The MLS Playoffs concluded the conference semifinals last weekend and with the international break at hand before the playoffs resume, I thought it was a good time to share some lessons learned from the conference semifinals:
- Away Goal Rule, Rules! – This was the first year in which MLS implemented the away goal rule for the playoffs. No matter which side you fall on, whether for or against this new playoff rule, you can’t deny it created some intrigue on how it would affect the games. The addition of the rule actually added drama to both legs of each series, not just the second leg.
- When Charlie Davies scored the opening goal of the conference semifinals on the road in Columbus Crew Stadium the new rule was in play. The onus was now on the Crew to outscore New England since they now had the daunted away goal. The Revolution would go on to score three more to put Columbus in a hole going into the second leg, however, the magnitude of those away goals illustrated to fans and MLS that home teams could no longer play it safe at home and hope to win two leg playoff series’ in the second game. The Revolution went on to win the playoff series 7-3 on aggregate without needing the away goal tie breaker.
- The away goal came into play in the second leg of the NY Red Bulls-DC United Playoff series. Needing a 2-0 win to force extra time and already up 1-0 after a first half goal gave DC and their fans hope that they might be able to actually pull off a miracle win at home. However, when Thierry Henry found Peguy Luyindula in the 57th minute for the game tying goal and the series changing away goal, DC fans came to the realization that now instead of needing one goal to force extra time, they would need three goals in the final 30 minutes to advance. DC would end up getting one more goal and winning the game, however, lost the playoff series 3-2 on aggregate.
- The Seattle Sounders became the first direct beneficiaries of the away goal rule. The first leg of the Sounders-FC Dallas playoff series was played at Toyota Stadium where Seattle found themselves trailing a very formative Dallas squad, 1-0 at the half. Osvaldo Alonso scored the game tying goal in the 54th minute to give Seattle a tie on the road and more importantly an away goal, meaning that FC Dallas would need to win this playoff by outscoring the Sounders at home in CenturyLink Field, where the Sounders only lost four times all season. The two teams played to an entertaining scoreless draw in the second leg, meaning that Seattle would advance on the away goals rule and thus become the first MLS team to win a playoff series on the away goal rule.
- Never doubt Landon Donovan – Just when you thought it was safe to write off Landon Donovan, he gives us a performance like the one we saw in the second leg of the Galaxy-Real Salt Lake playoff series. Donovan has truly saved his best for last as he picked up his first career hat trick and an assist in LA’s 5-0 pummeling of RSL. Donovan was on a current five game goal-less streak going into the game before putting the Galaxy on the board after a perfect A.J. DeLaGarza header pass in the 10th The party at the StubHub Center was on when Donovan scored his second goal in the 54th minute to make it 3-0, while the hat trick finally came in the 72nd minute to put the icing on the cake, or the final nail in the coffin on RSL’s 2014 campaign. The performance was spectacular when considering that there was a good chance that this could have been Donovan’s final game as a professional. The playoff series was tied 0-0 going into the leg and if RSL could have managed to score first and get the coveted away goal, it would have made things tighter and brought on a realization that no LA fans were ready to admit, that they could be watching their golden boy, Donovan, for the final time. Instead, with his back to the wall, Donovan came out and hushed all the retirement talk early and continued to hammer his point home, that this would not be his final stance.
- Jermaine Jones is the difference – Soccer is a team sport, where the individual talents of one player don’t always elevate the entire team. Like everything in life, there are exceptions such as Ronaldo, Messi, Suarez and Jermaine Jones? Can a defensive midfielder really make that much of a difference on a team, especially one who only joined his club 70% into the season? The New England Revolution was 9-13-2 when Jermaine Jones joined the team during the summer transfer window. Since his first game with the Revs, the team has gone 10-0-2; this includes the two-leg playoff against Columbus. Jones scored a goal or assisted in seven of his twelve games with New England, including one in the first leg at Crew stadium on Lee Nguyen’s goal that made the score at the time 3-1. Jones has brought an identity to the club that it did not have before. The confidence and attitude with which this Revolution team plays with smells of a team headed for greatness. Of course, it helps that they have MLS MVP candidate Lee Nguyen, former USMNT member Charlie Davies, and a former MLS Cup winner in Teal Bunbury (last year with Sporting Kansas City). However, all this talent only began to gel once Jones arrived. It is now easy to see why Jurgen Klinsmann fought so hard to get Jones on the U.S. national team. Klinsmann recently stated on MLSSoccer.com about Jones’ first camp with the U.S. squad in 2012, “He elevated the training session within two minutes, everyone was on a different page because he showed the speed of thought, precision passing, all the elements you can see from a real top player.” The Revolution are true contenders for the cup this year because of Jones’ arrival.
- Good teams get the job done at home – We’ve all heard the clichés bandied about regarding sports teams playing at home, i.e. win at home-split on the road, protect this house, nobody wins on our field, so on and so on. In the MLS regular season, two teams tied for the least amount of home losses, LA and RSL with one apiece, while no team with more than five losses at home during the regular season made the playoffs. So many teams did a good job of protecting their home fields, which meant, the best teams at protecting home field would most likely advance. While the Crew and Revolution both only lost 4 games at home during the regular season, New England was able to take a commanding 4-2 lead after the first leg and then finished off Columbus at home 3-1. Seattle and FC Dallas both also lost four games at home this season, which made it for a tough contest between the two teams. Both teams drew only one game all season at home, yet managed draws at home in each of their playoff legs. Luckily for Seattle they escaped due to the away goal rule (see above) and “protected their house” by not allowing FC Dallas to score. LA and RSL only lost one home game all season, as previously mentioned, so we knew it would be a difficult task for either team to get anything on the road. RSL certainly shut down LA in the first leg, however, the Galaxy did what they do best at home, and that’s win games. DC United was the one surprise, they only lost two games at home all season and while they won their leg of the playoff at home, they lost due to being so ineffective on the road against the Red Bulls. Both teams protected their home in this playoff series; it’s just that New York did a better job of it than DC.
- Thierry Henry WILL retire after this season – this final lesson learned is not fact and purely speculative from my perspective, however, the 37-year-old Red Bull was dealing with Achilles tendon problems prior to the playoffs and missed the final game of the New York regular season. In his first game against Sporting Kansas City, a must-win playoff game, he looked slow and not very agile, however, he still had the grit and skill to be effective. In the Playoff series against DC, Henry turned his game up a level by assisting on all three New York goals in the two-leg playoff. Henry’s performance during the playoff with DC is the reason New York is in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in his 5-year tenure with the team. For the first time since Henry arrived in New York, the team is living up to expectations and producing on the field. NYRB boasts the league’s leading goal scorer in Bradley Wright-Phillips, a suddenly hot Peguy Luyindula, a solid and underrated midfielder in Dax McCarty, a back line who has begun to gel over the past month and play some good defensive ball, a solid goalkeeper in Luis Robles and the ever dangerous Tim Cahill coming off the bench. This group of players has suddenly started playing like the team everyone thought they were last year when the Red Bulls won the Supporters Shield. In the year with rumors of whether Henry will or won’t he retire at the end of the season his teammates have picked up their level of play while their captain continues to provide moments of brilliance on the field. New York is a team that has gotten hot at the right time and could potentially ride the wave all the way to their first MLS Cup, in which time it will be inevitable to hear Henry call it a career after 21 seasons.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @lwosjczambrano. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Feel free to discuss this and other footy related articles with thousands of fans at /r/football.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
