2012 Cascadia Cup Format: All Games Will Count Equally
by Jeremiah Oshan on Jan 24, 2012 10:49 AM PST
in Sounders: MLS Regular Season
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Despite the unbalanced nature of the 2012 Cascadia Cup, the three biggest supporters groups of the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps elected to have each game count equally toward the trophy.
Various options had been discussed, such as counting just one home game for each team or weighting road results differently, but there was apparently near universal support to make the competition's rules as straight forward as possible. In a poll of ECS members, 88 percent supported having every game count equally toward the Cascadia Cup.
That said, the joint release did note frustration that the six games were not scheduled in as equitable a way as possible.
"It’s unfortunate that the league didn’t work out a balanced schedule for the Cascadia teams," says Garrett Dittfurth of the Timbers Army. "We think the league should fix this for next season so that no team has an unfair advantage in Cup matches."
In the event that there is a tie in total points earned, goal-difference in games between the tied teams would be the first tiebreaker, followed by total goals scored. If the teams are still tied, the same criteria would be applied to all Cup games. It is worth noting that at no point does road performance come into the tiebreaker scenario.
"Cascadia is home to the oldest and strongest rivalry in North American soccer, and the value that the supporters put on the Cascadia Cup reflects that," says Greg Mockos of the Emerald City Supporters. "The league should pay attention."
Full schedule after the jump
2012 Cascadia Cup schedule
May 19: Vancouver Whitecaps v. Seattle Sounders
May 25: Portland Timbers v. Vancouver Whitecaps
June 24: Portland Timbers v. Seattle Sounders
August 18: Seattle Sounders v. Vancouver Whitecaps
August 25: Portland Timbers v. Vancouver Whitecaps
September 15: Portland Timbers v. Seattle Sounders
September 29: Vancouver Whitecaps v. Seattle Sounders
October 7: Seattle Sounders v. Portland Timbers
October 20: Vancouver Whitecaps v. Portland Timbers
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In Lieu of Getting The Schedule Right in the First Place...
this was the right way to do it. Great teams win on the road. I believe we will be a great team this year.
can someone in ecs or in the know
explain what the easiest and most straight forward way to attend a cascadia away match would be? Travel is one thing, I am more interested in how you get the tickets. Going with ECS (non-member) the best option?
We'll know more once a number of tickets allocated is determined
Once that is known how those tickets are distributed will then be decided
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
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how easy is it to just buy single game tickets through the timbers, like their website or something?
There's no filter on where you're from
on Ticketmaster or any other ticket reseller.
Nos audietis in somniis
Nos audietis in altum
by Seattle Coug on Jan 24, 2012 11:38 AM PST up reply actions
There is for group sales
and people did find that those with WA addresses were unable to buy tickets from the Timbers early last year.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart | Follow Dave on Twitter @bedirthan
Wait, seriously? All WA addresses?
I know that Vancouver actually has a lot of Timbers supporters (probably more than Sounders supporters). Seems unfair to ignore a hotbed of support like that.
I met a possum.
by s0merand0mdude on Jan 24, 2012 3:59 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Fairly easy
I’d strongly recommend against wearing any Sounders paraphernalia or just expect to be moved
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart | Follow Dave on Twitter @bedirthan
I wore a Sounders jersey and scarf in Portland
and had no problems. But my ticket was in the section in front of ECS which was probably 50% Sounders. And if you are in another section I would ask to get moved to near ECS. It was a blast and after 45 most Timbers fans had relocated out of our section. Just don’t wear your colors in TA sections.
Do you remember which section that was?
I live in Vancouver WA and plan on buying 6-10 tickets to the section below the ECS.
In the SW corner
Section 123 I believe. ECS were in 223
Unless there's been a change in policy at JW
You shouldn’t expect to be moved unless you’re wearing Sounders gear and seated in the immediate vicinity of TA. There were Sounders fans scattered all over the stadium at Portland away last year.
the policy was to move people
that many weren’t does not mean it wasn’t policy
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart | Follow Dave on Twitter @bedirthan
by Dave Clark on Jan 24, 2012 12:04 PM PST via Android app up reply actions
I think the reality of it was
You were moved if people complained and most timbers fan did not complain if you were respectful even if you were wearing sounders gear.
