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  • MLS Week in Review – Playoffs: Knockout Rounds & Conference Semifinals First Legs


    James Grossi

    In chronological order, up first is Kansas City’s

    , who finished off a quick counter thanks largely to a beautifully incisive pass from teammate Benny Feilhaber, laying him in behind Jamison Olave. The second nomination goes to New England’s
    , who once more displayed his dead-ball skill, bending a left-footer over the wall and into the top corner in Columbus. And finally, New York’s
    who continued his goal-scoring form into the post-season, bringing his tally to thirty on the year from Thierry Henry’s jaw-dropping back-heel setup.

    On to the results…

    Results in Brief

    The post-season began on Wednesday night with Dallas hosting Vancouver in the Western Conference Knockout Round. The odds were stacked against the Whitecaps, as the home side had not lost in the last seven encounters between the two, while Dallas had never lost at home in the all-time series.

    A tense and physical half-hour gave way to the opening goal in the 40th minute, when Vancouver’s centre-backs were both caught stepping to the ball high up the pitch, allowing fit-again Mauro Diaz, taking up his play-maker’s role, to slide a pass over to Tesho Akindele surging down the right. The rookie took the chance, sending a right-footed effort towards the far-side of goal. Fortunately for him, the shot took a slight deflection off the out-stretched leg of the recovering O’Brien to nestle inside the left-post and give the hosts the advantage.

    Vancouver refused to go down without a fight - Mauro Rosales rattling the crossbar with a free-kick shortly after the restart - despite their talisman, Pedro Morales, struggling to find his rhythm; he would be removed before the hour mark, to be replaced by Kekuta Manneh. Shortly thereafter, the Whitecaps would find their breakthrough, a Rosales free-kick into the box was partially cleared to Manneh deep, his low drive was blocked, falling kindly to Erik Hurtado, who saw his right-footed response deflect off the leg of Victor Ulloa to sneak its way past Chris Seitz in goal.

    But it would not be the visitor’s night and a controversial handball decision whistled on Kendall Waston in the 82nd minute would end their cup aspirations. A harmless ball into the area was missed by Gershon Koffie’s headed clearing attempt, falling onto the unsuspecting Waston, unarguably hitting his hand. Whether it was intentional, or any advantage was accrued, is a matter for debate, either way, the referee pointed to the spot, and after some lengthy protestations, Michel dispatched the attempt in the 84th minute, forcefully placing his left-footer to the keeper’s right, having sent David Ousted guessing the other way.

    Whitecap disappointment was palpable, and the remaining moments saw the tensions raised. Sebastian Fernandez, the most visibly aggrieved Vancouver player, got in the face of Andres Escobar after a foul, drawing Diaz, who had previously been substituted, back on to the pitch – an act the disciplinary committee would frown upon (he was forced to sit Dallas’ weekend fixture with a one game suspension) – and a trio of bookings to the two aggressors and Diaz.

    His protestations would continue after the final whistle, earning a red card for his troubles, while the 2-1 win would see Dallas moving on to the conference semifinals, with a Sunday date at home against Seattle.

    The Eastern bracket got underway the following day in New York, with the Red Bulls hosting defending MLS Cup champions, Sporting KC, who plummeted from the upper echelons of the conference to the final playoff spot as a long, injury-riddled season finally caught up with one of the opening day favourites. And the task would not get any easier.

    All season, New York had been dominant at home, having lost just three times, winning ten and drawing a further four; their seven-game home winning streak ended by a rampant Columbus side in their final home match of the regular season. Added to that, New York had stolen a 0-2 win in Kansas City in the final match of the schedule, winning a second-straight against Sporting and stretching their unbeaten run against KC to four. Small consolation to the visitors was that they had managed to take points from three of their last four trips to Harrison.

    The two combatants would exchange half-chances through the opening half, Tim Cahill ballooning a look at goal over the bar early and an Aurelien Collin goal-bound header cancelled out by the offside flag.

    It was the visitors who took the lead eight minutes after the restart, Benny Feilhaber picking the pocket of Eric Alexander in the centre-circle before surging towards goal and placing a wonderful ball into the path of Dom Dwyer, who struck a left-footer past Luis Robles to the left-side of goal.

