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Sounders vs. New England and the Playoffs
Sounders, 9-6-11, 38pts, 3rd place Western Division
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New England Revolution, 9-8-7, 34pts, 4th place Eastern Division
Last meeting: 8/20/09, Revs 1-0 victory
Two questions arise from last week's 0-0 tie against Chivas: Will we ever score at home again? And will we make the playoffs?
Montero at Qwest last Saturday, Photo by Jack Hunter.
Another chance for a Qwest goal won't happen again until October 24th when we host Dallas (who, by the way, stunned LA two weeks ago with a goal filled 6-3 victory).
Until then, let's worry about the playoffs.
Our chances got a boost last week with some other games around the league: Houston downed Salt Lake, LA thrashed Toronto, and hapless San Jose tied Colorado twice in one week (?), most recently on Wednesday. All three losers are tight on our heels in the playoff race.
There's a bevy of speculation on who will make the top 8; most experts agree , Seattle will squeak through, perhaps barely.
Sigi's aim is 45 points, seven more points in four games. You think that'd be easy—two wins and two ties; two wins, a tie and a loss; three wins and a loss. So many combinations, how hard could it be?
Pretty hard. Before we come back home for Dallas, we have to go through league leaders Columbus in Columbus, where no team has defeated the hosts. (We also play desperate Kansas City.)
First, though, we face New England today.
Last time we played the Revs, they squelched our home field advantage with a 1-0 defeat on a sloppy goal by Shalrie Joseph—a tall dreadlocked Grenadian, I hadn't noticed before the match. Now noticed.
NE has incentive—victory would keep their hopes alive; losing would effectively snuff any chances they have of an extended season of glory.
Pretty hard. Before we come back home for Dallas, we have to go through league leaders Columbus in Columbus, where no team has defeated the hosts. (We also play desperate Kansas City.)
First, though, we face New England today.
Last time we played the Revs, they squelched our home field advantage with a 1-0 defeat on a sloppy goal by Shalrie Joseph—a tall dreadlocked Grenadian, I hadn't noticed before the match. Now noticed.
NE has incentive—victory would keep their hopes alive; losing would effectively snuff any chances they have of an extended season of glory.
We have more space to breathe: We've got 3 games after this, after all, two wins and a tie would give us 45, but do we really want to make it that close?
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