Week in Review: Stars shine bright

Blanco, Ching, Donovan help tip scales as series decided by slim margins

Three playoff series were decided Saturday and Sunday by the slimmest of margins, and the most illustrious of MLS difference makers had a lot to say about matters as the first round concluded with a decidedly Western Conference lean. Could there be a better example of big-money performers manufacturing the biggest moments, almost as if scripted?

Cuauhtemoc Blanco calmly supplied the series decider as Chicago overcame New England to the delight of a brilliantly charged Toyota Park audience. Brian Ching made something out of very little for Houston as his speculative strike finally put down Seattle, finishing off Sounders FC's fabulous expansion year story. And Landon Donovan, cool as an autumn night, converted a spot shot that nudged his side past Chivas USA in the Home Depot Center's so-called Hallway Series.

Oh, and a fellow named Beckham, David Beckham, initiated that sequence with the smartest of lengthy, cross-field passes.

Blanco. Ching. Donovan. Beckham. International stars attached to World Cup pedigrees, all. So in three of four series, the largest figures on the field provided the moments that mattered.

(None of this is to minimize Real Salt Lake's gritty, well-earned series win over Columbus, which wrapped up last Thursday. In that case, a brave and total team commitment seized the day. More on it later.)

In each case over the weekend, the trio of prominent figures pounced on mistakes to create the climactic moment. There weren't as many defensive boo-boos in the return legs (compared to those blunder-filled opening legs), although Columbus did err too often in falling to Real Salt Lake.

Things were more tight and tidy in the three series decided over the weekend, but the mistakes were punished ruthlessly.

New England center back Emmanuel Osei had a tough time down the stretch this year for New England, with concentration lapses and some damaging episodes of miscommunication with goalkeeper Matt Reis. Once again, he was struggling at Toyota Park, and he always seemed like the candidate to be undone by the moment.

Chicago winger Marco Pappa, who had an outstanding series, helped create John Thorrington's first-half goal for Chicago. That one evened the series on aggregate. It looked like an extra 30 minutes might be required to sort out a winner. But Osei got caught in possession near goal, and Patrick Nyarko was in like a flash. He got the ball to Blanco in front of goal, but there was still work to do.

Heaps was in front of Blanco, and less experienced players might have reacted to the pressure and directed an earlier shot towards goal. But the Mexican veteran thought he could maneuver around Heaps to eliminate the initial obstacle. Heaps raised his arm and issued a strong challenge. Here, too, Blanco demonstrated veteran smarts; lesser performers may have gone to the ground and hoped for a whistle. Blanco adjudged that his best shot at the difference-making moment was right then, right there. So he dug in and stood his ground, then got the ball up high to minimize chances of a goal-line clearance. It really was the coolest of finishes.

"I think defensively we were decent," Revolution manager Steve Nicol said. "We had some good defensive plays. People make mistakes; Osei made a mistake. It's just unfortunate that we were just punished at the wrong time."

In Houston, the Sounders-Dynamo series had gone 180 minutes without a goal. Houston had more chances, as Dominic Oduro finally began figuring out how to best use all that killer speed, and as Ching's exceptional holdup play ensured steady pressure near Kasey Keller's goal. Seattle, meanwhile, wasn't creating as many chances, but did generate the closer ones.

But applying that kind of steady pressure was bound to force a mistake at some point. Perhaps just a little one -- which is exactly what happened with Sounders FC midfielder Roger Levesque.

Mike Chabala's cross from the left came bounding in but was a bit too high for Ching. Levesque had good position on the back side, inside of Houston's Brian Mullan, although he could have perhaps re-oriented his body just a bit by facing the play. Either way, his best option was to flick the ball on, or perhaps just concede the corner kick by heading it safely over the end line. Instead, Levesque failed to take decisive action.

