- Portland claimed the Western Conference regular season championship by throttling Chivas USA down in Southern California, 5-0. Supporters Shield was already out of the question thanks to Kansas City’s win earlier in the day, but the Timbers’ win ensured that Caleb Porter’s team has the best chance in the West of hosting MLS Cup. How’s that for a turnaround?
- Philadelphia was eliminated in the 2-1 loss to Sporting Kansas City. Anybody remember when the Union was right at the top of the East and Jack McInerney was scoring a goal every time he got out of bed … or so it seemed? What a fall from grace it was for John Hackworth’s young team.
- With Philly out of the playoff picture, four teams (Montreal, Chicago, New England and Houston) remain eligible for the three remaining playoff spots out of the East. Chicago, New England and Houston all control their fate, all able to qualify for the post-season with wins on Sunday. But if one slips up, Montreal is in.
- Sporting Kansas City’s win positioned the club to take Supporters Shield if New York cannot get the job done Sunday; Mike Petke’s Red Bulls need a win to seal the Supporters Shield – which would be the club’s first major trophy in 18 years. (And believe me, I have to keep double checking to make sure that’s really true.)
- Who knows what Montreal’s loss at Toronto (1-0 at a wet and rainy BMO Field) will do for TFC manager Ryan Nelsen, where yet more organizational reshaping may be underway in the coming off-season. But we do know how much it helped the other Eastern Conference playoff pursuers. Read more about that here.
- In Montreal’s loss, Golden Boot pursuer Marco Di Vaio failed to register a goal. That means he and Chicago’s Magee remain level at 20 goals each in a dandy chase for the league’s final scoring leadership. More on that one here. By the way, Magee takes the Fire’s penalty kicks … which gave him a bit of an edge on Di Vaio coming into the weekend, anyway.
- Don’t forget about this: why MLS clubs are fairly desperate to avoid finishing fourth or fifth, why it’s apples-and-oranges better to finish no worse than third.
