US Soccer Lays Out Playoff Procedure for USSF D2 Pro League
According to the Minnesota Stars soccer team, the United States Soccer Federation hosted a conference call Wednesday afternoon to clarify playoff procedures for the USSF Division 2 Pro League and to announce the postseason awards procedure. Team administrators and media officers participated in the call. The following information could be accessed at the NSC Stars team blog.
The call’s primary focus was playoff operations. The playoffs begin immediately after the end of the regular season, with first-leg matches on October 6 and 7 and second-leg matches on October 9 and 10. The higher seeded team in each series has the choice of when to host its home leg.
Eight teams from the league qualify for the playoffs. The team with the most points at the end of the regular season will be seeded No. 1 in the playoffs, and the top team from the opposite conference will earn the second seed. The remaining teams will be seeded according to points, regardless of conference. If the season ended today, the Rochester Rhinos would earn the No. 1 seed, and the Vancouver Whitecaps the No. 2. The NSC Minnesota Stars currently occupy the last playoff spot, leading FC Tampa Bay based on head-to-head competition between the two teams.
The playoffs will be conducted in a two-game, total-goals series. Away goals are not used as a tiebreaker. Series that are tied after 180 minutes of regulation time will use the standard FIFA rules for extra time with two 15-minute halves, played in their entirety, followed by penalty kicks if necessary.
Other points from the playoffs include:
- Yellow cards received in the regular season will not carry over into the playoffs to count toward an accumulation suspension. The USSF is still determining how many yellow cards a player can receive during the postseason before receiving a suspension.
- Red card suspensions from the regular season will carry over into the playoffs.
- Video streaming will be required for all playoff matches.
- The match ball will change in the playoffs from the Nike T90 Ascente to the Nike T90 Tracer, which is currently the match ball in several major leagues, including the English Premier League, Italian Serie A and Spanish La Liga.
The call also marked the beginning of discussions for postseason awards. While the format for nominations is still being worked out, the USSF will recognize the league’s best goalkeeper, best defender, most valuable player, rookie of the year, coach of the year and a Best XI. The league’s top goalscorer will also be recognized with the Golden Boot.
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Why the total goal, rather than the away goal rule?
I actually wonder why it’s home/away. I mean, what’s the point of finishing higher if you get no real advantage out of it?
Ya, thought the same thing ERic. I guess it’s an extra game home game for each team. If it’s a weekend game you will probably draw well, if not … I guess it depends on the market.
Don, it’s always been like that in D2 but I sure can’t tell you the reason why we continue to do that. Perhaps in D2 away is not as big of an issue as in other countries with rabid home supporters. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who may know the answer to this.
I think they don’t have the away goals rule because it’s pretty confusing for the non-initiated.
Personally, I’m not a fan of the rule anyways…
I personally like the away goal rule, because it gives validity (and rightly so) to the 12th player concept. The fans “do” make a difference. Years ago in Europe, I learned of a reason for not using the away goal benefit for lower division teams. This may not be the entire answer, but it does make sense.
The team that plays away in the first leg, can stock up all their players and do everything in their power to score and hold. If they get a good result such as a win or even a draw, all they have to do is hold the other team at ’0′ in the second leg when they come home. Secondly, a higher seeded team that has great confidence in winning against a lower seeded team, can really manipulate this.
So there it is. I’m not sure if I like it but, I can see some of this reasoning being part of the decision.
Let’s see, Since Austin has a game in Carolina on October 2nd and in Montreal on the 4th to end the year and then have games on the 6th/7th and 9th/10th. That’s a bit rough. 4 games in 8/9 days.
They should send their backup players to Carolina and Montreal for those last two games so that the starters won’t be exhausted for the first round of the playoffs.
Good point, Fotbalist. I never thought about it that way. It makes sense that an away win could lead to some pretty cynical footy in the second leg.
I like the idea of a 2-leg playoff, especially for d-2. It’s not like the NFL, where you can see every game, in every bar, everywhere. Personally, I think if a team makes it all the way to the playoffs, their fans should be able to see their team play. Eric mentioned that it takes away the benefit of finishing higher in the standings and I kind of agree. But if the tournament is seeded, isn’t that already a big advantage as the top seeds are presumably playing weaker competition? Also, the higher seed can decide the order too, which is pretty cool.
Most of all though, I think a playoff should be consistent. I really prefer this to MLSs current system: 2 leg quarter final, 1-leg semi, western conference clubs playing in the eastern final (well, last year anyway).
I HATE the away goals rule and I’m glad USSF D2 has the sense to ignore it.
The away goals rule promotes defensive soccer at home. Winning 2-1 at home in the first leg, while an entertaining match, is a much more damning result having conceded a goal to the visitors, than say 1-0 (see Russia-Slovenia in the UEFA tiebreaker this last year). Whereas during the season these results would be identical (at least in terms of goal difference).
Matches in 2 leg series with the away goals rule mean essentially one team gets 2 points per goal and one gets 1 in both. So in essence home teams are motivated to play passively and the away teams play aggressively, and this warps the game far more than a regular league match. All goals should count the same regardless of site and removing the away goals rule preserve the way matches are played during the season.
FIFA is way off base with its use of this rule in 2 leg series, as it destroys the matches.
I like the way D2 decided to do it and I like that the higher seed gets to choose the order, though perhaps this could be simplified by just giving the higher seed the 2nd leg at home, as it would be advantageous to be at home should extra time and PKs be needed.