The New York Red Bulls have advanced out of the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs just once in their 13-year history and few observers gave them a chance to do that this year against the two-time defending MLS Cup champion Houston Dynamo.

And yet, the Red Bulls, missing several starters because of suspension, injury and ineffectiveness, led 1-0 three minutes into the second half of the Western Conference Semifinal Series and carried that lead into the final five minutes of the game.

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For weeks, D.C. United fans have followed their club's playoff fate, tracking the Black-and-Red schedule, monitoring other teams in the playoff hunt and mapping out how results might include or rule out United advancing to the 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs. Now, we know.

If United is able to beat the Columbus Crew tomorrow, the United will face the Houston Dynamo in the Western, that's right, Western Conference Semifinal Series.

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Following the Chicago Fire's 5-2 romp of the New York Red Bulls tonight, we now know that a win in Columbus on Sunday would book the team a ticket to the MLS Cup playoffs. Tonight's result also ensures the Kansas City Wizards a spot in the post-season. The Eastern Conference standings now look like this (x=clinched playoff spot, italics=eliminated):

x-Columbus - 54 points (29 Games Played)x-Chicago - 46 points (30 GP)x-New England - 43 points (29 GP)x-Kansas City - 39 points (29 GP)New York - 39 points (30 GP)D. Click to continue reading...

There's an old saying in MLS, "If you're not better than the MetroStars, you don't belong in the playoffs." Technically, that would apply to the Red Bulls right now, and technically that's not really an old MLS saying. But maybe it should be.

There is one weekend left in the 2008 MLS regular season, and if D.

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We confirmed a few items related to tiebreakers with the League this morning and wanted to pass them along.

In the event that New York and Kansas City play to draws and United wins, all three teams would have 40 standings points. As previously noted, the first tie-breaker is head-to-head competition against all tied teams, but in this case the Wizards have only played four games, while D.

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For a few teams in Major League Soccer, their chances of reaching the playoffs this season are rapidly fading away. Other clubs have little or not doubt that they are in and a few are actually battling things out here in the final stages of the season. Just as mentioned in the Power Rankings this morning, [. Click to continue reading...

Lots of people complain that the biggest thing against soccer is the lack of stats. Americans love their stats and honestly I can't blame them. Other sports are full of them and soccer does lack some statistical value to some people. Well, today I found a site that puts the math to the test and helps [. Click to continue reading...

Let's just say things out west aren't as good as they've been in years past. There's been plenty of talk today all over the soccer blogosphere about how bad the western conference is in Major League Soccer. Most of you already know my feelings on the western side of the ball compared to the eastern [. Click to continue reading...

Its mid-August and that means that it is not only hot out side but the MLS playoff race is heating up with every game. Most clubs have 11 games left on the menu so each team is starting to figure out where exactly that line is that they need to get to here to make [...] Click to continue reading...