Seattle’s experience just has the edge

It’s a thankless task predicting the playoffs. Some teams limp there then seem to get hot. Other teams struggle to convert regular season dominance into a playoff run and are eliminated early. But when thinning out the predictions it’s been tempting to eliminate Dallas from contention – the team may have only missed out on the Supporters’ Shield on goal difference (and that playing in the tougher Conference), but they remain a young side in a format that tends to favor experience.

But back in the stadium where they were eliminated on goal difference last year, Dallas suggested this might be the year youth has its say. Nine of their starting XI to face Clint Dempsey et al were under the age of 25. And when Fabian Castillo raced clear to complete a lightning counter-attack in the 18th minute, it was hard not to compare the inhabitants of their bench bouncing around like a rowdy gang of toddlers in a mosh pit, and a buttoned-up Sigi Schmid swearing in the Seattle technical box, and not see some symbolism at work.

And despite the fact that Oscar Pareja too was fretting on the sideline the whole game, he’s become something of a “designated worrier” for Dallas – relieving his young charges of anxiety by doing the worrying for them. What Dallas may lack in experience on the field, they don’t lack in planning from their meticulous coach. And even as the Sounders pressured all evening, Dallas were as likely to score again on one of their high-speed counters as the Sounders were to see their experience turn the screw.

And yet the Sounders did score twice, and through a pair of veterans at that – first through a wonderful solo goal by Andreas Ivanschitz midway through the second half, and then through a magnificent Dempsey free-kick with a few minutes left to play. The latter opportunity was conceded by an unnecessary Matt Hedges foul outside the box, and if Dallas are to improve on last year’s narrow away goal defeat, they’ll also need to raise their standard of concentration – something Pareja will doubtless emphasize this week.

Schmid will be emphasizing that lesson to his own players, too. A kinder bounce on one or two of Castillo’s runs to the byline and Seattle could have been looking at a very different scenario next week. Schmid’s seen it all before, of course, and for now age and guile just holds sway in this series – but it’s a close-run thing. No predictions. GP

The Red Bulls continue to fill in the cracks

The little milestones begin to add up, as Dax McCarty acknowledged to me after the road game against DC – “Like you say, filling in the cracks.”

Unprompted, McCarty had brought up an infamous playoff loss to DC United at Red Bull Arena in 2012 — a snow-postponed game that cemented the image of the Red Bulls as perennial (snow)flakes when it came to the crunch games, and which he still references each time these two sides play each other – “I don’t ever want to feel like that again.”

McCarty did his bit to ensure the Red Bulls won’t feel like that again this year, as he lost his marker Perry Kitchen to head home a perfect Sacha Kljestan free kick in Sunday’s Eastern Conference semi-final first leg. In a tight and scrappy game, McCarty’s away goal was enough.

It was actually the Red Bulls’ first win at RFK Stadium in a playoff game – though coach Jesse Marsch didn’t know that when asked about it in the locker room after the game. Perhaps it didn’t seem such a big deal, because the Red Bulls had already confirmed their first aggregate win over DC at the same stage of the competition last year; perhaps it was just because this is still only half-time in the tie. And perhaps it’s because the incidental firsts, big or small, have become too numerous to count for New York in the three years since Nick DeLeon’s goal and Kenny Cooper’s re-taken penalty miss ended the Hans Backe era.

Since then, the Red Bulls have been setting records large and small. Perhaps the two Supporters’ Shields that have followed the “snow game” might be less significant than the accumulative effect of points taken from unprecedented situations in the last three years – add this first-leg victory in DC to last week’s first ever win at Chicago’s Stadium to confirm the Shield win; ending the winless run in New England; getting through the first MLS playoff win at Red Bull Arena last year.

The list goes on, but basically these experiences add up, and contribute to the type of confidence the Red Bulls had to draw on on Sunday afternoon when DC came out the sharper team. In the scrappy opening stages DC were first to second balls, played the ball long to stymie the Red Bulls’ high press, and had Alvaro Saborio working hard to stop his team mates getting outnumbered in midfield.

