HOUSE CLEANING, CA -- New York City FC came out firing and Toronto FC, who were
without Ayo Akinola due to injury (5 goals in tourney) were on their heels most of the match. An early 5' goal set the mood as NYC got revenge on last year's playoff rematch,
3-1. The last team to get into the Knockout Round is now in the Quarterfinals. NYC's win also meant that all 3 Group A vs Group C match-ups went to Group A. Group A has three teams in the Quarters (ORL, PHI, NYC).
Vancouver Whitecaps FC were huge underdogs hovering around 8.5:1 odds as they could only field 18 players (teams can field 23 like Sporting Kansas City did) using a
3rd-string GK with no backup GK (VAN only made one sub in the match). With SKC coming out dominating the first half, it was a fun match to watch to see how the young GK Thomas Hasal would do and he did well, saving six shots in the first half and faced 22 shots. He also
ran into the goal net camera hitting it with his head (so adorable) and in the second half had a concussion check (remember, VAN has no backup GK) but he passed and kept the match scoreless.
In the first penalty kick shootout of the Knockout Round (no Extra Time), VAN missed three (2 saved by Tim Melia who also had 5 saves during regulation) while Hasal made one save and nearly had another, but it wasn't enough as SKC goes to the Quarters
winning the PSO 3-1. Although it would have been nice to see VAN win, the next match also wouldn't have been pretty as SKC could've easily just as won 5-0 if they finished better. SKC ended with 36 shots, a club record. Hasal ended with 8 saves in regulation.
In the pool,
9 got NYC and no one got SKC, mainly because it was supposed to be ATL-SKC in the Round of 16 but ATL flamed out. NYC's win eliminated
Go Chivas (14th, 43 pts) from winning the pool (leaving 7) and made
TomJ (13th, 44) the first entry to be eliminated from the top 3 prizes.
Bobby Cee Racer (58 pts) built his lead
back to 6 points with
Kona Coast Fauci's and
Kona Coast Sliders moving into a tie for second.
Bobby Cee Racer still maintains a big advantage of
winning the pool (67.9%) and finishing in the top 3 (93.7%).
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