Its an incredibly stupid policy
Unless you are sitting near the TA, I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it.
I miss *REAL* Four Loko
by B-Lot tailgater on Jan 25, 2012 3:05 PM PST up reply actions
Wear your Sounders gear anywhere you want but within the Timbers Army
that’s how it works.
volatilelyle.com
by almost awesome on Jan 24, 2012 12:32 PM PST up reply actions
about 200 sounders fans were relocated
I doubt they were all stupid enough to sit with TA
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart | Follow Dave on Twitter @bedirthan
by Dave Clark on Jan 24, 2012 12:44 PM PST via Android app up reply actions
I'm sure you're right
I would imagine there were ahole Sounders fans, ahole timbers fans, or ahole ushers involved there.
But I don’t think Sounders fans have to be looking over their shoulder when they take off their jackets.
volatilelyle.com
by almost awesome on Jan 24, 2012 1:05 PM PST via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
Last year the Sounders match tickets did not even enter online sales
All single-game tickets were sold in physical ticket outlets in Portland. They did it to make it harder for Sounders fans to get tickets to the match.
For me, I just plan to buy from Timbers -- and have the tix in the supporter section.
…or do you think it would be easier through ECS?
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by Timm Higgins on Jan 24, 2012 12:36 PM PST up reply actions
I'm not sure that's an option
Last year, all the tickets in Sounders supporters section were distributed by supporters groups.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.
by Jeremiah Oshan on Jan 24, 2012 1:03 PM PST up reply actions
Last year you had to be an ECS member to buy a ticket through the ECS
And you could only buy one ticket.
But as Dave said, ECS has not announced this year’s policy.
I think Gorilla FC might've had a certain amount for their group
but don’t quote me.
I met a possum.
by s0merand0mdude on Jan 24, 2012 4:02 PM PST up reply actions
GFC and NEF had ... 75 I think?
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.
by Jeremiah Oshan on Jan 24, 2012 4:39 PM PST up reply actions
Something like that I believe
I think they shared a bus to get down there.
They did
ECS sold out 400+ tickets for Portland in less than 30 minutes, for Gorilla/NEF it took days.
Vancouver was a bit slower sale for ECS as well. I think this year it will get sold out much faster, especially the first one which will be the first Cascadia trip of the year.
Ya it sucks about the unbalanced schedule.
but in reality its not that big of a deal. The Sounders if they play up to their potential should win all 6 games whether its played in the minor league baseball stadium or a barn in Nebraska (granted going 6/6 is a big ask and in reality they might draw or something) but it shouldn’t matter. Seattle is still the mot talented team and has proven to be road warriors over the last few years. I have the utmost confidence they will get it done. Go Sounders!
I'm confident too
But it took an amazing come back performance in Portland last year. That day we were very close to digging ourselves into a hole that would have been too deep. Could have easily turned out very badly for us.
agreed on the comeback but lets be real
that game portland scored two on us both off deflections. Fairly fluky in my opinion and we still won. Sometimes the bounces aren’t going your way (like that game) but the Sounders found a way to win. i understand what your saying but my expectations are that we will be undefeated (including draws) and win the cascadia cup
by cal.robinson on Jan 24, 2012 2:12 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Best of the bad options MLS gave us
But I kind of think by the time you get to the third or fourth tie-breaker it should go to goals away, if not simply games away. If two teams that played an unbalanced home schedule are tied in record and in goal differential and in goals, and you need to pick a winner, it should be the team that did more on the road.
If there's a tie, they shouldn't try to break it
I’m not sure how likely it is that there would be a tie, but I think it makes more sense to have co-champs than it does to use an arbitrary tiebreaker like away goals or away goals per game or away points or away points per game or whatever.
