Daily Sweeper, 08.27: “Special” Playoff Edition; The Hole Where LA Once Was

- ‘Twas a subtle thing, but a couple intriguing switches hit the standings thanks to Week 21. First, Chivas USA swiped FC Dallas’ spot as one of the “Conference Seeds” out West - i.e. Chivas now sits in 2nd place in the West, which means, so long as they stay there, they’re above the fray. No less interesting is what’s happening within said fray: unless my math sucks - which could certainly happen - thanks to their horrifically bloody slaughtering of the LA Galaxy, the Colorado Rapids pipped the Columbus Crew for the eighth and final playoff spot over the weekend.

To pull out the ol’ “if the playoffs started today” thing, here’s what we’re looking at right now:

Conference Seeds: New England Revolution, DC United (East); Houston Dynamo, Chivas USA (West)

The Fray: FC Dallas, Red Bull New York, Kansas City Wizards, Colorado Rapids.

Unlike a few people, I’m late in appreciating just how groovy the New Format is: Chicago is out of the playoff picture today, and their goal-differential isn’t helping them a whole lot either, but they do sit just one point behind both Colorado and Columbus (who’s only behind the Rapids on goal differential) and they have a game in hand against both. That’s as tight a three-way race as you’re ever likely to see.

- That’s the happy side of the playoffs: one can find the Dark Side at the very bottom of the most recent “Crew Review” - and what better venue can one choose for a short history of playoff futility than the Crew’s local paper? Here’s the paragraph on that:

“Barring a miracle, Real Salt Lake will miss the playoffs for the third consecutive season. If the Crew does likewise, they will join D.C. United (2000-2002) as the only active teams to miss the playoffs three seasons in a row.”

- FYI, you can find some tactical/strategic points of interest regarding the Crew’s shot at the playoffs through the above link. A couple similar pieces are out there on the good and bad of some other teams, notably the New England Revolution and the Kansas City Wizards.

- If you’re looking for a big beautiful wrap up, let me once again recommend Steve Davis’ weekly (w)results wrap for MLSnet.com. What can you find in there? How about: cause to fear Chivas (big home stand coming); Conor Casey’s uptick in form; DC’s rock-solid run, plus evidence that Troy Perkins’ game against Toronto looked every bit as good as the highlights made it look; what’s wrong with Eddie Johnson and what’s right with Cuauhtemoc Blanco; and, at the very end, LA’s injury list - holy shit…that’s just…awful…

- Speaking of Blanco, there’s some really interesting tidbits in Grant Wahl’s profile piece on the Great Mexican’s arrival. How ’bout this one: “Even though MLS officials have long proclaimed their desire to reach Hispanic fans — who comprise about 50 percent of the league’s supporters — Osorio is one of only two Latino coaches among the 13 in the league.” No kidding? And to think, there’s an initiative in place to reach still more Hispanic fans, as Andrea Canales reveals on USSoccerplayers.com. The Blanco piece has a thought or two on how to do this (who doesn’t need “Hispanic flair”?) and some other good stuff besides.

- Now…turning to the LA horrorshow: the heavy-hitting pundits are really laying into the Galaxy Front Office, as well as AEG. Andrea Canales took an opening shot last week, but today (or late last week) Ives Galarcep adds to her charges of Beckham abuse; Steve Davis piles on by equating the Galaxy execs and coaches to unsupervised children. Shocking use of adjectives in both…believe me.

On the same subject, Red Bull Rising questions the fairness of Frank Yallop going down with the Ship Alexi Built. He’s right to point out the coach usually does go first, but I really, really doubt Yallop will be the only man to hear the last strains of Nearer, My God, to Thee. Alexi Lalas is toast, soon to be toast of the unemployable variety. Just read what Davis and Galarcep write about the man; near as I can judge, neither man says anything about Lalas I haven’t read (or written) before. Lalas will be lucky to work as a GM in little league.

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