before a likely conference final doozy at the Home Depot Center.
New England (14-8-8, 50 points)
Good: Michael Parkhurst was, once again, the league's top defender. (And now he's scoring goals, too!) Shalrie Joseph won't get much league MVP mention (holding mids rarely breach the conversation). That's too bad. He deserves it. Expect Taylor Twellman (16 goals) and Steve Ralston (14 assists) to hook up once or twice more.
Bad: Just like D.C. United, a late-season slump (one of a possible nine points to finish) is no way to crash the playoff party. Even manager Steve Nicol says, "You can't just turn the tap on and off." Nicol also has a little problem in midfield, where he may play Steve Ralston at the central attacking spot over Andy Dorman, who has been ineffective of late.
Prospects: Joseph and Parkhurst clean up a lot of issues caused by average marking backs. Past that, all the ingredients are there for a run at the domestic double.
FC Dallas (13-12-5, 44 points)
Good: Kenny Cooper made his first start since June on the regular season's final weekend, good news around a club with just five goals in its last six matches. Carlos Ruiz has looked a little sharper lately. Former center back Adrian Serioux, now playing in the midfield, looks better at that spot.
Bad: The team is still too young, too inexperienced in big games and just plain inconsistent, especially lately. Steve Morrow's team was one of the real surprises early in the season, but slumped late and finished 2-6-2. Plus, the club is just 1-4-2 at Pizza Hut Park since August.
Prospects: Morrow's men got a nightmarish matchup. The Texas rivalry hasn't been much of one so far, with Houston posting a 5-1-2 record and a minus-6 goal difference in two years.
Red Bull New York (12-11-7, 43 points)
Good: If only Red Bull's defense was a robust as its attack. Juan Pablo Angel, despite a night of Chicago Fire-esque finishing last Thursday, struck 19 times in 24 matches this year. Dane Richards, a strong candidate for rookie of the year, finished with a flourish. And nothing Jozy Altidore did this year damaged his ever-rising stock.
Bad: Don't let that season closer against Los Angeles fool you; the defense is a mess. Neither goalkeeper could lock down the spot this year. And Bruce Arena shuffled defenders like a deck of cards throughout the season, rotating one bad one for another over 30 matches.
Prospects: Angel, Altidore and whoever else attacks for Red Bull probably will have to come up with three goals a game to beat New England, and that's unlikely.
Chicago (10-10-10, 40 points)
Good: Cuauhtemoc Blanco is everything advertised and then some. How he continues to float around and get open, even though everybody knows the Fire want to play through him on every possession, is a mystery. He is the league's top playmaker at the moment, period. Dasan Robinson, C.J. Brown and Wilman Conde (now at holding midfielder) look good lately.
Bad: The forwards are plain awful. At least Chad Barrett works hard for chances, even if he finishes like a peg-legged pirate. Paulo Wanchope? Oh, my, where to start? He's slow, his first touch is horrendous, his runs are plodding and ineffective and his passing is horrible. Otherwise, he's pretty good. Chris Armas' age is showing.
Prospects: Manager Juan Carlos Osorio looked like a sorcerer, the way he magically turned around the Fire's sad season in July. But his propensity to go way-defensive way-early with a lead can undermine matches.
Kansas City (11-12-7, 40 points)
Good: Scott Sealy manned up and got his team in the playoffs with two goals in the finale. Jimmy Conrad continues to play well, although it's hard to see because the rest of the defense is so rickety. Davy Arnaud (four goals, nine assists this year) is steady and underrated.
Bad: Eddie Johnson had 12 goals and looked like a serious Golden Boot challenger on July 22. Since then he has three goals in 13 Wizards matches. He was just plain awful in the season finale when the team needed him most. There are too many problems in the back to list. Carlos Marinelli never truly seemed to fit in.
Prospects: Curt Onalfo's debut season as a pro coach started with a bang. But a weak defense will keep the team from moving past its first-round series, unless Chivas USA is too beat up by injury.
Steve Davis is a Dallas-based freelance writer who covers MLS for ESPNsoccernet. He can be reached at BigTexSoccer@yahoo.com.
Good info but I disagree on some of his takes. We'll see how it goes down. Look for plays on the first round this week-end in this thread. Good luck and I can't be the ONLY guy who plays soccer. Give it a whirl and back side bets with draw lines if your playing a side.
I'm out...gonna go study the UEFA CL board for tomorrow. I like two games but the lines suck.
