DJT Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 West</u> (1) Portland vs. (4) Seattle September 1 - Portland 2 Seattle 1 September 5 - 5:00 PM PDT - at Seattle (2) Vancouver vs. (3) Minnesota September 3 - 7:00 PM PDT - at Vancouver September 5 - 6:00 PM CDT - at Minnesota East</u> (1) Montreal vs. (4) Rochester September 3 - 7:30 PM EDT - at Rochester September 5 - 7:00 PM EDT - at Montreal - FSWC (2) Richmond vs. (3) Syracuse September 3 - 7:00 PM EDT - at Richmond September 5 - 6:00 PM EDT - at Cortland, NY (Syracuse home match) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bxl Boy Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 (1) Montreal vs. (4) Rochester First leg - September 3 / 19:35 September 5 - at Montreal 19:00, live FSW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJT Posted August 29, 2004 Author Share Posted August 29, 2004 Thanks, I updated the post above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 Funny. I would have thought the higher seeded team would get the last home game. Seems only the Impact have taken this advantage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 In Vancouvers case there are two reasons for choosing the first game at home. First it forces Minnesota to travel twice in the first round (fly to Vancouver and then fly back), secondly they like playing home on Friday nights. In Portlands case it's a matter of stadium availability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alberto7 Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 Ok, I'm going to go out on a limb and make some predictions for the first round: East: Rochester will beat Montreal by 2 goals over the two games(Montreal always choke in the playoffs) Richmond will beat Syracuse by 2 or 3 goals(over the two games) West: Portland will wallop Seattle by 5 goals(over the two games) Vancouver will squeeze by Minnesota by 1 goal(over the two games) Comments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
François Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 Montreal won't choke this time and beat the Rhinos. Why do I get the feeling that a lot of people would like to see the Impact lose to the Rhinos??? Come on Montreal, let's all get behind the Impact! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alberto7 Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 quote:Originally posted by François Montreal won't choke this time and beat the Rhinos. Why do I get the feeling that a lot of people would like to see the Impact lose to the Rhinos??? Come on Montreal, let's all get behind the Impact! François, I'm not trying to be negative here. I just know that the Impact do this to us every year: They play a great season and have very little left in the tank for the playoffs where they choke. Rochester has had a difficult season but they play their best when things are on the line (witness Friday's 2-0 win over the Impact). I have not been impressed with Montreal's offence over the last couple of months. If Sebrango doesn't move it up a gear, the Impact are done. Bailey is still far from 100% and Commodore is also recuperating from an injury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
François Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 We seem to forget that we beat the Rhinos twice during the season. We'll have Grande and Ze Roberto back on Friday. Bailey won't start I'm sure. I see Ribeiro playing with Sebrango up front and Freddy coming in from the bench in the second half. We have an edge over the Rhinos with Sutton, our defense and Midfield. If we get a good result Friday, we're going all the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Alberto7 Ok, I'm going to go out on a limb and make some predictions for the first round: East: Rochester will beat Montreal by 2 goals over the two games(Montreal always choke in the playoffs) Richmond will beat Syracuse by 2 or 3 goals(over the two games) West: Portland will wallop Seattle by 5 goals(over the two games) Vancouver will squeeze by Minnesota by 1 goal(over the two games) Comments? I think you overrate Portland. Sure they did finish first overall and scored the most goals. However one has to remember Portland scored 16 of their goals against Edmonton in 3 games (4th game was a forfeit) and popped in 5 goals against Puerto Rico. Thats 21 goals in 4 games against 2 very poor teams. When Portland faces it's closest western rivals it's a different matter. While Portland took 3 of the 4 games from Seattle, Seattle did win the last matchup and the total goals for and against were 7 for Portland and 6 for Seattle, no huge difference. In fact if we look at Portland vs the other playoff teams in the west it quite a different story than final standings show. In Vancouver's 4 games with Portland Vancouver took 3 of the 4 games, and shut out Portland in the final 3 matches. Goals for were 5-3 in Vancouvers favour, with all 3 Portland goals coming in the first match, where Vancouver was a tired team having played the night before in Calgary. Versus Minnesota Portland had their best record with 2 wins and two draws, outscorin Minnesota 6-2. So after saying all of that, my pick are: East: Rochester over Montreal. Montreal last few games doesn't inspire confidence in them. I'm amazed they didn't play better to avoid having to play Rochester. Pizollito may be suspended for taking a roundhouse sucker puch to Lenin Steenkamp in the final match in Rochester. Vidoe of that punch is here: http://www.wroctv.com/sports/story.asp?id=7611 Richmond over Syracuse. Richmond is simply the better team. West: Portland over Seattle. It will be closer than a lot of people think. Portland ran over the weaker teams in the league, not the playoff contenders. Portland keeper Josh Saunders mind will still be on his arrest last week for drunken driving and driving recklessly (103 MPH in a construction zone). Vancouver over Minnesota. Okay I know I said Vancouver will not make it past the first round but that was before the news that Minnesota's leading scorers Melvin Tarley and John Menyongar will be missing the series due to being called up to play for Liberias national team. Also minnesota will be making a 4,618 kilometre round trip to and from Minnesota to vancouver, so they will be travel weary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuebecToon Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 I believe the Impact will raise their game Friday. Their poor form at the end of the year is due to wrapping up their playoff spot so early. That's a dangerous game as confidence goes down with the losses, but I'm sure they'll come trought. Grande and Ze Roberto make quite a difference when they're on the pitch. Also a Vancouver-Montréal final would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 whitecaps will cruise by minnesota by a clear 3 goals. 