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It's mid-June and the New England Revolution are in the thick of the playoff hunt in the Eastern Conference. Let that sink in. It's been a little while since we've had the pleasure, and excitement of a Revolution playoff hunt, and I for one cannot contain my excitement.
Each week heading into the match we're going to keep you up to date on the playoff implications it carries, as well as the impact on the rest of the league. New England only plays out of conference twice in their last 21 matches, so if the Revs are going to make a push for a playoff spot, it's going to be in their own hands.
After the jump we get you up to speed on the 2012 MLS playoff format because, let's face it, it changes every year. Once you're up to speed we're going to take a look at this weekend's match ups and break down the playoff race as it stands!
The 2012 playoff format isn't as complicated as one may think: The field remains ten teams, however instead of including wild cards from different conferences and making things difficult, the league moved to a streamlined format of just the top 5 teams in each conference. So, we will never have to see two teams in the Cup final from the same conference (NYRB "Western Conference Champions" just sounded so stupid).
The No. 4 team in each conference will then host the No. 5 team in its conference in a single-elimination game for the right to face its respective conference’s top seed in the Conference Semifinals. Also, as an added bonus, the MLS Cup will no longer be held at a neutral site, and will be hosted by the finalist with the higher regular season point total.
So, handicapping the playoff race will be a little easier from a Revs perspective, in that you no longer have to worry about wild card teams from the Western Conference. Where does New England stand? Let's take a look!
Eastern Conference
#
Club
PTS
GP
W
L
T
GF
GA
GD
Home
Away
Last 5
1
D.C. United
27
15
8
4
3
28
19
9
6-1-2
2-3-1
W-L-W-W-W
2
New York Red Bulls
26
13
8
3
2
26
18
8
4-0-2
4-3-0
W-W-W-W-T
3
Sporting Kansas City
25
12
8
3
1
17
10
7
5-1-0
3-2-1
L-L-L-T-W
4
Columbus Crew
18
12
5
4
3
13
13
0
3-2-1
2-2-2
T-W-T-W-W
5
Chicago Fire
18
13
5
5
3
15
17
-2
3-1-2
2-4-1
W-L-W-L-L
6
New England Revolution
16
13
5
7
1
18
18
0
4-1-1
1-6-0
L-W-T-L-W
7
Houston Dynamo
16
12
4
4
4
13
15
-2
2-0-1
2-4-3
W-T-T-W-L
8
Montreal Impact
12
13
3
7
3
15
21
-6
2-1-2
1-6-1
W-W-T-L-L
9
Philadelphia Union
8
11
2
7
2
8
14
-6
1-3-1
1-4-1
L-L-L-T-L
10
Toronto FC
3
10
1
9
0
8
21
-13
1-5-0
0-4-0
L-L-L-L-W