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.C. and NYRB have played five. Becuase of this, points-per-game is used instead, which shakes out like this:
Kansas City
vs. NYRB: 1-0-1
vs. United: 1-1
Total: 2-1-1
PPG: 1.75
D.C. United
vs. NYRB: 1-1-1
vs. Wizards: 1-1
Total: 2-2-1
PPG: 1.4
NYRB
vs. United: 1-1-1
vs. KC: 0-1-1
Total: 1-2-2
PPG: 1.0
Our understanding from MLS Communications is that only KC wins a playoff spot with that initial tiebreaker. Once they're in, the tiebreaker reverts to the original head-to-head series between the Red Bulls and United. As previously written, each team has four points from the 1-1-1 record in this year's series. So, then the tie-breaker would go to
goal differential
which remains:
NYRB: -3
United: -7
So, if we get to Sunday following draws by both KC and NYRB, we'd need a four (or more) goal win over Columbus to ensure advancement. If we win by exactly four goals, we'd be tied on goal differential with NYRB, but would advance on the third tie-breaker which is
total goals
.
United: 43
NYRB: 40
Make sense?
