Angels Links: Decision Day madness in MLS

Chaos on Decision day, MLS playoff field set

Wow, what a day in MLS on Sunday. The last day of the season, nicknamed Decision Day, had all the games played at the same time. That didn’t mean things were straightforward though, far from it. In the east New York City FC held onto the second spot despite drawing at home with Columbus Crew SC, after the Houston Dynamo beat Chicago Fire, and Atlanta United drew with Toronto FC. In that particular game, Toronto set the record for most points in a season, while Atlanta United broke the single game attendance record that they had set just a few weeks ago. The New York Red Bulls won 2-1 in the last game at RFK stadium for D.C. United, the Portland Timbers won the top seed in the West and the Cascadia Cup in the process. Clint Dempsey was sent off in the Seattle Sounders’ victory, and will now miss the first leg of the Sounders’ playoff series. And just when it looked FC Dallas would secure that last playoff spot in the west, the San Jose Earthquakes scored a stoppage-time winner to get the 6th seed in very dramatic fashion.

As for the playoffs, in the West Portland and Seattle have the byes, while Vancouver hosts San Jose, and Houston hosts Sporting KC. In the East, Toronto and NYCFC have the byes, Chicago hosts the New York Red Bulls, and Atlanta United hosts the Columbus Crew.

Spurs thrash Liverpool at Wembley

Remember when Liverpool used to play really well against the top sides? Yeah, that seems like a long time ago. After getting crushed by Manchester City earlier this year, and a drab 0-0 draw against United last week, Spurs took it to Liverpool, beating them 4-1 at Wembley. Harry Kane had a brace, Dele Alli scored for Spurs, and Tottenham just generally controlled the game. Spurs went up by 2 goals in the first 20 minutes, and it was all one way traffic for a while. Liverpool got back into the game on a goal by Mohammed Salah though, and were able to generate some chances after that poor first spell. However disastrously for them they gave up a goal right before halftime, and never recovered. Kane added another goal in the second half, and Spurs were well in control throughout the second half. Yet again the defense of Liverpool let them down, and that is something they must solve if they want to win any trophies this year.

Neymar scores, gets sent off as Le Classique ends 2-2

As far as rivalries go, Le Classique doesn’t have quite the history or star power as some of the more famous soccer rivalries, but that doesn’t mean Paris Saint-Germain vs Marseille isn’t exciting. This year’s version at Marseille ended 2-2 with Edinson Cavani snatching a late goal for the Paris side. Neymar will take most of the headlines, for both scoring and being sent off for getting two yellow cards. This was set to be Marseille’s first victory since 2011, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Sami Khedira scores a hat trick as 10-man Juventus beat Udinese 6-2

Juventus has owned Serie A these last few years, but this year they are in for a real fight. Napoli are as good as ever, Inter Milan appear to be back after having some seasons where they struggled, and Roma are hanging around near the top. However Juventus want to show they are still top dog, and they got a nice 6-2 win over Udinese on Sunday as proof. Sami Khedira scored a hat trick for the Old Lady, and this was all despite being down to 10 men, after Mario Mandzukic was sent off in the first half. Serie A looks to be really competitive at the top this year, and is definitely worth watching to see who comes out on top.

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