With J Hutcherson -- Allow me to revisit a previous point and invite everybody to wonder what I was thinking picking Chivas USA to be a prime mover over the month of August. Not a lot of games leading into August, ample recovery, and no thought of a fluke injury at the All-Star Game costing them their keeper. Instead, it as two lopsided losses setting up a forgettable month where they dropped the Carson derby to the hottest team in the Western Conference. Aka, not Chivas USA.
The result? Six points from a possible 15. Sixth in the West ahead of only Dallas and San Jose.
Then again, they're also two less on games played than the five teams ahead of them except for Houston and Colorado. Houston are three up, Colorado one.
Considering their recent run of form, nobody should go ahead and chalk up those extra games as worth any points, much less three to nine. They play the New England Revolution on Sunday, a team in a similar position - equal on points at 33, less games played than any other team in the the Eastern Conference's top five. Only 33 points is good for third in the East with the same five point gap between that spot and second in both Conferences.
As hedges go, Chivas USA remain in position to do some damage. Again, they get an arbitrarily light month. Three whole games, including hosting New York on the 26th. Come out of September with six or seven points, and they're in contention to make the big push in October.
I'm still of the opinion that Houston - Chivas USA on October 25th matters for both teams. Minus the CONCACAF Champions League, Houston would be looking at a run in that has them playing twice in September and three times in October. Instead, they've got four extra midweek games including trips to Mexico and El Salvador.
August results aside, Chivas USA remains in position to take the most advantage of the schedule. Zach Thornton remains the goals against leader at 0.86 per game, and that could very well end up channeling the Western Conference title away from Robertson Stadium and through the Home Depot Center.
Staying on schedule, an interesting note from the US Soccer Federation's MNT blog, outlining the 14 hours it took to get from Salt Lake City to Port of Spain. Given that number, it should be worth asking why Sandy, Utah was such a good idea for a home qualifier partnered with one in Trinidad & Tobago four days later.
Imagine what that's like physically for a European-based player traveling across multiple time zones to get to Utah in the first place. This simply wasn't a game that belonged anywhere but on the East Coast.
Sure, you can make the case for whatever remains of a home field advantage against a Central American country anywhere in the United States. El Salvador's support already made the counter argument. There's a lot of options between DC and Miami to put on a World Cup Qualifier in the Eastern Time Zone.
Travel is an advantage. Losing an entire day to get from one site to another doesn't make a lot of sense. It's also not fair to the European-based players just starting their season.
In Europa League qualifying, a lot was made about Fulham having to travel five hours and multiple time zones to play Russia's Amkar Perm. They didn't compound that by scheduling their weekend game for say Toronto.
Look, I'm not going to pretend that scheduling games is easy or always has to make sense. I'm also not going to downplay the need to prop up investments in soccer-specificity. At the same time, too much is being put on passing for home field advantage.
Nobody involved in US soccer is naive enough to think there's a readily available, venue-appropriate place that's going to offer the kind of support most of CONCACAF gets at home. Taking that into account, there's something to be said for making the best of it. That doesn't require a minimum of four extra hours in the air each way to get from the East Coast to Salt Lake City.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