    New York would nearly respond minutes later when Thierry Henry’s header needing tipping over the bar from Eric Kronberg. Kevin Ellis looked to pad the advantage in the 71st, tucking in a Paulo Nagamura pull-back, only for the officials to deem that the ball had trickled over the end-line before the final pass was made. And Henry would have another look, blazing a Cahill knock-down over the bar, as he could not quite get over the ball enough to keep his effort on goal.

    With the clock ticking down, New York would finally equalize in the 77th minute in a team-build that sliced open a tiring Kansas City. Dax McCarty collected a ball in the centre-circle, slotting a forward pass towards Peguy Luyindula, who alertly spotted the run of Henry, stabbing a ball down the left-side of the area for his friend and teammate. Henry then found Bradley Wright-Phillips with a pull-back, his right-footer deflected off of Matt Besler before trickling over the goal-line beyond the reach of a scrambling Kronberg.

    Both sides appeared braced for a session of extra time. That is until a miss-hit cross from Ambroise Oyongo fell menacingly into the KC box, catching their defenders napping by the absurdity of its threat. Luyindula again had plucked the strings, playing Oyongo down the right, but when his cross sailed bizarrely up, not a soul amongst the Sporting back-line reacted, allowing Wright-Phillips, the most dangerous goal-scorer on the pitch, to get on the end unchallenged, flicking his header on and down to the far-post, nestling inside for the winner.

    The 2-1 win would see the New York advance through a playoff round for the first time since 2011, having fallen out at the first hurdle the last two seasons, setting up a clash with Atlantic rivals DC United, while prematurely ending KC’s title defense.

    With the knockout rounds played, and the final eight sorted, the conference semifinals got under way on Saturday afternoon with an Eastern Conference match between Columbus and New England, third place hosting second.

    Both teams arrived in high spirits, the Crew had won their last six at home, ending the season on a run of three-straight victories, having lost just once in their final eight matches. The Revolution too were looking good, winners of their last two, unbeaten in five, and having taken points from their last three away fixtures.

    Sampling their first playoff action since 2011, the nerves were evident from the early action, as a poor clearance from usually-solid goalkeeper Steve Clark handed the visitors a golden chance inside of six minutes, but Charlie Davies could not steer Teal Bunbury’s ball towards goal with a dragged back-heel attempt.

    Clark would be called upon for a huge save in the 17th minute, denying Andrew Farrell’s drive after Lee Nguyen’s silky buildup set up the New England right-back.

    The tension was evident, some minor afters leading to a yellow card for centre-back Jose Goncalves, who first drew the ire of Tony Tchani, before exchanging words with a second Crew player, Ethan Finlay, having held up a restart by refusing to relinquish the ball.

    Justin Meram would miss out on giving the hosts the lead in the 29th minute when his right-footer rattled off the underside of the bar after Waylon Francis laid him in with a long pass, exposing a weakness in the New England defenses.

    But it was the Revolution who took the lead in the 34th minute when Davies made amends for his earlier miss, stretching out to get on the end of a right-sided Kelyn Rowe free-kick with a diving header at the back-post.

    Six minutes after the restart, the Crew hopes were further dashed, when New England nabbed a second away goal through Chris Tierney, stepping up to a dangerous free-kick, sending his left-footer curling over the wall and into the right-side of the goal from some 22 yards out.

    Meram would pull one back for the hosts in the 64th, right-footing in a powerful shot, pouncing on a loose ball in the box after Wil Trapp’s squared ball for Federico Higuain was redirected towards him by Scott Caldwell’s intervention.

    But Nguyen would add a third six minutes later and Davies a fourth, his second of the night, in the 78th minute. Nguyen broke towards goal from half and when not pressed, picked his spot, drifting towards the right on Tyson Wahl before sneaking a low, right-footed shot low to the left-side of goal. Similarly, Davies was allowed to run at the Crew defenses, slashing from left to right before smashing a right-footer in off the inside of the right-post.

    Having conceded four away goals, Columbus’ hopes of progressing to the conference finals looked dim, but a stoppage-time penalty kick converted by Higuain after Finlay’s cross had been handled by Goncalves gave them a life-line, needing a three-goal win to overturn the result next weekend.

