The playoff numbers look like this…

5 year comparison
Conference Semifinals – 1st Leg
  Avg +/- Home Teams
 2005   12,147  NA  Chicago  NY  Colorado  Los Angeles
 2006   9,533   -21.52%   Chicago  NY  Colorado  Chivas USA
 2007   14,245   49.42%   Chicago  NY  Dallas  Kansas City
 2008   10,476   -26.46%   New England  NY  Salt Lake  Kansas City
 2009   19,985   90.77%   New England  Seattle  Salt Lake  Chivas USA
 
5 year comparison
Conference Semifinals – 2nd Leg
  Avg +/- Home Teams
 2005   14,400  NA  New England  Dallas  San Jose  DC United
 2006   15,938   10.69%   New England  Dallas  Houston  DC United
 2007   19,838   24.47%   New England  Chivas USA  Houston  DC United
 2008   19,444   -1.99%   Chicago  Columbus  Houston  Chivas USA
 2009   21,526   10.71%   Chicago  Columbus  Houston  Los Angeles
 
Quarterfinals Totals(both legs)
  Avg +/- Teams
 2005   13,273  NA  CHI, COL, DAL, DCU, LA, NE, RBNY, SJ
 2006   12,736   -4.05%   CHI, COL, CHV, DAL, DCU, HOU, NE, RBNY
 2007   17,041   33.81%   CHI, CHV, DAL, DCU, HOU, KC, NE, RBNY
 2008   14,960   -12.22%   CHI, CHV, CLB, HOU, KC, NE, RBNY, RSL
 2009   20,755   38.74%   CHI, CHV, CLB, HOU, LA, NE, RSL, SEA


Observations


The 2nd legs of the conference semifinals began with an extremely disappointing crowd of just over 10,000 in Columbus. This showing was so poor as to prompt Jason Davis of Match Fit USA to write that it’s time for the Crew to move. No such issues in Chicago, whose fans didn’t turn out in great numbers during the regular season, but sold out Toyota Park, with 21,528 in attendance. In Houston, 27,400 saw the Dynamo eliminate the Sounders. The round finished off with a sellout at the HDC.

The home offices of MLS must be feeling pretty good. As you can see from the above table, the quarterfinal round of the playoffs drew over 38% higher attendance averages than last year, despite less than stellar turnouts in Columbus, New England and Salt Lake.

Playoff Games – 2nd Leg
RSL Advances 4-2
Columbus 2 Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra
Real Salt Lake 3 RSL – Behind the Shield
Chicago Advances 3-2
Chicago 2 Chicago Fire Confidential
New England 0 Revolution Soccer
Houston Advances 1-0
Houston 1 Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas
Seattle 0 Seattle Times
Los Angeles Advances 3-2
Los Angeles 1 LA – Official Blog
Chivas USA 0 Chivas USA – MLSNet


MLS Final Four

Los Angeles hosts Houston Fri, Nov 13, 11pm ET – Chicago will host RSL Sat, Nov 14, 7pm ET

It seems as though Bob Bradley will have to eliminate Landon Donovan, Rico Clark, Stuart Holden and Brian Ching for consideration for the upcoming USMNT friendlies against Slovakia(Nov 14) and Denmark(Nov 18). But with Columbus’ loss, expect two-time MLS Defender of the Year Chad Marshall to get a call.



MLS Throw Ins

  • Tom Soehn will not be at the helm of DC United next year.
  • Despite playing every minute of every game, Revs rookie Darius Barnes was not in the final list for Rookie of the Year.
  • Dilly Duka, USMNT U-20 player, Red Bull Academy and Rutgers star is reported by Steve Goff to have signed a 4 year contract with MLS. Look for him to land with the Red Bulls who hold the 2nd pick in the January MLS SuperDraft.


    And …

    The US team lost to Italy in the round of 16 of the FIFA Men’s U-17 World Cup.