Sounders’ playoff streak on the line on Sunday’s Decision Day
Published 10:41 am Thursday, October 20, 2016
Sunday is Decision Day in MLS, and Seattle Sounders FC has everything at stake.
At 1 p.m. on Sunday every team in MLS plays its final regular season game simultaneously, and that will be the day the Sounders’ playoff fate is determined. Seattle has made the playoffs in each of its previous seven seasons of existence. How the results unfold Sunday will decide whether that streak reaches eight.
Here’s where the Sounders sit in the Western Conference standings:
4. Real Salt Lake, 46 points, 12 wins
5. Seattle Sounders FC, 45 points, 13 wins
6. Sporting Kansas City, 44 points, 12 wins
7. Portland Timbers, 44 points, 12 wins
Six teams make the playoffs out of the conference, so three of these teams will advance to the postseason.
Here’s each team’s game on Sunday:
Real Salt Lake at Seattle Sounders FC
San Jose Earthquakes at Sporting Kansas City
Portland Timbers at Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Seattle is actually in an excellent position for making the playoffs because of that extra win, as total wins serves as the first tiebreaker. Therefore, the only way there’s even a chance of the Sounders not making the playoffs is if both Sporting KC and Portland win. If either of those teams draw or lose, Seattle’s in regardless of the outcome of its game. If both Sporting K.C. and Portland win, then the Sounders will need to beat Real Salt Lake to reach the postseason as a draw would leave them short.
The tricky part involves the opponents. Both of Sporting KC’s and Portland’s opponents on Sunday have already been eliminated from the playoffs, meaning they have nothing left to play for. Meanwhile, Seattle’s opponent has all kinds of incentive. Real Salt Lake may be in pole position among the Western Conference teams still fighting for the playoffs, but Real could still find itself on the outside looking in if all the results go awry. In addition, Real will want to hold onto it’s fourth-place position in order to have home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs, which arrive quickly.
Indeed, should Seattle achieve its eighth straight playoff berth, the Sounders won’t have much time to celebrate. The first round, in which the third seed faces the sixth seed and the fourth seed faces the fifth seed in do-or-die games, takes place next Wednesday and Thursday, and the home-and-home conference semifinals begin the following Sunday. So getting home-field advantage for the first round would be huge.
It makes for a final day of scoreboard watching, and it should be exciting times at CenturyLink Field on Sunday.
