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| Friday, September 14, 2001 24:15 EST |
Regular-season results worth savoring
By Jeff Bradley
[ESPN The Magazine]
Take a moment, all you fans in New York/New Jersey, Chicago and Kansas City, to appreciate what your MLS teams have done in 2000. And you fans in Tampa, Los Angeles and New England, too. Ah, what the heck, you guys and girls in Dallas and Colorado can even feel good about what your teams have done.
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First XI
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What to Watch For in the MLS Playoffs:
11. KC's first penalty kick of the year.
10. The Return of Lubos Kubik.
9. Ties.
8. Football Lines.
7. Confusion if it's tied after Game 3.
6. The Preki cutback move.
5. Controversial penalty calls.
4. Controversial lines calls.
3. Controversial yellow cards.
2. Controversial red cards.
1. Fines for criticizing officials.
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Take a moment on this, the eve of the playoffs, and feel good about the
season your team has given you. Because, once the postseason starts,
something distinctly American takes over. And I'm not so sure it's the best
thing for the sport of soccer.
That is, the mentality that "first place is the only place" and "second place
is for losers" and all those other sayings that define American sports. The
Atlanta Braves? Chokers. The Buffalo Bills? Four-time losers. Dan Marino?
Never won "the Big One." Patrick Ewing? "Never got it done." Let's not even
talk about college basketball, where every team that gets knocked out of "The
Big Dance" goes home a loser.
You all know what I'm talking about.
We in America like to play a full season so that we can then hold a
tournament at the end to decide our "champion." The regular season becomes a
week to week battle for seeding and home field advantage and, well, nothing
else. Sometimes we even demean teams who finish first in the "regular" season
because that accomplishment is so, well, regular.
I was in St. Louis this year when the Blues were eliminated from the Stanley
Cup playoffs and fans were actually mocking the fact that the Blues had won
the Presidents' Trophy (for best record), and using it as fuel for their
anger that the Blues had been beaten in a seven-game series by the San Jose
Sharks.
"Thanks for nothing Blues," one fan yelled.
"Why don't you skate a lap with the President's Trophy?" another yelled, "and
we'll let you know how we feel about it."
Personally, I'm not crazy about that mentality, but I know I've got to live
with it. We're a Playoff Nation now, even in a sport like baseball where
winning a league pennant used to mean something.
Still, I made a point to enjoy the final couple of weeks of the MLS season,
watching to see how the race for the Supporters Shield would conclude,
knowing on the final night of the season, if Kansas City drew with Tampa Bay,
Chicago would have to win by three goals or more to finish ahead of K.C. on
goal differential. The MetroStars were also in the battle and could have won
first place if they beat New England, K.C. lost and Chicago lost or tied. So,
really, it couldn't have been more exciting than watching the Wizards battle
back from a 2-0 deficit in Tampa, while the Fire were taking a 2-0 lead in
Columbus and the MetroStars were going back and forth with the Revolution in
Foxboro. I thought it was pretty dramatic.
I hope you all appreciated it too. Not just Saturday night, but the entire
season.
Now, let the tournament begin
#4 Tampa Bay vs. #5 Los Angeles
If the Galaxy are to advance to the semifinals, they are going to need their
big-name players to be big-game players. That means Cobi Jones, Luis
Hernandez, Mauricio Cienfuegos and Robin Fraser all have to be on top of
their games. Sure, the Galaxy have to worry about how their defense, without
man-marker Dan Califf and defensive midfielder Danny Pena, handles Mamadou
Diallo and Carlos Valderrama, but at some point the Galaxy are also going to
need someone to make a play that leads to a goal. So that better mean Cobi
and El Matador, or the Galaxy are in trouble.
A key player for Tampa Bay is going to be Joe Addo, the sweeper who had a
fine season that went largely unrecognized. With Chad McCarty missing the
first round of the playoffs, Addo's job will be even more critical. He'll
have to keep the Mutiny organized in the back and take the right angles on
Jones and Hernandez when they slip their markers. Because the Galaxy are a
team capable of executing a game plan (translation: they will be very well
organized), Tampa's going to need top performances from their workers, that
is, Josh Keller, Steve Ralston, Ritchie Kotschau and Manny Lagos, who will
most likely get the start in Game 1 for the injured Eric Quill.
