You know I have been very selfish, just worrying about the perfect storm that will lead Real Salt Lake to the Supporters' Shield on their way to BMO field and the MLS Cup. I apologize, I am now going to consider the best interest of all Major League Soccer fans, while MLS HQ may want you to believe that the best possible match-up for MLS Cup would be a rematch of the New York Red Bulls vs. the Los Angeles Galaxy, but come one real soccer fans are tired of they BS hype around the 5 DP's the drama of TH14 and Golden Balls.
Real MLS fans want to see an exciting match and I offer up that the best possible match for the Cup is:
If you want a match between the two best teams based on current form, you would have to say this is the best possible match-up for MLS Cup.
So after the jump I am going to tell you how we are going to get there (hint C.W. played a huge role Wednesday night):
San Jose is the best bet to jump over Seattle into the 4th spot in the Western Conference and on Wednesday, Chris Wondolowski got a hat trick against Chivas USA and lead the Quakes to a 3-0 win at home. The Quakes jumped in front of Colorado's 45 points with the 3 point win that takes them to 46, next up is a showdown against the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday night. If the Seattle Sounders take my advice and "dial it in" against Houston earlier in the day on Saturday, a win by San Jose would move them to 49 points and 4th place in the Western Conference. That would mean that Seattle and Colorado (who will lose to RSL) would move to the Eastern Conference, Seattle as the #3 and Colorado as the #4.
It is only by Seattle moving to the Eastern Conference that MLS fans can get the results of my "master plan", and I will claim full credit should things go the way according to my plan. So San Jose did their part, now on Thursday night New York will face New England and while I don't really think the outcome of the top two spots in the East will matter too much in my larger plan, I will include them simply so we can have a full picture.
So New York is currently in first place and if the results I am predicting for my perfect storm for RSL (RSL wins over Colorado, and the LA Galaxy and FC Dallas draw) hold then RSL would be the #1 seed in the West, LA would be #2 and FC Dallas would be #2. I believe that both New York and Columbus will get results this weekend, actually I think New York will win and Columbus will get a draw and that would leave New York #1 and Columbus would be #2.
So all of this leaves the question of West #4, and East #3 and #4, and if my predictions are right and RSL wins over Colorado, that would leave the Rapids with 45 points and that would get them the #4 spot in the East. San Jose will need to take care of the KC Wizards on Saturday, and if they get the win it would boost them to 49 points, one ahead of the current total that the Seattle Sounders currently have. So yes my post yesterday suggesting that the Sounders "tank" in their match against Houston, was what I really hope happens in one way or another, a Seattle loss. That would leave us with the following matchups:
Western Conference
#1 Real Salt Lake
vs
#4 San Jose Earthquakes
#2 Los Angeles Galaxy
vs
#3 FC Dallas
Eastern Conference
#1 New York Red Bulls
vs
#4 Colorado Rapids
#2 Columbus Crew
vs
#3 Seattle Sounders
There is some great drama in these matchups, Saborio vs Wondolowski and a Rimando vs Busch rematch of last years Eastern Conference final keepers. I bit less drama in the LA vs FC Dallas, but you have Landycakes voting for FCD's David Ferreira as the MLS MVP, and of course Landon is chasing the soon to be all time MLS goal scoring leader Jeff Cunningham.
The East has some even better drama, you have the late season trade of Medhi for Kandji, you have the top two duo's of forwards in MLS Cummings and Casey vs Angel and TH14 (will he play?). The Crew and Sounders have the whole coach thing going with Sigi, oh and that recent US Open Cup final match that saw the Sounders claim their second straight Championship.
Yes I have thought all this up just because I am convinced that the very best match at MLS Cup 2010 would be Real Salt Lake vs. the Seattle Sounders. So what do you think?
OFF MY SOAPBOX