This weekend the MLS reaches its crescendo. That it’s a repeat of last years final matters
not. Two of the better MLS franchises
will meet in RFK Stadium. Come Sunday
afternoon the prevalence for the Supporters’ Shield holders not to win the MLS
Cup will be strengthened.
Play offs; being somewhat of a
lottery; make the Supporters’ Shield holders face the same tough games as those
whose season was not quite as formidable.
But let’s not kid ourselves. The difference in points and performance between
DC United, New England, Chivas and Houston
isn’t great.
DC topped the Eastern Conference
with 55 points, only 5 ahead of New England.
Chivas; winners of the Western
Conference with 53 points; topped Houston by only 1 point.
This final will see two of the
four stand out teams in the MLS face each other. By standout I mean better by a significant
margin than the teams below them on points, in either the West or East.
The top four teams all displayed
a consistency of results lacking in the other MLS franchises. That DC and Chivas are not present is a
vagary of the Play Off format.
New England.
New England was defeated by Houston in the MLS Cup
Final 2006 by penalties; always a cruel and somewhat arbitrary way to lose a
game (Hey! I’m English, I understand penalty shoot out losses all too well!)
In 2005 they made the MLS Cup
final only to lose out to LA in extra time.
Prior to that the Revolution lost
to the LA in the MLS Cup Final 2002; again after extra time.
Always the bridesmaid and never
the bride for Steve Nicol, at least in Boston. This time the will be the Scot’s third final
in a row; he will want to finally get a win in the most prestigious of US
football competitions. This season the
Revolution will surely be uplifted by the win in the US Open Cup Final. They have shown themselves capable of
succeeding in a cup format. They need to
do it one more time to convince the media of their credentials.
Houston Dynamo.
Houston is the Current MLS Cup Holders and has
the benefit of having beaten their opponent’s already in last years final. Before the move to Houston the franchise was the San Jose
Earthquakes and won two MLS Cups in 2001 and 2003. The Dynamo is a new franchise. Winning the MLS Cup in its first season the
Dynamo has done rather well. Now is
another test of their credentials, can they win again? This season the Dynamo did lose to Charleston; from US
League – 1 in the third round of the US Open Cup, but started the season with a
win in the Carolina Challenge Cup.
2007 Season.
Meetings between the two teams
this season have produced a draw and a win for New England. In a poor start to the Dynamo’s season New England came to Robertson Stadium and went home 1-0
winners. The Dynamo played better in
Gillette Stadium with a pulsating 3-3 draw.
Only Real
Salt Lake
and New England have put 3 goals in one game past the outstanding Houston all season
defence.
New England have has three or
more goals scored against them by Kansas City (4), Columbus Crew (3) & (3),
Houston Dynamo (3), DC United (3) & (4), Colorado Rapids (3) numerous times
this season.
Play off form.
Houston has a less than excellent start to
the 2007 play offs. A loss on the road
to arch-rivals, FC Dallas. This was
turned around with style, verve and goals in a 4-1 win in the second leg in
Robertson Stadium.
The Western Conference Final was
a pretty awful game, Houston didn’t play well
but Kansas City
was woefully poor. This game saw another
injury to star striker, Brian Ching.
New England beat off New York with some tough
defence in the first two play off games.
The Eastern Conference final was again solidly defensive in victory over
Chicago.
Current form suggests New England is stronger.
In the heat of Cup Final there will be little to choose between the two
teams.
Who’ll likely get a game in the final?
Houston Dynamo:
Likely 4 4 2.
Onstad – name is already on the
team sheet after some good performances in the plays off and a solid season.
Waibel – solid, experienced right
back.
Cochrane - solid, experienced,
tough tackling centre back.
Robinson - tough, experienced no
nonsense centre back, good in the air.
Barrett - solid, experienced left
back, can get forward and can attack when he has to.
This back four is the best unit
in the MLS; they all have a good understanding of what each other are doing and
make up a defense better than the sum of its parts.
Mullan – likes to get forward in
support of the attack but also defends well.