Predictions:
Game 1, Tampa Bay 2, Los Angeles 1
Game 2, Los Angeles 3, Tampa Bay 2
Game 3, Tampa Bay 2, Los Angeles 2
Tampa Bay wins mini-game on goal by Mamadou Diallo.
#2 Chicago vs. # 7 New England
Everyone knows about Chicago's injuries to Lubos Kubik and Chris Armas, and
the Olympic commitments of Josh Wolff and Evan Whitfield, but perhaps the
most significant player missing from the Fire lineup entering the playoffs is
center back Andrew Lewis, who is out with a badly bruised ankle suffered
early in the Fire's Open Cup semi vs. Los Angeles. With the Fire struggling
defensively early in the season and Kubik on the shelf with a strained MCL,
things did not look good in Chicago, until the former Princeton defender was
inserted into the center of the defense and the Fire switched from a sweeper
and two man-markers to a three-man zone, with Lewis covering a lot of ground in the center. In terms of speed and athleticism, Lewis has it all over his
replacement Tommy Soehn and the Revolution may have the wheels (Williams
Sunsing and Wolde Harris) to exploit that. Chicago should, however, be able
to create scoring chances so if Ante Razov and Hristo Stoitchkov are on
target, the defense may have some room for error.
The Revolution tied the Fire, 1-1, in Foxboro by staving off one attack after
another, scoring a late equalizer and, well, staving off one attack after
another. They defeated the Fire, 1-0, at Soldier Field by scoring on a corner
kick and, basically, kicking the ball in the stands for 60 minutes. They'd
gladly repeat those performances in the playoffs. Make no mistake, however,
the Revs are plucky, and they've added Mauricio Wright since their regular
season meetings with Chicago. Coach Fernando Clavijo has slowly worked
Sunsing into an important role, giving Harris a setup man, and the Revolution
are one team that seems to possess a little late-game magic, particularly in
front of their home fans in the Boro.
Predictions:
Game 1, Chicago 4, New England 1
Game 2, New England 2, Chicago 2
Game 3, Chicago 2, New England 0
Chicago advances
# 3 MetroStars vs. #6 Dallas
At the All-Star game, one MetroStars coach told me that with Daniel Hernandez
out for the season, the biggest challenge for the Metros was to convince
Lothar Matthaeus when he returned to the lineup to "play like Hernandez,"
meaning to stay deep and not spend so much of the game trying to sneak
forward into the attack. After the Metros 3-2 loss to Miami in the Open Cup
Tuesday night, it was not difficult to read between the lines when coach
Octavio Zambrano complained about the counter attack goals the Metros
allowed, saying, "Someone has to stay back." Zambrano is talking about making
a tactical change in the defense, never a good thing for a team's confidence
going into a playoff series. Of course, there are also the goalkeeper
questions for the first round. Can Paul Grafer simply make the saves he's
supposed to make? And up front, will Zambrano start Alex Comas or Adolfo
Valencia? There's no way he can bench Clint Mathis, like he did in the Open
Cup ... or is there? Don't forget, the Metros are playing an experienced
postseason club in Dallas.
The Burn are so much better than their .500 record and proved that by winning
that big road match in Los Angeles that secured their position in the
playoffs. Ariel Graziani will get his chances against any and all MLS
defenses and Jason Kreis is certainly going to power a few free kicks at
Grafer to see if he's up to the challenge. Also, Dallas has good crossers in
Mark Santel, Brandon Pollard and Sergi Daniv, who will do their best to test
Grafer's decision-making skills. Certainly, they know that the teams that
have made the Metros look vulnerable are the teams that run either three
forwards or four midfielders into the attack, forcing Mark Chung and Petter
Villegas to defend. Perhaps the biggest question for the Burn is, can they
stay organized in the back? If they can keep the scores down, they have a
good chance to advance.
Predictions:
Game 1, Dallas 2, MetroStars 1
Game 2, Dallas 4, MetroStars 2
Dallas advances.
#1 Kansas City vs. #8 Colorado
The Wizards are savvy and resilient and always organized. Their only fault is
they've never been through this before as a team. So, predicting how they
will perform is very difficult. The defense will be tested in the air by the
Rapids, who serve high balls into the opponents' box as their first-choice
weapon. If they can take care of those battles, they should be able to keep
the Rapids off the board. Then it will come down to the attacking abilities
of Preki, Chris Henderson, Chris Klein and Miklos Molnar. The Wizards seem
comfortable in the low-scoring games, and that's what I expect the whole way
in this series, even though K.C. had no problem putting goals on the board in
their regular season games with Colorado.
