El Paso wrapped up a playoff berth from the Mid-South Division with their win over DFW and have tied Chicago for best point total at 39, though Chicago has yet to lose.

The Patriots are 13-3-0, and there are a couple of teams with better records, but perhaps the thing that sets the Pats apart is their schedule: Every single weekend save one this team has played back-to-back matches and have lost only one on the road. They will end their season playing back-to-back at home July 16-17. Checking South Jersey and Chicago, they will have played back-to-back matches four times and five times this season, respectively.

Looking toward the playoffs, it's all speculative, but I'm wondering about everyone's thoughts going in. Certainly, the Heartland Division plays some tough soccer, as I'm sure the Southeast Division does, too. The Mid-South seems to have its problems, but the Pats have played a more challenging schedule than most, so I'm hoping a battle- and road-tested El Paso team will do well.

El Paso has never had playoff success at any level in their 14 seasons, but they never had road success, either, and that is a big difference this season.

Fire Reserves clinch a playoff spot tonight with a 4-1 win over Wisconsin.

They must be a solid team at 14-0

Depth is a wonderful thing,

A very educated and well thought out guess at the PDL finals see's El Paso and Chicago playing in the finals IF the Western plays the Southern and the Eastern plays the Central.

It is NOT my guess it is the guess of someone that is really well educated and knows his stuff, I am just repeating it.

While I'm partial to CFR, the last couple of years point to the following.

- I believe the last 3 pdl champions came out of the Northeast - Westchester '01 and Cape Cod '02,'03.

- Top seeds seem to get knocked off with great regularity in the conference championships.

- Teams that come from tighter division races seem to do better than teams that blow through the regular season

These are the teams that I think will have the most impact in the playoffs, of course some are still playing to get in.

Cape Cod .. if they get in they know how to win.
Carolina Dyanamo .. playing well
South Jersey Barrons .. playing well
Indiana Invaders .. best kept secret in PDL with Mo as their coach and Chisoni on top, deadly.
Michigan Bucks .. they have a habit of winning the big game
Orange County .. best of the west last year, they will be hungry to be back
CFR .. First season top seed, knocked out second game, Second season top seed, knocked out first game, Last year made the finals, this year, who knows
Boulder .. Tuff, always

Long shot pick, Thunder Bay, they still have a chance - great organization.

my pick CFR (have to) vs Dynamo or Barrons

Man, no love for the Southern Conference...

Why no mention of El Paso, DFW, Central Florida, or Cocoa\Ajax? 5 good teams to look out for.

see items 1 and 3 in the my first post above.
"- I believe the last 3 pdl champions came out of the Northeast - Westchester '01 and Cape Cod '02,'03.

- Teams that come from tighter division races seem to do better than teams that blow through the regular season"

It's been a Northeast/Heartland final each of the last two years. I think the two items above are the reason for this.

To be truthful I know little of the south and southeast teams, maybe someone with more knowledge on them will jump in. It is a discussion board...

I probably know more about the MidSouth teams but not the Florida ones. I know that the Express represented the Southern Conference last year in the final four, playing against Cape Cod and they said that Cape was MUCH better, in a whole different league. That told me right there that the Southern conference was one of the weaker ones. I know the Express are as good or better than last year but cannot budge against DFW or El Paso. DFW has at least SOME of the Dallas Sidekicks indoor team on their roster and El Paso is said to have many of last years A-League team playing for them, though I did not find out if that is true or not (you can compare the Sidekicks website with the game day roster for DFW and see some of the same players).

Anyway there is no reason El Paso or DFW cannot win it all, or Chicago or any other good team. There might be trends out there that you can expect to happen again and again, but the trends do not know anything about the new or reorganized teams that appear from year to year.

EDITED becaues of a misspelling that changed the meaning of a sentence. Sorry.

If sending a team to the final 4 in 2003 (Bradenton) is weak than so be it but I think the Florida teams can run with any team. Now I also think DFW and El Paso are in the wrong league. If you want to field a team of pros play in the PSL. I don't know how the draw will shake down but I think El Paso vs. CFR will be the final.

I agree with CFR that both Indiana and Thunder Bay have great organizations and could sneek into the playoffs and maybe pull an upset at the conference playoffs. It's good to see that both teams seem to improve every year and are well organized both on and off the field. Although I wish that they could get another team within 4 hrs of Thunder Bay. That drive is a killer.

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict a upset of the CFR at conference and the Bucks going to the finals. And a finals consisting of South Jersey, Bucks, Fresno and El Paso.

I truly believe that the Southern Conference will be decided by who wins the bid to host the first two rounds of the playoffs. The Kraze are a very good team that is playing well at the moment. They have not lost at home this season and I think if they host they have a great chance to come out of the South. I think to ask any Florida team to go on the road to Texas to face a strong team in front of a reasonably large hostile crowd could be too much to overcome, not once but twice over a two day period. Not to say it can't be done, but not having to travel to another state and endure all the pains that come with travel might be the difference in this conference.

Watch two games this weekend,

CFR vs Chill (first game) and
Indiana vs Fort Wayne

If CFR avoids a let down, I'll feel better about our chances, we have quite a few injuries, Hamid went out after the fifth game, he is still on the leading scorers list after 16, thats the impact he could have had. There are a couple of other dinged up guys.

