MLS Week 17

[Gotham Gator]

After a midweek set of U.S. Open Cup games, MLS play restarts on Friday with a rolling set of games for July 4th weekend and week. Games on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday (the later two days being considered part of Week 18 by the league).

Highlights include...

Houston hosting Philly on Saturday night
New York hosting New Jersey on Sunday afternoon
Colorado hosting Portland on Monday night

 

[Gotham Gator]

By the way, we didn't have threads to discuss the games the last couple of weeks, so I want to bring up the absolute screw job the refs put on Toronto in their game against Orlando. Late in a tie game, the Orlando goalie blatantly fouls a Toronto player in the box, with no PK called. Then a very soft PK is given to Orlando in the 9th minute of stoppage time. Ridiculous - basically took 3 points from Toronto and gave them to Orlando. There was also a really soft PK that gave Portland the win over Houston in the 90th minute.

You can see these below - along with some LA Galaxy thuggery - in an excellent version of Instant Replay.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/...handball-instant-replay-week-16?autoplay=true

 

[LionNYC]

After a midweek set of U.S. Open Cup games, MLS play restarts on Friday with a rolling set of games for July 4th weekend and week. Games on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday (the later two days being considered part of Week 18 by the league).

Highlights include...

Houston hosting Philly on Saturday night
New York hosting New Jersey on Sunday afternoon
Colorado hosting Portland on Monday night

Interestingly, our July 6th game versus New England is included in this week of MLS play (at least for fantasy purposes).

 

[adam]

By the way, we didn't have threads to discuss the games the last couple of weeks, so I want to bring up the absolute screw job the refs put on Toronto in their game against Orlando. Late in a tie game, the Orlando goalie blatantly fouls a Toronto player in the box, with no PK called. Then a very soft PK is given to Orlando in the 9th minute of stoppage time. Ridiculous - basically took 3 points from Toronto and gave them to Orlando. There was also a really soft PK that gave Portland the win over Houston in the 90th minute.

You can see these below - along with some LA Galaxy thuggery - in an excellent version of Instant Replay.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/...handball-instant-replay-week-16?autoplay=true

Also don't forget in the lead up to the Copa final, Portland was awarded 2 penalties in the last 5 minutes of the match to steal a win as well.

 

[mgarbowski]

By the way, we didn't have threads to discuss the games the last couple of weeks, so I want to bring up the absolute screw job the refs put on Toronto in their game against Orlando. Late in a tie game, the Orlando goalie blatantly fouls a Toronto player in the box, with no PK called. Then a very soft PK is given to Orlando in the 9th minute of stoppage time. Ridiculous - basically took 3 points from Toronto and gave them to Orlando. There was also a really soft PK that gave Portland the win over Houston in the 90th minute.

You can see these below - along with some LA Galaxy thuggery - in an excellent version of Instant Replay.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/...handball-instant-replay-week-16?autoplay=true

Two other calls stood out to me, one terrible one quite good. The PK awarded to Montreal when Drogba went down was ridiculous. He initiated the contact and took a ridiculous flop to the ground. On the other hand, the yellow given to Klejestan was solid. Very impressive for the ref to catch that there was no contact there.

 

[Gene]

You can see these below - along with some LA Galaxy thuggery - in an excellent version of Instant Replay.

Can't wait to see if the league has the balls to suspend dos Santos for that cheap shot late in the
L.A.--S.J. match.

 

[Gotham Gator]

Can't wait to see if the league has the balls to suspend dos Santos for that cheap shot late in the
L.A.--S.J. match.

Doubt it. It was yellow worthy but that's all. The league has let far worse go without comment - Lloyd Sam being the obvious example.

 

[Gene]

Free game tonight if anyone is interested in Howard's debut with the Rapids.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/watch/col-por

 

[Gotham Gator]

Watching Orlando-Dallas and seeing the Colorado game too.

To date, we've been rooting against our East rivals so that we can maximize our playoff chances. At what point do we stop rooting for our East rivals to lose and start rooting against teams ahead of us in the Supporters' Shield standings? Probably not yet, in my estimation, but at least it is now a question.

 

[Ulrich]

Watching Orlando-Dallas and seeing the Colorado game too.

To date, we've been rooting against our East rivals so that we can maximize our playoff chances. At what point do we stop rooting for our East rivals to lose and start rooting against teams ahead of us in the Supporters' Shield standings? Probably not yet, in my estimation, but at least it is now a question.

Any crossover match involving a west team ahead of us while playing an east opponent should hopefully end in a tie. If two west and one above us then hope for a loss. Two west and both above hope for the tie.

 

[EganSoccerWords]

Watching Orlando-Dallas and seeing the Colorado game too.

To date, we've been rooting against our East rivals so that we can maximize our playoff chances. At what point do we stop rooting for our East rivals to lose and start rooting against teams ahead of us in the Supporters' Shield standings? Probably not yet, in my estimation, but at least it is now a question.

If we win the Eastern Conference, we get a CONCACAF champions league berth. The Supporter's Shield is a nice trophy but I would rather the CCL berth.

 

[adam]

If we win the Eastern Conference, we get a CONCACAF champions league berth. The Supporter's Shield is a nice trophy but I would rather the CCL berth.

Didn't think of that. If we win the East and qualify for CCL, no matter what happens in the playoffs, the season was a HUGE success!

 

[Taurus]

Didn't think of that. If we win the East and qualify for CCL, no matter what happens in the playoffs, the season was a HUGE success!

Agreed. Somewhat equivalent to a newly promoted EPL club coming out top four.