2020 Schedule Thread

Thought the GMS and DC handball game was different. So just 6 points lower due to PRO.

Also the 1-0 loss to Philadelphia in the MLS is Back was a regular season game. During the Philadelphia goal, I believe the Taty was fouled before the goal was scored. Maybe another point there.
You mean 4 points lower?
  • Red Bull we got 0 points, we would have gotten 1. +1
  • DCU we got 1 point, we would have gotten 3. +2
  • Toronto we got 0 points, we would have gotten 1. +1
 
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This doesn't give me the warm and fuzzys for the rest of the season...
This does not help much, but I checked their NYCFC figure and get 1.89, not 1.99. Double checked my work too.

Also, one reason the NYCFC strength of schedule is so high is that the team has 3H and 4A remaining, and the opponents of 2 of the Home games actually have better Away records than Home records to date (New England and Montreal). As a result, NYCFC gets the wrong side of the H/A split in 6 of 7 games. I don't think the Revs and Impact are actually road warriors. The Revs 4 Away wins are 2 in DC, 1 in Chicago, and 1 against Montreal in Orlando, for example.

So I think the 1.99 or even 1.89 overstates the real difficulty, but OTOH, Away games against Columbus and Orlando are legitimately tough,Toronto is for real even in Hartford, and weird sh!t seems to happen no matter where we play Red Bulls, so the schedule is pretty hard.
 
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We also play all the teams above us in the rankings. So beating them ourselves will ensure we gain points on them. I'm ok with that. What do we have to lose?!

2020 sucks, we lost 3 good players.. let's go for broke. If we can take them all out with our current squad, a cup run isn't out of reach..
 
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I think overall, our schedule has been tougher than average.

It was also made more difficult by the pre-pandemic games. Both road games, against Toronto and Columbus. The league really should have given extra home games post MLS is Back to the teams that played the first two on the road.
 
Looks like CCL is back on!

 
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Looks like CCL is back on!


They're saying it will be one game knockouts, so I guess the first leg games are voided?
 
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what shwafta said. would be unfair to void a 1st leg.
I agree, but continuing across 2 legs is not without issues. We were able to play at home (that it was not our usual home is nobody's fault but our own) while Tigres will presumably get a "home game" at some bubble location with limited to no fans. And if we score 2 goals or more at this neutral location, we get an Away goal advantage that isn't really fair to Tigres. It would make sense, I think,at a minimum, to suspend the AGR for these resumed legs. If the match is tied after 180 minutes, regardless of Away goals, go to extra time or kicks and ignore Away goals.

But there is a much bigger problem with the Club America- Atlanta matchup. CA won the first game 3-0 at Aztec Stadium, one of the toughest Away settings in the world. I don't think it is fair to force Atlanta to play Game 2 at a neutral site while having to live with the result of an actual away game at Aztec Stadium. As it turns out, Atlanta is crap and it probably doesn't matter, but it would be quite unfair to make them try to overcome a 3-0 away loss at some sterile campus like the Orlando Sports Complex. I'm not sure how the CCL committee will handle this. I could see them voiding the games. OTOH, I doubt they have the brass to take a win like that away from CA.
 
I agree, but continuing across 2 legs is not without issues. We were able to play at home (that it was not our usual home is nobody's fault but our own) while Tigres will presumably get a "home game" at some bubble location with limited to no fans. And if we score 2 goals or more at this neutral location, we get an Away goal advantage that isn't really fair to Tigres. It would make sense, I think,at a minimum, to suspend the AGR for these resumed legs. If the match is tied after 180 minutes, regardless of Away goals, go to extra time or kicks and ignore Away goals.

But there is a much bigger problem with the Club America- Atlanta matchup. CA won the first game 3-0 at Aztec Stadium, one of the toughest Away settings in the world. I don't think it is fair to force Atlanta to play Game 2 at a neutral site while having to live with the result of an actual away game at Aztec Stadium. As it turns out, Atlanta is crap and it probably doesn't matter, but it would be quite unfair to make them try to overcome a 3-0 away loss at some sterile campus like the Orlando Sports Complex. I'm not sure how the CCL committee will handle this. I could see them voiding the games. OTOH, I doubt they have the brass to take a win like that away from CA.

