Three candidates this week, beginning, fittingly, with
On to the results:
Midweek Result in a Sentence (or Two)
Salt Lake closed out their season with a strong 2-0 result over Chivas, ending Los Ameri-Goats two-game winning streak, but not without a spot or two of controversy. The first goal came from a soft penalty call, Bobby Burling whistled for daring to put his hands on the back of Alvaro Saborio, who converted from the spot; Kyle Beckerman added the second after some nice interplay, but not until after Marvin Chavez was sent off for kicking the ball towards a referee’s assistant.
Results in Brief
Friday night’s match was a dead rubber, but neither side took that as an excuse to avoid putting in an effort, each with their own reasons to end the season on a positive.
For Chicago, the night was as much about honouring the stellar career of Logan Pause, a true club legend, as it was about a result. Houston were playing their final match under Dominic Kinnear, the only manager they had ever known.
It was the Dynamo who burst out of the gates, the pace of Omar Cummings causing no end of trouble for the Fire defenses, culminating in a goal for the Jamaican in the 18th minute. Having seen several fast breaks come to naught, it was a corner kick that led to the opener, Brad Davis hitting an in-swinging delivery from the right that Cummings made contact with as he retreated off the goal-line, guiding his header down towards the far-side from the middle of the box.
Seeing that lead into half-time, the Dynamo would pay for their wasted chances in the second, as Frank Yallop read his side the riot act during the interval. Houston would play a role in crafting their own demise when Jermaine Taylor and Tyler Deric got their signals crossed on a long ball forward from Matt Watson, the goalkeeper hesitating as the defender implored him to come off his line to collect. Grant Ward was able to muscle his way into the situation, getting a touch as Deric arrived and regaining his feet quickest to be first to the loose ball, prompting Deric to bring him down with a desperate lunge. Jeff Larentowicz would step to the spot, right-footing low to the keeper’s right with Deric going the other direction.
Pause would make his emotional departure from the match in the 79th minute, garnering all the applause and congratulation his long one-club career warranted and his teammates would ensure he went out in style, when Florent Sinama-Pongolle nabbed the first goal of his MLS career in the 91st minute.
Ward again played a crucial role, beating Andrew Driver down the right before sending a cross towards the near-post, where it was met by the Frenchman with a downward header to the short-side, powered past Deric having cut in front of AJ Cochran.
With the result, both clubs would finish exactly where they started, ending the night in ninth and eighth place in the Eastern Conference, respectively.
Saturday began with a match of crucial import, as it would determine who would take home top spot in the league and the accompanying silverware, as well as home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Shorn of the suspended Omar Gonzalez and the with Robbie Keane absent as a precaution – dealing with nagging injuries with the match to be played on turf – the Galaxy would have their hands full, needing a win to seal first in the West; the Sounders needed only to draw.
It was a close, tense affair, most notable through the first seventy minutes for the six yellow cards flashed by the referee, culminating in a bout of handbags in the 71st minute after Clint Dempsey was flattened by Marcelo Sarvas, drawing a crowd, resulting in cards to Sarvas and Gonzalo Pineda.
The breakthrough would finally come in the 85th minute when Marco Pappa was found unmarked down the left-side of the box by Obafemi Martins after a quick free-kick cut open the LA defenses. Martins began the play himself with a rapid restart, playing over to Dempsey, who returned a pass to the Nigerian before taking a clattering for his troubles, Martins then spotted Pappa, the Guatemalan squeezing his right-footed finish under Jaime Penedo.
Pappa would seal the afternoon with his second of the match in the final minute of play, picking the pocket of Penedo to break in on an empty net, scooping a left-footed finish past the recovering figure of AJ DeLaGarza in the 95th minute to send the home side in rapturous celebrations.
The 2-0 win would see Seattle take the top spot, winning their first Supporters’ Shield and their second trophy of the season, having won the US Open Cup in September – they will face the winner of the knockout round in the conference semifinals that begin on the weekend. LA would have to settle for second place; eager for a rematch in conference finals should it come to fruition.
The afternoon continued, switching over to the Eastern Conference, where first-placed DC travelled to Montreal, who themselves were bidding a fond farewell to a retiring player.
Marco Di Vaio joined the club midway through their inaugural 2012 season following a storied career in Italy. Over his three seasons in MLS he would go on to score some 34 goals in his 76 appearances, leading them to their first – and thus far only – playoff appearance in the 2013 season.
A prematch tribute, including the presentation of a painting by teammate Issey Nakajima-Farran, gave way to the match, and as the fates would have it, it was Di Vaio who opened the scoring in the 26th minute.
