It All Comes Down To This

As I stated earlier this week, Rocket City United's season hinges on this Saturday's match against Saturn FC of Atlanta at John Hunt Soccer Stadium. A win or a draw would see them through to the NPSL Final Four.

However, a loss would lead to RCU, Atlanta FC, and Chattanooga FC sitting at 13 points at the end of NPSL Southeast Region league play, and this is where things get interesting. In case of a tie in the final League standings, here are the tiebreakers:

1. Head to head results between the tied teams.

2. Goal difference in the head to head results.

3. Most wins in conference competition.

4. Goal difference in conference competition.

5. Fewest losses in conference competition.

6. Coin toss.

Head to head results between CFC and RCU give RCU the edge, with a win at home and a tie on the road. Head to head results between AFC and CFC don't resolve that tie with both teams winning one match. AFC would receive the nod over CFC in head to head goal differential (+1), due to a 3:1 win at CFC and a 1:0 loss. So, CFC would be eliminated from contention.

Head to head results between RCU and AFC doesn't resolve the tie as both teams won their home match. However, Atlanta won it's match 2:0, while RCU won 2:1 leaving AFC with a +1 goal differential and RCU a -1 goal differential. As a result of having having better goal differential in head to head results, Atlanta FC would win its second consecutive Southeast Region title and punch a ticket to Madison, WI for the NPSL Final Four.

So, it boils down to RCU getting more points than AFC, and to do so, they need at least a point against SFC.

I'll have more about the game itself later.