~Soccer Thread~

[ELA]

Well, shit

[Entropy]

I thought Belgium would win it all earlier in the tourney.   France has been excellent.   IMO, France/Belgium were the two best teams this past 2 weeks. 

[utee94]

Agree, Ent.  

But Croatia is really good too.  Should be a really fun final, and the consolation game might not be so bad either, with Kane still vying for the Golden Boot.

[rolltidefan]

I thought Belgium would win it all earlier in the tourney.   France has been excellent.   IMO, France/Belgium were the two best teams this past 2 weeks.

i picked france to win it all (had them beating germany, lol). but for some reason i found myself rooting for belgium.
the semi's were great. crazy that croatia is only second team to come from behind at half to win a semi round game in history of wc.

[MaximumSam]

Frenchies get it done.  Half of the goals in the game were silly - own goal by Croatia, dumb handball by Croatia, France's goalie having an oopsie.  The other half were three stunning goals.  France deserved the win with their suffocating defense in the second half.

[Brutus Buckeye]

.

The US Open Cup Quarterfinals are set.



So Louisville is the lone USL team that will be barkin' with the big dawgs. They play the Chicago Fire. The Quarterfinal round is July 18th.

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As these games are about to get underway, none of the Eastern Conference teams currently hold a playoff spot in the MLS standings. You have to be in the top six, and Philly, Chicago and Orlando are 7, 8 and 9 respectively. So USL Louisville might be able to make a run in this thing.
In the Western Conference three out of four are currently holding playoff spots. LA, Sporting KC and Portland are 2, 3 and 4 respectively, while Houston is knocking on the door at the 7 spot. 
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The first leg of the Canadian Championship semifinals is also tonight. The only team that is currently holding an MLS Playoff spot is Montreal, and they are barely in at the 6 spot in the Eastern Conference. Vancouver is in the 8 spot in the Western Conference, and top seeded Toronto is bringing up the rear at the 10 spot in the Eastern Conference. So USL Ottawa could also make a run at this thing. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Philly, Chicago, Houston and LA all advance to the August 8th US Open Cup Semifinals.

So LAFC is the only team that currently holds a playoff spot in the MLS standings. Louisville and, by extension, the USL has been eliminated. 

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In the first leg of the Canadian Championship semifinals The Montreal Impact beat Vancouver 1-0 at home. Toronto beat the Ottawa Fury 1-0 on the road. The second leg is July 25th. So the Ottawa Fury is the last USL team standing. 

[TyphonInc]

Columbus Crew vs. Orlando City game tonight was a-freakin'-mazing!

Highlights -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuZrBhpxSEI

[Brutus Buckeye]

 



In the first leg of the Canadian Championship semifinals The Montreal Impact beat Vancouver 1-0 at home. Toronto beat the Ottawa Fury 1-0 on the road. The second leg is July 25th. So the Ottawa Fury is the last USL team standing.

Toronto finishes off The Ottawa Fury. 
The Whitecaps, however, pull off the stunner over the Impact in the second leg of the Canadian semifinals. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Canadian_Championship
The First leg of the Canadian Final will be August 8th in Vancouver, with the second leg on August 15th in Toronto. 
The winner secures Canada's lone auto-bid for the Champions League. Even if the loser goes onto win both the Supporter's Shield and the MLS Cup, it matters not. They will be eliminated from Champions League contention no matter what. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Heading into (August/All-Star Break)...

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East

#	Club	PTS	PPG		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD		W-L-T		W-L-T
1	Atlanta United FC	47	2.04		23	14	4	5	48	26	22		7-2-3		7-2-2
2	New York City FC	43	1.95		22	13	5	4	43	27	16		10-0-1		3-5-3
3	New York Red Bulls	41	1.95		21	13	6	2	42	22	20		8-2-1		5-4-1
4	Columbus Crew SC	36	1.57		23	10	7	6	30	29	1		7-2-3		3-5-3
5	Montreal Impact	28	1.22		23	9	13	1	29	39	-10		7-4-0		2-9-1
6	New England Revolution	28	1.33		21	7	7	7	33	32	1		6-3-3		1-4-4
7	Philadelphia Union	27	1.29		21	8	10	3	29	34	-5		5-4-2		3-6-1
8	Chicago Fire	23	1		23	6	12	5	34	46	-12		4-6-2		2-6-3
9	Orlando City SC	22	1		22	7	14	1	32	51	-19		5-5-1		2-9-0
10	Toronto FC	22	1.05		21	6	11	4	35	39	-4		4-4-2		2-7-2
11	D.C. United	17	0.94		18	4	9	5	29	35	-6		3-1-1		1-8-4

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West

#	Club	PTS	PPG		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD		W-L-T		W-L-T
1	FC Dallas	42	2		21	12	3	6	35	25	10		7-0-4		5-3-2
2	Los Angeles Football Club	36	1.71		21	10	5	6	44	35	9		5-0-5		5-5-1
3	LA Galaxy	35	1.59		22	10	7	5	43	36	7		6-4-1		4-3-4
4	Portland Timbers	34	1.79		19	9	3	7	30	25	5		6-0-3		3-3-4
5	Sporting Kansas City	33	1.57		21	9	6	6	39	30	9		6-2-3		3-4-3
6	Real Salt Lake	31	1.41		22	9	9	4	31	39	-8		8-1-2		1-8-2
7	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	29	1.32		22	8	9	5	34	44	-10		5-2-4		3-7-1
8	Minnesota United FC	28	1.27		22	9	12	1	35	44	-9		8-3-1		1-9-0
9	Houston Dynamo	27	1.29		21	7	8	6	39	32	7		6-3-2		1-5-4
10	Seattle Sounders FC	26	1.24		21	7	9	5	22	24	-2		4-4-2		3-5-3
11	Colorado Rapids	17	0.81		21	4	12	5	25	36	-11		3-5-3		1-7-2
12	San Jose Earthquakes	13	0.62		21	2	12	7	29	40	-11		1-5-4		1-7-3

.

[Brutus Buckeye]

US Open Cup Semifinals
Philidelphia blasted the Chicago Fire 3-0 in the Eastern Semifinal. 
Houston defeated LAFC on penalty kicks. 
The Final match is on September 26th, in Houston, with a Champions League spot on the line. 

Canadian Championship Final
Toronto and Vancouver tied 2-2 in the first leg in BC. 
The second leg is August 15th in Ontario, for Canada's sole Champions League bid.

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Kinda crazy how you can run these teams through a tourney over the course of the regular season, and yield results that are completely nonsensical when compared to the regular season standings. Both of the US Open Cup Finals participants are currently out of the MLS Playoff race. The same can be said of three of the four semifinal participants. 

Same goes with Canada. The only team that is currently in the MLS Playoff hunt was eliminated in the Semifinals. Toronto is having a horrible year as the defending MLS Cup/Supporter's Shield winners. Not only are they going to host a game with Canada's lone Champions League bid on the line, but they also made it to the Final match of this year's Champions League during the early portion of the MLS season, slaying multiple Mexican powerhouses along the way. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Toronto wins the Canadienne Cup, which comes with a Champions League bid. 

[SFBadger96]

My daughter has the first game of her 16U season on Wednesday. She's an 8th grader, but playing mostly with high schoolers, which should be interesting. Fortunately, she's got decent height and has always been ok with physical play.

[Brutus Buckeye]

The final installment of the Crew-Fire rivalry ends in a draw. 

Technically the point lifts Chicago out of last place in da East, so it's conceivable that they could go on a run and make the playoffs. Although it is also highly unlikely. (Even though they did make it to the final four in the US Open.)

So in all likelihood, this is the way it ends. 

**pours out 40**