But of course
The TA wants the competition to be evened out next year when they would have to play 4 on the road.
by SeattleisSoccer on Jan 24, 2012 11:37 AM PST reply actions 3 recs
I hope they don't try to balance the schedule next year
Now that they’ve committed to this schedule for 2012, I want the opposite schedule for 2013. As a STH, I want 4 Cascadia home games next year and will feel cheated if we don’t see Portland and Vancouver each 3 times at home over 2012-2013.
9 total home games for every 3 years
So Portland gets 4, Vancouver gets 3 and Seattle gets 2 this year.
If they keep the unbalanced home & away
Vancouver would get 2 or 4 at home next season
Portland would get 2 or 3 at home next season
and Seattle would get 3 or 4 at home next season
But then this is using logic and it would have been more logical to divvy the games up 3,3,3 to begin with…
The league has stated at least once now...
…that next year’s schedule will be a mirror image of this year’s schedule. While the league famously makes things up as they go along, there will probably be a lot of support amongst owners for them to stick to this plan. For one, as a Sounders STH, next year I want to see the East teams that I didn’t get to see this year. I imagine that isn’t an uncommon sentiment and that most owners will want to be able to do this for their STHs. For another, some teams draw better than others and owners aren’t going to want to miss out on home dates with the teams that draw best. For instance, there’s the Rocky Mountain Cup, which is going to be unbalanced every year, and I don’t think that, say, Colorado would be too happy if RSL got to host Colorado twice this year and twice next year. Or if I’m a team in the East, I don’t want to miss out on Donovan, Beckham, etc., two years in a row.
I fully expect them to keep unbalanced home & away next year and I fully expect the Sounders to get PDX and VAN twice each at home, and I will feel cheated if that is not the case.
While it's a bigger issue league wide, it's just a one game difference for the Sounders.
by yuniform on Jan 24, 2012 12:59 PM PST via Android app up reply actions
At least one other team would have to change their schedule...
If we play a balanced Cascadia Cup next year, the most likely side effect of that is that one of the Western Conference teams that plays here twice this year will have to play here twice next year.
It would have to be a team that plays only once in Portland this year
Otherwise the effect will ripple down to at least one more team.
No, you could just pick a team that plays both Seattle and Portland three times, @Seattle twice and @Portland once and flip them (since we'd be getting another home game and Portland would be losing one).
I checked a few weeks ago, and there where something like four teams that fit the bill.
Sorry, I meant to say "YES."
not “no”.
by quacker27 on Jan 24, 2012 2:54 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
If we switch to a balanced Cascadia schedule next year...
…then we’ll either lose a home game against Portland or we’ll lose a home game against Vancouver. Either way, that would suck.
Probably not.
But lets not pretend it would be very difficult. It would just take one extra team. At least it wouldn’t have been. I’m sure the TV thing throws another wrench into things.
It wouldn't have been that difficult
But at this point, the schedule this year isn’t going to change and I’m a bit testy about suggestions that next year’s schedule might have balanced Cascadia Cup matches.
I'd worry about the unbalanced schedule for the Sounders...
…if we weren’t clearly the better team of the three. We’re the preseason favorites for the Cascadia Cup even with the away games.
You could make the argument that it was a crafty move by ECS...
Get an advantage next year when more things are up in the air by slightly handicapping ourselves in a year where we should win it.
Timber army
Would say to even the schedule NEXT YEAR. Still going to get owned by the sounders fc
by Jtkrocks on Jan 24, 2012 11:02 PM PST via Android app reply actions
as someone involved in writing the press release
I have to say that the rules decided upon in the press release are also designed to simplify things as much as possible. The Cascadia is not new, but it is to MLS and its important for the rules to be easily understood by the masses withouth confusing wordage and archaic rules. This sis something I hope to see more of in MLS-which overcomplicates things tremendously. Football is a simple sport and simplicity works-especially when appealing to a broader spectrum of fans. Not every fan hs the desire or the ability to dwelve into all the overworked MLS rules and we did not want this to be the case for the Cascadia Cup.
Felt like saying this as this was just as much part of the debate as the unbalanced schedule and disparity of home/away this season and in seasons to come.
by fuzzyforeigner on Jan 25, 2012 11:05 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
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