Bobby Cee Racer leads by 11 and he and TarjetaRoja nearly clinch prize spots
THE HOME OFFICE, CA (smt) -- In an odd quirk, there were three Group A vs Group C matchups in the Round of 16 and all three went to Group A. The two Group E teams both lost on Tuesday via penalty kick shootouts (PSOs). Both Group F teams advanced as well as 2 of 3 Group D teams and the top team from Group B. Just one 3rd place team advanced and two Group winners lost. This is MLS!
Top teams 1C-Toronto FC (without Ayo Akinola who had 5 goals) and 1E-Columbus Crew FC struggled with the former losing to 3rd place 3A-New York City FC 3-1 and the latter losing in the PSO 5-3 to 2D-Minnesota United FC. 1B-San Jose Earthquakes (Wondo scoring for the 3rd straight match off the bench) and 2F-Los Angeles Football Club (Diego Rossi scoring twice more giving him 7 in the tourney) exploded for 5-2 and 4-1 wins, respectively while host 1A-Orlando City FC and 2A-Philadelphia Union each scored in the 2nd half and held on to 1-0 victories. 1D-Sporting Kansas City (with club record 36 shots) and 1F-Portland Timbers played well but couldn't finish and found themselves surprisingly going to the PSO with short-staffed 3B-Vancouver Whitecaps FC (8.5:1 underdogs) and second-year 2E-FC Cincinnati, respectively. But both prevailed preventing the big upsets and didn't join TOR and CLB in going home early.
After the tournament, the hope is to have a 18-match second half of the regular season (meaning all teams would have played 23 times with Nashville SC and FC Dallas getting an extra 3 matches somehow) starting around August 22. There would be 9 matches at home and 9 away within conference though the three Canadian teams would play each other initially until the Canada travel 14-day quarantine is lifted (latest order goes to August 21). While being the bubble has helped (MLS has not had a person test positive since about July 12), going home to families and traveling, even if by charter, exposes the situation to more risk. Major League Baseball is experiencing this as 17 Miami Marlin personnel tested positive Monday, after a 3-game series at the Phillies (and before that in Atlanta for exhibition games) which postponed both teams matches this week. If and when the regular season resumes, CLB and SKC start in first place in the Eastern and Western Conferences, respectively, while MIA starts in lasts (0 pts) in the East and LA last in the West (2 pts).
After a tentative start (two 1-0 scores) the average per match remained the same (2.75 goals per match) with 22 goals in 8 matches thanks to 12 scored on Monday. Teams had converted 11 straight regulation PKs after two misses but CLB missed theirs (but did put in the rebound). Overall, 12 of 15 have been converted. With all the rain and daily matches, the grass fields 16 and 17 have been really well-kept (Field 19 was only used for morning matches).
In the pool, four had ORL in the quarters while 8 had PHI, 9 NYC, no one got SKC (since likely they would have faced heavy favorite Atlanta if all went according to plan), Coronavirus_Sucks! (8th, 54) got SJ, 13 got LAFC (13 also had SEA which this matchup wouldn't have happened if either SEA and/or LAFC would've won their groups instead of finishing 2nd), 7 MIN and only 2 had POR. Bobby Cee Racer got 5 of the 8 quarterfinalist to extend his lead to a crazy 11 points (70) but still hasn't clinched one of the top 3 spots though he is almost there (124 of 128 possible outcomes or 96.9%) and a 78.1% chance to win the pool. TajetaRoja has nearly clinched a top 3 spot as well (92.2%) and sits in 3rd place (57) with a 9.4% chance to win the pool. BigRedMessy (4th-Tied, 56), one of two who still have their champ alive (LAFC), is the third entry who could win the pool and has the second-best chance (12.5%). The Six Foot Box is currently 2nd with 59 pts but can't win the pool (46.9% chance to finish top 3 though). Five others have a 4-13% chance to finish in the top 3. TomJ (13th, 48) and Go Chivas (14th-T, 47) only got 1 of 8 quarterfinalists. Futbol Fabone Eleven is 7th but can't finish in the top 3 while Go Chivas is 14th-T but can finish 2nd (the other entry with LAFC as champ).
I'll be doing daily gameday updates on our Blog and re-posted on Twitter. These updates will be every few days or so and will be emailed out. Everyone can view their pick and bracket by clicking the "Pick" link in the standings next to their nickname. If you want to know who everyone is, the Who's Who in the Pool is now available.