    Despite the near-insurmountable ask, the confidence of Higuain, chipping his spot kick straight down the middle Panenka-style, was an indication that an offensive side like Columbus should never be discounted – they will have some wrongs to right come the second leg with their first home playoff match in five years having ended in such dispiriting fashion.

    With the 2-4 result, New England put themselves into a strong position to move on the face the winners of the DC-New York series for the Eastern crown, but no doubt Columbus will have other ideas

    A six-goal explosion can never be expected when the playoffs come around; teams are understandably reserved, knowing that each mistake is magnified with elimination a whisker away. Close fought matches and heroic defensive performances, on the other hand, are the order of the day, such as was put forth in the high-profile encounter in the West.

    Salt Lake, who were making their seventh-straight playoff appearance, entered in good form, unbeaten in their last three and having kept clean-sheets throughout, but it was their impressive home-form, having won the last six and not been beaten in ten, that they would need to overpower a familiar foe – the LA Galaxy, themselves making a sixth-straight playoff appearance.

    The two were meeting in the post-season for the third time in the last four seasons, but due to a quirk of the schedule, they had not met since playing twice in the opening month of the season.

    After a few questionable off-side decisions – at least one each way with Joao Plata whistled on a break and a Gyasi Zardes’ strike in the 37th ruled out with the raising of a linesman’s flag – the match settled into a pattern, with Salt Lake driving forward and LA doing all they could to stop them.

    In fact, were it not for a stunning performance from Jaime Penedo, the hosts would have taken an advantage into the second leg, drawing several fine saves from the Galaxy keeper, particularly in the second half where a strong arm blocked a deflected Plata strike, San Penedo then rushed out to quash another Plata look after Alvaro Saborio had played him in clear, before clawing a Javier Morales corner kick off the goal-line when nearly caught out straight from the delivery that was propelled by the fierce, swirling winds, and finally tipping a Morales effort over the bar in the final minute of regulation.

    But as it stood, the Galaxy were able to see out the score-less draw in a professional manner, ensuring they would return home next weekend with the series finely balanced.

    Sunday’s action began back in the East with a tasty Atlantic Cup matchup between New York and conference toppers DC United, looking to translate their strong rebound season into playoff success.

    DC had risen from the worst team in the league in 2013 to first in the East and though they closed the year with a six-match unbeaten run, their quality had lessened, dropping points to the likes of Chicago and Montreal.

    New York were facing a challenge of their own, playing a third match in eight days and facing a DC side that they had not progressed past in the last four playoff encounters, but secure in the knowledge that the home side had won the last four encounters between the two.

    The hosts would take the initiative, nearly opening the scoring after eighteen minutes, only for the offside flag to deny Bradley Wright-Phillips his third goal of the playoffs – that would have to wait until later. DC would pass up a glorious chance of their own when Nick DeLeon’s ball in from the left skipped past the attempted clearance of Jamison Olave towards Fabian Espindola, who could not react quickly enough to the unexpected opportunity, which bounced off him and into the hands of a relieved Luis Robles.

    The breakthrough would finally come in the 40th minute when Lloyd Sam played up to Thierry Henry on the right-side of the area. The Frenchman sagely put a back-heel back into the heart of the box, where it was left by Peguy Luyindula, falling to Wright-Phillips unmarked at the left post for a strong right-footed finish.

    Bill Hamid would be called upon to keep the match tight, making a spectacular double-save on Sam and then Wright-Phillips in the 67th minute and then blocking a rasping shot from Wright-Phillips in the 71st. But he could not come to his side’s rescue in the 73rd minute, when New York grabbed their second, putting a stranglehold on the series. Again Henry was involved in the build, laying a perfect ball down the right-channel for Luyindula, who slipped a right-footed finish under the sprawling keeper.

    Wright-Phillips would nearly add a third minute later when his deflected shot handcuffed Hamid, only to trickle mercifully wide of the right-post. United would have one final chance to close the gap in the 88th minute when a free-kick fell to DeLeon at the back-post, but his delay allowed Olave to come over to block the shot.

    The 2-0 win put the Red Bulls firmly in the driver’s seat – in the last ten seasons of MLS only two teams have returned home to overcome two-goal deficits from the opening leg – but if any side is capable of doing so, it is this season’s DC. The return of Chris Rolfe from his broken forearm and rumours of Luis Silva perhaps being available for the weekend will boost their spirits, while there is little likelihood that they will have two such quiet matches in a row.