His energy is exceptional and he will run and harry all game.
Mulrooney – will sit and work
with his back four and allow the skill players to do their job, he does have a
useful cross on him.
De Rosario – the creative spark
in the Dynamo midfield, if he can get involved Houston play better.
Davis – decent left sided midfielder who can
deliver a good ball in from free kicks.
Holden – good passer with an eye
for goal who can slip into the Dynamo midfield and cause problems for the opposition.
Ching – Scorer of the tying goal
in last years MLS Cup final but unlikely to start, his season has one of
absences for Houston, injury and USMNT call ups the reasons. May be fit, but picked up an injury against Kansas City.
Ngwenya – pace with a good first
touch, and the ability to score the spectacular goal. The Zimbabwean’s versatility has enabled him
to play wide and up front for Houston
giving them options, his pace and strength on the ball is good.
Jaqua – tall, rangy, can hold the
ball up and is a threat at set pieces but despite his skills he isn’t a prolific
goal getter.
Ianni – will provide decent cover
for the back four.
New England Revolution:
Likely 3 5 2
Reis – clean sheet so far in the
play offs. Commands the box well but
does occasionally flail.
John – pace and a good left foot
at the back, works well in a back three or back four.
Heaps – one of the better
homegrown defenders, does well on the right in a four or three man back
line.
Parkhurst – can defend and start
attacks. A good defender who will get
better. This year he got the MLS
Defender of the Year award and the individual Fair Play Award.
Riley – a good back up defender
or can be used in a back four. Good ball
control and has a nice turn of speed.
Smith – the Bermudan is a big winger
but has pace down the left, can come inside and score or put in some good
crosses.
Larentowicz – a capable
destructive player who protects the back four, he has a powerful shot but
occasionally tends to get too boisterous in his tackling.
Josephs – the Grenadian is a
powerful midfielder who can sit and defend or support the attack with a good
range of accurate passing. Pops up with
good goals every now and then.
Dorman – plays all over the
midfield and is a good goal scorer.
Thompson – an able wide
midfielder who is getting more experienced under Nicol. He can play right or left but plays more on
the right.
Leonard – has been pushed to the
fringes of the squad.
Ralston – Experienced set up man
for Twellman, he’s developed a knack of knowing when and where to play the ball
for any of the New England forwards and is
astute with the ball. A strong work
ethic means he defends from the front and can also provides goals.
Twellman – the point man and New England’s top scorer.
His form in the play offs has been exceptional and his knack for scoring
will be required at RFK.
Noonan – a good utility player
who can slot into midfield or attack or play out wide. Two good feet and can hold up the ball well.
Cristman – had a good season as a
Rookie. He can lead the line and score goals;
he’s a bit raw but a quick study with some good skills.
Managers.
Both managers have options and
will want to keep their lineups close to their chests.
Kinnear is the spitting man’s manager;
his constant stream of phlegm litters the technical area of each game he
manages. Apart from that particular
habit his record is pretty decent. As
assistant to Frank Yallop he helped the San Jose Earthquakes to 3 MLS Cups then
as manager took the same franchise to the MLS Supporters’ Shield. He was the manager of Houston when the franchise won the MLS Cup
last year.
Nicol has taken the New England
Revolution to three of the last six MLS Cup Finals where he lost all of them
outside regulation time. He was
initially hired in 2002 as an interim manager but that move was made
permanent. He doesn’t spit when he’s on
the sidelines.
What to expect on the pitch.
This will be a final dominated by
defence; which in a league with particularly mistake ridden defensive performances;
will be refreshing. It’s going to need a
mistake or a great piece of skill to beat either team, one has a stellar
defensive unit and one hasn’t let a goal in during the play offs.
Through the middle the play is
likely to be congested, Josephs and Larentowicz will work hard to stifle De
Rosario. The wide players may be the
key. Dorman or Thompson and Smith for
New England and Mullan and Barrett for Houston.
Neither keeper had the record
that Guzan did but both sometimes look suspect.