The Red Bulls settled, though, with Kljestan gradually prising spaces open between the defence and midfield. McCarty’s had been coming for a while, as New York calmly felt their way into an awkward game. On the breakthrough, they beat DC at their own set piece game on Kljestan’s cleverly faked delivery and brought their 800 traveling fans to their feet (and almost brought the press box to the ground).

Let’s not forget DC have been in their current position all year, and have taken points from games they’ve fallen behind in, and even though they didn’t have a shot on goal on Sunday, expect Luis Robles to have more work to do next week. But for perhaps the first time in recent memory the Red Bulls have recent history on their side. As long as they don’t crack up. GP

MLS will be worse off for Eddie Johnson’s retirement

It had been expected, but that didn’t make the formal announcement of Eddie Johnson’s retirement from professional soccer due to a heart condition any less sobering. At just 31, the DC United striker has called time on a career that should have lasted much longer – although Johnson packed more into his 14 years at the top of the American game than most manage in much longer than that.

If players in their modern context are about selling tickets, Johnson was box-office.

Of course, that distinction wasn’t always based on his on-the-field performances. Johnson is an unconventional character, and often uncompromising too. Such qualities meant he wasn’t always the easiest to deal with, if you’re a coach or general manager, and not always the easiest to appreciate either, if you’re a fan. Pretty much every single club Johnson has ever played for would attest to that.

But he was a personalty of great interest, and soccer can never have too many interesting players. Such players are what make the game so compelling and that’s something Johnson did consistently over the course of his 14-year professional career: compel. Whether it was at FC Dallas as a fearless, fresh-faced teenager, with the Kansas City Wizards or latterly with the Seattle Sounders – and fleetingly at DC United – the striker was a star, not always shining but certainly burning.

And yet for all that he achieved in MLS, there will always be a twinge of regret. As a teenager he became one of the youngest ever players to be signed by MLS, and was drafted by FC Dallas in 2001. A $5m offer from Benfica illustrated the esteem in which Johnson was held at that time and his move to Fulham in 2008 – then a Premier League club on an upward arc – marked out the Florida native as the vanguard of American soccer’s next generation.

But in England he stalled, failing to find the net in 19 appearances for Fulham. A Stateside return with the Sounders revived his career, before a contract dispute resulted in a switch to DC United. At national team level, Johnson generally excelled – becoming a favourite of Jurgen Klinsmann’s in the United States’ last World Cup cycle – and collected an impressive 63 senior team caps. The USMNT might well have got the best of Johnson - although his 14 goals in 28 games for the Sounders in 2012 will go down as his greatest individual campaign. His 15-goal, six-assist season in 2007 for KC wasn’t bad either.

The announcement of Johnson’s retirement most likely indicates a resolution in the contract dispute that had been running between the league and the player, with the timing of the striker’s heart ailment diagnosis the subject of the wrangling. Even in retirement, the 31-year-old exits the sport amid something of a quarrel, as if he’d have it any other way. Johnson – a truly exceptional player at his best – wasn’t always appreciated as much as he should have been, but MLS will be worse off for his retirement.

A different type of Cascadia Cup play-off clash

2013’s precedent provided an enticing flavour of what this year’s Cascadian post-season clash between the Portland Timbers and the Vancouver Whitecaps might offer. Two years ago the first ever play-off meeting between two Pacific Northwestern rivals (Portland and Seattle, in that case) produced a hall of fame series – with then rookie coach Caleb Porter leading the Timbers to a 5-3 aggregate victory. That kind of scoreline won’t be repeated by Portland and the Vancouver Whitecaps this time around.

Sunday’s Cascadia Cup clash at Providence Park was more of the insipid sort – the kind normally decided by either a moment of brilliance or blunder. This game couldn’t even provide that, however, and it took until stoppage time for either side to create anything to threaten each other’s goal – with Max Urruti striking the post when he probably should have found the net instead. There was spectacle, but it mainly came in the stands – with the Timbers Army’s improvised Adam Larsen Kwarasey TIFO, in light of his first-team omission, a particular highlight.