    The weekend’s closer switched back to the West, where Supporters Shield winners, Seattle, opened their playoff campaign with an away fixture in Dallas.

    Fresh off their first playoff win since 2010 – the year they reached the MLS Cup Final in Toronto – Dallas were eager to continue that run. Having won three of their last four and secure in the knowledge that the home-side had won the last two encounters between the two. Dallas would miss the services of Mauro Diaz, who picked up a needless one-game suspension for entering the field of play to get involved in a minor fracas having been substituted against Vancouver on Wednesday.

    Despite the absence of their game-changer, Dallas would take the lead in the 34th minute from the penalty spot, after a wonderful, tricky run from Andres Escobar drew Marco Pappa into a rash challenge in the box, tripping up the Dallas attacker.

    Michel, as he had against Vancouver, calmly stepped to the spot, ignoring Seattle’s delaying-tactics, to slot his left-footer to the keeper’s left; Stefan Frei read it correctly, but was too late to reach the well-struck penalty.

    Dallas nearly doubled their advantage shortly after, catching Seattle out with a bit of set-piece trickery, but Escobar was flagged, incorrectly, for an offside – Frei made the save on Castillo regardless. Seattle had a chance of their own before the first half whistle blew, Obafemi Martins sending a drive on goal that Raul Fernandez could only push up in the air, requiring a goal-mouth clearance from Matt Hedges with Clint Dempsey lurking menacingly.

    The Sounders would find their goal shortly after the restart, Osvaldo Alonso getting on the end of a 54th minute free-kick from Marco Pappa. Deep on the right, Pappa sent a searching ball towards the back-post, where Alonso ran off the back of Castillo get a flick on the service, tucking it past Fernandez.

    Knowing full well that now was the time to put Seattle behind, before returning to the Pacific Northwest for the second leg, Dallas pressed their advantage, testing Frei repeatedly – most notably when Michel attempted to bend in a look straight from a corner kick, but the Seattle keeper was alert to the danger – but a second goal would not come.

    After the 1-1 draw, the series switches to Seattle, where the Sounders will look to press their home advantage to become the first Supporters Shield winner to advance past the first round in the last three seasons.

    CanCon

    With just Tesho Akindele representing Canada in the playoffs – Russell Teibert and Sam Adekugbe were unused substitutes on the bench for Vancouver – there will be no separate Canadian Content post.

    Akindele returned to the Dallas starting lineup for the knockout round against Vancouver, taking up the right-side of the midfield, though regularly swapping with Fabian Castillo on the left. He scored the game’s opening goal,

    , which took a fortunate redirection off Andy O’Brien to tuck inside the far-post.

    Come Sunday, the Calgary, Alberta-native retained his spot in the starting eleven, swapping over the left as Castillo moved centrally and Andres Escobar took up the right, at least nominally, as the three were very fluid in their positioning.

    Offensively, Akindele was more than a match for DeAndre Yedlin in the physical department, regularly getting the better of the Seattle right-back, but could not seem to make the final play that was required. He tried to square a ball for Castillo in the 7th minute on a break, but could not; he was then unable to latch onto a loose ball to break in down the middle and saw his run down the left onto a Moises Hernandez ball cut out by Zach Scott; Seattle’s defensive core were thick and stingy on the night.

    On the other side of the ball, Akindele put in a solid shift, tracking deep to prevent Brad Evans from getting in a potential troublesome cross on one occasion.

    Overheard

    A selection of the best quips of the week, starting with referee Mark Geiger’s written response to the pool reporter’s question regarding the handball call on Kendall Waston: “Waston deliberately handled the ball, hence the PK was called.”

    Thereby proving why it is that sporting bodies are so reticent to allow officials to speak for themselves. There is no way that that handball can be called ‘deliberate’ or ‘intentional’; that is a bold declaration, the sort of mind-reading witchcraft that frustrates the uneducated (in the laws of the game) masses. If he wants to say regardless of intent an advantage was accrued by the handball or something to that effect then fine, so be it. But to double down on his already controversial call with such a bald-faced slap is verging on offensive.