The Rapids have played the entire season like a team on the brink of
elimination, so they'll certainly have that type of mentality in the
postseason. Mile High Stadium looked like a cow pasture late in the season,
so if it's ugly the Rapids want, it's ugly the Rapids will get. If Anders
Limpar and Junior Agogo are ready to contribute again, and Ross Paule
continues his late-season revival, the Rapids could have some interesting
options late in close games. Don't expect this is going to be as easy as 1
vs. 8 would normally be.
Predictions:
Game 1, Kansas City 0, Colorado 0
Game 2, Colorado 0, Kansas City 0
Game 3, Kansas City 0, Colorado 0
Mini-Game, Kansas City 0, Colorado 0
Kansas City wins, 5-4 on penalty kicks
In tight space
The Fire had meetings with high-ranking Chicago city officials last week
about building a soccer-specific stadium and GM Peter Wilt said "when we used the analogy that the Fire playing in Soldier Field was like the Blackhawks
playing hockey in a 65,000-seat arena, something seemed to click." Wilt went
on to say, "It's a long way from a done deal, but we're feeling more
confident that this is going to happen. The meeting went very well." The
20,000-seat stadium would be a joint private-public project and Wilt is bound
and determined that the stadium have a European flavor. "I've got the first
drawings back that now begin to look like more than computer printouts,"
Wilt said. "And we think it's going to be very cool."
One player that's had nothing but good things to say about Lothar Matthaeus
is fellow Metro defender Mike Petke, so it follows that Matthaeus is telling
the third-year man-marker that he can help him find a job in Germany if MLS
doesn't come up with a suitable contract. Petke is looking for a colossal
raise that would bring his salary into the $150,000-range, money not too many
MLS defenders bring in.
For those who didn't get to see the Metro-Miami Open Cup semi, you missed a couple of extraordinary saves by acrobatic rookie Nick Rimando. The
UCLA-product has not gotten a lot of pub (don't think his name's ever been
mentioned in this column), but has had a stellar rookie season and should be
a keeper in MLS for years to come. Where most American keepers have size,
Rimando is more like Jorge Campos, a keeper who anticipates brilliantly and
has fabulous reflexes. Like Campos, Rimando can also make your heart stop
with his risk-taking and unorthodox play, but he's also damn fun to watch.
Pub talk
So, am I the only one who thinks the new MLS playoff format is a bit whacked?
I really think there should only be a Game 3 if it's one-all at the end of
two. A team that's gotten a win and a draw in the first two games deserves
to go through without having to secure the draw in Game 3.
But obviously, it's all about getting as many Game 3s as possible, yet I
wonder, when you consider how little time there is to sell tickets for these
games, and how much it costs for Game 3 travel expenses, is it really worth
it?
It's the general feeling among the MLS braintrust that the two-game
total-goals series is too complicated for the American sports fan. Well, we
all know that's bunk, but I'm not sure two-game aggregate is the way to go,
anyway, because it does lead to a number of series where a team is up against
an insurmountable deficit in the second game.
So, how about combining a couple of things from the two-game series they use
in the knockout stages of the Champions League? I propose that instead of having total goals as the
first tie-breaker, use away goals. That way, there's a huge advantage to the
road team that plays to win or, at least, score.
I'd be very surprised if the underdog teams in the MLS playoffs don't play
extremely conservative soccer. Even at home, they can play for a tie just to
force a Game 3.
I like Andres Cantor's first-ever English call of a soccer game. Sure, it
reminded me of a radio call, the way Cantor described every touch, but it was
a nice deviation from the American style, which too often takes you away from
what's happening on the field. Nothing worse than an announcer missing the
call of a scoring chance because he's spinning some irrelevant yarn.
I was, however, disappointed that ESPN2 decided to include the U.S.-Czech score on its Bottomline ticker during a Champions League match. So much for my evening plans to watch the game as if it were live. If anyone's reading this, don't do the same thing to me on Saturday with the U.S.-Cameroon game.
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