Point for PSV, loss for Union Berlin in Champions League
Wednesday’s soccer news starts with Sergino Dest and Malik Tillman starting for PSV in their 1-1 draw at Lens in Champions League group B. Tillman subbed out in the 71st and Ricardo Pepi subbed on a minute into stoppage time. Johan Bakayoko scored for PSV in the 54th and Lens equalized in the 65th. Pepi saw yellow three minutes into stoppage time.
Brenden Aaronson subbed out in the 70th minute of Union Berlin’s 1-0 home loss to Napoli in group C. Napoli scored in the 65th minute.
Moving to the Championship, Reggie Cannon’s QPR lost 2-0 at West Brom. Daryl Dike is injured for West Brom. With QPR’s Jimmy Dunne seeing red in the 58th, Brandon Thomas-Asante converted a West Brom penalty in the 59th and Grady Diangana scored in the 68th minute.
Josh Sargent is injured, missing Norwich City’s 2-1 home loss to Middlesbrough. Trailing from goals in the 46th and two minutes into stoppage time, Jon Rowe scored for Norwich nine minutes into stoppage time.
Later tonight, the MLS playoffs open with the play-in games in both conferences. The Red Bulls host Charlotte FC in the East with New York finishing ahead on the total wins tiebreaker with both teams on 43 points. That would suggest an even matchup, with neither team all that strong on the road. Both had four away wins while the Red Bulls won seven at home.
New York’s last three home games saw them draw with Austin, lose to Chicago, and beat Toronto while winning at Cincinnati on October 4 and at Nashville on the 21st. Charlotte finished the season on a four-game undefeated streak, beating Toronto at home, Chicago on the road, drawing at Inter Miami, and beating Inter Miami at home to close out the regular season.
In the West, Sporting Kansas City hosts San Jose with those teams also tied on points at 44. San Jose only won twice on the road this season while Sporting KC won nine games at home. Sporting finished with back-to-back wins at Real Salt Lake and 3-1 at home over Minnesota. The Earthquakes drew 1-1 in each of their final four regular season games, home, away, away, and home.
Are we putting too much on home field advantage? Perhaps, but the 8th vs 9th playoff round is new. Last time around, the Red Bulls were the only home team that lost in the opening round. One home team lost in the semifinal round, and both home teams won in the conference finals. Because nothing is that simple in MLS, in the 2021 playoffs, only one away team advanced from the opening round and none of the home teams advanced from the conference semifinals.