Your points are very valid. No matter what decision they make, there will be an unhappy side. Void 1st leg and the winning side will be upset. Don't void it and the losing side will feel it's unfair to have to make up goals in a neutral venue (if they were away the 1st leg). If I were on the committee, I would likely vote to remove the away goals rule but keep whatever 1st leg result is on the books. Having to go through this mess is no one's fault. Removing the away goals rule will at least even the playing field a bit, especially when home advantage was a big factor in a 1st leg win.

Crazy to think we will be going into CCL with a depleted roster though. Maxi and Sands should be good to go for that, but we will still be without Heber and Mitri, with no reinforcements in sight. We were able to play them toe to toe with a full roster and all our players in their preferred positions. I can't imagine going up against a stacked Tigres side with a depleted roster and Ring at wing or with Gudi at the left back so Vargas can toast him like Ruan did.
 
I agree, but continuing across 2 legs is not without issues. We were able to play at home (that it was not our usual home is nobody's fault but our own) while Tigres will presumably get a "home game" at some bubble location with limited to no fans. And if we score 2 goals or more at this neutral location, we get an Away goal advantage that isn't really fair to Tigres. It would make sense, I think,at a minimum, to suspend the AGR for these resumed legs. If the match is tied after 180 minutes, regardless of Away goals, go to extra time or kicks and ignore Away goals.

But there is a much bigger problem with the Club America- Atlanta matchup. CA won the first game 3-0 at Aztec Stadium, one of the toughest Away settings in the world. I don't think it is fair to force Atlanta to play Game 2 at a neutral site while having to live with the result of an actual away game at Aztec Stadium. As it turns out, Atlanta is crap and it probably doesn't matter, but it would be quite unfair to make them try to overcome a 3-0 away loss at some sterile campus like the Orlando Sports Complex. I'm not sure how the CCL committee will handle this. I could see them voiding the games. OTOH, I doubt they have the brass to take a win like that away from CA.
(Taking my precedence from UEFA), they didn't exactly care about that and had the teams play with away goals counting and everything. The difference there being that the teams actually got to play at home -- just without fans. It'll be interesting to see what CONCACAF decides due to the neutral venue conflict you mentioned above.

Also, Last week of december is way after NYCFC announces roster changes. Does that mean those players are obligated to play even if their option is declines or they move on? Since they would have been part of the team at the initial time. (I have a feeling there are some players like Torres who we might never see again or be declined)
 
(Taking my precedence from UEFA), they didn't exactly care about that and had the teams play with away goals counting and everything. The difference there being that the teams actually got to play at home -- just without fans. It'll be interesting to see what CONCACAF decides due to the neutral venue conflict you mentioned above.

Also, Last week of december is way after NYCFC announces roster changes. Does that mean those players are obligated to play even if their option is declines or they move on? Since they would have been part of the team at the initial time. (I have a feeling there are some players like Torres who we might never see again or be declined)
I think we can hold off on roster announcements. Any players that know they are likely to be released will probably be eager to get some extra minutes right before the transfer window.
 
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Also, Last week of december is way after NYCFC announces roster changes. Does that mean those players are obligated to play even if their option is declines or they move on? Since they would have been part of the team at the initial time. (I have a feeling there are some players like Torres who we might never see again or be declined)
I seem to remember that last year Seattle and Toronto were given extensions on roster moves due to MLS Cup.

(Taking my precedence from UEFA), they didn't exactly care about that and had the teams play with away goals counting and everything. The difference there being that the teams actually got to play at home -- just without fans. It'll be interesting to see what CONCACAF decides due to the neutral venue conflict you mentioned above.
I considered that and decided a "home game" at a neutral site is substantially worse than actual home without fans. But yes, CCL could disagree with me. The home team advantage in MLS is weaker this year but surprisingly (to me) robust, though as I remember, when the BL started it was actually reversed for a least the first few weeks. Then people stopped talking about it so maybe it went back to normal. But travel in a country like Germany is so much easier than in the US, even with the largely regional play we've been having in MLS. And for CCL purposes, it's North America and you're talking travel from say Montreal to Honduras absent a central location.

Finally, FWIW, the tweet the entire MLS article is based on, by a sports radio host in Canada, specifically says the quarterfinals (and all subsequent rounds) will be 1 game knockout. The quarterfinals is the round that was suspended (and never began for LAFC-Cruz Azul). But one always should be reluctant to put too much importance to the particular wording of a tweet.

 
I feel like it would be super weird to count a two-legged series when the first game happened nine months earlier. That's not a two-legged series, and if you're basically creating a new eight-team tournament out of this, might as well just start fresh for everyone.