Well once again, our boys in Verde did not get the job done and failed to clinch a playoff berth by losing 3-0 in Nashville. Coming off a late loss against Portland on Wednesday, my expectations were not high for this match, and we met them with a sloppy loss, as we were clearly exhausted in the second half. Combined with Portland’s typical late season run emerging with a straightforward 2-1 win over Atlanta at home, the quest for a playoff spot goes on for another week. Oh well, I guess I need to fly up to Seattle next week to see us clinch a playoff spot in person, which can be done with a win over Seattle or a wide variety of scenarios, including a Portland loss at home to Minnesota.
| Team | Magic Number |
| Sporting Kansas City | ELIMINATED from finishing above Austin FC |
| Houston Dynamo | ELIMINATED from finishing above Austin FC |
| San Jose Earthquakes | ELIMINATED from finishing above Austin FC |
| Colorado Rapids | ELIMINATED from finishing above Austin FC |
| Vancouver Whitecaps | ELIMINATED from finishing above Austin FC |
| Seattle Sounders | 1 |
| Portland Timbers | 3 Clinch Playoff Birth |
| LA Galaxy | 7 |
| Nashville SC | 7 |
| Real Salt Lake | 7 Clinch Home Playoff Game |
| FC Dallas (Frisco) | 8 Clinch US Open Cup Bye |
| Minnesota United | 9 Clinch 2 Seed (Potential Second Home Playoff Match) |
| LAFC | Needs 7 points to eliminate us |
The good news comes from the rest of the table. First off, the LA Galaxy tie on Sunday against Sporting Kansas City was one of the funniest things I have seen in years. If you don’t laugh watching this failed panenka by Chicharito, then nothing in this league is funny to you. The fact that it helps Austin FC in the playoff race is just gravy at this point.
On the playoff clinching front, Vancouver played like they didn’t make the flight down to San Jose, which eliminated them from finishing above Austin FC. Houston went up to Seattle and somehow led at the half and stopped a Nico Lodeiro penalty for the first time in his career. That being said it was too good to be true, as Seattle came back and won 2-1.
We did eliminate a team this weekend from finishing above us with the Whitecaps losing 2-0 to San Jose. With Minnesota and RSL losing, every team, aside from LAFC, is down to a single digit magic number. As a result, Austin just needs to win 3 of the final 5 matches of the season to clinch the 2 seed, and that’s not counting for other teams losing. While the last two matches have not been fun, Austin FC is still in a strong position.
Next week, we will make more progress towards reducing magic numbers by default with Nashville hosting the LA Galaxy, LAFC going to Frisco, and Portland hosting Minnesota. We’ll have an update next Sunday, and hopefully it will be a joyous one with a playoff bid secured after positive results in the Northwest.
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