Week 29 sees postseason picture altered
Sounders FC, Chivas USA emerge as biggest winners from telling weekend
Related
Seattle Sounders FC and Chivas USA shouted loudest, supplying the surprising results that resonated deeply through the 15-team field. More on that later, after a little housekeeping.
Two more clubs officially stamped their playoff tickets. Los Angeles, riding another command performance in midfield by David Beckham, advanced into the postseason for the first time since 2005. Beckham is clearly "feeling it," as his performance at The Home Depot Center gets better and better, with no signs of lingering effects from that slight foot injury that kept him out last week.
While Los Angeles continues trending upward, Houston managed to punch its ticket -- while ironically continuing to show some worrying signs of slippage.
Dominic Kinnear's men built a nice cushion through the summer, so the recent struggles haven't dented Houston's ability to join the postseason party. But Kinnear can't feel great about things following a weekend draw at home -- Kinnear's men have just one victory in their last six MLS matches.
Given the strength of the overall campaigns at the Robertson Stadium and The Home Depot Center, playoff berths for those two sides won't come as a surprise. It seemed just a matter of time -- and it just so happens that Round 29 was the moment for both.
But the same can't be said for Seattle and Chivas USA. Playoff fates remained iffy heading into the week, especially for expansion Seattle. But road wins for both sides said a lot about their ability to dig deep and rise to the challenge. Those two clubs provided the truly big swings, generating the larger movement in the overall order.
Chivas USA went into the nation's capital and took all the points -- deservedly so, too. United never truly tested Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton, while Chivas USA managed the game effectively. Even the home team players around RFK said so.
"They were better," United midfielder Santino Quaranta said. "We didn't really play well in the first half. I think we attacked a little bit better in the second half, but in the end we just weren't good enough."
On the other side, Preki's men likely regained a measure of confidence that had been misplaced through about two months of unconvincing results. Like Houston, they had constructed a nice cushion, one built in the Red-and-White's case on a fantastic season start. But three points well earned in Round 29 does something besides just allowing Chivas USA to exhale for a moment, confident that a playoff berth is tantalizingly close. It also supplies some much needed confidence; because after all, what good is a playoff berth if a side can't do anything with it?
On the other side of this huge swing match, the result left United in a ditch. Tom Soehn's side looked so well-positioned about a month ago, with the majority of its matches remaining at home. But Saturday's loss was the third in a row for United at RFK. Now Soehn's team almost certainly needs two wins from its final pair of MLS matches, including a visit from the league champs and a visit to Kansas City, a side that has found some form lately under interim boss Peter Vermes. Even with all six points, it might not be enough for United, who are now staring at a second consecutive season without playoff soccer.
The other massive swing match played out in Ohio, where a splendid evening of soccer had it all. A cool night at Crew Stadium came stacked with good storylines, with lots at stake (especially in Sounders FC's case), good quality on both sides, few of the discipline issues that have dragged down too many matches lately, etc. In short, we saw two sides mostly doing things the right way on the field -- Alejandro Moreno's falling and flopping not withstanding -- with a healthy intensity about the match.
In snapping the Crew's 22-game home unbeaten streak, the Sounders put themselves in position to book some playoff soccer for that teeming scene around Qwest Field. They'll probably need a point, at least, out of the upcoming visit to Kansas City or in the season finale at home against Dallas. But the opportunity is there because of a special night in Ohio, one that put big ripples through the entire playoff scene.
By moving into better playoff positioning, Chivas USA and Seattle added pressure to postseason pursuers: D.C. United, Real Salt Lake, Toronto FC and Dallas and Kansas City.
FYI, Seattle's 1-0 win against Columbus wasn't the only tightly contested contest. None of the six matches in Round 29 included more than two goals. The matches are tough and tight right now -- which shouldn't surprise anyone.
TACTICAL CORNER
• It wasn't a good weekend for the current MLS Defender of the Year frontrunners.
Columbus' Chad Marshall, last year's winner and a strong candidate to repeat, remained on the sidelines nursing injury. Jay Heaps started for New England against Dallas but had to leave early with a hamstring strain.
Geoff Cameron had one of his worst matches yet at center back for Houston, putting his status in jeopardy with early, overly aggressive challenges, giving away a needless corner kick at one point, nearly putting one into his own net and later appearing to be caught out of position on Kansas City's second-half equalizer. As fellow center back Bobby Boswell and the other two defenders dropped, Cameron was caught being stationary, a few steps out of position on the sequence (although it's debatable whether more precise positioning could have prevented the goal).
Seattle's Jhon Kennedy Hurtado was having an exceptional night in Columbus (as was fellow center back Tyrone Marshall). Hurtado was dealing effectively with Crew forwards Moreno and Guillermo Barros Schelotto, whose disparate skill set give defenders a lot to think about. And yet, Hurtado was large and in charge back there ... until he imperiled Sounders FC's entire, inspired effort with a bad choice to challenge Eddie Gaven inside the Seattle penalty area late in the evening.
