Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

The playoff race

Saturday’s 1–1 draw in San Jose put Kansas City in first place in the East with 45 points. With the opportunity to overtake them and gain a one point advantage, the Philadelphia Union were unable to prevent Juan Pablo Angel’s 90th minute header and had to settle for a 1–1 draw and second place in the standings with 44 points. Columbus recorded a 2–1 win over DC, the only Eastern Conference win of the weekend and their first in six games, and are now level with the Union on points and third in the standings while DC remains in sixth place on 38 points. Houston drew 1–1 with Chicago for fourth place and 43 points with the Fire now in seventh place with 37 points. New York eked out a 1–1 draw in Toronto to remain if fifth place with 40 points.

Union

Match reports from Sunday night’s draw with Chivas from Philly Soccer Page, the Union website, MLSsoccer.com, SBI, Soccernation.com, the Chivas writer for MLSsoccer.com.

Peter Nowak on the draw: “You can see at the end of the game we just didn’t have the legs. That’s the reason for it…We held up pretty good with all the pressure from Chivas…It was a difficult environment. Every point is valuable at this stage to keep us as a contender to be in the playoffs…Regardless if we got the win or not, I think the last six games were very good. And we’re still in a position to control our own destiny with three games to go.”

Justin Mapp on having to settle for a draw: “It definitely stings. We let two points get away, and, obviously, things are very tight in the playoff race.”

Sebastien Le Toux did not score on Sunday night for only the third game out of the last nine. Maybe this article jinxed him?

This article was published in the Delco Times on Friday but its subject, the midfield conundrum, remains current.

The Brotherly Game has an immediate reaction rant to the draw.

The Union Dues prefers Roger Torres to Freddy Adu.

On Saturday, we posted a piece about our fair city’s newest sports paper, SportsWeak, I mean SportsWeek, and the fact that the only mention the Union got in nearly 90 pages was in the TV listings, a mention that managed to improperly refer to Chivas USA and was accompanied by a photo of Zac MacMath that also misspelled the Union goalkeeper’s first name. We invited readers to contact SportsWeek to let them know how they felt about the exclusion of the Union and Section 133 has posted one such letter on their website.

Ives Galarcep has an interesting piece at FoxSoccer.com about the potential for a more derby-like rivalry between the Union and DC United.

MLS

A report at CanadianSoccerNews says Toronto FC officials told season ticket holders that the 2012 season will commence the week of March 10 and that the league will follow a 34 game schedule. The early start is required so the league can take off during the three scheduled World Cup Qualifier international breaks scheduled for 2012.

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber says he favors a change in format for the MLS Cup, currently held at a neutral venue, so that the final would be played at the higher seed’s stadium. “We’ve gotten to the point in our league where our fans on short notice would support their club and attend a championship game even if they had only two or three days to buy tickets for that match. Years ago we wouldn’t have been able to contemplate that when we weren’t convinced the support was there to sell out a stadium for a championship game. Now I have no doubt we could. I think it’d be fun for the fans. I’m a big proponent of it.”

Chris Vito at the Delco Times makes his own terrible proposal for how the league should change the regular season schedule.

LA Galaxy are one win away from claiming the Supporters’ Shield. A win in New York on Tuesday night will clinch it, and how nice is that?

Vancouver opened their newly refurbished stadium with a loss to Portland.

NASL

The NASL playoffs started on Saturday with FC Edmonton being destroyed 5–0 by Fort Lauderdale Strikers. The New York Times talks to David Downs, president of the league.

US

FIFA has approved Fabian Johnson’s switch from Germany to the US.

RealClearSports looks at the history of German coaches leading the USMNT.

More on the recent ruling from US Soccer that says players in the Development Academy system cannot play for their high school.

Here’s a look at the birth, re-location, and rebirth of Austin Aztex.

Elsewhere

Carlos Tevez will face a disciplinary interview today that may decide his fate at Manchester City.

The Manchester United Supporters Trust has reacted to the Tevez saga with a stunt that refers to the billboard Manchester City commissioned when the Argentinian joined the club.