Twellman is a quality finisher
and with the right service will cause even the Houston back line problems. Jaqua and Ngwenya aren’t prolific but their
pace and the aerial ability of Jaqua may cause problems. Both teams have displayed skill on set
pieces, from both sides of the ball.
Who to support?
I’m neither a Houston
nor a New England fan but I will be at RFK on
Sunday so my main decisions are twofold.
What football shirt to wear and
who to support?
Post Script :
This is the only Silverware that
will be presented in DC this season.
DC pushed hard by a resilient RSL; some poor officiating didn’t mar an
entertaining game; DC 2-1.
The RFK crowd is getting used to
watching good football, so was expectant tonight for the visit of MLS’s newest
franchise. The visitors were up for the
game on the back of some decent recent results, the home team had played a
tough game Sunday so may be tired. Great
crowd and good football weather, the pitch was not perfect but better than
most. Rimando, Eskandarian and Talley
being former United players added an extra bite to the contest.
Soehn stuck with Perkins behind a
solid back four of Namoff, Boswell; rotating in for Vanney, McTavish and Burch;
Carroll; in for Simms anchored the midfield with Olsen and Gros; allowing Fred
a rest; and Gomez linking with Emilio and Kpene; Moreno being called up for
Bolivia.
A formation set up for wide play,
Burch has some good deep crosses and Fred and Gros have the skill to beat the
opposing fullbacks.
Kreis played his three recent acquisitions
in the side anchored at the back by Rimando; Kipre; good both in attack and
defence was the cornerstone of a flat back four with Mantilla, Kotschau and
Wingert; also able to get forward; Beckerman held the midfield with Morales and
Talley getting forward more, Eskandarian and Espindola supported the veteran
Brown in attack. Five goals in the
previous two games showed how well Kreis is implementing his strategies but
they also let in five.
Kpene shows his pace when he
overtakes Mantilla to get to a through ball but his cross doesn’t trouble
Rimando; Gros scores a close range goal but the assistant’s flag call the play
back for offside; dubious call, replays show he was level; Kipre crosses from
the right but Perkins claims; the DC ‘keeper does well when Eskandarian gets
hold of the ball deep and unleashes a powerful, goal bound shot; Brown loops it
back in but Perkins cleans things up.
DC are looking to play their possession
and pressing football whilst RSL try to use pace and energy in attack and
counter attacks.
Kipre provides an opportunity for
Eskandarian but Perkins is equal to the shot; this heralds Real upping their
tempo and pressing DC back.
Beckerman delivers a blinding
ball into space on the right for Kipre to run onto, with acres of space and
oodles of time the cross is really poor, but he gets a corner from it, then
Namoff gives away a free kick which Morales wastes with an overly rapid
delivery.
Emilio, Olsen and Gomez combine
with the ball being delivered to Emilio at the far post, the midfielder buries
the opener for DC; it’s somewhat against the run of play but a typical DC
goal.
Eskandarian and Kipre both go
close moments later, but Beckerman makes a mistake and forces Kotschau to foul
Emilio on the edge of the RSL area; the free kick is poor; Olsen has a good
cross and Eskandarian beats Olsen and Namoff but his ball in is deflected then
cleared; the tempo from both teams is high and the game is bouncing along from
end to end.
Espindola shows good skills to
win a corner kick and Beckerman fails to beat Perkins to the ball after the
corner is taken; Olsen gets busy and delivers a great ball in for Gomez but the
over zealous assistant flags needlessly; Boswell blocks Morales forward foray
but the ball from the corner kick is poor; Kipre wins the ball from Gomez for a
corner; Wingert delivers a ball in from the right and when Perkins fluffs it he
is given assistance by the referee who blows for a foul; then Real get the
breakthrough, momentarily sloppy in the middle the space opens up for Beckerman,
he beats Boswell, the quickest DC player to react, but a cut gives Beckerman
the time to fire one past Perkins for the equalizer. Pretty sloppy play for DC.
The goal invigorates Real and
they attack, the last few minutes of the half are fast paced and attacking,
Perkins is the ‘keeper with more work to do but both defences are more or less
equal to the flurry of attacks.