Ins 'n Outs - Goals (44 Matches):
Standings (9th-24th)
[ MLS is Back Tournament ] [ Regular Season ] # Gp Tm G W-L-D Pt GD GF-GA DP Pos G W-L-D Pt GD GF-GA -- -- --- - ----- -- -- ----- -- --- - ----- -- -- ----- 1B SJ 4 3-0-1 10 6 11-5 65 | 6W 5 2-1-2 8 0 10-10 1A ORL 4 3-0-1 10 4 7-3 86 | 3E 5 2-1-2 8 2 7-5 2A PHI 4 3-0-1 10 3 5-2 71 | 4E 5 2-1-2 8 0 7-7 2F LFC 4 2-0-2 8 7 15-8 60 | 4W 5 2-0-3 9 5 15-10 1F POR 4 2-0-2 8 2 7-5 102 | 3W 5 3-1-1 10 1 8-7 1D SKC 4 2-1-1 7 2 6-4 81 | 1W 5 4-1-0 12 8 13-5 2D MIN 4 1-0-3 6 1 5-4 77 | 2W 5 3-0-2 11 6 12-6 3A NYC 4 2-2-0 6 0 5-5 79 | 12E 5 1-4-0 3 -4 2-6 ----------- 9 1E CLB 4 3-0-1 10 7 8-1 75 | 1E 5 4-0-1 13 8 9-1 10 2E CIN 4 2-1-1 7 -1 4-5 81 | 8E 5 2-3-0 6 -3 6-9 11 2C NE 4 1-1-2 5 0 2-2 46 | 9E 5 1-1-3 6 0 4-4 12 1C TOR 4 1-1-2 5 -1 7-8 57 | 2E 5 2-0-3 9 5 7-2 13 2B SEA 4 1-2-1 4 -1 5-6 60 | 5W 5 2-1-2 8 3 7-4 14 3B VAN 4 1-2-1 4 -2 5-7 51 | 8W 5 2-3-0 6 -3 7-10 15 3D RSL 4 1-2-1 4 -3 4-7 110 | 9W 5 1-1-3 6 0 3-3 16 3C MTL 4 1-3-0 3 -2 4-6 63 | 5E 5 2-2-1 7 0 8-8 ----------- 17 4B CHI 3 1-2-0 3 -3 2-5 71 | 11E 5 1-3-1 4 -4 4-8 18 3E NY 3 1-2-0 3 -3 1-4 55 | 6E 5 2-2-1 7 -2 5-7 19 3F HOU 3 0-1-2 2 -1 5-6 52 | 11W 5 0-2-3 3 -5 6-11 20 4C DC 3 0-1-2 2 -1 3-4 54 | 10E 5 1-2-2 5 -1 6-7 21 4D COL 3 0-2-1 1 -3 4-7 56 | 7W 5 2-2-1 7 -1 8-9 22 4F LA 3 0-2-1 1 -5 4-9 55 | 12W 5 0-3-2 2 -6 5-11 23 4A MIA 3 0-3-0 0 -3 2-5 75 | 14E 5 0-5-0 0 -5 3-8 24 4E ATL 3 0-3-0 0 -3 0-3 78 | 7E 5 2-3-0 6 -1 4-5 -- DAL | 10W 2 1-0-1 4 -2 4-2 -- NSH | 13E 2 0-2-0 0 -2 1-3 (Moved to East before Tourney)
Bits 'n Bobs - there was an error in the 32K possibilities run (semifinal reference duplicated) but after the correction, all the numbers remained the same (for July 23) -- due to the fact Bobby Cee Racer was the only one with 2 finalists alive and was already in 1st... no Extra Time in Knockout Stage, so after regulation, if tied, straight to penalty kick shootout (PSO)... there was an error that gave some entries an extra point in the Group Stage but has been corrected (did not affect who was eliminated but did bump BigRedMessy's chances downward as he was in a lot of tiebreakers but now falls a point short (e.g., 4th vs tied for 3rd))... the Knockout matches do not count toward the regular season standings... the bracket has changed once again as well: bottom quadrants switched so that 2A2C1D3B will now face 1C3A1F2E and 1A3C2B2F will now face 1B3D1E2D (or match #46 winner will now face #48 instead of 46v47 and #45 winner will now face #47 instead of 45v48)... in the RR, entries were right an average of 4.6 (of 15) per match (30.7%); in the WWC19, entries were right 32.3 (of 44) per match (73.4%) ... entries got an average of 10.25 R16 teams... NE coach Bruce Arena was red-carded after the match (does not reflect in NE's DP)... TOR's loss meant all three Group AvGroupC matches went to Group A (1A-ORL, 2A-PHI, 3A-NYC)... SKC outshot VAN in 1st half 22-4 and VAN GK had six saves (ended 36-8)... while teams can field 23 players (12 subs), VAN could only do 7 subs and no backup GK... RSL had 42 DP (19 fouls/3Y/2R) and ended with 110 total... there were no cards in the SEAvLFC match... LAFC had allowed the first goal in their last four matches (1-0-3) but scored the first 2 vSEA... SEA's loss means only BigRedMessy and Go Chivas has his/her champ still alive (LAFC)... CLB's missed PK ended a streak of 11 consecutive conversions (after starting missing the first two)... CLB gave up their first goal of the tourney ending a 299 minute shutout streak... CIN had their 277-minute shutout streak broken by POR... highs and lows as CIN's Jürgen Locadia scored a PK, missed an open tap in, and missed the PSO PK while POR's GK Steve Clark had a huge gaffe that gave up the PK, didn't save the PK, had a ball go through his hands but luckily hit the right post late, and saved the only PSO PK in the match... Pool Summary: 4 got ORL, 8 PHI (2 got both, 4 got none), 15 alive/8 can win pool; 9 got NYC, no one SKC, 14 alive/7 can win pool; Coronavirus_Sucks! got SJ,13 got LAFC (13 lost SEA including 3 who had them as champs) (Coronavirus_Sucks! got both, 2 got none), 12 alive/6 can win pool; 7 picked MIN and 2 POR (Bobby Cee Racer only one to get both, 7 got none), 9 alive/3 can win pool... LAFC over POR/PHI/SKC in final with SJ and POR/PHI/SKC in Semis are the only 4 scenarios Bobby Cee Racer does not finish in the top 3 (pending any tiebreaker)... Bobby Cee Racer (MIN, NYC), TarjetaRoja (LAFC, PHI), BigRedMessy (LAFC, MIN), BigRedMessi 2 (9th, 53) (LAFC, NYC), and Super League (14th-T) (LAFC, PHI) are the only 5 with 2 semifinalists left while TomJ is the only one who doesn't have one (and will finish with 48 pts)... entries averaged just 3.0 quarterfinalists (37.5%)... Disciplinary Points are calculated as accumulation of each: foul (1), yellow card (3), 2nd yellow card/straight red cad/coach dismissal (7), and any supplemental discipline (8) -- however there is no official published tally for the public...
The reason to do the pool is to have teams to root for, was on pins & needles watching CIN tie and rooting for MIN & CIN in PSOs...
Scott
HWCI circa 1990
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