As Major League Soccer has grown, the 34-game schedule has seen variations in rivalry games each year. Some clubs play their rivals more, while other rivalries get fewer games (and no, we’re not just talking about the Brimstone Cup that is on hiatus this season).

The folks handling Copa Tejas have agreed on how this year’s standings will be determined now that we know an unbalanced schedule is involved. FC Dallas plays Austin FC three times this season but only plays the Houston Dynamo twice.

So how are they handling it? Basically, the first two games in the Copa Tejas this season will be excluded from the standings.

The six matches that will count are:

  • Houston Dynamo at FC Dallas, Saturday, May 20
  • Austin FC at Houston Dynamo, Saturday, May 27
  • FC Dallas at Austin FC, Wednesday, June 21
  • Houston Dynamo at Austin FC, Saturday, June 24
  • Austin FC at FC Dallas, Saturday, August 26
  • FC Dallas at Houston Dynamo, Saturday, September 30

"The Copa Tejas winner will continue to be the club with the most points during the designated regular season head-to-head matches, excluding possible U.S. Open matchup and playoffs,” explains the release. “The club and its Supporters groups that win the trophy and will keep it and bragging rights for a year. If a tiebreaker is necessary, it will be determined from goal differential and other criteria."


Quick Thoughts

First of all, apologies for missing this news last week. This release came out on my birthday, and I completely spaced on it until now. It has literally been sitting in my inbox, waiting to be dusted off and discussed. So here we are.

I can appreciate the groups involved with Copa Tejas making this adjustment. MLS did mess some things up, adding more rivalry games to the plate for teams in an unbalanced way. It is shocking that FCD only sees Houston twice when they also see Austin three times. Make it two games against each rival. Three games complicate things too much, as we can see now.

What do you make of these changes to Copa Tejas? Let’s discuss it below.