Kreis keeps things the same but Soehn
replaces with Kpene with Fred.
DC pressure the visitors early
with Olsen and Fred both involved; Burch delivers a good ball in from a free
kick and after a few bobbles Namoff hits the back off the net only for the flag
to be incorrectly raised again; Morales can’t beat Perkins with a free kick;
Boswell cuts out a good Kipre cross; ; Gros in bundled over by Kipre just
outside the are but the referee points to the spot, justice is done as Gomez
fires a weak shot which is well saved by the athletic Rimando; Eskandarian gets
a head to a Morales cross but the ball balloons over the crossbar; Rimando saves
easily from Olsen after a sweet, flowing move from DC; Mantilla is solid at the
back and breaks up a fast counter from DC; Wingert fires in a ball from wide
but Perkins; pretty solid with anything in the air; claims again; Burch is
involved in DC’s second goal, his ball is driven in low and pops out on the
right to Fred, he plays in Boswell and the big defender flummoxes Real with a
cheeky back heel, Fred puts the ball at into the back stick and Gomez is their
to emphatically bury the header past Rimando, poor Real marking in the
area.
Kreis changes things up with a
couple of substitutions and then Real get a penalty, the ball goes in from a
Morales free kick and one bounce sees it safely in the hands of Perkins, the
referee indicates shirt pulling from DC and fails to note that McTavish is
hurled to the ground, poor refereeing; justice is done when Eskandarian fires
in a weak shot which a diving Perkins saves; the referee obviously has a soft
spot as he blows the whistle on Burch for a ‘phantom’ free kick, Gros
clears.
Rimando comes out quickly for a
deep ball and just beats Emilio; the game gets a little testy, not exactly
physical but challenges are full blooded and the pace increases as Real look
for an equalizer; Soehn tries to shore things up with the introduction of Simms
for Olsen;
In front, level, behind level
then in front; an up and down game for DC which showed the manager has his head
#### on right with some excellent substitutions and monstrously good performances
from key players, the worst of the bunch today was a shoddy Perkins
performance, elsewhere the DC team showed steel, grit, skill and flair to grab
an important three points and a huge fillip going into the tail end of the
season Wow, always a pleasure to watch
the men in black. . Both sides come reasonably close in the final
few minutes but no real opportunities are created and the match comes to a
frantic end.
Perkins looked good today, better
than on Sunday, Soehn’s changes worked well and his team remains relatively fresh,
goals and defending don’t seem to be a problem for this DC United team that has
just qualified for the Play Offs.
Kreis will like the contribution
of his three Argentineans, his team showed fight and spirit but defensive
errors cost them dearly and they couldn’t score from the spot. The team is definitively moving in the right
direction.
Awful refereeing, two cack
penalty decisions, numerous poor offsides, just a very bad game for all three
officials.
Top two in the East clash; DC triumph by two as Nicol sees red; DC 4,
NE 2.
A sunny early September Sunday,
one of the better rivalries in football; two teams in winning form and a place
at the top of the East the prize; entry to next season’s CONCACAF Champions’ Cup
via the MLS Supporters’ Shield was also an incentive.
Vocal crowd, beautiful day and
the prospect o####reat game, this is football.
Perkins remained between the
sticks for DC; behind a solid back four of Namoff, McTavish; rotating in for
Boswell; Vanney and Burch; Simms anchored the midfield with Fred and Gros; back
after 4 weeks out with worries about multiple concussions; out wide and Gomez
closer to Moreno
and Emilio.
A formation set up for wide play,
Burch has some good deep crosses and Fred and Gros have the skill to beat the
opposing fullbacks.
Nicol, getting quite portly;
favoured a back three of Heaps; back from injury; , Parkhurst and John
protecting Reis in goal; a five man midfield with Larentowicz anchoring,
Josephs doing the graft and Ralston, Dorman and Smith providing the service up
to Noonan and Twellman, a solid partnership up front.
Anything into Twellman or Noonan
would cause problems, and if the wide players could get into the game NE had
plenty of goals in them.