That’s not to say that certain players didn’t enjoy commendable games, with Vancouver’s Matias Laba a standout in the centre of the pitch. The Argentinian was the primary reason Portland looked to the wings so often, piling the pressure on the hosts’ full-backs. Rodney Wallace’s defensive work also gave the Timbers a foothold in the game when they easily could have lost their shape in possession against a side content with sitting deep and hitting on the counter.

The tight and twitchy match provided a stark contrast to the rip-roaring, gung-ho soccer on show for much of the play-offs’ earlier knockout rounds, perhaps illustrating how teams that make it this far suddenly become aware of their own championship prospects. It’s at this point that things start to feel real, and when games matter the quality of play frequently suffers.

Shrewd sides thrive in such circumstances, however - and on the face of Sunday’s result the Vancouver Whitecaps now hold the upper hand in their effort to make the Western Conference final. Carl Robinson’s side have kept clean sheets in three of their last four MLS outings, depicting their quality as a well-organised defensive unit. In a two-legged format, convention colours this result a good one for the Caps.
However, the Portland Timbers’ track record suggests that they might actually have the edge ahead of next Sunday’s semi-final second leg. Vancouver have never before shut out their Cascadia rivals at BC Place and have only ever beaten them once.

Using recent form as a gage, the Timbers are in remarkably good shape too - winning all of their last three games on the road. Sunday’s 0-0 first leg draw might not advantage the Vancouver Whitecaps at all.

Bernier is just as important as Drogba to Montreal

If the Montreal Impact go all the way in the MLS play-offs this season, a plot outside Stade Saputo will surely be found for a statue of Didier Drogba. Chelsea fans have already petitioned for one at Stamford Bridge, but the cult of Drogba followers has a new place to worship. The Ivorian is enjoying a career renaissance in Quebec and is the embodiment of the Impact’s MLS Cup prospects.

Indeed, Drogba’s recent form has been of Sebastian Giovinco proportions – and even directly outshone the Italian in last week’s knockout round whitewash. The Toronto FC playmaker is the MVP-elect but if Montreal lift the MLS Cup on December 6 the award’s definition might need a clarification, because having driven his side to the championship title Drogba would surely be the league’s most valuable player in the term’s truest sense.

However, he has had help in propelling Montreal into the play-offs with all the momentum of genuine challengers. Just like his Ivorian teammate, Patrice Bernier has enjoyed a personal resurgence of late under interim head coach Mauro Biello – underlining his importance to the Impact in Sunday’s conference semi-final first leg clash against the Columbus Crew. His headed equaliser proved a turning point in the tie, setting his side on course for a 2-1 win. The Frenchman’s wife Melisa Barile – who not so long ago lambasted former coach Frank Klopas for granting her husband such little game time – was seemingly right all along.

Bernier has arguably never been as important to Montreal as he was on Sunday. Against the Crew Drogba actually turned in a rather dismal display – putting on Federico Higuain’s opener with a blundered header across his own box, whilst playing low percentage soccer for much of the contest. The former Chelsea striker’s slack was picked up by Bernier, who was commanding in the centre of the field.

Montreal in recent weeks have been denounced as little more than a one-man team, but that proclamation does a grave disservice to their veteran French midfielder.

Of course, at 35, Bernier could suffer play-off burn-out and struggle to play so many high intensity games in such close proximity. By withdrawing him just after the hour mark in both post-season games this year, Biello would appear to be well aware of that threat, doing his best to combat it. Keeping the French midfielder fine-tuned could be just as crucial as keeping Drogba firing.

Statues outside soccer stadiums have somewhat fallen out of vogue ever since Mohammed Al Fayed erected a molten waxwork of a Michael Jackson figure outside Fulham’s Craven Cottage. With that in mind, perhaps a MLS Cup triumph would be a sufficiently fitting way to mark Drogba’s 2015 contribution. Stade Saputo in the space of just a few weeks has become the House of Drogba, but it’s worth noting that Bernier still lives there too.