No doubt this weekend’s nod goes to
On to the results…
Results in Brief
New England advances 4-3 on aggregate
The weekend kicked off on Saturday as the Eastern Conference was set to be decided on the plastic surface in New England. The Revolution entered the match with the advantage, returning home with a 2-1 lead from the first leg, while riding an impressive eight-game unbeaten run, not to mention winning their last seven at home, looking to return to the MLS Cup Final for the first time since 2007.
To do so, they would have to outlast a New York side hungry to return to the final for the first time in seven years, having last taken part in the season finale back in 2008, losing to a Guillermo Barros Schelotto-inspired Columbus. Trailing by a goal after a disappointing home loss, the Red Bulls faced further tribulation, as top scorer Bradley Wright-Phillips was suspended with yellow card accumulation, as was Roy Miller, a vital cog in their defensive unit – despite being prone to playoff gaffs.
New York however was buoyed by the fact that Thierry Henry would make his first appearance on the troublesome surface at Gillette Stadium, risking his Achilles health for the team.
In front of a record crowd for a playoff match in New England, the Revolution were content to sit back, absorbing the early pressure. As such, the first several half-chances fell New York’s way: a Lloyd Sam square ball was just beyond the reach of Peguy Luyindula inside the first ten minutes, while Bobby Shuttleworth needed to be alert to tip an Henry cross away from the waiting head of Tim Cahill in the middle.
The visitors would find their breakthrough in the 26th minute when Henry beat Andrew Farrell on the left to send another ball into the box. Jose Goncalves looked to have position on Cahill in the area, but the Australian’s desire proved undeniable, stabbing a finish through the legs of the defender to get enough of a touch on the ball to send it over the line, leveling the aggregate score at two, though New England still held the away-goal advantage.
The match would open up after that, each side seeing weak handball shouts waived away before Jamison Olave guided an Eric Alexander effort over the bar.And it was New England who would strike next, somewhat fortuitously, with Charlie Davies getting on the end of a Chris Tierney cross in the 41st minute to get the Revs on the scoreboard.
Tierney played a short corner from the right, improving his angle of delivery by receiving a return ball at the side of the eighteen-yard box. His service into the heart of the area was redirected by Davies, guiding it on to the left-side of goal – replays however showed that the ball may have last touched his hand, before nestling in at the far-post.
New England would take the advantage into the half, both leading on aggregate and with the away goal rule in their favour, and New York would begin the second half rattled, twice conceding terrible scrambled giveaways above their own box, leading to a pair of half-chances.
Those nerves would settle by the 52nd minute, when Luyindula reinstated the New York lead and leveled the away-goal tally, pouncing on a loose ball at the left-post when a Sam cross from the right bounced off of Farrell to sit invitingly in the area. Luyindula was quickest to react, left-footing a low finish past Shuttleworth for his third goal of the playoffs.
Cahill, who had scored their first, was also involved in the second, leaping for the initial cross, putting off Farrell enough to prevent him clearing the ball, but he could not take the chance that came his way in the 65th minute, wasting a glorious look with a right-footed volley that rose over the bar.
Five minutes later that wastefulness would bite back, as Davies added his second of the match – and fourth of the playoffs – ghosting in between the New York centre-backs to get on the end of another inviting Tierney cross, this time from the left, to guide his header down to the near-side of goal.
Davies’ brace would reinstate New England’s aggregate advantage, but, as Henry reminded his teammates, New York needed just one goal to overturn the series, the away-goal decider tilting in their favour.
New England keeper Shuttleworth was called upon to stay sharp with New York pushing forward, tipping an Ibrahim Sekagya looping header over the bar, though such attacks left massive gaps at the back, which the Revolution hoped to exploit – they may have had Jermaine Jones not tripped himself on a Teal Bunbury ball that would have put him in alone.
Try as they might, the visitors could not find the much-needed third goal of the afternoon, and New England would see out the pressure to earn their spot in next Sunday’s final, but not without emotions flaring up, resulting in a minor spot of handbags.
