Defensive Absences Could Be Key in MLS Eastern Conference Finals First Leg
And then there were four.
After two rounds of scintillating soccer that saw three games go into extra time and two end up getting determined by penalty shootouts, the 2015 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs is now down to its semifinal round. Two conference championship ties remain. Out of the Western Conference, you have the Portland Timbers taking on FC Dallas (Sunday, 7 PM ET, FS1). The Eastern Conference Final pits Columbus Crew SC and the New York Red Bulls (Sunday, 5 PM ET, ESPN).
The two winners will contest the MLS Cup Final on Sunday, December 6th at 4 PM at the venue of the club with the best regular season record.
The playoff picture out East certainly held serve with the top-seeded Red Bulls and second-seed Crew SC emerging out of the previous round. This will mark the third time these two franchises have met in the playoffs. The previous encounter was back in 2008 when the Black and Gold defeated New York 3-1 in the finals to win the club’s first and, to this point, only MLS Cup.
There are certainly a multitude of questions heading into Sunday’s first leg at MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus. Potentially at the top of the list is both clubs’ similar situations in central defense. Specifically, how will the two teams cope with the absences of key centerbacks during the first 90 minutes of play in this series.
The Red Bulls’ French Connection
The Red Bulls’ 2-0 aggregate victory over DC United in the conference semifinals came at a fairly significant price personnel-wise, as central defender Damien Perrinelle injured his left knee in the first leg. He was ruled out for the remainder of the playoffs a few days later. Perrinelle was an important contributor for the Red Bulls during the regular season, appearing in 80.5 percent of the team’s total minutes. Ronald Zubar has since stepped in and alongside Matt Miazga will form RBNY’s central defense combination for as long as the club stays alive in the postseason.
Zubar is a seasoned veteran who signed with the Red Bulls in the offseason from French club Ajaccio. The 30-year-old has French youth national team experience and once played for Ligue 1 powerhouse Olympique Marseille earlier in his career. A native of the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, he has earned two caps for their senior national side.
What sets Zubar apart from the crowd is a combination of work rate as well as physicality. The latter can get him in trouble sometimes as was evidenced by his 68th minute challenge in the first leg against DC that earned him a yellow from referee Mark Geiger even though many observers thought it should’ve deserved worse.
Over the course of his limited minutes on the field during the regular season, Zubar has proven his quality in terms of winning the second ball and getting in front of opposing players’ passes. He’s currently second on the team in number of recoveries and interceptions per 90 as well as his usage rate in these two categories which attempts to measure the percentage a given player contributes to a given stat over 90 minutes. This can be observed in the following chart.
If Zubar can utilize his physical play without attracting the ire of the officials, continue to play his part as a high-level ball-winning defender while also excelling clearing the ball (he’s tied with Perrinelle in clearances per 90 with 5.7), he certainly has his opportunity to play a part in the Red Bulls’ championship ambitions.
Tyson Wahl’s Chance at Playoff Redemption
For Crew SC, new arrival Gaston Sauro, who has been critical in shoring up a shaky back line since he was acquired, will miss the first leg due to yellow card accumulation. Sauro was cautioned in the 52nd minute of the first leg with the Montreal Impact after getting into it with forward Didier Drogba. The two would renew their pleasantries early in the second leg, with the Argentinian center back getting carded in the 30th minute and thus ensuring his absence for the series opener against the Red Bulls.
It’s being widely assumed that Tyson Wahl will take Sauro’s place alongside Michael Parkhurst in the first leg. Wahl was in essence a stopgap after Emanuel Pogatetz slowly fell out of favor in part due to his now notorious social media post.
At times, the 31-year-old acquitted himself well. A good example was in the club’s 3-1 victory over the Chicago Fire on July 19th. Wahl displayed a gritty work rate, leading the team in clearances (8) as well as overall defensive actions (19). Though there were times over the course of the 90 minutes that he looked on the cusp of enabling chances for the Fire, for the most part he held firm.
Then there was what happened two weeks later against Orlando City SC as we turned the page of the calendar into August. The 5-2 defeat to the Lions can aptly be characterized as the low watermark of the season for the Black and Gold. Whether it was poor communication between Wahl and Parkhurst, poor spacing, ball-watching or getting caught out of shape, pretty much the entire gamut of defensive mistakes was on display.
Orlando’s second goal was pretty much everything in a nutshell (watch it here). Notice how Kaká is able to draw Wahl out towards the touchline and later completely out of the box, creating the requisite space for OCSC to get two shots at net, the latter of which was finished by Darwin Cerén. It’s something he’ll certainly need to be wary of when the Red Bulls talented number ten Sacha Kljestan has the ball at his feet.
Another issue heading into this game is the Red Bulls ability to stretch the field with their exceptional width. It’s all made possible by their dynamic wingers Mike Grella and Lloyd Sam who are able to use the entirety of the flanks to their advantage. The speed of these two players also enables the Red Bulls to switch the field very well, with midfielder Dax McCarty’s distribution from one side of the field to another a potent weapon.
This is something Wahl struggled with in last year’s playoffs. In the first leg against the New England Revolution, he had a tendency to drift too centrally, creating space for the Revs wingers to exploit as you can see from the following screenshot.
As winger Kelyn Rowe is calling for the ball from central attacking midfielder Lee Nguyen, Wahl is positioned right at the top of the box with essentially five New England players on his side of the field. When Nguyen quickly services the ball to Rowe, you’ll soon see how much space he has to operate on the right.
Wahl is then forced to track back rather frenetically to prevent Rowe from going directly at goal. Instead, he flings a square ball further into the box which is blasted at net by his counterpart on the other wing Teal Bunbury.
Now even though this didn’t lead to a goal, it’s an example of the type of emergency defending that Crew SC needs to avoid against a Red Bull team that has a vast array of attacking firepower that can beat you every which way if you’re not careful. Both Sam and Grella can utilize the wings and the diagonal channels towards goal, while target forward Bradley Wright-Phillips is equally capable of splitting central defenders that get caught ball-watching and finding that crucial space around the goal mouth.
Ultimately, whoever makes the fewest mistakes between Zubar and Wahl may well give their team the best chance to position themselves favorably for the second leg at Red Bull Arena. If Wahl can do so, he will certainly serve his team well since they can anticipate Sauro returning to the lineup for what will undoubtedly be a make or break return leg.
It is said that defense wins championships. Having defensive depth helps, and that depth will certainly be tested for both these sides as they hope to put that mantra into action.
Buckle your seat belts for this one, folks. It should be a cracker of a series!
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