We're going for the short, sweet and condensed version of the Observations this week as it's been busy on the home front. Long story short, Portland are on top by 5 points after finally getting almost completely caught up schedule wise and yet they lost to Charleston 2-0 on Sunday. The grueling schedule may have done them in that day. At the other end of the spectrum, just 3 points separates the 9th placed Battery from the 6th placed and surging Islanders. In turn, Puerto Rico is only 3 points out of 3rd place.
So how did all that happen? Well, Portland won 2-1 against Vancouver on Thursday and 1-0 at Atlanta on Saturday to get 6 points out of a possible 9. A draw with the Battery would have made this a much better setup to a pop culture reference, but those are the breaks. Meanwhile, their direct competition, Seattle won a thriller at Rochester 3-2 to put them above Montreal and in sight of the Timbers.
Colin Clarke's men, and especially Noah Delgado, had a productive week picking up 4 points on the weekend from a 1-1 draw with the Victory and 3-1 win over the Railhawks. As the Islanders continue their efforts to firm up a playoff spot, the race for the last ticket to the postseason is heating up. Miami's 4 points this weekend courtesy of nearly exactly the same results as Puerto Rico got against California and Carolina, the C&C points factory, moved them past the Battery. Charleston will take solace in their game in hand knowing they are only 1 point behind their South Florida rivals.
With all of these things going on, let's look at the most enticing matchups of the coming week:
Atlanta at Portland, Tonight - The Silverbacks need to get something from their trip to Cascadia in order to consolidate their playoff position. Doing that at PGE Park right now is a huge challenge.
Seattle at Vancouver, Friday - Gradually the bolts have been loosened on the Whitecaps wagon this season. In this game, one could argue both teams will be more desperate than usual to win because of so many factors. League position and Cascadia rivalry will be of utmost importance in the wake of this match but momentum is also at stake. Vancouver seemingly has none and Seattle has a healthy dose of it. Can that be reversed?
Miami at Carolina, Saturday - Carolina have gotten stuck in the mire at the lower end of the standings, meanwhile, Miami will try to put some distance between themselves and the last 4 spots.
Puerto Rico at California, Saturday - The Islanders need to win in what has been a perplexing environment. The Victory sometimes looks like they're impossible to beat, or beat convincingly at Kezar, and at others they… don't. Your guess is as good as mine.
Miami at Charleston, Tuesday - The Battery need this one in a bad way. The confidence building win over Portland will be huge if they can carry it over into this match. That will be easier said than done considering Charleston have been anything but consistent this year. If Miami collect 6 points this weekend it could be curtains for those chasing them.
Carolina at Montreal, Wednesday - Montreal need to come back sharp after some time off. The Railhawks visit Claude Robillard to possibly provide a decent but, as of late, beatable sparring partner.
Portland at Seattle, Wednesday - Another week, another table topping Cascadia clash. Depending upon how things go over the weekend this one could see the Sounders climb to the top of the heap. No matter what, though, it should be the best game of the week.
For those who would complain about not mentioning Minnesota's matches, well, maybe we shouldn't mention them. Honestly, I'm sort of sad about the state of the Thunder considering their history. That said, I think they'll rebound, maybe not this year but by next season I expect to see them finding a collective direction again and challenging all comers.
Also, that rumor some of you may have heard about Montreal and the Saputos courting MLS, well conspiracy theorists have come up with less plausible stories before. I don't usually go in for Big Soccer rumors and such but it would be hard for the league to ignore results in Toronto, but the biggest question is what will this do to the USL, if it does happen? Hopefully, it will be easier to get answers to that than it seemed to be when Toronto and Utah were usurped. It's an interesting idea to chew on and one which I fully intend to explore soon enough but as for now, get to the stadiums, tune in to FSC for the Seattle-Vancouver late night show on Friday, and log on to usllive.com for all of the action this week.
Send your comments to the author or
Join us to discuss this article at usldiscussions.com