Ndlovu is coaching Indiana, he won the last two national championships with Cape Cod. I think if they go into the playoffs with a solid result in that game, they will suprise people in the playoffs. They had no luck when they played us, they really controlled the tempo of our game.

Host teams are determined by a bid process to the league and home attendance. Also the league looks at the geography, they will try to keep travel cost down.

Bradenton was 2002 wasn't it? Bradenton and Tampa Bay beat Memphis and Texas then Bradenton went on to beat Tampa Bay.

2003 saw Memphis win the Southern conference and go to the final four and that game is the one in which the Express thought Cape Cod was waaaaay better (though Memphis best forward last year is playing in Cape Cod this year, so that is at least worth something).

I agree that DFW and El Paso are in the wrong league but they are not breaking any rules. Memphis had a few 'former pros' playing for them in 2002 and 2003 and made it further than they did this year, only to find out the only thing you get for going on is to burn through more money. Their attendance has gone down every year so the playoffs netted absolutely nothing except maybe losing our best forward.

This may be the right league for El Paso, because in A-League defenses were something the Patriots found impenetrable. Believe or not, 90 percent of the Patriots roster is local (as in: El Paso, not Ciudad Juarez/El Paso). The only exceptions of note are the two forwards, Julio Frias, who played with Div. 1-A Cobras and is from Cd. Juarez, and Miguel Larrosa, who hails from Uruguay and has played with Mexican first division powerhouse Necaxa.

The Patriots also have the services of Sal Mercado, the midfield playmaker -- a native of Mexico City who made it to three consecutive Mexican first division finals (two with Atletico Celaya, winning one with Chivas). Mercado, while good at this level, wasn't too good in his last run with this team in the A-League in 2001. The guy's 35, but the Pats asked him to come back one more time, and so far his presence has really helped.

With defenses not as good as they faced in the A-League, the Pats skill on the ball really shows in the PDL. Again, despite those three guys mentioned above, most of the team is exceptionally young and never so much as sniffed a college roster.

The Patriots will have to nut it up and prove they can win in the playoffs. They've never made it past the first round at any level in their 14 seasons. This team shows its youth by showing frustration when things don't go their way, but they've played a tougher schedule than DFW, and they've played back-to-back matches every week save one this season. None of the other top teams had to do that.

Should be a great playoff season!

Hey Vox, thanks for the infomation on the Pats, most of what I thought I knew was heresay from different people that also thought they knew something. There was not much information to go with so I appreciate learning about them.

And they will have to do it on the road as Central Florida has won the bid to host the playoffs. So DFW and El Paso will have to do what no one has been able to do yet this year win at Showalter against the Kraze.

Congratulations to CF for winning the bid. You mentioned that nobody has beaten them at home, that sounds like a trend. Here is another trend, since I've been following the PDL (since 2002) the home team has not won the Conference playoffs. Memphis hosted in 2002 and both Florida teams ended up in the championship, New Orleans hosted last year and Memphis beat Coco and NO beat CF and Memphis then beat NO to go to the final 4. So in my short history, the host has not advanced. So a tradition has to be broken this year, one way or the other. Just wish I could be there to watch it all.

CJ,

Do you know when the games are scheduled to be played? Also, Fanmaster, your little tradition goes back even farther as I wrote in another topic at the Central Florida site. In 2001, Cocoa hosted the playoffs and lost to Westchester after having defeated Brooklyn. In 2000, Bradenton hosted and lost in the first round to Westchester who went on to defeat Tampa Bay, the next day.

My GUESS would be next Friday night and the final on Saturday night. I don't have much contact with the club since I left, just some old friends that are still playing. When I find out I'll let you know.

CJ are you going to go to the games and if so are you going to post the results a few hours before the USL will? Or call someone and have them post the results?

No i'll be somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico on my way to the keys. But another ex-Kraze player will be there watching. PM me a number and I'll have him call them in.

Ajax 4:1 Palm Beach
Cocoa 4:0 Bradenton with about 10 mins left

pretty reliable source

looks like Cocoa goes thru along with the Kraze

Cocoa-Bradenton final was 5:0 (edited on Saturday morning)

Boulder backs in last night despite losing to Des Moines 2-1. All the fireworks are in the Great Lakes Division tonight, with the three top teams all in action.

CFR defeats TBC 2-0 ends season undefeated.

Invaders lost to FW 4-3. Still dependent on the Bucks vs. Slayers game for the final division playoff picture.

Bucks beat Toledo 2-1. I made my first road trip of the season to watch the Bucks. Should have stayed home. All season, the Bucks have been awful at home and kings of the road. So I figured I'd drive to Toledo, watch the Bucks kick some Slayer *** and get into the playoffs. Instead they won ugly again.

I'd take the CFR over the Bucks no question right now. If Stephen Armstrong hadn't reinjured his knee, or Minagawa-Webster left for Japan I'd think differently.

Neither the Bucks nor CFR are as good as they were last year, IMO.

Looks like:
SOUTHERN CONFERENCE
El Paso (1) vs. Cocoa (2)
Central Florida (1) vs. Dallas-Ft. Worth (2)
(from BS boards)

I am going this Friday & Saturday to the matches.

Anyone else going?

Wish we could be there somehow. Keep us posted!

This was an interesting thread. Seems the predictions although close, were almost all wrong in the end...

Go Kraze!