Gaven really wasn't going anywhere as he raced toward the end line with something less than total control. Hurtado didn't have a good angle as he drove a shoulder into Gaven's back, dropping the Crew midfielder and putting Schelotto on the 12-yard spot with a grand chance to equalize. Schellotto's first miss in nine PK attempts in MLS matches (since he arrived in 2007) saved Hurtado's bacon. So in the end, since the mistake didn't prove costly, it was a big match for Hurtado -- but one with an asterisk.
• Kasey Keller has hardly been under siege all year, only called upon to make a couple of big saves each match. And yet, he's still been a major factor in the expansion side's amazing season. For instance, how do you possibly value moments like this:
Schelotto, the league's reigning MVP and one of the coolest of MLS customers, stepped up to take the potential late equalizer from the penalty spot. Keller stood just off center, maybe a step or a step-and-half to Schelotto's left. It gave the Crew attacker just a little bit more to think about. Would Keller just stand there, reducing the chances of a shot to that side? Or would the cagey ol' veteran goalkeeper take two quick little steps back to his own left, where he was inviting Schelotto to shoot?
Indeed, there was a moment where Schelotto seemed to hesitate and think about it just for a second. Then, one of the league's best attackers ever, stepped up and missed his first MLS penalty kick in nine attempts, pushing the shot harmlessly wide to the left.
Did Keller's actions affect Schelotto? Hard to say -- but it sure didn't hurt Keller or Seattle, did it?
• Yes, Cuauhtemoc Blanco was out, injured and unavailable for Friday's night big match in Los Angeles. And, yes, Blanco is one of the league's premier playmakers. Yes, his ability to hold the ball means so much for Chicago. But, c'mon! The Fire do have other midfielders, right?
Denis Hamlett's team bypassed its midfield time and again. Going direct is always an option, especially when target specialist Brian McBride is on your side. On the other hand, the tactic is most effective when mixed with something else, with Justin Mapp moving the ball along one wing or Marco Pappa moving it down the other. Or linking with central midfielders Peter Lowry or Logan Pause through the middle, etc.
• On a night when little went right for Chicago, goalkeeper Jon Busch deserves some attention for keeping his team in contention. And Mike Banner continues to show a real bent for the left back spot -- which was made his only as an emergency measure as Chicago's top two or three options fell to injury. On Friday, not only did Banner get forward to ask some questions of the Galaxy back line, he had to deal with David Beckham's forays into the attacking third, which almost always end up on the right side, Banner's side.
• FC Dallas' final 10 minutes in the midweek win against New England was a clinic in match-killing. Dallas took the lead in the 71st minute. The Revs did apply a reasonable amount of pressure over the next few minutes, pressing gamely for the equalizer. But from the 80th minute on New England rarely touched the ball. "Tonight they were smart players on killing the game and not allowing goals in the last minutes of the game, but at the same time it's something we continue to work on in training," Dallas manager Schellas Hyndman said.
• There's no reason to even talk about whether Cam Weaver's ridiculous two-footed lunge at Santiago Hirsig was a red card offense Sunday as Houston battled Kansas City. It was. Not even Dynamo manager Dominic Kinnear disagreed with the decision. What we can talk about is how ill advised the action was tactically from the start. Hirsig was going to do well just to claim the 50-50 ball, which was still inside Kansas City's end. There was no big threat of a big breakout, as Houston appeared to be organized defensively at the moment. There was absolutely zero reason for Weaver to feel such urgency in claiming possession at that point.
Obviously, such a dangerous and potentially injurious tackle is never justified. But at the very least, any kind of action with that degree of aggression and that level of jeopardy needs some kind of justification, such as attempting to prevent an imminent goal scoring threat.
• The Galaxy replaced Stefani Miglioranzi with Chris Birchall as the holding presence in their midfield diamond. The understudy's passing wasn't as simple and sound, although the Galaxy survived. Meanwhile, Landon Donovan was once again used as a second forward, as he has been lately, rather than in the wide midfield role where he's been much of the season.
• Clyde Simms was back in a central midfield role for D.C. United, brought forward from the center back position where he's been used lately during a back line injury crisis around RFK. He partnered in the center of the field with Ben Olsen.
• Colorado started a second consecutive match in a 3-5-2 as Gary Smith probed desperately for ways to awaken a sleepy offense. By halftime Smith had scrapped the plan, returning to the more familiar 4-4-2. His side looked a little better in possession -- at least until Julien Baudet's 59th-minute ejection made it a 10-v-11 show.
Steve Davis is a freelance writer who has covered Major League Soccer since its inception. Steve writes for www.DailySoccerFix.com and can be reached at BigTexSoccer@yahoo.com. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
