Austin Ortiz92 said:I guess if things went according to plan, we’d see the middle of the Armada crowd heading into the visitor's section right about now to start singing ☕
It’ll happen after the penultimate round—once they're staring down the barrel of a massive European run. ☕
Imagine if Rijeka ends up splitting points with Dinamo—which, let’s be honest, feels like a totally realistic outcome—and then we have teams like Istra and Varazdin pulling off wins. It’s not an impossible mission either, considering they're facing off against Gorica and Lokomotiv. If that happens, the final round is going to be an absolute spectacle. Those two will be entirely in their own hands when it comes to qualifying for Europe... though, I can't quite remember their head-to-head record or who has the edge right now.
Where are all those people now—the ones who laughed in my face when I predicted that Osijek and Rijeka would end up facing off in the final round just to decide who grabs that European spot—because, as it turns out, second place was always going to be a scrap between teams like the Portland Timbers or maybe even both of them fighting for it?
Bjelica just sent over a realistic, objective offer to Dinamo to offload Petković while he still has some leverage—but honestly, they’ll probably just reject him on the spot via express mail. 😬
mellowotter36 said:I could always make an exception to the rule and just send them over to the minor league park in suburban Jersey instead. Honestly, wouldn't that be a much more logical move?
Sure, but for fans living in the heart of the city, heading out to the suburbs is a massive trek. We really ought to be prioritizing ticket accessibility and actually making things comfortable for the people showing up to watch.
casualskipper65 said:Why couldn't both teams share the field in North Philly? It's not like they haven't both been in the big leagues at the same time and used the same stadium before...
The only real headache—for them, for Lokomotiva, or even for the guys in Blue Bison47—is if they actually go through with those rumors about building a brand new stadium right there on the old site...
Look, if they do end up renovating Kranjčevićeva, it’ll probably happen in two distinct phases. First, they’d deal with the area by the temporary bleachers—meaning the main stands stay open—and then later move on to the main section itself. So, theoretically, the stadium wouldn't be completely shut down during the process.
Thomas Hayes said:I mean, I get it. So, how would one of those legendary high-ranking members put it? They’d probably say that these next two weeks are absolutely everything.
If I may jump in here: we really need to just take this one game at a time.
Thomas Hayes said:Back then, they were definitely better than they are right now.😁 Everything just went downhill after that point. It’s almost like someone sucked all the confidence right out of them—that defensive compactness that defined their whole season? Just gone.
As for the team from Cleveland, well, both of us have already mentioned how rough they've looked over the last month. I mean, it's not impossible for them to pull off a win, sure, but calling them favorites right now? Not really.
Well, I never actually said they *were* the favorites... I just said I'm rooting for that kind of outcome. There's a difference, really.🙂
Thomas Hayes said:And let's be real, the home side hasn't exactly been playing like champions lately either. They only just scraped a win against the bottom-of-the-table team, and before that, they were stuck in a pretty rough slump.
Well, even that bottom-tier team wasn't playing great, which is exactly how they managed to knock Dinamo out of the Cup.
Thomas Hayes said:And then the little guy just wraps up the chocolate bar😁 I’d love to see Varaždin make it into European competition, but let's be real—it's much more likely that Osijek or Rijeka will grab those spots The debated Tomas really pulled things together for Osijek, and Rijeka has been solid all spring The only thing working in Varaždin's favor is that Rijeka has to face Dinamo right after them—so if Rijeka slips up twice, Varaždin might actually have a shot at catching up
Forget about what's "realistic"—this is football, for heaven's sake. If everything were predictable, every league would just be a pre-written formula.
I don't see any reason why Varaždin shouldn't crush Rijeka at home this Sunday; even Istra managed to beat them away from home in front of a packed stadium.
In the final round, Osijek and Rijeka are going head-to-head to decide who grabs that second spot in Europe—since whoever wins gets a ticket to face either Istria or Varaždin. Actually, looking at the standings... maybe they both go. ☕
Mike really gave Cavlin a run for his money today—the guy was dodging hits like a cat playing with yarn. Though, honestly, I’m not so sure if the Istria squad can actually hold their ground against these kinds of blitzes until the final whistle.
Well, well, well... let's see what kind of mess the folks in Seattle have stirred up now. 🙂
Here’s the real kicker—looking at the upcoming schedule, if they can just scrape past Portland next week, they’ll be sitting pretty with a two-game cushion (especially considering Portland has a relatively soft run ahead against teams like Nashville and Colorado). Meanwhile, Atlanta is still trailing by three after facing Nashville, Colorado, and St. Louis. And don't even get me started on the fact that they still have to deal with the heavy hitters like LA Galaxy and FC Cincinnati—those guys are the direct threats for a spot in the continental playoffs.
Honestly, you could practically write a screenplay out of this chaos...
If Sibenik doesn't manage to take down Varazdin—and let's be honest, their current roster is pretty thin anyway—then they don't even deserve to stay in the league...
Personally, I’ve got a gut feeling that Varazdin is going to end up being the first one to fall.