Nakajima-Farran cut out a Jared Jeffrey ball, prodding a header forward in search of Di Vaio, but Bobby Boswell was able to block that attempt. His header in turn fell to Dilly Duka, who alertly played forward for Di Vaio, springing the still-spritely striker in down the left-channel.
Di Vaio, as he has so many times before, burst down that side before beating the keeper, Bill Hamid, with a right-footed finish, squeezing his shot in at the short-side for his ninth goal of the season.
The striker was not satisfied with that, drawing a further good save out of Hamid at the start of the second half and requiring a last-ditch intervention from Sean Franklin to deny him a second in the 52nd minute. In a perfect encapsulation of Di Vaio’s career in MLS, having scored once, he remonstrated with the assistant referee who dared raised an offside flag, preventing him from yet another look at goal.
Montreal seemed content to sit back, looking to spring counterattacks, more often than not searching out Di Vaio on the break, but that somewhat casual approach would bite in the 86th minute, when Fabian Espindola played a short-corner kick to Eddie Johnson on the attacking left, catching the Montreal defenders napping.
Nakajima-Farran was the only Impact player nearby and he was easily bypassed when Johnson played into the path of Espindola’s curling run, walking across the top of the area before unleashing a left-footed drive that snuck past Evan Bush at the near-post, leveling the match at ones.
Di Vaio would close out his night with one final attempt on goal, a cheeky chip from well out, before being replaced in the 92nd minute, leaving the pitch for the final time to a hero’s applause, taking Man of the Match honours, as the tributes and thanks continued afterwards.
Playoff bound and with last season’s woes firmly behind them, the dropping of points may yet prove costly for DC, who passed up the chance to take second-spot overall and potentially home-field advantage in the final, depending on who moves on from the West. Montreal end the season with joy in their hearts, if doomed to finish last in the league on points.
The evening continued with another dead-rubber, as New England could neither move up, nor down, having secured second-place in the East, while Toronto’s fates were sealed with last weekend’s draw against Montreal.
Set to begin the playoffs in good form, the Revolution sent a first-choice side onto the pitch in front of a massive crowd of thirty-thousand plus spectators, but Toronto held their own through the first half-hour, Gilberto nearly giving them the lead when his nothing shot rattled the bar, until a moment of controversy gave the hosts the advantage in the 35th minute.
Jermaine Jones spotted the run of Chris Tierney up the left-flank, lifting a ball forward for the advancing full-back, who appeared to have strayed offside. The Toronto defenders turned to chase, slowing as they spotted the assistant referee’s flag raised, allowing Tierney to pick out Lee Nguyen with a pull-back to the top of the area, in turn slotting a right-footed finish into the Toronto goal.
Now, reportedly the referee waived away the flag as Dominic Oduro flicked on the Jones ball, but Tierney was offside from both the initial and flicked touches, even if they were deemed separate phases of play; confusion reigned, cancelling out any good work from Toronto.
Stung and reeling, Toronto would nearly concede a second in short order, Kelyn Rowe drawing a good save out of Joe Bendik two minutes later; the remonstrations with the official would continue into half-time.
With both sides resigned to the result, the second half passed without major incident, aside from a potential Steven Caldwell handball which was not penalized, perhaps in the spirit of reconciliation for the earlier confusion.
Nguyen’s goal, his eighteenth of the season, would prove the difference between the two sides; strengthening his MVP candidacy with his ninth game-winner of the campaign. For TFC the season would end with enhanced bitterness, more fuel to their officiating complaints, while they miss the playoffs for the eighth-straight season.
Swapping back to the West, the round continued with a pair of matches that would determine which side would be the tenth-club to compete in the playoffs this season. Vancouver entered the weekend in fifth spot, but Portland sat a single point behind – the Whitecaps would host Colorado next, but Portland had to keep the pressure on with a win in Dallas.
Desperate and eager, the Timbers took the match to the hosts from the off, Darlington Nagbe drawing a pair of fine saves out of Chris Seitz inside the opening twenty minutes. Against the run of play, Dallas nearly took the lead in the 38th when David Texeira made good contact with a Je-Vaughan Watson cross, necessitating a fine diving save from Donovan Ricketts.
But it was Portland who took the lead in the 43rd minute when Nagbe again drove towards the Dallas goal, unleashing a right-footed shot from the top of the arc. Nagbe had astonishingly managed to go the entire season without a goal to his name, but when his effort deflected off the blocking figure of Zach Loyd and found the right-side of the Dallas goal, all the wasted energy was forgotten – MLS tends to be rather generous when it comes to awarding goals instead of own-goals, even if the latter was likely more warranted in this case.