Fred and Burch overlap and the
full back delivers a great ball into the area, John chests it down as New
England scramble it clear; a shaky defensive start; then Gros fires in a ball
from the same side which Emilo controls beautifully on his chest he turns but
can’t get a shot off before he is closed down; DC are starting strong,
again.
It isn’t all the home team’s ball
though, Burch has to foul Ralston to stop the wide player delivering a cross, and
the resultant free kick doesn’t amount to much.
DC start looking to exploit their
width whilst NE looks for quicker more decisive balls through the middle, the
midfield is fast and competitive.
Ralston’s next free kick from the
left is too high; Josephs stumbles and Fred takes advantage, spraying the ball
forward to Emilio who lashes one into the side netting; Noonan’s cross almost
finds an open Twellman but is cut out; Moreno turns provider and lays off a
superb ball inside to Gomez, Heaps manages to scramble a corner; a Gomez free
kick brings and excellent save from Reis, covering his goal well.
Twellman feeds Doorman who finds
Smith on the left, the wide player’s cross is half cleared allowing Larentowicz
to feed the ball back into the danger area a moments of passing and probing is
undone with Noonan fractionally offside.
Gomez and Emilio combine in the
centre then spread the ball out to Namoff, his far post cross is a great ball
but Gomez strayed fractionally behind the last defender. The play has opened up after NE weather the
early pressure from the home side, the ball is zipping around on the pitch and
both defences are working hard.
Reis comes out quickly to deny
Moreno; Fred delivers an early cross which is headed behind by NE, the ball
comes back after being cleared through Burch and Moreno forces a save from
Reis.
Josephs does not endear himself
to Twellman after wasting the forward’s good work on the right with a sloppy
final ball.
Gros is sharp with his throw in, Moreno turns and delivers
the ball inside Smith for Fred; the midfielder has time and space to fire past
Reis for the opener; decisive play by DC to take advantage of a sleepy NE.
McTavish saves his ‘keeper’s
blushes moments later, Heaps catches Perkins fluffing after a free kick and the
big defender heads off the line.
Gomez gets his chance after
beating John but fires wide; Twellman heads against the post after getting
space in the box to work a Smith cross in; the renewed New England pressure
tells soon after, a great pulled back cross from Smith after a quick counter
from NE sees Vanney allowing Twellman too much space, Burch hasn’t got back
quickly enough to cover and the athletic forward chests the ball down and
hammers it past Perkins for the equalizer, classic and excellent counter
attacking goal.
Nicol and Soehn keep the status
quo.
DC starts on the front foot,
strong and forceful and looking to dominate the game, NE doesn’t wilt but are
pushed back.
Doorman combines with Smith who
spanners his shot coming in off the flank, it falls to Noonan who fires over,
good counter attacking from the visitors.
Gros skins Heaps and delivers a
ball in for Moreno, the Bolivian fires straight at Reis; another counter sees
New England go ahead, a corner kick sees Perkins flail, Heaps is quickest to
the ball and bundles it into Perkins and across the line for a scrappy
second.
Stung into action the home side
light up RFK, applying sweltering pressure on New England; Simms has a snapshot
go wide; he starts another move allowing Gros a shot which Reis parries clear;
Namoff gets forward and lays the ball off to Gomez, Emilo fires a ball in which
is blocked and Moreno; alert and predatory in the box; feeds on the scraps for
his 110th and DC’s equalizer.
Cristman replaces Noonan and
Olsen comes on for Fred as both managers try to swing the game; Olsen provides
a more physical presence to combat the power off Smith, Fred was overwhelmed at
times; Cristman is looking to continue his attack on the Rookie of the
year.
Twellman finds time and space in
the area but his shot is tame; Olsen starts things for DC, but Josephs is in
hand to break up a flowing move; Gros and Emilio fashion a chance for Gomez but
the ball goes wide; the game is even and tight, likely the next goal will win
it.
The fifth goal is very
contentious and results in the fuming ex-Liverpool stalwart being ejected.
