:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/assets/760405/MLS_Cup_2011_Logo.jpg){kind=logo}
Jack McBean scored!
Dwayne DeRosario won the MLS Golden Boot. Congrats DeRo! When I figure out how, I'll make your name all yellow on the chart.
Now in other news, the playoff tree is set. The first part of the playoff tree is the wildcard part, which is where all the mediocre teams go. The match-ups are:
Oct. 26th - FC Dallas vs. New York Red Bulls (Fox Soccer)
Oct. 27th - Colorado Rapids vs. Columbus Crew (haha, you thought this would be on TV?)
The lowest remaining seed after those games faces the Galaxy, and the other WC faces Sporting Kansas City. This means a) The Galaxy cannot face FC Dallas, b) Kansas City cannot face New York. Think about that. Dallas cannot enter the Western bracket, and New York cannot enter the Eastern bracket.
Anyhow, the other second round match-ups are Seattle Sounders vs. Real Salt Lake and Houston Dynamo vs. Philadelphia. In winning tonight, Houston went from last in the Wild Card to second in the East. That's how bad the East is.
The first leg of the conference semi's is next weekend, then the followup leg is Weds or Thurs. This has been tweeted many times, but for the record, this means the Galaxy had to cap ticket sales at 15,000. This is a bonus over their usual cap, would not be surprised if that meant an 8:00 start time (it's not the noise that's the issue, it's the traffic as CSUDH is a commuter school).
MLS has to squeeze the whole of the playoffs in before the international break, which is why the two games a week. It also just makes the whole sausage making process go a lot faster. The conference championships will be two weeks from tonight.
Then there's an international weekend, with the US in Europe and Ireland in a playoff to get into the Euro tournament. Ultimately it all leads up to a week of MLS Cup events in Los Angeles and finally a final on November 20th. Okay. Calendars marked? Then onwards and upwards!
(update) Broadcast info for the Galaxy's first series:
Sun Oct. 30, time TBD: (ESPN or ESPN2) First leg @ WC lower seed
Thurs Nov. 3, 8 pm (I'm so clever): (ESPN2) Second leg vs. WC lower seed