Association Football

Wow – what an end to the season. Heartbreaking late goals, a heart-warming and sentimental annihilation in New York and a once lowly franchise making the playoffs for the first time in their glistening stadium. Here are the highlights:

Red Bulls show some pride and spirit in their last game at Giants stadium by annihilating Toronto 5-0 and dumping them from the playoffs. This must be a hard one to swallow for our Maple Leaf friends north of the border, especially in light of another expansion franchise making the playoffs in its first year. Toronto looked sure to make the playoffs against lowly New York, now they are looking at another long offseason. In the collective bargaining talks this summer, expect the Toronto ownership to push hard for expanding the salary cap. They surely want to splash more cash to turn this team into a contender.

New England takes care of business and makes the playoffs for the eighth straight year. The Revs looked to be in the worst shape going into the weekend, playing at Columbus. But they got a late goal and knocked Colorado out of the playoffs. If the Revs didn’t play a million miles outside of the city, this would be one elite franchise. Steve Nicol just finds a way to make this team tick, despite all the injuries and departures. Shalrie Joseph may not win the MVP, but he is probably more important to his team than any other player on the planet.

DC United gives up late penalty to lose tie to Kansas City and eventually watching Seattle end their season (and Dallas’). To United’s credit they ended the season with a win against Columbus, a tie on the road in which they led against a Mexican side at altitude and they had the lead going into the XX minute. Rodney Wallace also hit the inside of the post in the fourth minute of stoppage time. This is a team that looked a little snake bit and one wonders if all those draws aren’t down to fatigue from some aging legs. Expect wholesale changes before next year and a new designated player.

Seattle dumps Dallas and Dc United. Seattle must really have it in for DC United. A quick browse of the comments at Soccer Insider reveal what is becoming an intense rivalry. DC after tying Kansas City needed, Dallas to tie with Seattle or they were done. A late goal by Seattle crushed DC’s playoff dreams – just as they came to RFK and beat DC for the US open cup. Hats off to Seattle. They built a solid and exciting team. Memo to Philly, Portland, and Vancouver – this is how you build a team. Dallas, on the other hand, came so close to a miraculous end of the season, reminiscent of the Colorado Rockies playoff run. They are the one team that will likely go into the offseason feeling good about themselves.

Real Salt Lake gets it done against Colorado. Robbie Findley’s two first half goals put RSL in the playoffs. Good for them. They currently have the best stadium in the league and hopefully this will make this Jazz obsessed city a little soccer crazy – while I am bumbed about United, sometimes it is good to spread the playoffs around.

Filed under: MLS |