The Timbers had their goal, but Dallas had hopes and dreams of their own, as a win or draw would see them retake third-place from Salt Lake, thereby avoiding the midweek knockout round threat. Twice Dallas would have the ball in the back of the net over a three-minute span after an hour of play, only for a pair of refereeing decisions to deny them of the credit.
The first came in the 63rd minute when Fabian Castillo was adjudged to have helped Michel’s free-kick into the net with his hand – he was shown a yellow card for his cunning; while in the 66th minute, the official deemed that Castillo had let the ball trickle beyond the end-line before sending a cross into the middle that was headed in by Blas Perez. The handball was an obvious infraction; the second decision far less clear.
Portland, having ridden those challenges, would seal the result in the 82nd minute when Gaston Fernandez cut around the pressure of Victor Ulloa to play up to Max Urruti with the outside of his boot, setting up a right-footed blast that left Seitz no chance at a save, putting the pressure on Vancouver to get a result. Dallas would be forced to settle for fourth-place and the midweek play-in match, against either Cascadia club.
Portland’s result forced the pressure onto Vancouver, who needed to win in order to retake the final spot in the West and ensure their place in the playoffs. Colorado’s season ended some time ago, entering the final match day winless in thirteen and having lost their last eight away games; only pride was on the line for them.
Carl Robinson had done his best to keep his side focused on their own business, withholding news of Portland’s win until half-time, but the nerves were evident in the first half, as the Vancouver attack sputtered to find a breakthrough. Their two best chances in the half came from right-sided crosses, Kendall Waston getting on the end of a Mauro Rosales ball and Darren Mattocks onto a Pedro Morales one, but neither could keep their efforts on target.
The Rapids acquitted themselves well throughout, opening up the match in the second half with an audacious long-range attempt from Charles Eloundou, seeking to catch David Ousted cheating off his line. Robinson changed tact, bringing on the speedy Kekuta Manneh for the defensively-oriented Russell Teibert before the hour-mark; Manneh would rattle the bar two minutes after his introduction, cutting in from the left before sending a right-footer off the woodwork.
The goal would finally come in the 70th minute when Waston rose up, leaping over both Nick LaBrocca and Shane O’Neill to get on the end of a left-sided Morales corner kick, making just enough contact to force the ball down and over the goal-line; celebrating with an appropriate level of excitement – what a midseason addition the big Costa Rican has proved to be.
Colorado would force a lump or two to stick in the throats of their hosts, testing Ousted with a pair of late chances that would have ended playoff aspirations then and there. But Vancouver held on for the result, clinching their second-ever playoff berth, while cruelly knocking out American neighbours Portland; they will face another difficult play-in round match – having lost in LA last time, this time in Dallas on Wednesday.
With Saturday answering the major questions of Supporters’ Shield and Playoff spots, Sunday would be left to determine positions in the East. Up first was a rematch between Columbus and Philadelphia with the Crew hoping to surge into third spot, avoiding the midweek challenge. The Union had their season ended two weeks ago when Columbus scored three unanswered goals in the waning moments of their meeting, dooming Philadelphia to another playoff-less season.
The home side wasted no time getting putting their guests to the sword. Justin Meram stung the palms of Zac MacMath after just seven minutes, while Jairo Arrieta struck the bar in the 12th minute with a first-time hit on a Waylon Francis cross from the left. He would not waste his next look a minute later.
Wil Trapp played to Ben Speas, who hit a ball down the left-channel for Arrieta to chase, shattering the offside trap in the process, sending his teammate in alone on goal. Arrieta calmly walked around MacMath, shading to the left, before coolly slotting a slow-rolling left-footed finish into the open net.
That lead stood until the 85th minute, thanks to some vital interventions from Columbus keeper, Steve Clark, only for Philadelphia to do some late damage of their own, returning the favour of weeks gone by with Zach Pfeffer notching his first MLS goal as the clock ticked down.
The play began with an alert throw-in from Sheanon Williams that caught Columbus napping, picking out Sebastian Le Toux ghosting behind the Crew defenses deep on the right. Le Toux cut back a pass to Amobi Okugo, who snuck the ball towards the near-post, where it kicked off the in-step of Michael Parkhurst before falling into the path of Pfeffer making a sharp run to the near-post, tucking a right-footer through the legs of Clark.