    For his part, Waston released this tweet after Vancouver’s elimination, a classy move from the defender, who had he not joined so late in the season would be in the running for newcomer of the year – what a difference he has made to the Whitecaps.

    Mike Petke is tired of fielding the will-he, won’t-he talk of Thierry Henry’s retirement plans: “I have to get it tattooed on my head. I have no clue what Thierry’s going to do. I’m not thinking about… No, I’m not thinking about that at all. I’ve said it enough already. Thierry, I think, could play for two more years, whether it be here, whether it be back in England, wherever he decides to play. His contract is up, but I don’t know what he’s going to do. Having said that, I guess if I looked deep down inside myself, in a quiet room in yoga class, and I meditate, and I say “wow, I guess this could be Thierry’s last game” then yes, I’m very happy for him.”

    Petke’s half-time interview on the weekend was pretty spectacular as well, pausing to shout “It’s got to be better” at the ref as he walked by and then responding to a question with a laugh before storming off – classic stuff there.

    Luis Robles had some thoughts of his own on the subject: “I have a good idea. I think everyone here has a good idea. Ultimately he’s the one that’s going to make the decision, so he could just be bluffing.”

    Bruce Arena with a rather zen approach to referees: “[Officiating] is what it is. It’s been like that all year. It’s not going to change in the playoffs.”

    Salt Lake’s Jeff Cassar took another, slightly more positive angle: “Listen it was a tough game out there. The conditions were tough, everyone was extremely aggressive. Of course I can say that there were a few different calls that I wanted. But at the end of the day, he didn’t give any penalty kicks, he didn’t give any red cards and let the guys on the field at least dictate that.”

    See It Live

    Some of the more entertaining sights of the round included Mauro Diaz re-entering the field of play after being substituted to get involved in a spat of handbags against Vancouver; a tifo in New York heralding Bradley Wright-Phillips’ accomplishments this season; while Jamison Olave’s defensive presence was immense in both Red Bull matches, coming up with this huge goal-saving block on Dom Dwyer and engaging in a series heavy-weight battles with Eddie Johnson against DC on the weekend.

    A flurry of brilliant saves this round from Eric Kronberg on Thierry Henry; Steve Clark on Andrew Farrell; San Penedo coming up big for LA on Joao Plata, twice, and Javier Morales late; and finally, Bill Hamid’s superb double-save against New York.

    Controversy

    On the whole the officials were rather reserved, managing the match well.

    But the handball call on Kendall Waston will go down in the Vancouver annals as a travesty. There was little doubt about Jose Goncalves’ handball, or Marco Pappa’s senseless tackle.

    Several close off-side calls were also a factor – Joao Plata’s break was cut short by a flag, while Gyasi Zardes unjustly saw his goal ruled out for an offside. Dallas too suffered that same fate, a flag robbing them of a rather spectacular training ground set-piece – though Stefan Frei ultimately made the save anyways.

    Sebastian Fernandez got the only red card, for getting in the face of the official post-match, but there were a few crunching tackles that may have seen further punishment were it not the post-season. Tim Cahill’s tackle on Benny Feilhaber was nasty – he didn’t even get a yellow for his efforts, while Ambroise Oyongo did get booked for this tackle on Sean Franklin.

    Upcoming Fixtures

    The Conference Semifinals (or MLS Cup Quarterfinals, depending on one’s point of view) resume on Saturday with the conclusion of the DC-New York series. Sunday sees New England-Columbus and LA-Salt Lake come to an end, while fans will have to wait until Monday for the Seattle-Dallas decider. Don’t forget, extra time and penalty kicks are a possibility, so be sure to allow a little more time on the PVR, just in case.

    Attendance was a little disappointing this round, especially in Columbus where only nine-thousand attended their loss against New England – it is always tricky to mobilize spectators on such short notice – but the atmospheres were generally very good; hopefully the return legs ramp it up a bit.

    Saturday: DC-New York. Sunday: New England-Columbus; Los Angeles-Salt Lake. Monday: Seattle-Dallas.

    All video & quotes courtesy of MLSsoccer.com

    Each week James takes a look at the league as a whole.

    You can follow James on twitter @grawsee or read more of his writing at Partially Obstructed View



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