ON THE BUBBLE | The Chase To The Championship
Three teams – New York, Ottawa and Minnesota – have reserved their places in The Championship, the NASL’s four-team postseason tournament, with only the No. 4 seed still to be determined as the league nears the completion of its 2015 regular season, on Nov. 1.
Time is quickly running out on the seven teams in the chase and the clock would strike midnight for five clubs – FC Edmonton, Carolina, Atlanta, Jacksonville and San Antonio – should Fort Lauderdale defeat visiting San Antonio on Wednesday night. That would leave only the Strikers and Tampa Bay alive, and the Rowdies only barely.
A tie between the Scorpions and the Strikers would eliminate the Eddies and San Antonio. A deadlock in the Strikers-Scorpions game would also force Jacksonville, Atlanta, and Carolina to run the table in their final regular-season games.
A Fort Lauderdale tie and either a win or tie by Ottawa Fury FC (which plays at Jacksonville) would eliminate the expansion Armada FC.
Before the games of Week 17, only Indy Eleven among the league’s 11 teams has been eliminated from contention for a berth in The Championship.
Boiling it down team by team:
Fort Lauderdale
A win by the Strikers brings clarity to the exciting chaos and would end five teams’ postseason chase, and have them looking toward the 2016 season. Fort Lauderdale has a game in hand on most of the competition and closes out the regular season with games against the three teams – San Antonio, Indy Eleven and Jacksonville – at the bottom of the Combined Standings.
Tampa Bay
The Rowdies in the Fall Season have lost nine games and are near the bottom of the table. But a second-place finish, one point behind New York, in the Spring Season has kept Tampa Bay in the game. The scoreless tie at Atlanta last week enabled the Strikers to take over fourth place in the Combined Standings. Tampa Bay finishes its schedule at home against the RailHawks (on Oct. 24) and on the road against the Cosmos (Oct. 31).
FC Edmonton
A four-game losing streak at this time of year will do a lot to ruin anyone’s season and that’s exactly what has happened to the Eddies. A three-game East Coast road trip, all losses, minus one of the team’s top players, Lance Laing, leaves the Eddies with one game to play and only a faint hope of advancing.
Carolina
The RailHawks squandered a two-game winning streak that thrust them back into the race, falling to rampant Fort Lauderdale, 4-0, last week. Now a win by the Strikers or the Rowdies would eliminate Carolina.
Atlanta
The Silverbacks, like other teams, will be watching Wednesday night’s results and hope that their next two games will have postseason significance. Those games – against Minnesota and Ottawa – could have an impact on both the Fall Season and Combined Standings, and postseason seeds.
Jacksonville
The Armada FC, playing a man down last week, rallied to overcome FC Edmonton, but like everyone else, needs help to keep playing past Nov. 1. First-place Ottawa is at Community First Park on Wednesday night, a place where Jacksonville has not lost during the Fall Season.
San Antonio
The Scorpions probably have only a few more weeks to sport the title of defending champions. Everyone still alive will be rooting for San Antonio to defeat Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday night.
Winning the Fall Season title would give Ottawa a home game in the semifinals (the New York Cosmos will host the other semifinal by virtue of having won the Spring Season title), and give Minnesota United the No. 3 seed.
The other piece of the puzzle is then who – the Cosmos or Fury FC – finishes first in the Combined Standings, landing the No. 1 overall seed and home-field advantage throughout The Championship, should they advance and play for the Soccer Bowl trophy.
