does the higher seed have the advantage?
ask around the forums and blogospheres and while most might think that hosting the second game in a two legged aggregate score situation is the bigger advantage… (you get to take care of the end of the game on your home field) there are some that think hosting the first game is the better deal. while i can see the case for both, if you forced an answer out of me, i think i would take the first game at home.
unlike in europe, there is no advantage given to away goals (i.e. they are the difference maker if tied after 180 minutes) so that changes the strategy quite a bit in my opinion.
the sounders will basically want nothing more than leave game 1 with the highest net goal advantage and then go to houston with a more defensive minded strategy. yeah yeah, i know “score a lot of goals at home” is pretty much stating the obvious but you know what i mean.
so let’s say it all goes to plan. let’s say we can get out of seattle with a +1 or even a +2 goal difference… don’t you think seattle then has a distance advantage? sure houston is at home for the second leg, but they are on the back foot regardless of where they are playing. they have to come out and score goals…and because of that, the game is more open giving us a greater chance to score goals. it is no secret that we like to score against the run of play.
it theoretically gives us the first shot at running our game plan and if it doesn’t go well, then we have a chance at plan B in houston. we have the better shot at being in the drivers seat than houston, and i would take that every time.
think about it in reverse… would you rather go to houston with a +1 goal differencial? or them come here with a + 1 goal differencial? it is a tough question, but i really think you have to take the +1 goal… especially since we have proven our ability to win on the road. all of this obviously presumes that we win at home…. but there is no other way to think about it.
oh, and then this is this other disadvantage for houston… they are staying in LA tonight, and then have to fly here on tuesday. while that is better than flying back to houston, and then up to seattle, it still has to suck living out of a hotel for that long, and i am sure it will drum up plenty of memories of their previous travels to seattle with short turn arounds..
7/4 at KC W
7/7 at Charleston W
7/11 at Seattle L
7/18 at Toronto T
7/21 at Seattle L
this isn’t the exact same situation… but right now houston is on the following schedule
10/18 LA T
10/21 at isidro metepan L
10/25 at chivas W
10/29 at seattle ?
i am willing to bet that most, if not all of the dynamo, would much rather be playing in houston this weekend than in seattle on thursday.
let’s hope that this plays out as well for us this time as it did back in july.
i am sure there are a lot of thoughts, agreeing and disagreeing… what do you think?
yamsmos Reply:
October 26th, 2009 at 7:37 am
i guess that is my point… rightly or wrongly, i expect us to take care of our business at home… and if we do that, i would rather host the first game.
oh well, it is what it is.
laurie Reply:
October 26th, 2009 at 7:41 am
On a related topic: Who do we talk to to get the away goal rule implemented? In general (not talking about SEATTLE, of course), these first legs will put 98% of your body parts to sleep.