New York City couldn't make it to postseason paydirt this year. But that doesn't mean we suddenly can't watch the football.
WATCH IT!!!
A quick note before we jump into it: the four games on tonight and tomorrow are all televised in the U.S. on UniMas, which defaults to Spanish language audio. To (1) find your local UniMas station and (2) find out how to switch to English language audio via your system's SAP function, CLICK HERE!
GAME 1: New England Revolution at D.C. United
Watch on UniMas (USA) and TSN-2 (Canada)
VEGAS SAYS: On the moneyline, D.C. +180, Revs +145.
WHY D.C. WINS: United have beaten the Revs in five of their last six meetings in the nation's capital. They posted eleven wins at home on the year, good for third overall in MLS.
WHY NEW ENGLAND WINS: New England enters in far better form-- they dictated their way to a 3-1 road win over one of those teams from the New York area to close the season. United limped to the finish line, tumbling from their first-place perch in the middle of the year. Their 5-0 Decision Day shellacking on the road to Columbus dropped them down to the fourth seed.
PHUN PHACT: New England rolled past United in last year's playoffs on their way to the Eastern Conference title.
POTENT QUOTABLE: United manager Ben Olsen: "I’ve known this crew now for two years, and I know there is enough character and enough experience in that locker room to understand that in some ways this may be a get-out-of-jail-free card, and now we’ve got a new lease against a very good team in New England. They have to come to our building and play in RFK, where we have been pretty successful."
HRB'S PREDICTION: New England 1776, D.C. 2.
GAME 2: L.A. Galaxy at Seattle Sounders
10:00 p.m. ET, CenturyLink Field, Seattle, Washington
Watch on UniMas (USA) and TSN2 or RDS2 (Canada)
VEGAS SAYS: On the moneyline, Seattle +115, Galaxy +230. Dayummm!
WHY SEATTLE WINS: Nobody brings the noise like Sounders fans, who set the MLS record for average annual attendance at 44,247. That's more than Chelsea. That's more than Liverpool! Additionally, Los Angeles enters the playoffs winless in their last three in league play, and their last four in all competitions.
WHY L.A. WINS: The Galaxy are 4-2 all-time in the playoffs against the Sounders. Also, Bruce Arena's team has so many weapons that you'd swear they were armed by the CIA in the 1970's: Sebastian Lletget, Steven Gerrard, and Gio Dos Santos combined for twelve goals and ten assists despite not arriving until mid-season.
PHUN PHACT: Both franchises have qualified for the playoffs seven straight years, tied for the third-longest streak in league history. By the most important metrics, these are the top two MLS teams since 2009.
POTENT QUOTABLE: Galaxy gaffer Bruce Arena: "The way we want to play is when we have the ball, be dangerous. We're not diagramming things on a napkin. We're telling them to play, and I think the way they played [in our last game], we were real close to being real good."
HRB'S PREDICTION: Seattle 3, Galacticos 1.
See you tomorrow for Knockout Day 2: Canadian Boogaloo!