MLS Saturday Night: The Essence

Instead of watching the DC-Chicago matchup, I headed out the RE/MAX for Atlanta Silverbacks Champions League action. They're in the quarterfinals of this great tournament for the amateur champions of their respective leagues in the city. Unfortunately, the refereeing was not up to the quality of the match, as he had way too big of an influence on the final result. It just goes to show that the referee issues MLS faces (Bobby Rhine voices his great displeasure about you, Brian Hall) are the same as you go down the US Soccer pyramid.

From what I saw of the highlights, seems like I didn't miss too much at ol' Estadio RFK. Troy Perkins did break out the gray keeper jersey for the first time (I think). He always wears the baby blue one. It worked pretty well as he kept the Fire off the board.

Columbus rallies for a great win in New England, but it doesn't matter as the Fire's draw eliminated the Crew from the playoffs. Will Sigi keep his job? I liked the moves he made when he first came to Columbus, but letting Danny Szetela go, and now it looks like Eddie Gaven is ready to leave as well, doesn't bode too well.

KC just can't get their playoff ticket punched, as they fell 2-1 to Angel and the Red Bulls.

Somehow, someway, the Gals just keep winning. After a pretty active, but mostly bland, first half, Coach Yallop puts Gavin Glinton in and he, almost immediately, earns a PK. Marco Reda wasn't pleased, but it was the right call. Donovan put it away, and all looked well in La-La Land. Not so fast, as Collin Samuel scored out of nowhere to bring the score back to level. It took a Chris Klein run and cross to another substitute, the well traveled Edson Buddle, to get the win for the Galaxy. They just won't die.

I'm just hoping that it all comes down to the Chicago v. LA match next Sunday. Blanco v. Beckham for all the marbles, that will be tons of fun. Sorry Sigi, just because I said tons of fun didn't mean you were invited...

Our blog buddy Ives breaks down the MLS playoff picture very well over at his site after last night's action.