Man, the international break can be killer sometimes. You get such riveting matchups as Slovakia-Armenia and Finland-Moldova. More than anything I just feel bad for the San Marinos and Faroe Islands of the bunch who are mostly just trotted out to slaughter. One thing I might suggest is a two-tiered Euros. In rugby there is the Six Nations, comprised of the European rugby powers, and there's the European Nations Cup for teams 7-12.
Relevant EPL Results
Manchester United and City continue to roll, winning 5-0 and 3-0, respectively
Relevant MLS Results
- SKC 2 - 2 LA Galaxy
- Seattle 1 - 2 RSL
- Columbus 2 - 4 TFC
- Vancouver 1 - 1 NYRB
- Chicago 0 - 2 San Jose
MLS Playoff Standings
- Columbus Crew - 1st East
- Seattle Sounders - 2nd West
- SKC - 2nd East
Vancouver and Chicago are out of the playoffs currently at 15th and 18th in the overall combined table.
US Open Cup
My nightmare of having zero points for the season in finally ove. Now, it is time to get ahead of the Gunners.
Sporting KC also beat Houston 3-0 on Saturday. They looked really good in that one, for long stretches they dominated the ball, and other than about 5 minutes in the first half, never let Houston do much of anything. I also enjoyed the fact that Carlo Costly got a red card, but maybe that's just my inner headline writer ("Costly Red Card Downs Houston", etc.)
The win moved them into a tie at the top of the Eastern Conference (they have better goal differential than Columbus, but Columbus has a game in hand). The KC-Crew matchup in two weeks could be huge.
It's almost unbelievable how good this team has been since they opened their new stadium, hard to bet against them to take the East. Given that I've spent this year watching the Twins implode, the Wild stumble through another season, and Sunderland lose all their strikers (and most of their matches), it's nice to have at least one team that looks competent out there.