Worthy of note, this may well have been Henry’s final match in MLS, as it was announced on Monday that he would not be returning with the Red Bulls for 2015, but whether retirement is calling has yet to have been decided.
LA advances 2-2 on away goals
Come Sunday, action moved over to the West, where LA took a one-goal advantage into Seattle for the second leg of the series.
Having won the first leg by the lone goal, the Galaxy were looking to return to the MLS Cup Final for the third time in the last four years, and current form – having won their last two and gone unbeaten through three, yet to concede a goal in the post-season – had them looking good.
To do so however, they would have to quell the threat of a Seattle side looking to make their first finals appearance and become the first club in MLS history to win the treble, hoping to add the cup, to their Supporters Shield and US Open Cup titles. Unfortunately for them, they had not won in three matches and had gone over two hundred minutes without scoring, having netted just once in the playoffs.
That said, their spirits were undoubtedly buoyed by the return of both Osvaldo Alonso and Lamar Neagle to the starting eleven, though it was clear that Alonso was laboured, far from fully fit. LA too welcomed back a starter, with Leonardo ready to go in the centre of defense, but lost AJ DeLaGarza to fitness, to be replaced by Dan Gargan.
Much like the first leg, it was a tentative contest in the frigid conditions of Seattle’s plastic pitch, the ball bouncing here and there on the frozen tundra of synthetic blades and fake dirt pebbles. The first chance fell the visitors way, when Landon Donovan – himself perhaps playing in his final MLS match – found Robbie Keane at the top of the Sounders box, only for the usually precise Irishman to shank his shot high and wide.
Seattle would have a tempting look of their own minutes later when DeAndre Yedlin finally broke through the opposition marking, banking a pass to himself off Robbie Rogers to send an inviting ball into the area only for LA keeper, Jaime Penedo to cut out the threat.
The Sounders would find the breakthrough, leveling the series at ones in the 26th minute on a scrambled play that forced open the deadlock. Obafemi Martins, a driving force of the Sounders attack all night, surged into the area, only to be thrown to the ground by Leo Gonzalez. Had advantage not fallen to Clint Dempsey, perhaps a penalty would have been warranted, but play carried on as Dempsey collected on the right and aimed a ball into the middle that banked off Gargan to fall invitingly inside the six-yard box with Penedo out of position.
With Omar Gonzalez having shaded wide to cover, Brad Evans, arriving late from the back-side had a clear path to goal, forcing the ball over the line with a sliding finish.
That goal spurred on the home side - two minutes later Dempsey had the ball in the back of the net, only for the offside flag to deny him and a minute after that Penedo was called upon to get a strong hand to a low Neagle drive.
Dempsey would grab that goal in the 32nd minute when his bobbling shot from the top of the area found its way past the LA keeper, who got a piece, but could not prevent it crossing the line. The play began with a Yedlin ball into the area that was poorly dealt with, falling straight to Dempsey. At first, it appeared as though Penedo made a mess of the play, but replays showed a devastating deflection off of Gonzalez left the keeper little chance of making the save.
Stung from a tough ten minutes, LA regrouped with the start of the second half, drawing a crucial intervention from Zach Scott, who redirected a Stefan Ishizaki ball bound for Donovan over the Seattle goal in the 54th minute. The Galaxy would capitalize on the ensuing corner kick, taken by Donovan, when it fell to Juninho at the top of the area and his first-time right-footer beat Stefan Frei to the bottom left-side of the goal, banking in off the base of the post to tie the match on aggregate, giving LA the advantage on away goals.
Frei would be called upon twice in the next ten minutes to keep his side in the match, denying Donovan on a long, clear break up the left with a strong leg save and then getting a piece of a dangerous Ishizaki header.
Seattle would press desperately for a goal to overturn fate with two chances falling to Dempsey in the final ten minutes. Rogers would come up with a big block in the final minute of regulation, while Dempsey’s right-footed volley on a bouncing ball as the clock reached ninety would rise over the bar.
