Columbus, LA and Houston book MLS Playoff spots

Columbus, LA and Houston all booked their places in the MLS playoffs over the weekend.  Now the fight for the other five playoff positions really heats up with only a few games remaining in the MLS regular season.

The Columbus Crew look comfortable to claim the Eastern Conference crown as they lead the Chicago Fire by 5 points and have a game in hand.  It would take a huge collapse for the Fire to overtake them.   On the other hand, New England only trails Chicago by 3 points and they also have a game in hand on the Fire.  If New England can claim the game in hand it will be all tied for 2nd with 4 matches to play.  Columbus travels to New England for a huge game on Saturday.

The Revolution must be looking over their shoulder though as they have only claimed 1 single point from their last two games and DC United is lurking only 2 points away.  DC could have passed New England Saturday but lost 2-0 to Chivas USA.

The Western Conference is even more murky than the Eastern.  Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy are tops on 44 points, but could easily end up 4th as they are only 3 points ahead Seattle and Chivas USA.  The Colorado Rapids are right there as well on 40 points.  So five squads are all within 4 points of each other.  The last few weeks are going to be wild and crazy as they all jockey for position.

The final seedings probably will not be known until the final day of the MLS season when New England visits Columbus and Houston travels to Chivas USA.