When Mullan, who had one of his best matches of late, got his body in the way and the ball fell for Ching. Like Blanco in the previous playoff match, Houston's striker still had plenty to do. He was facing away from goal, at a difficult angle.

"Everybody was just waiting for that one mistake or that one piece of magic, and it came from Brian," Keller said. "It was a tremendous finish, and we just couldn't get it in at the other end."

The best chance for a major back line mistake over the weekend always seemed to be at The Home Depot Center, particularly on Chivas USA's end. That's because of what we saw last week, with two costly errors for Preki's men, and because the Red-and-White's defense needed to be reconfigured yet again. Suffice to say, if a back line foursome is playing together for the first time in the playoffs, there's probably a mistake in there somewhere.

So it was with Chivas, where Jonathan Bornstein moved back out to the left, while Yamith Cuesta and Shavar Thomas took over in the middle. They struggled to deal with Donovan's dash-about runs -- although that's no sin in itself. Donovan has flummoxed before and will flummox again.

Beckham's sublime ball started it, and Donovan did his part by spotting a wide open Mike Magee at the back post while teh Chivas back line struggled to get organized quickly enough. Cuesta was left with a difficult recovery, and he didn't manage it well. Cuesta left his feet as Magee settled the ball, and the results weren't pretty. The Chivas USA defender plowed into Magee, leaving Donovan to convert the resulting 12-yard shot.

"Landon played me a perfect ball, and I had anything but a perfect touch," Magee conceded. "My second touch was good, I got hit where no man wants to get hit. It took me a little bit to go down, but it was definitely painful and a penalty."

Talk about playing big in big matches: Donovan's penalty kick was his 16th playoff goal, which matched Carlos Ruiz for most ever in the MLS postseason.

TACTICAL CORNER

• Yes, Frankie Hejduk made some uncharacteristic mistakes against Real Salt Lake. Yes, Crew teammate Danny O'Rourke failed to track his runner on the sequence that led to a game-turning penalty kick. Yes, there were other mistakes. But, as always, we remember that soccer is a game of effort, and that tactics and technical proficiency are only part of the equation. We learn this yet again by watching Kyle Beckerman and Will Johnson, who were all over the place for RSL. With Javier Morales and Andy Williams also locked in and focused on moving the ball quickly, RSL's midfield was simply superb at Crew Stadium as RSL impressively went 2-for-2 in the series.

• Columbus manager Robert Warzycha made three lineup changes between legs. Most notably, of course, was the choice to re-deploy Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who did his part by supplying two goals. Alejandro Moreno and Emmanuel Ekpo were preferred to Emilio Renteria and Robbie Rogers in the Crew attack. Meanwhile, manager Jason Kreis had just one change between legs for RSL, with Robbie Russell stepping in for injured right back Tony Beltran.

• New England made no changes between legs; Chicago made two, as Daniel Woolard replaced Mike Banner, who had previously done so well in stop-gap fullback duty but had struggled in the series opener. And John Thorrington was healthy enough to get back on the field, replacing rookie Baggio Husidic alongside Logan Pause in the middle of Chicago's 4-4-1-1. Thorrington was a real presence, not just supplying a well-hit goal but contributing a mighty box-to-box effort.

• FSC sideline reporter Brian Dunseth astutely noted that the Fire seemed to have moved the signboards in a few feet along the sidelines -- perhaps to limit Darrius Barnes' ability to fire in those dangerous throw-ins.

• New England, without anything close to a creative playmaker, was very direct in the attack, countering quickly and moving the ball up to Edgaras Jankauskas as soon as possible. It really was the best way forward and it did serve to keep New England close on a thrilling night inside Toyota Park.

• Perhaps it was about Cuauhtemoc Blanco's natural inclination to drift right, or perhaps it was just that Marco Pappa was so sharp on the night, but the home team was clearly more interested in going toward Jay Heaps on the right as opposed to taking on Kevin Alston along New England's left. Indeed, two players have not combined more effectively in this year's playoffs than Blanco and Pappa did in the first half Saturday.