Despite losing the match 2-1, LA would move on to the final courtesy of the away-goals rule, Seattle, who progressed past Dallas on that same rule, would face the same fate themselves this round, their cup hopes ended by LA for the third time in the last five seasons, dashing their treble aspirations.
The Galaxy will join New England in the MLS Cup Final, making their ninth appearance in the year-end match, and their third in the last four seasons. Should they win, they will become the first club to win five MLS Cups.
Overheard
It was a momentous night for Charlie Davies, who finally resumed the spotlight in the American soccer scenes, five years after the accident that nearly not only ended his playing career, but his life. His brace, his second of the playoffs, saw him become the first Revolution player to score four goals in a post-season, while leading his side to the final: “For me, personally, it’s unimaginable really. These five years, really just grinding it out, things would go against me and there’s a lot of tears and pain. Through it all I just continued to fight and stay with it and things have turned out for the best.”
With the cloud of Thierry Henry’s future hanging in the air, several Red Bulls took the opportunity to herald his contributions to the club and the league, while Henry himself merely stating, “Well done, New England” before walking away – his decision would come to light on Monday instead.
Mike Petke meanwhile was more effusive: “I am so freakin’ proud. I’m so proud of my guys for these two games – especially today; how they came with this energy and this attitude and listened to the game plan and deserved to win”, before heralding his opponent, “Not taking anything away from New England. New England did a great job. They got it done … We lost today and I wish New England the best. They gave us a hell of a series. We did enough to win, but at the end of the day we didn’t.”
Seattle’s Sigi Schmid took the opportunity of his final post-match press conference of the season to address the fans: “I'd just say thank you and we're sorry, because we want to win it for them. We really do."
Landon Donovan meanwhile reflected on one final game in his soccer career:"In the few minutes at halftime that I had time to ponder, I wanted to make sure that this wasn't it. I wanted to make sure, regardless of the outcome that I put it all in and it worked out well."
But cautioned: "We haven't won anything yet. This is just the first step along the way. The first part was the Salt Lake series, and now Seattle. Nobody's had to do it harder than we have. These are two very good teams. To beat the best team in the regular season during a series like this is very difficult. Now we get one game at home to win a championship, so if anyone had said at the beginning of the year, we'd take it in a heartbeat and we're going to go with everything to win it."
Before closing on: "I'm sort of just in this moment right now. I just want to prepare myself for one last week and do everything I can to help this team win. I really want to go out a champion."
See It Live
A selection of the best sights from the weekend:
Beginning with some impressive fan participation, where both matches were very well attended and featured some quality tifo work. In New England, a nice Game of Thrones reference warned of the dangers of Lee Nguyen, while the Seattle pregame display was as solid as ever; not to mention a packed march to the match pre-game.
There were some handbags at the end of the Eastern Conference Final, resulting in a pair of yellow cards to New York players Ambroise Oyongo for the initial challenge and Lloyd Sam for his rage – note how Jermaine Jones was right in the middle of it, but escaped sanction.
Jones however could not escape isolation when he stepped on a Teal Bunbury pass, wasting a chance to seal the result late, while DeAndre Yedlin’s bank-pass to himself was pretty sweet.
Then there was Clint Dempsey laying hands on the official in protest, drawing a humourous response from the referee. And a great scene with Landon Donovan expressing his gratitude to Juninho for prolonging his career with a kiss.
A handful of the best saves of the round: Bobby Shuttleworth on Ibrahim Sekagya; Jaime Penedo on Lamar Neagle; Stefan Frei on Landon Donovan and then on Stefan Ishizaki.
And the trophy presentations, in both the East and the West.
Controversy
It was a rather clean round, but should New England’s first goal have been disallowed because it appeared to be
Upcoming Fixtures
After nine months of action, the 2014 MLS season comes down to one last match, as the MLS Cup Final is set for next Sunday afternoon with four-time champions, the LA Galaxy hosting four-time runners-up, the New England Revolution; the match will be officiated by the World Cup PRO crew, headed by Mark Geiger. Should be a good one.
Sunday: Los Angeles-New England
All video & quotes courtesy of MLSsoccer.com
Each week James takes a look at the league as a whole.
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