As long as we get homefield all through the playoffs, who cares?
Because it is a one game winner take all knockout for each round, home field isn’t really going to matter as much without fans (of course no travel). The players played with knocks, rushed to rehabilitate, lived without their families and 5 games before final they say.... “Yeah, that didn’t matter” Maybe then the MLS Cup means nothing as well, lets just cancel it an hour before the final game.
Right, no travel. That's huge right now.
And of course MLS Cup means something. Playoffs are basically a knockout tournament for a cup. That's a legitimate format no matter how many teams are in it. But I can agree with the SG that the way this season has gone, giving away the Shield is not really an accurate indication of the best team over a long period of time.
Very wrong point of view IMO!
Everybody cares, to whom the most important aspect of determining the best team after a full season is the quality of play shown through the lengt of 85-90% of the season, and not in the remaining 10-15% in some cup style tournament, where the final outcome is 1/3 based on momentarily form, 1/3 on blind luck and just 1/3 on the real value of a team.
Last edited by PizzaEatingYeti; 10-18-2020 at 03:11 PM.
But it's not a full season. And there would always have been an asterisk next to it anyway.
I'm not criticizing anyone else for caring, I'm just saying I don't think it's something we need to get worked up about. We know we're the best team, we don't need to have the SS to 'prove' that. Our main objectives should be qualifying for the CL and winning MLS Cup.
It is something we should care about. If you don't reward a trophy to the season champ then you diminish the season to a glorified training camp. Play just well enough to qualify for the playoffs and then just mail it in. Why would I as a fan go and pay top dollar for tickets to watch glorified friendlies. In the rest of the world the league Championship is the primary goal. The MLS is the outlier. Time for the MLS to wake up and get on board with the rest of the soccer world.
The really interesting thing will be if we place first, win all our games and therefor are the host of the Cup... will it be at “Rent”, “BMO” or wonder if MLS try to move it to a 3rd party site. MLSE should get it in writing... right now.
Think how lousy we would feel if we finish first and then lose our 1st playoff match 1-0 on an own goal in injury time, and end up with nothing to show for this season.
In other news
Orlando makes it to the playoffs for the first time ever
But they are still playing a regular season so why not award a Championship? On tonight's broadcast KJ was saying that the true test of a team's quality is how it performs over an entire season rather than the playoffs, which can be as few as 3 games. Even with this shortened season the team that finishes with the most points will have achieved something more difficult to accomplish than winning the 3 game MLS Cup tournament. Just because the MLS is a North American league doesn't mean it has to adopt the North American mentality of only the playoffs matter.
Anyway, I am just disappointed that the league seems to be letting something like this occur. Makes me wonder about how this league is being managed.
Last edited by NK Toronto; 10-18-2020 at 10:10 PM.
The league doesn't manage the shield. It's totally separate. Up until now, that's just been a quirk that makes it slightly easier for the league to manage. Nobody thought the group leading it would be so stupid as to take their ball & go home 3 weeks before it was to be awarded.
Moving forward, that quirk is now almost dead. It suffered a serious blow today when supporters of the two teams likely to be the ones getting it basically told the organization to either bring it back or they will be worked around.
The supporter's shield committee's only power is what the league gives them. And the league showed today it doesn't need that committee, or that shield.
What is striking to me is the depth of conversations this has created about how this league should celebrate success.
I think this can go one of 2 ways.
NFL style divisions & playoffs
or
League that means something, unbalanced as it is, with a cup/playoff at the end that crowns the "winner".
Last edited by OgtheDim; 10-18-2020 at 10:19 PM.
I understand that now, but the league could have made a public statement that it disagrees with this decision and that it will be establishing it's own trophy to be awarded to the regular season champion. By not publicly rebuking this decision the league appears to be providing its tacit approval.
As far as I know all football leagues throughout the world award at least 2 trophies, one for the league champion and one for the cup champion. I hope MLS follows that path and tries to align itself with the rest of the world, including adhering to international breaks. With respect to an unbalanced schedule I think that is inevitable so you could award a trophy for both the east and west division season champions. The MLS season is grueling, running from March to September, with hundreds of thousands of miles traveled. To not award anything to the team that finishes first seems unjust.
TFC's magic number to win the "Shield" - 10 points (we currently have 41 points - 4 games left)
Philadelphia - 10 (currently 38 points, max of 50 - 4 games left)
Columbus - 9 (currently 34 points, max of 49 - 5 games left)
Seattle - 9 (currently 31 points, max of 49 -6 games left)
Orlando - 7 (currently 32 points, max of 47 - 5 games left)
Portland - 6 (currently 31 points, max of 46 - 5 games left)
Sporting KC - 6 (currently 30 points, max of 46 - 5 games left)
and Colorado - 9 (currently 19 points, max of 49 - "10 games" left)
Anytime we win subtract 3 from all numbers, a draw subtract 1 from all. If one of those teams loses subtract 3 from their score only, if they draw subtract 2
*These numbers do not include tiebreakers. If we win the tiebreaker subtract one point.
Updated with union win over revs
Last edited by rydermike; 10-19-2020 at 08:57 PM.
Does anyone know what the TV ratings on TSN are since we are the only Toronto team that is playing?
Watching the replay of TFC v Montréal leg 2 on TSN right now. It’s funny how riveted I am. This game was something magical.
Wonder if this could change things for the playoffs.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Details starting to flow out
Still requires 7 day isolation
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/BogochIsaac/status/1319326835575083015
Watching it now on TSN again (Hagglund just scored!!!) - I can never turn this off if it comes on my screen - one of the greatest sporting nights I have ever experienced in person and I’ve been exceptionally fortunate to be there in person for almost every major Toronto sports moment since the mid-80s or so in this city (every Blue Jays and Raptors key playoff moment, and even the Leafs ones (lots of Game 7s) such as they are - and some other exceptional events too like Super Bowls and Grey Cups)......Winning MLS Cup in 2017 was cathartic after 2016s heartbreak, but for actual spectacle and drama and emotion on the field, it’s hard to match November 30th 2016 at BMO. Anyone who was there that night knows that clearly was the most intensely contested game ever played at BMO, and I highly doubt we will see the likes of that again as the concept of going to a Finals for the first time against your historic rival (and then winning it all a year later) will never be matched, as all future experiences will be compared to that Montreal series, that 2016 Finals, and the subsequent redemption and satisfaction (and catharsis) of 2017s treble winning season. There will never be another “first time” like this one.....it just never gets old watching this night at BMO - it’s everything great about what this sport, this team, this city, that stadium, and our fans could be.....
I went to the first leg in Montreal with my daughter; and then saw the 2nd leg at BMO. The whole two-game affair is part of what made it amazing for me. From the lines painted wrong in the Big Owe; then the depths of despair going down a couple goals there; the glimmers of hope with TFC scoring a couple of their own in Montreal; then coughing up another goal to start in Toronto, and continuing with the drama. (IMO, it really sucks that the home & away finals are gone. I realize why, but still...)