Smith barges into Olsen who kicks
out from the floor to bring the big man down; Moreno picks the ball up and
plays it forward to Olsen; who got up from his tussle with Smith, playing to
the whistle; Olsen goes forward down the right and delivers a cross in for
Gomez, the shot looks to be heading for the safe hands of Reis but Emilio is on
hand to deflect the ball past a wrong footed and complaining NE ‘keeper. Replays show that Smith clearly committed a
foul and that play was allowed to continue, the New England manager give a few
instructions for his assistant; ex Tractor Boy Mariner; before stomping off,
lip readers all had a good laugh at his comments to the officials.
Pretty soon Smith is replaced by
Thompson, and Carroll come on for Simms and Boswell replaces Gomez, DC look to
defend with six and hold the game in front of them for the remaining minutes,
NE frantically look for an equalizer.
The final goal comes of a
substitute; Carroll runs rings around the mostly ineffective Heaps and cuts the
ball back from the byline, Emilio pops up between John and Parkhurst and buries
his header in the corner; poor defending and maybe something to make Nicol
re-think his back three.
In front, level, behind level
then in front; an up and down game for DC which showed the manager has his head
#### on right with some excellent substitutions and monstrously good performances
from key players, the worst of the bunch today was a shoddy Perkins
performance, elsewhere the DC team showed steel, grit, skill and flair to grab
an important three points and a huge fillip going into the tail end of the
season Wow, always a pleasure to watch
the men in black. .
Heaps may have scored but he
defended poorly today, in spurts the team played well but the substitutions
really didn’t. Twellman looked dangerous
against the DC back four but rarely got the required service. NE played a strong game but lacked the finish
to take advantage of a below par Perkins.
First class refereeing, the game
flowed, not a bunch of silly yellows and reds, key decisions were correct and
the assistants supported well. This
should appear as an MLS referee training video in due course.
Improvements for the MLS; or ‘what could make your product more like
the foreign product more people consume and care about’.
Don Garber is doing a stand up
job, anybody who has been to BMO Field or the Commerce City stadium knows what I mean, RFK
and Giants Stadium are OK but they are not purpose built football
stadiums. Garber wants a 16 team league
playing in 10 purpose built stadia by 2010.
Next season the League will field
14 teams, which is enough for one league, with each team playing the other
teams home and away. So the season would
be only twenty six weeks long, but more time would be available for the US Open
Cup, an expanded SuperLiga, the Copa SudAmericana CONCACAF Champions Cup,
Recopa Sudamericana and maybe even the Copa Libertadores. The disruption caused by summer tournaments
would be far less and the possibility for MLS franchises to go abroad for
pre-season tours arises. Plus, you will
not have to be playing a game in Dallas or DC in August when temperatures and
humidity are less than ideal for quality football.
This is the biggie, football
isn’t a winter sport and only in countries where playing football in winter is
ludicrous is it played in at other times; Russia, and the Scandinavian countries.
A start in September for, maybe
sixteen weeks would of course coincide with other major US sports but with its own stadiums
this would be possible and welcome. Then
you have a break until February or March and finish off the season with another
sixteen week stretch, taking you into April or June.
Players get a break and are
fresher for internationals.
If you have a winner you have to
have a loser; relegation is the obvious answer but probably a non starter. So how do you penalize the last place
team? No berth in the US Open Cup. Here they are rewarded with the first choice
of the new influx of talent, it’s just not cricket.
Does the MLS want to be the
repository for ageing players from other leagues around the world or does it
want to be a feeder league to the bigger leagues in Europe. It needs to work out where it fits within the
structure of global football, does it want to forge on alone or move closer to
the Central and South American Leagues or work some sort of partnership program
with European clubs.
Of course the league’s goal
should be to emulate Portugal
or Holland,
have a solid well respected second tier league.
Unless things change drastically it would be unrealistic for the MLS to
want to compete with the Bundesliga et al.
Thing is I actually like the MLS,
the more I watch it the more I like it.
It is a comparatively weak league but it is growing and developing,
that’s always interesting to see.
