Tide countdown towards playoffs

Tide guard goal in Seattle scrimmage.

The Tacoma Tide are counting down to next Friday's playoff match (July 27).

Who they'll play and where it will be held are yet to be announced. This weekend's matches in the Southwest division will determine whether the Tide face Fresno or San Fernando Valley. Speculation is running high that Fresno Fuego would host the playoff matches if they qualify. The Tide would face the home team, and BYU would be on hand to face the other entrant. Winners would face each other the next night (July 28) in Fresno to see who advances.

The Tide have two road matches this week to end their regular season. They'll want to play well and avoid injuries to maintain momentum.

On July 17th the Tide scrimmaged with the Seattle Sounders at "Kids Day" for the Seattle club. Tacoma was challenged to get a full squad out to play Seattle, as many Tide players took a pass from the meaningless 60-minute scrimmage.

Seattle won the scrimmage 3-0. No Tide players were injured, and it was interesting to see a Sounder (Matt Fischer) suit up for the Tide along with several other unknowns.

Here's our photo gallery of the scrimmage, and another smaller one.

Tacoma is at Spokane July 19 and in Abbotsford July 21.

NOTES
A brief visit with Tide GM Mike Jennings before the scrimmage with the Sounders indicates that the Tide do have long-range goals to move up the USL ladder to a higher level if money and support permit it. Jennings remains concerned about the disconnect between the USL and MLS, however, as Tacoma look to the future and how they might fit in if Seattle gets an MLS team.