But as with their last meeting Columbus would have the last laugh, finding the winner in the final minute of play: Tony Tchani received a return ball from Francis on the left to get a shot on goal. His effort was blocked, falling to Bernardo Anor for a simple right-footed tap in from a foot out, beating MacMath to the loose ball by a fraction of a second.
The win would vault the Crew into third-place in the conference, but they would have to await the result of the round’s final match before knowing their playoff fate for certain.
In between the two Eastern matches, an all Western-affair pitted Chivas and San Jose against one another, in a match that would determine who would occupy the basement in the Western Conference standings.
Montreal had already sealed up the wooden spoon, finishing the season on 28 points from 34 matches; both the Earthquakes and Chivas entered level on thirty points, the winner avoiding that unwanted fate.
For Chivas the match held added significance, as this would be their final match in MLS; the club would be shuttering its doors, going on hiatus, its future uncertain – MLS announced this morning (Monday) that the club would officially cease operations, with an announcement set for Thursday regarding the future of the LA market. For the past few weeks manager Wilmer Cabrera had insisted that they see out the season with positivity, winning two of their last three matches, and that impetus served them well in the opening passages of play.
In the sixth minute, Leandro Barrera was allowed to walk in from the left, working around Pablo Pintos to send a ball into the middle, Cubo Torres would collect the service, sending a low shot to the short-side, requiring an alert foot save from Jon Busch, who touched it onto the post.
Torres would again strike the woodwork in the 32nd minute, himself walking in unfettered from the left to hit a tight-angled shot that caromed off the base of the far-post. The rebound fell to Felix Borja, left-footing a finish into the open net having reacted quickest to the loose ball, scoring his third goal in the last four matches.
Neither side would put together further chances and Chivas were allowed to end their season – and perhaps existence – on that desired high, having won three of their last four matches to move into seventh in the West. San Jose, who look forward to next season in a spanking new ground with a new manager, must look to put a woeful end to a tough 2014 in the rearview, having closed the season with a club-record fifteen-game winless streak.
The final match of the 2014 regular season saw Kansas City and New York take to the pitch at Sporting Park in a game that would determine the final standings in the Eastern Conference.
Should they win, Kansas City could retake third in the conference, avoid the midweek knockout round, and make amends for falling out of the Champions League midweek in Costa Rica. For New York home-field advantage in the midweek test was at stake, unable to overtake Columbus who had moved into third on Saturday.
Despite the absence of Thierry Henry, it was the visitors who took the lead after fifteen minutes, but not without controversy, as Kansas City begged for a foul call when Jacob Peterson was brought down. Tim Cahill would play on, finding Eric Alexander in the middle, who in turn attempted to thread Bradley Wright-Phillips in down the left-side of the area.
Kansas City right-back Kevin Ellis would stretch to get a touch on the ball, succeeding in only slowing it down, as it fell into the path of Wright-Phillips, who opened his hips to finish with a deft right-footer across Eric Kronberg in the KC net – it was his 26th goal of the season, one shy of the all-time single-season record.
Wright-Phillips would join the 27-goal club in the 70th minute when Roy Miller sent a ball up the left-side and Wright-Phillips chased down Aurelien Collin, getting into a tangle with the defender, pressuring a turnover as the ball fell kindly for him. Sidestepping the challenge of Matt Besler, Wright-Phillips cut inside before sending a low right-footer to the short-side, beating Kronberg once more.
The Kansas City keeper would come up big in the 83rd minute, denying Wright-Phillips his hat-trick and a new record by staying big as the New York striker attempted to lift a finish past the keeper.
The result confirmed that the Eastern knockout round would consist of a rematch between the two clubs, in New York on Thursday, once mighty Sporting falling into fifth spot with just two wins in their last ten matches.
CanCon
The extended review of the Canadian performances will be posted tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon.
Eleven players saw the pitch this round, eight as starters and a further three as substitutes. Impressively five Canadians featured in Montreal’s starting eleven, including three-quarters of a youthful back-line that kept a dangerous DC side off the scoresheet for eighty-plus minutes.
Top three spot this round go to Issey Nakajima-Farran, Doneil Henry, and Sam Adekugbe, who was drafted into emergency duty in a must-win game when Steven Beitashour went down early with injury.
Overheard
Plenty of colourful statements after last week’s silence, beginning on Wednesday night with Salt Lake’s Nat Borchers, who admitted he would be keeping an eye on the weekend results: “But I watch all the games. I'm an MLS nerd.”