• The managers had nine days to ponder but elected to make just one change in the Houston-Seattle return leg. Tyrone Marshall, back from injury, replaced Patrick Ianni at center back for Sounders FC.

• The synchronization was beautiful between Dominic Oduro and Brian Ching as both Dynamo strikers were on their games in terms of linking with midfielders. Ching would come back for the ball while Oduro went the other way, attempting to stretch the defense in both directions. It asked a lot of the Sounders FC center backs, although Tyrone Marshall and John Kennedy Hurtado did a reasonable job of minimizing the damage, especially as the action got closer to goal.

• Andrew Hainault had an up-and-down afternoon dealing with Steve Zakuani, who wasn't a major factor in Sunday's match but did occasionally get loose down the left side. Hainault was also lucky not to concede the series' first goal when he got on the wrong side of Fredy Montero in the second half. Montero went wide from point blank range. Next week, Galaxy manager Bruce Arena might be tempted to put Landon Donovan out on the left (where he has played often this year) to keep the pressure on Hainault.

• Stuart Holden didn't do anything particularly special on offense Sunday but certainly provided his share of defensive cover, always working back and helping Ricardo Clark protect the center of the park. So, he's not exactly Dwayne De Rosario in manufacturing big moments on offense, but he is effective in his own way, as a bit more of a two-way central midfielder. In the future, if he wants to access the next level, he'll have to find a way to rise in bigger matches and provide something special in the attack.

• All credit to Seattle for a brilliant expansion season. There is one major issue to work out for Sigi Schmid, and that's in matters of discipline. James Riley was sent off near the end Sunday, which was perfectly emblematic of Seattle's year-long issues in taking too many cards. Marshall was lucky to be on the field at that moment. He had been cautioned for dragging down Oduro early. Later, he kicked Brian Ching, hard, and could easily have been assessed a second caution.

• Dynamo striker Luis Angel Landin entered late for Oduro but continues to have little impact for the Orange. When he does get a foothold on the game he just looks slow and out of shape. He did earn the foul that led to the goal this series needed so desperately. But a Designated Player simply must find ways to effect the game more frequently.

• Speaking of DPs, Freddie Ljungberg certainly proved over the last few weeks that he's worth brining back. On a day when Montero was rarely seen and when Zakuani's ability to stretch the Dynamo was about all Seattle had in the final third, the feisty little Swede wiggled around the midfield and caused some trouble with his speed and ability to create just a smidge of space on that tight, hardscrabble pitch. College football and the conclusion of the normal growing season in south Texas left a field that was thin in the middle and mostly dirt near the touchlines.

"It was a tough game," Keller said. "Not an easy surface to play on, so it didn't account for a real pretty game."

• While Chivas USA made a slew of changes after the 2-2 first leg, Galaxy manager Bruce Arena responded with just one lineup alternation. Chris Klein took over along the right for ill midfielder Chris Birchall.

• Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan had but one way to rescue a forgettable season: by showing up brilliantly in the postseason. He did OK over two matches against the Galaxy but didn't do enough to help his team grab hold of the series. After lining up centrally in the first leg, he was back out on the left on Sunday.

• The Galaxy did advance, but Arena's men might need to shore up the midfield Friday against the Dynamo's well-balanced bunch. Dema Kovalenko once again played in behind Beckham on Sunday, but he just isn't as keen as the injured Stefani Miglioranzi, who really understands the role. Kovalenko allows himself to get pulled out of there too often, and he doesn't have the speed to recover once the opposition counter attack develops. So there are just too many times when it looks a little like Beckham is doing the running for Kovalenko, which is, of course, rather silly.

• Credit the ESPN2 crew for a resourceful graphic on Donovan's last 10 penalty kicks, which all went right (to the goalkeeper's left.) As if on cue, Donovan altered his preferred course and went straight down the middle.

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.

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