Many Major League Soccer fans had a rude awakening this past week.
It’s hard for them not to when in the space of two nights the two-time defending champions, the Supporters’ Shield winners, the best fan base in the league, and a dynamic up-and-coming powerhouse all got bounced from the MLS Cup Playoffs. The likes of Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Thierry Henry, Tim Cahill, and Robbie Keane are all no longer in contention. Three of the four remaining teams have tasted victory in the past but have failed in recent years to meet expectations; the fourth is a playoff newcomer altogether.
So why are the Houston Dynamo, Sporting Kansas City, the Portland Timbers, and Real Salt Lake still, excuse the pun, alive and kicking? Because the New York Red Bulls, New England Revolution, Seattle Sounders, and Los Angeles Galaxy shot themselves, excuse me again, in the feet.
The regular-season champions, Red Bulls, appeared to have a hold on their series with Houston, carrying a 2-2 draw back home to Red Bull Arena. But awful defending subjected them to a 2-1 loss in extra time on Wednesday and saw the Dynamo through to the Conference finals for a third straight season.
Ibrahim Sekagya, filling in for suspended 2010 Defender of the Year Jamison Olave, was the chief culprit in both Dynamo goals. A terrible pass to a wide open Dynamo captain Brad Davis on the edge of the penalty area tied the match. Poor marking of Omar Cummings, who had scored the tying goal for Houston in stoppage time of the first leg, then sealed his team’s fate. Henry and Cahill had spectacular games, but neither could will the Red Bulls to victory as they had done so many times already this season.
The youthful attack of the New England Revolution was the root cause of a terrific defence, one that went from 10th to third-best in the league in one season, going largely unnoticed. It was in the second leg that that defence took a massive step backwards. What should have been a clearance from Andrew Farrell turned into a deflection towards SKC defender Aurelien Collin, who easily scored his second goal in as many matches.
The second Sporting goal came from another defender, Seth Sinovic. In the span of a minute, Sinovic went from being fouled in his own half to bursting past ball-watching Revolution forward Chad Barrett and finishing from inside the box. The series-winning goal from Claudio Bieler in extra time was a team mistake. Goalkeeper Matt Reis did not make the best decision throwing the ball out, but Diego Fagundez made an even worse decision not to look around and see former teammate Benny Feilhaber intercept the pass. To top it off, Bieler was left unmarked in a box with SIX Revolution players. Mistakes are to be expected of a young team, but this many in such a big game is just baffling.
The Sounders, needing to win away to their arch-rivals to advance, perhaps played themselves out of the match before it started. Due to Obafemi Martins’ injury concerns, the Sounders put veteran holding midfielder Shalrie Joseph at forward. But the real agony came once the first whistle blew. Seattle’s defence was in shambles and nearly gave up two goals in the first twenty minutes.
The first Timbers goal, a Will Johnson penalty, was the result of a careless handball by former Champions League winner Djimi Traore. The next was a double disaster from Adam Moffat, giving the ball away to Johnson in the midfield and then allowing Diego Valeri an open lane in the box to take the ball and put it home. The third goal began with a quick free kick that left the Sounders two steps behind their opponent and ended with an unmarked run from Mamadou Danso from twenty-five yards out.
After a glimpse of hope was offered through DeAndre Yedlin and Eddie Johnson, the Sounders were unable to produce any more quality offensive chances. Seattle regressed significantly this season after so much promise in their first four MLS seasons. As deserving as this franchise is to succeed, they need to get more organized on the pitch.
Coming into their second-leg fixture with frequent playoff foes Real Salt Lake, the LA Galaxy were banking on their two superstars, Keane and Donovan, not to go cold two matches in a row. They also hoped their defence would stand pat to alleviate the pressure on their offensive weapons. Neither of these happened for the title holders.
On RSL’s first goal, Todd Dunivant was nowhere to be found, leaving Sebastian Velasquez plenty of room to connect with Chris Wingert’s cross. The disallowed goal was by no means a result of a Galaxy mistake; it was simply a great strike from Javier Morales with some help from the wind.
The third (technically the second) RSL goal was a result of LA not learning their lesson. Another Morales free kick went untouched until Chris Schuler went around ball-watching defender Sean Franklin for a simple tap in. Championship teams don’t make mistakes like that, especially not the same ones in the same match.
So where does that leave things heading into the first legs of Conference Championships?
In the East, SKC defend well but can’t score. Houston can score more but are a weaker defensive team than Sporting. Kansas City have Graham Zusi, the Dynamo have Davis. Houston may be more fatigued, but they have coach extraordinaire Dominic Kinnear making the right decisions and impact substitutes getting the job done. They beat New York, so they can definitely beat Kansas City.
In the West, Portland is an assembly of castoffs with chips on their shoulders, while Salt Lake is a mix of old winners and new role players. Donovan Ricketts of Portland and Nick Rimando of Salt Lake are both game-changing goalkeepers. What sets Portland apart is their ability to score and their home-field advantage that, without New York in the picture, runs through to MLS Cup.
In Greg Lalas’ words, “Let’s get it on!”
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Main Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