5-2 aggregate. impact will squeek by rochester 3-2. portland over seattle. richmond over syracuse. i see only one reason why this shouldnt be an all canadian finale. portland. they have enough quality to get by vancouver without a doubt. i hate to say it, but impact win the a-league final 3-1 over whitecaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 I don't think there will be that many goals in the Vancouver series. With Minnesota being without their top two scorers they are going to come in and do what Milwaukee did a couple of years ago, play for a scoreless draw in the most boring game I ever watched. As I said in my post above, Portland are overrated. Pick on weak teams and are average against good teams, plus their keeper has problems: http://soundernation.tripod.com/images/Saunders.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 I HATE to say it, but, as 3 seasons have shown us, if the Impact find themselves a goal down anytime in the series, kiss them goodbye. The Impact can't come from behind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted August 31, 2004 Share Posted August 31, 2004 From my limited viewpoint of the stands in Edmonton match, I would have to give a strong edge to Portland over Seattle, they are much smoother and crisper. I expect the Minnesota and Caps matches to be closer because of the good Minnesota defence, with the Caps just prevailing. Caps can be wildly up or down, so I'm expecting Portland to go thru unless Vancouver really hits a peak in the second series. Go Caps, Go Impact! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuebecToon Posted September 1, 2004 Share Posted September 1, 2004 To reflect on your comment Daniel, I'm only going to the game if the Impact at a minimum draw in Rochester. If the Rhinos take the lead, Sunday's game will the most boring of all time. A bit similar to a few year ago when I witnessed the most boring soccer game of my life as Rochester got thea 0-0 result they wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 Portland wins game one 2-1, with the winning goal coming on a suspect PK in the 79th minute, a foul called by the assistant ref. Byron Alvarez (known as a diver)went down like a sack of potatoes, feigned injury and was subsitituted. After the game he was seen smiling, laughing and giving high fives on the sidelines, not injured at all. The game was one side in the refereeing department with Seattle receiving 4 yellows and 1 red (that I can remember) while I can't recall Portland getting one. I suppose with the next game in Seattle the game will be called more evenly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJT Posted September 2, 2004 Author Share Posted September 2, 2004 Syracuse have been forced to play their home leg 30 miles to the south in Cortland, NY because the Syracuse Sky Chiefs baseball team have a game against the Ottawa Lynx (a last-place battle) on Sunday. Cortland has a FieldTurf surface, which would remove Syracuse's Astroturf advantage. The soccer game could have been played in Syracuse on Monday, but Richmond refused and the A-League backed them, saying that there wouldn't be enough time to prepare for the next round so the first round must wrap up by Sunday. This sounds suspicious to me: why was it okay for Portland to move their match up by two days but it's not okay for Syracuse to move their's back by one day? To top it off, if Syracuse win then they might not be able to host a second-round game, either, because of a paintball tournament being held at their stadium! It's all in this article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 It could have been easily avoided had the baseball team not hogged the dates. It's common knowledge that the A-League season ends the last week of August and playoffs are usually Friday-Sunday the first weekend in Septembe, with the first game sometimes on a Wednesday (which coincidentally used to be when they played the opening game but teams complainedthat they can't get fans midweek so now teams are forced to play 2 games in 3 nights). The teams could have got together before any schedules were ironed out and left the stadium open for the first week of September in case Syracuse made the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoyleG Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 Leagues set the dates. Nothing you can do about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bxl Boy Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 "The soccer game could have been played in Syracuse on Monday, but Richmond refused and the A-League backed them, saying that there wouldn't be enough time to prepare for the next round so the first round must wrap up by Sunday." How is it possible to prepare for a second leg game in two days but not to be able to prepare for a semi-final in 4 in place of 5 ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 I agree thats screwy. But the playoff dates have been known since opening day kickoff. I don't know which league came up with it's schedule when, but it left plenty enough time for them to work out something in case the soccer team made the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJT Posted September 2, 2004 Author Share Posted September 2, 2004 You're right, Krammerhead. In the article the Sky Chiefs also said that they could have accomodated the Salty Dogs had they known about this a month ago. Why were the Salty Dogs not preparing for this at least a month ago? A team that doesn't prepare and a league that makes a decision with unsatisfactory explanation just isn't comforting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 Personally I think that take away all of the posturing by the Salty Dogs the fact is that in playoffs attendance drops in many A-League cities. I don't think the Dogs could have drawn more than 5,500 to their regular stadium anyway. It's a good way to make an excuse about low ticket sales ahead of time. I mean look at Portland last night. They had a whole week to sell tickets for their first ever A-League playoff game last night and they drew 2,000 less than their season average. Would Syracuse have preferred to play at home for the first game? Sure. But complaining how it's going to eat into their tickets sales is another thing. The only shame is the loss of revenue from food sales etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allison A Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Krammerhead I mean look at Portland last night. They had a whole week to sell tickets for their first ever A-League playoff game last night and they drew 2,000 less than their season average. It was our seventh A-League playoff game, not our first. And I was pleased with the turnout for a Wednesday night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.