As Houston’s season ended, Brad Davis admitted Dominic Kinnear’s departure weighed heavy on the club: “As soon as we were knocked out, and found out Dom was leaving, we have been kind of focused on that, to be totally honest, I wish it wasn’t announced to the end of the year, but it is what it is. It’s been a difficult situation to try to manage, and handle. I think the guys have tried to do their best and gone out there and been great professionals. I am proud of the team for that.”
Sigi Schmid heralded his Seattle side winning the Supporters’ Shield in his inimitable understated style: “At the end of the day, I think the Shield is another feather in the cap of our organization. I think people forget that we’re still a very young organization. We’re only six years in, and now we’ve won four Open Cups and a Supporters’ Shield. That’s five trophies in six years. …I think it’s a reflection of our consistency.” Ending with: “I’m really proud of our group; we’ll enjoy it today and tomorrow, then it’s back to work.”
Greg Vanney summed up much of the last two months of the season with his observation on the controversial call that decided Toronto’s match in New England: “That moment was an emotional kick in the groin for us. It’s unfortunate; that was a clear offside from the guy who’s supposed to make the call, the linesman who lifts the flag and has the flag up; the guy is clearly two yards offside. I’ve seen the replay already and the center referee, who was not in position to make the call, tells him to put the flag down.”
Marco Di Vaio summed up his career thusly: “Good conclusion. I finished well, with what I prefer to do during games: scoring goals, giving emotions to fans, to myself, living those emotions with the family, my parents, everyone here, was incredible.”
While Jon Busch had a different outlook on 2014: “To me, this was a terrible season. It hurt. It hurt a lot that we couldn’t find a way to get out of this and to right the ship. I’ve been around a long time, and usually every team goes through tough times during the season, but you always find ways to get out of it. Unfortunately, this year, we just could not find a way to get out of it. For me, that drove me crazy. It’s going to motivate me -- it should motivate the rest of the guys -- so it never happens again.”
Chivas’ Wilmer Cabrera closed out the season with prideful dignity: “It’s been a tough year for us; it’s not a secret. But if you go with reality, you’re as good as your last game. We battled and pushed for a good result. If we review what we have done, in October we won three games out of four. We started building something at the end. I would like to give credit to the players for never giving up.”
See It Live
Bradley Wright-Phillips was
Logan Pause’s final match witnessed a teary-eyed fan chanting, “Thank You Logan”.
The assorted tributes to Marco Di Vaio were worth a view, as well.
A selection of the best saves of the week: Dan Kennedy on Joao Plata; Sean Johnson on Omar Cummings; Joe Bendik on Kelyn Rowe; Donovan Ricketts on David Texeira; Jon Busch on Cubo Torres; Luis Robles on Dom Dwyer; and finally, Eric Kronberg denying Bradley Wright-Phillips the record.
Late breaking news: MLS has announced that both Houston and Kansas City would be returning to the Western Conference for the 2015 season, equaling the conferences to ten sides each, as Chivas disbands and New York City and Orlando City join the league.
Controversy
Plenty of controversy this round:
The penalty call on Bobby Burling was rather harsh – not much of a shove to the back of Alvaro Saborio; while Marvin Chavez’ red card, though stupid, could have been overlooked as well. That same match featured a very debatable offside call on Saborio that denied him a second goal of the match.
Tyler Deric was carded for handling outside the area, but did he?
Then there was the
Dallas had two goals ruled out in short order against Portland, Fabian Castillo’s handball was sneaky, but obvious upon replay; whether the second had gone out of play before Blas Perez put it in was another matter entirely – very tight decision. Clip was not available, but will likely be included in Simon Borg’s Instant Replay due out later today.
And finally, what about the
Upcoming Fixtures
The hunt for the MLS Cup begins next week with the play-in matches for each conference scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday. The West sees Dallas host Vancouver on Wednesday, while the East pits Sporting against Red Bull in New York.
The Playoffs proper begin on Saturday, mere days after the knockout round has been completed, with the conference semifinals. Saturday sees the two and three seeds in each conference met in the first legs, with Columbus hosting New England and Salt Lake welcoming Los Angeles. Sunday will feature the first overall seeds, Seattle and DC, travelling to the winners of the knockout rounds.
Wednesday: Dallas-Vancouver. Thursday: New York-Kansas City.
Saturday: Columbus-New England; Salt Lake-Los Angeles. Sunday: winner of New York/Kansas City-DC; winner of Dallas/Vancouver-Seattle.
Thanks for following along with the review for yet another MLS season; must admit it’s a bit of a relief to be done, but fret not, the review will keep going strong, covering each round of the playoffs.
All video & quotes courtesy of MLSsoccer.com
Each week James takes a look at the league as a whole.
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