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Three-nil: The score of choice in the MLS
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The ground in the Western conference is starting to get just a little bit shaky. Not a rumble, mind you, but something more along the lines of a slight tremor as the San Jose Earthquakes continue to make their late-season march, with the hope of rocking out a 7.0 or so on the Richter scale by the end of the year.
OK, OK, I was reaching there.
But the point remains that after several impressive results at home, the Quakes rolled right in to Carson, Calif., on Saturday and came out with a point against a Chivas USA team in desperate need of a win. The nil-nil draw isn’t going to make the highlight reels (a tough task without any goals to speak of), but any point is starting to become crucial as the season keeps progressing. San Jose now sits at 22 points and just two out of a tie for fourth place in the West (four points out of third and five out of second).
But the most impressive results from this weekend came from the East.
While three games ended in draws (KC/FC Dallas, SJ/Chivas, NE/Toronto FC), D.C. United, Columbus and New York all delivered statement games with 3-0 decisions over Colorado, Real Salt Lake and Houston, respectively.
New York is on fire with three straight wins, and this shocker came against a red-hot Houston team fresh off a 4-0 dismantling of Chivas this week. Again, that Barcelona romp might have been just the ticket….
For Columbus, it was a strong showing against the West’s second place team and lifted them into a tie for first in the East with New England. For D.C., it was a bounce-back from Wednesday’s 2-1 loss on the road to New England; D.C. and New York are now tied at 31 points in the East, good for fourth place.
D.C. has been nothing if not decisive this year with 10 wins, 10 losses and just one draw. Every other team has at least three draws, and six of the seven teams in the West have at least six draws.
But let’s go back to the West for a second. Even with the loss, Houston is looking strong and sits five points clear at the top of the table after Wednesday’s 4-0 win against Chivas. By having three teams from the conference all tie on Saturday, the log jam in the middle has not moved at all, and the 2nd through 7th place teams are separated by just five points. With all the ties in the conference, we have a great race for the playoffs but are getting close to assuring that the 7th- and 8th-place teams for the playoffs will both come from the East.
Especially for a team like the Galaxy, that means it has to grab third place or it will be sitting at home during the playoffs for a second consecutive season while Don Garber and the MLS front office drink away their pain at some bar in L.A. with Alexi Lalas….
