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Derbeque and MLS Playoff Categories

On Saturday night, I had the privilege of going to the first ever Derbeque/I-70 Derby/Whatever you want to call it between St. Louis City SC and Sporting Kansas City and it was a mad house. The stadium was standing room only and we parked a mile away from Children's Mercy Park. So by the time we got inside we were in the second row of standing room only, and it was totally worth it. 



I have been to college football and basketball rivalry games, been a Chiefs season ticket holder, witnessed probably a dozen Cubs-Cardinals games and this was far and away the most wild atmosphere I've ever seen at a sporting event. The St. Louligans were there en masse chanting as loud as the KC Cauldron supporters section. Big Sam Adeniran opened the scoring up in the 22nd minute and the place went nuts, only to be matched by Alan Pulido's 31st and 43rd minute goals. 

The second half was full of hard tackles and questionable challenges. Adeniran thought he had pulled City level in the second half but the goal was called offsides. Then there looked to be a questionable hand ball on Fontas (I think the call on the field was correct) but nonetheless the away crowd didn't see it that way. 

In the end St. Louis stayed safely atop the Western Conference and Sporting grabbed three important points as they look to make a playoff push. A couple of simple mental notes I took from the game are below:

-Sporting KC definitely looked to have more individual talent and quality. However when Johnny Russell would break through he was met by four defenders. Logan Ndembe made a few great runs and found the same team defense waiting for him. I can't state enough how great of a coaching job Bradley Carnell has done in this inaugural season in St. Louis. 

-Joao Klauss and Nilsson both looked rusty, as you would expect from the time both of them have missed this season. If City are fully healthy come playoff time this is going to be a dangerous team.

-Sporting KC powered through a loud visitors section and an early one goal deficit to pick up all three points. They too are nearing full health but are going to have to stay committed defensively and treat every game from here out as an elimination game to get into the playoffs. 

Playoff Picture/Power Rankings

Home Sweet Home: FC Cincinnati and St. Louis City SC both sit comfortably atop their conference standings right now. FCC are 10 points clear of 2nd place and City are 6 points clear of Seattle. Both have shiny new stadiums, are new organizations and would both greatly benefit from home field advantage. If they current seedings hold, both teams will be tough outs but FCC are going to be nearly impossible to knock out at TQL stadium. 

High in the standings, but need a little spark: Seattle, LAFC, New England and RSL. Seattle and New England both sit in second place but I have questions about both teams. They both played well early and have kind of just hung around. New England have had better wins and not as bad of losses as Seattle, but both teams need to hit their stride. 

LAFC are dangerous but are still in a little bit of a CCL slump. I've been watching the standings for the last couple of months thinking every time St. Louis loses that LAFC are going to make a run at the top spot in the west, but they just haven't been able to do it. RSL have added pieces and have the potential to be a scary 2-4 seed in the west. 

On the right track: Orlando City SC, Philadelphia, Columbus, Houston. Of this list I would not want to play Orlando or Philadelphia. Both teams have the talent and coaching to win the league today. Columbus and Houston are trending towards teams that can make deep playoff runs. 

Hanging on: Atlanta, Nashville, half of the Western Conference: The East is tough and the east is tight. Atlanta and Nashville currently sit in 6th and 7th place but could both win MLS cup. The Western Conference is full of teams just hanging out, not really grabbing their opportunity. Only 12 points separate 2nd place Seattle from 2nd to last place LA Galaxy. Their are some real quality teams that if they start going can make a deep run: San Jose, Dallas, Kansas City, and Minnesota. 

Let me know your thoughts and where your team stands as we get into the last couple of months of regular season play!

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