97B Classic - Final weekend for D1 & D2

D1 – top 4 matching up against one another on Sat makes this interesting:
FCDC (34) vs Solar (32) – I think Solar finds a way to squeak this one out to finish with 35 pts
IE (33) vs FCDB (30) – Elite seems to be on a slide winning only one out of last 5. I’m going with a tie here and IE takes 2nd at 34 pts and a better GD than FCDC
DTFW (22) vs FWFC (15) – this game doesn’t really matter to either team in the standings. DTFW is 5th or 6th and FWFC is 9th no matter what. Anything could happen here.
DTR (21) vs Tigres (19) – same as above.
Andro (19) vs FCDG (11) – Andro

So, Top 3 = Solar, IE, FCDC; Bottom 2 (without any doubt) = FWFC , FCDG

D2 - pretty much all decided:
TFCR (46) and Monterrey (39) have 1 & 2 wrapped up.
3rd is up for grabs:
DTRW (31) vs FCDS (18) – DTRW wins and takes 3rd
Tigres (30) vs DTRS (10) – Tigres win but remain one point behind DTRW

Bottom 2 (without any doubt): DTRS, Andro Gold

D3 - 9 of the 10 teams still have at least 2 games to go:
TFCB (34) will squeak out the top spot over Amarillo (32). These two play each other in the last game. Great season for both teams.
Barca (27) must win both of their remaining games, which is very likely, and hope Amarillo loses both, which is very unlikely. So Barca 3rd.
It’s pretty tight the rest of the way with only 6 points separating 4th – 10th. Too much could happen for me to fancy a guess on the bottom 2 with only 2 points separating the bottom 5.

Big game on Saturday when N TX Strikers play Real GP. The Strikers really need a win to get them to 21 points because they are the only team with just one game left. Everyone else has at least two, and Hurst United has three. At 20 points, you figure Real GP is probably safe because so many of the teams below them in the standings play each other. If they can manage a tie in either of their last two games they should be OK.

Tlapehuala (16) plays both Alliance (17) and Millenium (17). Tlapehuala probably has to pull a win in one of those two games to ensure they stay out of the bottom two. Alliance needs to beat Tlapehuala because their other game is against third place Barcelona, a team they lost to 4-2 in the fall. Millenium needs to beat Tlapehuala because their other game is against first place TFC Blue, who beat them (also 4-2) in the fall.

Hurst United (16) has the toughest road despite the fact that they have three games left. The three games are against three of the top five teams, Amarillo, FCD W Tx and Real GP. They will need to come away with at least a win and a tie, or maybe two wins, to keep out of the Challenge Tourney. Hurst United lost to Real GP, beat FCD W Tx and tied Amarillo in their first meetings. I'm not sure why that last game vs. Real GP is delayed two weeks until 5/12, but they will know what they have to do in that game, or if they even have a chance at all.

I think 5/12 is the make up game for the Sunday games that were rained out a couple of weeks ago. It's the first available date after State Cup